MORGAINA
Real Name: Morgaina
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Myth-Realm) magic-user
Occupation: Princess, guardian of the Myth-Realm's essence
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Hulk (Bruce Banner), Nimbli, Saraband;
presumably unidentified centaurs;
Enemies: Darkshorn and his demons, dinosaur-like creatures, dragon, griffins, harpies, minotaurs, ogres, trolls, yeti-like creature(s)and more.
Known Relatives: None (the
fact that she was a princess would make it seem that she had a king
and/or queen for parents, but no parents were discussed or shown)
Aliases: "Pretty lady" (from Hulk)
Base of Operations: Myth-Realm;
last seen to be active around Saraband's floating castle;
formerly Saraband's high tower
(at the very heart of Myth-Realm)
First Appearance: HULK#21 (June, 1980)
Powers/Abilities: Morgaina is the guardian of Myth-Realm's very essence, and all of
legend and heroism drew upon the inspiration of her beauty and
innocence, without her, Myth-Realm could not exist.
Morgaina could use her hourglass to "stop time" within an unspecified radius, but including, at least, Saraband's high tower castle. While those affected did not stop/freeze, they were immune to actions from the outside world and did not age. Shattering the hourglass restored normal temporal flow.
As the ward of the sorcerer Saraband, Morgaina likely had other abilities.
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'6"; she appears to be just a little shorter than Banner)
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 125 lbs.)
Eyes: Green
Hair: Brown
History:
(HULK#21 (fb) - BTS) - Per Saraband, "For ages, we, in the Myth-Realm, have borrowed your lore and
legends through means magical...and created a living, breathing world
around them in the forms of fever-dreams, illusions, and so on. "
(HULK#21 - BTS) - Per Saraband, "the Myth-Realm is precisely what it claims to be -- a parallel reality in which the events and setting of legends and myths are literally in force."
(HULK#21 (fb) - BTS) - Under unexplained circumstances, Morgaina served as the guardian of Myth-Realm's very essence; without her, Myth-Realm could not exist.
Morgaina was the ward of the
benevolent sorcerer Saraband, dwelling with him (and Nimbli, and
numerous cats, and possibly the centaurs and other creatures) within
Saraband's high tower.
(HULK#21 (fb) - BTS) - The evil sorcerer Darkshorn seized Saraband's high tower. Caught unaware, Saraband was forced to flee; riding atop a pair of flying (but not-winged) centaurs, Saraband fled with Nimbli, but he was forced to leave Morgaina behind.
(HULK#21 (fb)) - Darkshorn put Morgaina in a sleep spell of death, to be completed in seven days.
(HULK#21 (fb) - BTS) - Thereafter, Darkshorn seized the surrounding lands, binding them in a spell of darkness. The taint spread outward from the high tower, and with each passing moment, more and more of the realm was engulfed by the widening evil.
(HULK#21 (fb) - BTS) - Darkshorn's spell prevented men from entering the high tower, allowing only Darkshorn and his monsters to safely walkly its halls and grounds.
(HULK#21 (fb)) - Fleeing to a distant sea, Saraband constructed a large ship with a castle on top from which to direct the final struggle for Morgaina's life; as the abode was mobile, he could flee the spread of evil if it reached that far.
Via a hollow glass statue of
Morgaina and smoke rising to fill its form, Saraband followed the
progress of the sleep spell.
(HULK#21 (fb) - BTS) - Saraband gave Nimbli the necessary magic dust to the mirror gateway farthest from the high tower to secure the aid of a hero.
(HULK#21 - BTS) - While under the
influence of a hypnotherapist, Bruce Banner emerged through the mirror
into Myth-Realm, and Nimbli convinced Banner to accompany him to Saraband's floating castle.
Saraband then told Banner of the
Myth-Realm's nature and origins, assuring Banner he was not dreaming,
and that he had been brought there to save Myth-Realm for destruction.
