(Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1 (fb)) -
The Druids ran in
between marching armies in order to stop wars and seek peace.
DRUIDS
Membership: Cestis, others
Purpose: Remain hidden from the world and
maintain their peaceful religious lifestyle
Affiliations: Sub-Mariner (Namor McKenzie)
Enemies: Nazis (Mueller, others)
Base of Operations: Undersea mountain kingdom
between the coasts of United Kingdom and Ireland (presumably St.
Georges Channel);
formerly Rockhenge, England, UK
Characteristics:
The Druids of Rockhenge are deeply religious with mystical rites
including sacrifices and they have maintained their customs across
several millennia. With distinctive robed clothing, earrings and beards
for
mature to elderly men, they have a strongly patriarchal structure
with no women visible. They are peaceable and agrarian in nature. The
Druids' civilization includes their own runic lettering, although they
learn the languages of surface dwellers rapidly. Their technology
appears to be focused on waterproof dwellings and improving underwater
breathing equipment.
First Appearance: Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1 (Fall, 1941)
History:
(Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1 (fb) - BTS) - Before the time
of the Roman emperor Caesar (see comments), the deeply religious and
peaceable Druids had their temple
Rockhenge, including it for human sacrifices, in what is known today as
England.
(Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1 (fb)) -
The Druids ran in
between marching armies in order to stop wars and seek peace.
(Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1 - (fb) BTS) - The Druids predicted a great flood that would drown the world (see comments) and scribed this on a stone tablet.
(Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1 (fb)) - The Druids fashioned crude diving helmets with air supplies that would allow them to go underwater and make preparations to move under the sea at a mountain (whose top peak crested the sea west of Britain) using a long underwater tunnel from Rockhenge. They created a domed township and stockyards, and farmed the seabed, adapting quickly to undersea life.
(Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1 - (fb) BTS) - Their underwater roving technology evidently developed with helmets that had longer air supplies and communicators, and they wore almost instantly drying robes.
The advent of World War II saw the
unwelcome advances of Nazi military, who found their civilization and
coerced the Druids into helping them supply submarines and an
underwater platform on a
massive elevator that included a secret fighter-bomber base for Nazi
Germany
so that Germans could strike England from an unforeseen direction.
Headed by Gestapo agent Mueller, the Nazis lied that the British were
untrustworthy and to be destroyed while the Nazis plundered much of the
Druids' food supplies. However, not all the Druids were agreeable and
one escaped for help with a map showing a connection to their base, but
he was shot, his body washing up on a Dublin beach.
(Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1) -
Investigating surprise German airstrikes, Namor found the Druid's
corpse with the aid of Anna O'Shaughnessy until
Nazis, led by Gestapo agent Mueller, shot them. Namor survived and
followed another clue that took him to Rockhenge. There, museum curator
Smythe provided more information on the Druid
civilization's dramatic history. Namor found a hidden doorway that took
him via the tunnel to the Druids' underwater mountain. Swayed by
Mueller's lies, the Druids clubbed and bound Namor; senior Druid Cestis
was about to sacrifice Namor when Mueller intervened as he wanted Namor
alive for vicious interrogation. Namor managed to escape and marveled
at the Druids' remarkable achievements and agrarian nature. Meanwhile,
Cestis saw Mueller's torture room and finally saw the Nazis' vile
nature. Cestis chose to side with Namor, who encouraged they revolt
against the Nazis. However, Mueller was secretly observing them and
flooded the room, drowning Cestis and the Druids with him. Cestis'
death galvanized the Druids and, with weapons supplied by Namor, they
forced the Nazis to flee; this ultimately led to the destruction of the
Nazi underwater base. The base's explosion caused the Druids' mountain
to sit on a giant air bubble and the Druids then hauled their home to a
new peaceful spot four miles further west (thereby also severing their
tunnel connection to Rockhenge). The Druids promised Namor future help
if needed.
Comments: Created by uncredited writer, Alex Schomburg, Al Gabriele, Harry Sahle.
How far back was their time at Rockhenge if it was prior to Julius Caesar (49-44 BC)? Placing their civilization to (at least) 300 BC seems reasonable. However, their prediction of the Great Flood (suggested to be linked to Noah) is unlikely to be connected as far back as the Great Cataclysm (ca. 18,000 BC). It may be the Biblical Flood, ca. 2940 BC (which may or may not have occurred in the Marvel Universe) or it may just have been a local flooding event.
Rockhenge is clearly a reference to Stonehenge in southern England.
This profile was completed 09/14/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary's celebratory event.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Druids of Rockhenge have no known connections to:
Cestis was a senior member of the Druids of
Rockhenge and had been swayed by the lies of the Nazis led by the
nefarious Gestapo agent Mueller, believing the British were warmongers.
Seeing Namor aligned with the British, Cestis helped carry the bound
Namor to the sacrificial altar and was
about to smash him with a mace when he was stopped by Mueller, who
intended to brutally interrogate him. However, Cestis saw the torture
room and the Nazis' true vile nature. Seeing reason, he
joined Namor's cause against the Nazis but was caught in a room with
several other Druids that
was flooded by Mueller and he drowned.
--Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1
Rockhenge was the ancient place of worship for the
Druids that had since been abandoned for several millennia by the Druid
people. Rockhenge contained an altar that (bizarrely) still had ancient
bloodstains on it. The altar also contained a stone tablet in
runic Druid language that revealed the Druids predicted a worldwide
deluge
and so they constructed crude diving helmets to live on an underwater
mountain whose peak crested the sea west of Britain. In modern times,
investigators searched for hidden entrances into the hills around
Rockhenge but failed, until Namor stumbled across one.
--Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1
Mrs. Anna O'Shaughnessy lived in Dublin, Ireland. She
found a dead body washed up by a big wave on the shore through the fog;
the body was dressed in Druid robes and she superstitiously mistook him
for a banshee. She caused such a ruckus that she was charged with
disturbing the peace and assessed as mentally unsound. Investigating a
hidden base, Namor considered her unusual case a potential clue so he
bailed her out. She led him to the site, but Nazi agents led by the
nefarious Mueller were also there and shot them both, killing
O'Shaughnessy.
--Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1
Smythe (first name unrevealed) was the curator of the
London Museum and Namor approached him for information on Rockhenge.
The two traveled to Rockhenge for a first-hand look and Smythe
identified bloodstains that (bizarrely) remained on the ancient altar.
On the altar, they found a tablet in runic Druid language that Smythe
translated was a prediction of a worldwide deluge and so they
constructed
crude diving helmets to live on an underwater mountain whose peak
crested the sea west of Britain. Namor investigated a stone wall and,
potentially because of his heightened strength, soon triggered a hidden
doorway that other investigators had not found. Smythe was caught in
the sudden swinging door and killed. Trapped inside the tunnel, Namor
had to leave Smythe's corpse behind at Rockhenge.
--Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1
images:
(without ads)
Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1, p11, pan6 (main image)
p36, pan5 (duo)
p17, pan1 (with underwater helmets)
p40, pan1 (underwater mountain)
p21, pan4 (Cestis)
p8, pan1 (Rockhenge)
p8, pan4 (stone tablet)
p6, pan5 (O'Shaughnessy)
p7, pan7 (Smythe)
Appearances:
Sub-Mariner Comics#3/1 (Fall, 1941) - uncredited writer, Alex Schomburg
& Al Gabriele (pencils), Harry Sahle (inks), Joe Simon (editor)
First posted: 09/14/2021
Last updated:
09/18/2021.
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™
and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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