Nikolai, First Baron of Mordo

Real Name: Nikolai, First Baron of Mordo

Identity/Class: Human magic user; Transylvanian native

Occupation: Baron of Mordo

Group Membership: Austro-Hungarian aristocracy

Affiliations: Heinrich, Viscount Krowler; Miarka (mistress & teacher in the mystic arts); Sara Krowler Mordo

Enemies: Sara Mordo; Heinrich, Viscount Krowler

Known Relatives: Sara Krowler Mordo (wife); Karl Amadeus, second Baron of Mordo (son from Sara); Heinrich, Viscount Krowler (father-in-law); Lilia Murgo (daughter from Miarka); Lilia Calderu (granddaughter), Astrid Mordo (great-granddaughter)

Aliases: First Baron of Mordo

Base of Operations: Castle of Varf Mandra, Transylvania

First Appearance: Doctor Strange III#6 (August 1989) 

Powers/Abilities:  Nikolai Mordo was taught magic by his mistress Miarka, Witch-Queen of the Gypsies, and became, according to reports, a "skilled practitioner" of the black arts.

 History:  

 

(Doctor Strange III#6/2) - Nikolai Mordo was a Transylvanian nobleman (or boyar) who was probably made "Baron" when his lands fell under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the First World War, since he referred to himself as the "First Baron of Mordo". The origins of the name "Mordo" itself remains unrevealed, but it would be logical to assume that it was the name of a small Transylvanian province, the center of which was the village of Varf Mandra where Nikolai's castle was located.

For a variety of unspecified reasons, Nikolai felt bitter about the defeat of the Empire after World War I, its generals and politicians, and the encroachments of modern technology; he sought to restore Transylvania to its past glories through the use of black magic, and was tutored in the mystic arts by his then-mistress, Miarka, Witch-Queen of the Gypsies.

(Doctor Strange III#8/2) - It was revealed that Miarka bore an illegitimate daughter from her liaison with Nikolai; that daughter was Lilia.

 

 



(Doctor Strange III#6/2) - For his own reasons, German mystic Heinrich, Viscount Krowler, who needed a grandson to further his ends, arranged for the marriage of his daughter, Sara, to Nikolai. From that union was born a son, christened Karl Amadeus -- the Baron Mordo who later went on to become Doctor Strange's arch-enemy. But When Nikolai's plans to recreate a new Carpathian Kingdown through sorcerous means came close to fruition, Viscount Krowler ordered his daughter to kill her husband, which she did gleefully, catching him unaware and channeling her father's power.

Comments: Created by Jean-Marc Lofficier, Roy Thomas (writers) and Tom Sutton (artist)


"Profile by" Jean-Marc Lofficier (yes, that Jean-Marc Lofficier!--Snood).

CLARIFICATIONS:  
Nikolai, First Baron of Mordo should be distinguished from:

Images:

Doctor Strange III#6 , p.25, panel 3
Doctor Strange III#6 , p.27, panel 2
Doctor Strange III#6 , p.27, panel 4


Last updated: 04/18/04

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