He continued that if Myth-Realm fell, Earth would lose a precious
repository of fantasy and magic, and it would be all the poorer for
their loss. Saraband also explained that as only a
monster could enter and survive the dark tower, and that only a man
could rescue Morgaina, they needed a man who was both man and monster.
Saraband then related his plan: Nimbli was in possession of a potion that would permit him to change into the Hulk at the proper moment. Accompanied by Nimbli, Banner would rescue Morgaina. As it was already the 7th day of the sleep spell, Saraband urged haste, as Morgaina's death and thus the destruction of Myth-Realm was imminent.
(HULK#21 - BTS) - After passing through the mirror, Nimbli gave Banner the potion, and Banner became the Hulk, entered the castle, fought past Darkshorn's agents. Vowing to win nonethless, Darkshorn resolved that even if the man-monster freed Morgaina from her spell of sleep, they would both remain trapped in the tower for all time.
Proclaiming her gratitude, Morgaina suspended time in her hourglass, and for "a time called forever" she and the Hulk ("two mismatched lovers") shared everything good: feasts, music, art, and love (see comments). Eventually, however, the Hulk decided that Morgaina could not possibly love him, despite her insistence (although she did admit she loved his essence but not his rough form), and he shattered the hourglass, breaking the spell and allowing time to move forward anew.
Wishing vengeance on Saraband,
Darkshorn offered that if the Hulk surrendered his life to him,
Morgaina could go free, but Morgaina warned that Darkshorn could not be
trusted, and that he would slay her anyway.
Considering that Morgaina could
not leave the tower, the Hulk tore the tower free from the castle and
carried it to the seaside town beyond the spread of evil, where
Saraband's ship resided. Outside the region of darkness, Morgaina was
able to exit the tower, and she was reunited with Saraband seconds
before Darkshorn arrived atop the spreading dark clouds, announcing
that he was willing to risk his own life to achieve victory by
defeating the man-monster who had humiliated him.
The Hulk confronted Darkshorn, who grew to to perhaps 75-100' tall and unleashed sorcerous withering death-energies at the Hulk. However, the Hulk shrugged off these assaults, and he leapt to the attack, reaching Darkshorn's face and punching him out, causing him to vanish in a burst of light.
The dark clouds then faded away, replaced by sunlight and singing birds, and the Hulk was hailed as Myth-Realm's savior. Morgaina assured the "sweet beast" that she did love him, and when she planted a kiss on his lips, he reverted back to Banner. As Morgaina told Banner she knew her hero was beautiful and noble inside, Banner began to believe this was all real, and he considered that maybe he could stay there forever...
At which point he he then faded away, and Morgaina lamented the loss of her hero.Comments: Created by Doug Moench and Bob McLeod.
Tiny fully body images of Morgaina are shown as she walks the Hulk amongst the statues and as he shatters the hourglass.
The whole journey to Myth-Realm was apparently part of a trance by Banner's hypno-therapist who wanted him to confront the source of his anxiety, which he did, accepting that the Hulk was an aspect of him and was not evil. However, the final panel shows the hypno-therapist to be identical or Morgaina, and she is described as a "mistress of Hypnos." It leaves the question of whether it was truly all imagination or not...and, of course, in the Marvel Multiverse, even dreams are real in the Dream dimension, etc. So, Myth-Realm exists on some level, hence this profile...
It seems likely that following Darkshorn's defeat and the liberation of Myth-Realm from that dark spell that Saraband would have re-established his castle/base instead of continuing to use the castle on the ship, but that's obviously unconfirmed.
The story notes that the Hulk and
Morgaina shared love...there's nothing that indicates that this was
anything more than platonic love, but if their relationship was
physical as well, it is possible that the Hulk might have another
child, dwelling in Myth-Realm. Just like in mythology, single
encounters are very likely to lead to pregnancy and offspring in
comics.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Saraband should be distinguished from:
|
Morgaina could use her hourglass to "stop time" within an unspecified radius, but including, at least, Saraband's high tower castle. While those affected did not stop/freeze, they were
immune to actions from the outside world and did not age. Shattering the hourglass restored normal temporal flow.
