UNNAMEABLE
Real Name: unrevealed
Identity/Class: extra-dimensional magic user
Occupation: would-be conqueror of all life
Affiliations: formerly Ytitnedion and many within Tunnelworld (The Buzzard People, the Ixhoohxi, the "Silverthing," Storm monsters )
formerly numerous other beings and races in other dimensions
under his control;
formerly the Lunatiks, the Nilffim-Riders, Professor Harrison Turk, and
the Hulk
Enemies: Aeroika, the Defenders (Dr. Strange, Hulk, Namor), the Nya, Arisen Tyrk, the Winged Ones, Xhoohx
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Enemy, Monster Maker, the Unnamed
Base of Operations: trapped within a
nest of cells in the brain of the Hulk;
formerly an unidentified extradimensional realm; also active
within other extradimensional realms, such as Tunnelworld
First Appearance: Defenders I#72, 76, 83 (May, 1980)
Powers/Abilities: The Unnameable is an entity of vast magical power. Any who learn it's name fall under its control and thus increase its power. It had sufficient power to control hundreds to thousands or more beings in an unknown number of realms. It granted magical power to its servants, giving some of them sufficient power to become powerful sorcerers in their own right. Beings who give themselves over completely to the Unnameable surrender their own identity, and are lost without it.
The Unnameable can temporarily withdraw its power (and by its very nature, also withdraw the knowledge of the name) from its servants, in order to marshal its energies in a direct attack. It can traverse dimensions with ease and can occupy others with illusions and three-dimensional, solid forms which can not only occupy them, but injure or even slay them. It can influence weather patterns within any of the realms under its sway.
The Unnameable is somehow weakened by the energies of the Orb of Ommennon.
History: The origins and true nature of the Unnameable are unknown.
(Defenders#79 (fb) - BTS) - The Unnameable brought Ytitnedion, a sorcerer of Tunnelworld under its control. Ytitnedion established the fortress of Ogeon, from which he began to spreads the Unnameable's power. Relatively few beings, such as Xhoohx and the Nya, could resist the influence of the Unnameable, although they did manage to keep a few realms shielded from its power.
(Defenders#71(fb) - BTS) - Arisen Tyrk, the tyrannical God-King of Other Realm, was defeated. In an effort to escape capture, he fled into an extradimensional portal, and he was fragmented, and in the process, his fragment forms fell under the sway of the Unnameable. Parts of Tyrk were sent to Earth in the form of Harrison Turk and three versions of Lunatik.. Three more fragments of Tyrk were sent to Tunnelworld, where they became the Nilffim, who joined forces with Ytitnedion.
(Defenders#70 - BTS) - Sensing the sinister
power behind the otherwise goofy Lunatik(s), Dr. Strange and the
Hulk traveled to Tunnelworld to investigate.
(Defenders#71 - 73 - all BTS) - After capturing
and defeating the Lunatiks and Harrison Turk on Earth, and after
learning a skewed version of Tyrk's pasts, the Defenders (Clea,
Hellcat, Nighthawk, and Valkyrie) traveled to Tunnelworld to
merge Tyrk's various forms. They ran into Strange and the Hulk,
who helped them subdue the again violent Lunatiks and Turk, who,
in turn, were joined by the Nilffim.
The Defenders brought the Tyrk fragments to Xhoohx, master
sorcerer of Tunnelworld, who joined with them and forming a spell
to re-merge the fragmented forms into Arisen Tyrk. The
Unnameable caused powerful storms and even caused several
monstrous creatures to attack the Defenders to try to prevent
them from reaching Xhoohx, but they weathered the storm and
fought off the creatures.
Upon merging the fragments back into Tyrk, they broke the
Unnameable's power over the God-King. However, the God-King
overpowered Xhoohx and the Defenders, and then challenged the
Unnameable itself, seeking vengeance for being used as its pawn.
