Rond Vidar

The Original Rond Vidar

Rond Vidar was the son of Vidar, Earth's Green Lantern. When Rond's mother died at the hands of Vidar's enemies, his father chose to place the boy with family on Earth. The elder Vidar was ultimately expelled from the Green Lantern Corps after attempting to view the origins of the universe. The officials of Earth then prohibited any Green Lantern from operating on the planet. Vidar was embittered and adopted a new identity — Universo. (Legion vol. 2 #295)

After this incident, the Guardians of the Universe bestowed Vidar's Green Lantern ring to his son, Rond Vidar. Rond now had immense power at his disposal, but he was forbidden from revealing it on Earth, and he kept that secret for many years. NOTE: Rond's secret was revealed in Legion vol. 3 #50 (Sept. 1980).

Rond also inherited his father's curiosity about the nature of time. His extraordinary intelligence enabled him to create the Time Cube, which drew his father's attention and resulted in a clash with the Legion. But Rond did not exhibit his father's evil tendencies, so he chose to help the Legion of Super-Heroes defeat Universo. (Adventure Comics #349)

Universo appeared again soon and hypnotized the population of Earth. Rond was immune to his father's power and helped Brainiac 5 to devise an antidote to his hypnotic drug. For his bravery, Rond earned the title of Honorary Legionnaire ... and his father's eternal enmity. (Adventure #359–360)

Rond was then accepted as a student at the Time Institute in Metropolis, where he suffered his greatest failure. In attempting to prove his theory about the circular nature of time, he sent a volunteer, Jaxon Rugarth, on a non-stop circuit through the time stream. Rugarth went mad and became the entity known as the Infinite Man. Although the Legion defeated and depowered the Infinite Man, Rond never forgave himself for the disaster. (Superboy & the Legion #233, Legion vol. 3 #18)

Although Rond was an honorary member of the Legion, his first responsibility was to the Time Institute. He has, at times, strictly enforced the Institute's rules governing time-travel, even upon the Legionnaires. (Legionnaires Three #2)

When Universo plotted another attempt to conquer Earth, he made sure that Rond wouldn't stop him — he killed him. Or so he thought. (Legion vol. 3 #30)

But because Rond was secretly serving as the Green Lantern of Earth's sector, 2814, this Oan power kept him alive. He emerged from his burial when the Legion needed a way to break through the Time Trapper's "Iron Curtain of Time." While fighting the Time Trapper, Rond finally revealed his status as a Green Lantern. He suggested using the Infinite Man's power to counter that of the Trapper. The Infinite Man came to understand and accept his purpose, and forgave Rond for his condition. (#50)

He left Earth due to its anti-Green Lantern law, but he testified on Brainiac 5's behalf when the Legion tried Brainy for the death of the Infinite Man. (#51)

Glorith Reality (Legion vol. 4)

In "Glorith Reality" continuity, Rond married the Legionnaire Laurel Gand. During this post-Zero Hour period of Legion history, the legacy of the Green Lantern Corps was also changed when the Guardians of the Universe were eliminated and there was only one Green Lantern in the universe (Kyle Rayner). All 30th century Green Lantern references were replaced with references to the Darkstars.

After the economy of the United Planets collapsed, Rond had his work cut out for him protecting the sector against the encroaching Khunds. He fought alongside the former Legionnaire Laurel Gand, and the two eventually fell in love. They had a child, named Lauren after Laurel's mother. But before he could enjoy fatherhood, Rond joined the Legion to rescue former Legionnaire Mysa Nal at the hands of Mordru. Mordru was too powerful for him; the mage stripped Rond of his Green Lantern ring, and crushed it. Rond was tortured by Mordru for several months before he was finally rescued by Laurel and the Legion. (Legion vol. 4 #3, 6-8)

He adopted the role of father while Laurel rejoined the Legion. They relocated to Talus along with other family members of the Legionnaires. Occasionally his skills were needed, as when the headquarters was attacked by an alien parasite. (Legion vol. 4 Annual #4, #50)

When the "Zero Hour" began to destroy the timestream, Rond and his associate from the Time Institute, Circadia Senius, were the first to notice its catastrophic effects. (Legion vol. 4 #57) As their universe was falling apart, Laurel Gand was killed while protecting the United Planets headquarters from a bomb (in a plot engineered by Universo). (#58-59)

This timeline came to an end shortly after Laurel's death. (#61)

Legion Retroboot (Infinite Crisis)

At the time of Infinite Crisis (2006), the original Legion's timeline was more-or-less reinstated, again becoming the canonical continuity for the mainstream Earth. However, this continuity did not include events from Legion vol. 4, so Rond was never married or lost his ring.

When the Legions from three universes were called to battle Superboy Prime, Rond leapt into battle as a Green Lantern against a massive assembly of the Legion of Super-Villains. Rond was accompanying several Legionnaires to the Sorcerer's World to rescue the White Witch from the sorceror Mordru. He stayed behind there to fight the LSV when they arrived, and Superboy Prime (who held great enmity toward the Green Lanterns) killed him there.

Rond's father, Universo, was present and did nothing to stop his murder. In fact, Vidar assumed he would reclaim his power ring. Instead, the ring raced off before he could grasp it, and returned to Oa. After the villains had gone, Mon-El and Shadow Lass retrieved Rond's body and returned it to Oa as well. There they met the last Guardian of the Universe, the Daxamite Sodam Yat. (Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #2)

Reboot Legion

After Zero Hour, the Legion's history was entirely rebooted. This timeline also had a Rond Vidar. He was a friend of Brainiac 5's when they studied together at the Time Institute. (Legionnaires #0)

During this period of DC history, another man named Vidar, from the year 2645, helped send John Fox on the fateful time-trip that transformed Fox into the 27th century Flash. (Flash Special #1)

Powers

Rond Vidar had no metahuman powers, but was a gifted scientist who invented the Time Cube.

He was historically immune to his father's mental powers of hypnotism.

As a Green Lantern, he possessed all the abilities that come with the will needed to utilize their power rings.