Glorith

The Original Glorith

The first Glorith was a one-time Legion foe who was recruited by the Time Trapper, who resided in a time that was millions of years in the future. He sent Glorith to assail the Legion using a special "devolutionary" hourglass (and the gloves to protect her from its power). Turning the Legionnaires into babies failed to defeat them, and the Trapper then tricked Glorith into touching the hourglass; she devolved into protoplasm. (Adventure #338)

Under unexplained circumstances, she or another woman named Glorith also later fell prey to the master magician, Mordru. He called her name among other mages who were supposedly deceased. (Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #2)

Glorith Reality (Legion vol. 4)

In Legion volume 4, Glorith played a very large role in the history of the Legion. Events from that series are not a part of any current Legion continuity.

In vol. 4, the group's timeline was completely overwritten when Mon-El destroyed the Time Trapper. (Legion vol. 4 #4) Glorith essentially assumed the role of the Time Trapper in this continuity, and she was the Legion's primary adversary.

After the Time Trapper was destroyed, a dark new reality emerged in which the villain Mordru rose to galactic dominion. An underground resistance believed that the only way to end Mordru’s reign was to somehow restore the "puppet master" role played by the Time Trapper. Their leader, Rond Vidar, struck a desperate alliance with Mordru’s scheming first wife, Glorith. Glorith carried out a perilous ritual that would allow her to take the place of the puppet master. Standing naked in the cold, Glorith drew the necessary magic symbols in the snow with her own blood, knowing that if the spell was not complete by morning, the instant Mordru awoke he would know what they had tried to do and kill them all. As dawn broke, Glorith collapsed, feeling her life drain out of her to power the final stage of the spell. Mordru stirred, realizing what was happening an instant too late. (#5)

The resulting Legion timeline was nearly the same as before — except for the total absence of Superboy and Supergirl in their formation. Without these anchors to inspire the formation of the United Planets and the Legion, Glorith chose the 20th century hero Lar Gand to play that part. Instead of becoming Mon-El (a name that suggests a connection to Superman's family), Gand took the alias of Valor. He devoted himself to safeguarding the galaxy against threats like the Dominators and became a legendary hero. Valor’s heroism, strength, and good looks caught Glorith’s eye. She offered him a chance to rule the universe if he would become her consort. He refused, and in her rage she imprisoned him in the "Bgztl Buffer Zone," where he spent the next thousand years as a disembodied phantom. (Legion vol. 4 Annual #2)

In 2974, the Legion discovered that Valor was still alive in the Buffer Zone. He was finally released and became a full-time Legionnaire.

Another Legionnaire, Ultra Boy, managed to piece together evidence that pointed toward Glorith's machinations, and led the Legion to investigate on her homeworld of Baaldur. To prevent her from gaining total domination, Ultra Boy pitted Mordru against Glorith, warning him that she was a serious threat to his power. As a result, Mordru attacked Glorith, triggering the bloody, mutually exhausting stalemate.

Later, Brainiac Five arrived at similar suspicions. Glorith confronted him directly and tried to pit him against his teammates. (Legion vol. 4 Annual #1)

In this new reality, the Time Trapper still existed, but he had greatly reduced powers and influence. (Adventures of Superman #478) The Trapper did not have the power to challenge Glorith directly, but he took steps to prevent Glorith's total domination. He created temporal duplicates of the Legionnaires (later known as Batch SW6) and concealed them in stasis within the Time Institute in Metropolis. He hoped to eventually use them against Glorith and/or Mordru. (Legion vol. 4 #53)

When Glorith learned of a Dominator plan to control the population of the planet Daxam (Valor’s home), she used her powers to wipe out the planet’s entire population. A small group of Legionnaires — Valor and Laurel Gand, two of the few surviving Daxamites, along with Brainiac Five, Saturn Girl, Duo Damsel, and honorary member Rond Vidar — made a secret pact to avenge the Daxamites. These Legionnaires confronted Glorith on Baaldur. Valor was nearly slain when Glorith used her powers to age him 200 years in an instant. Saturn Girl was wounded and one of Duo Damsel’s bodies was apparently killed, but the conspirators finally forced the sorceress to retreat into the timestream.

Before she vanished, she took revenge on Ultra Boy by killing his longtime lover, Phantom Girl. (Legion vol. 4 Annual #1)

The Time Trapper goaded Glorith, but she scoffed at his offer to share dominion of the universe with her. She knew what he had done in the previous timeline, she told him, but he was no longer necessary. With that, she consumed his ethereal form, adding his power to her own and apparently destroyed him once more. (Legion vol. 4 #13)

Glorith was emboldened and moved to inspire the Khundian Empire to invade the United Planets. She played the role of their beloved goddess, the “Demon Mother” and armed them with powerful weaponry from across time. (#15–16) The Legion stopped her by using Dominator weapon called the “chronal howitzer.” Its power catapulted Glorith to the End of Time, where she realized she lacked the power to return to her right place in time. (#17)

Glorith did make her way back to the 30th century from the end of time and she began a new, more personal quest. Still infatuated with Valor, she concocted a scheme to win his affections while he was a young man in the 20th century, years before their original meeting. (Valor #12–16) But young Lar Gand resisted her advances and her interference led to his death. Valor’s demise, at a time critical to his role in the Legion's history, had catastrophic ramifications for the timestream. (Valor #17)

With reality crumbling around them, the Legion engaged Glorith again on Baaldur. Some suffered serious casualties but their newest member, Devlin O’Ryan, reflected her powers back onto Glorith and she was overcome. (Legion vol. 4 #53)

The Time Trapper returned (#53) and Glorith was forced to ally with Mordru. (#58)

Their desperate attempts at conquest led them to unleash the Infinite Man and steal his power. (#60) Finally, the two frustrated sorcerers swore that if they could not rule the universe, they would destroy it. The time fluctuations allowed Superboy to return, and he knocked Glorith out. The Legionnaires then banished Mordru to an earthen tomb.

The timeline was broken and reality began to disintegrate. (Valor #23) With the Time Trapper's help, the surviving Legionnaires joined life forces in the hope of reestablishing reality in a stabile form. (Legion vol. 4 #61, Zero Hour #1)

Powers

Glorith's magical abilities are still under development, but she appears confident and prepared with a stable of spells to aid in a variety of situations. Her most frequent construct is magical shielding.

Appearances + References