The Unnameable sent more storm monsters to attack Tyrk, who
easily fought them off, but the Defenders knocked Tyrk through
the Rings of Raggadorr (formed by the combined power of Clea,
Strange, and Xhoohx). This both incapacitated Tyrk and placed him
out of the Unnameable's reach. The Unnameable had apparently
wished for Tyrk to battle him, so that he could defeat him
and bring him under his control.
Lacking the power or the knowledge of how to defeat the
Unnameable at that time, Strange declined Xhoohx's offer to stay
in Tunnelworld and oppose it. Strange the Defenders returned to
Earth.
(Defenders#76 - BTS) - The Unnameable sent a gelatinous glob ("Silverthing") to Earth, which confronted and tested the Hulk. After finding him to be a worthy vessel, it engulfed and incapacitated him and implanted knowledge of the name within his mind. This knowledge would stay hidden until it could be released and the Hulk could be used to trap Strange and his allies.
(Defenders#78-80 - BTS) - Strange brought Namor and the Hulk back to Tunnelworld to oppose the Unnameable. The joined forces with Aeroika, who brought them to Ogeon to oppose Ytitnedion.
(Defenders#81, 82 - BTS) - Within Ogeon, Ytitnedion released the name into the Hulk's mind, weakening him so that he could be defeated and captured. When the Hulk revived, he was under the sway of the Unnameable, and attacked his former allies. Both the Hulk and Ytitnedion were defeated and captured, but Xhoohx was slain.
(Defenders#83 - BTS) - On the edge of Tunnelworld, during Xhoohx's burial, the Unnameable involved itself directly in the conflict which threatened to dislodge its hold over that realm. It created a powerful blizzard around the Defenders and Aeroika, enabling Ytitnedion to breaks his bonds and to free the Hulk. However, Strange then expanded the Orb of Ommennon to encompass them all, to blunt the power of the Unnameable. In order to overcome the draining influence of the Orb, the Unnameable drew all of its power into itself and brought itself fully into the Hulk's consciousness within the Orb. It then occupied the Defenders and Aeroika with the forms of the Hulk's many foes, who attacked them, seemingly without end. Namor attacked the Hulk, but the brute's might, amplified by the power of the Unnameable, easily cast him aside.
Strange used his full power, amplified by the Eye of Agamotto to pierce the illusions and expose the true form of the Unnameable. Weakened by the attack, the Unnameable withdrew its power from its various agents in various realms in order to combat Strange. Strange, however, continued to break down its illusions and managed to drive the Unnameable into the Hulk's memory, where it thought itself same from detection or attack. Rather than try to attack it and risk injuring the Hulk's mind, Strange combined his magical and surgical skills to locate the portion of the Hulk's brain containing the memory of the name, and isolated it from the rest of the Hulk's brain. In addition, since the Unnameable had withdrawn its power from its various agents, it had also withdrawn knowledge of its name--the source of that power--from them as well. The Unnameable was thus trapped, in the form of its own name.
Comments: Created by Ed Hannigan and Herb Trimpe.
Dr. Strange placed a spell over the Lunatiks,
the Nilffim, etc., so that they could not say the name, and thus
could not spread its power to include the Defenders. Later, upon
returning to Tunnelworld, he apparently shielded himself and his
allies so that they could not learn the name. Xhoohx used the
last of his might to place a similar spell over himself.
Dr. Strange confirmed that the name was unpronounceable
Other than that, I'm not sure why the Unnameable or his allies
didn't just broadcast the name over some mass source to gain
power over large groups at one time.
If I had to guess, I'd say the name might
be..."Ni!"
well, maybe not, but that's a powerful word, too.
I would think that anytime someone tries to read the Hulk's mind, they may encounter the physical and magical blocks installed by Dr. Strange. Investigation of these barriers could release the Unnameable into the Hulk, or into the telepath reading his mind. That is, if any writers at Marvel had read the Tunnelworld saga...which I doubt.
If I hadn't double-checked the credits, I'd have been sure that the whole Tunnelworld saga had to be a product of the mind of Gerber.
The true form and nature of the Unnameable remains to be seen.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:
First Posted: 02/03/2003
Last updated: 07/05/2014
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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