Proclaiming her gratitude tot he Hulk, Morgaina suspended time in her hourglass, and for "a time called forever" she and the Hulk ("two mismatched lovers") shared everything good: feasts, music, art, and love (see comments). Eventually, however, the Hulk decided that Morgaina could not possibly love him, despite her insistence (although she did admit she loved his essence but not his rough form), and he shattered the hourglass, breaking the spell and allowing time to move forward anew. --HULK#21 Note: In case it's not clear from the middle image, the hourglass is inverted, but the sand is not pouring down via gravity. |  | * |
 | (HULK#21 (fb) - BTS) - Anxious of his relationship and involvement with the Hulk and his role in creating a monstrous creature he compared to being possessed by a demon, Bruce Banner sought out a hypno-therapist to help him deal with the situation. (HULK#21 - BTS) - As Banner related his concerns, they hypno-therapist sent him into a trance, during which he at least seemed to fall through space until emerging through a mirror-portal into Myth-Realm. In Myth-Realm, the Hulk heroically saved Princess Morgaina, who fell in love with both the Hulk and Bruce Banner, (HULK#21) - Banner then fell through darkness and awakened on the couch of his hypno-therapist who explained that she had used the trance to take him to the heart of his anxiety (the Hulk) and made him face it and realize that it wasn't eveil of a demon. After she concluded their session, Banner departed and considered that while the Hulk was his dark side, he was still part of him, and he was not evil. Meanwhile, the therapist (described as a servant of "Hypnos" and who was then shown to look just like Morgaina) considered Banners fantasies, ultimately noting that for a guardian of the mind and imagination, it was all in a day's work. And the omniscient narrative noted, "Let us hope she will live happily...forever after." --HULK#21 Note: As mentioned in the above comments, the whole journey to Myth-Realm was apparently part of a trance by Banner's hypno-therapist who wanted him to confront the source of his anxiety, which he did, accepting that the Hulk was an aspect of him and was not evil. However, the final panel shows the hypno-therapist to be identical or Morgaina, and she is described as a "mistress of Hypnos." It leaves the question of whether it was truly all imagination or not...and, of course, in the Marvel Multiverse, even dreams are real in the Dream dimension, etc. So, Myth-Realm exists on some level, hence this profile... Is she truly a servant/agent of Hypnos, or was it just a flowery description since she used dreams/hypnosis What is the exact relationship between the hypno-therapist and Morgaina? Did the therapist create Myth-Realm (with herself playing the role of Morgaina) and send the Hulk there? Was Myth-Realm created by the Hulk's subconscious/unconscious mind/dreams, with his memory of the attractive therapist leading Morgaina to resemble the therapist? Were Morgaina and the hypno-therapist somehow connected or different aspects of the same being working together to both help Myth-Realm and the Hulk? And, if you're driving down the road in your canoe, and the wheels fall off, how many pancakes does it take to cover a doghouse? The world may never know. |  |
HULK#21, story pg. 14, panel 2 (imprisoned by Darkshorn);
pg. 22, panel 2 (awakening and greeting Hulk);
panel 4 (face);
pg. 23, panel 1 (turning hourglass);
panel 2 (sharing feast);
panel 3 (playing flute);
panel 4 (walking amongst statues);
panel 6 (hourglass suspending time);
pg. 24, panel 2 (Hulk shattering hourglass);
pg. 34, panel 3 (hypno-therapist, knees up);
panel 4 (hypno-therapist, chest up);
Appearances:
HULK#21 (June, 1980) - Doug
Moench (writer), Bob McLeod (penciler/inker/colorer/letterer), Roger
Stern (consulting editor), Ralph Macchio (associate editor), Lynn
Graeme (editor)
First posted: 09/02/2021
Last updated: 02/06/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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