HANS KNOBLACH

Real Name: Hans Knoblach

Identity/Class: Human (non-powered mutate);
    citizen of the Holy Roman Empire (but close enough to be included under Germans in my book);
    17^th century and 18^th century A.D.;

Occupation: Tobacco merchant, at least

Group Membership: None known

Affiliations: None known

Enemies: Indirectly those involved in the Salem Witch Hunt

Known Relatives: Gertrude Knoblach (nee Hunter, wife, deceased), Gloria Knoblach (daughter; deceased), William Knoblach (Clarity; son), Fiona Knoblach (Finality/Dark Mother, daughter, apparently deceased);
    unidentified sister-in-laws (presumably deceased; see comments)
    John Jones, Andrew Benedict, Vernon Reaves (son-in-laws by Fiona, deceased);
    Seventh (real name unrevealed, granddaughter by Fiona & Vernon Reaves), three unidentified granddaughters by Fiona & Andrew Benedict, three unidentified granddaughters by John Jones;
    20 unidentified great-grandchildren (via Fiona);
    more than 60 unidentified great-grandchildren (via Fiona);
    Bonita (aka Bonnie, last name unrevealed, descendant, deceased), 30,000 other descendants including Gina Anderson,
        allegedly include Jean Grey (and, if so, presumably all of her maternal ancestors) as well as Cable (Nathan Summers/Nathan Dayspring Askani'son; via Madison Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey), and Sara Grey-Bailey; Rachel Grey (aka Rachel Summers, aka Marvel Girl, Phoenix, Pinnacle, etc., would be a descendant of Hans' Reality-811 counterpart) - see comments

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    apparently perished somewhere off the coast of Virginia (or presumably somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean relatively nearby)
    formerly unspecified location in Virginia, the English colony in America;
    either born or grew up in Hamburg, Germany

First Appearance: (Mentioned only, as Clarity & Finality's father) Cable I#93 (July, 2001);
    (pictured and unidentified ) Cable I#94 (August, 2001)

Powers/Abilities: Hans Knoblach had no known superhuman powers, although his DNA was apparently mutated such that his at least two of his three children possessed

History:
(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1660 A.D.> - A fiery meteorite fell to the ground near Hamburg, Germany. Six children there on holiday found the stone. Whatever the glowing material was, it dissolved into dust before any scientist could examine the meteor.

    Within six months, 5 of those 6 children died. Only one, a boy named Hans Knoblach (who had come from a wealthy German merchant family), survived, seemingly with no problems.

(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1670 A.D.> - Hans married Gertrude, daughter of an English Lord.

(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1671 A.D.> - Hans and his wife were awarded a large tract of land in Virginia and moved to the New World (the future USA).

(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1673 A.D.> - Gertrude gave birth to a daughter, Gloria.

(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1675 A.D.> - Gertrude gave birth to her second child, William.

(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1680 A.D.> - Gertrude gave birth to her third and final child, Fiona. 

(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1692 A.D.> - Gloria went to visit her mother's relatives, living in Salem, Massachusetts. She was accused by one of the village children of being a witch. Gloria was judged and hanged in June of that year.

(Cable I#94 (fb)) <1695 A.D.> - Apologies for the Salem Witch Trials were sent to the relatives of those executed. It was little comfort to Gloria's parents and siblings: Their daughter was dead, and no apology could bring her back.

(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) - Fiona was especially bitter. She allegedly tried to hire a group of mercenaries to attack Salem. The final straw for Fiona was when William Stroughton (see comments), the most rabid witch-hunter of the trials, was elected governor of Massachusetts. Fiona was so enraged over the election that her parents feared for her sanity. She was confined to the family mansion for a year. Her only visitor was a minister who read to her from the Bible. When she emerged, she did not speak of her sister again.

(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1700 A.D.> - William traveled to Europe on a business trip, selling tobacco for his father. However, he remained overseas, allegedly studiying the occult in India or Tibet. During that period, he changed his name to Clarity. 

(Cable I#93 (fb) - BTS) - At some point, Clarity gained the assistants Calvin and Sarah, who insisted on acconpanying him on his travels. Clarity called them his ravens.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update#4: Dark Mother profile) - Fiona arranged her parents' death in a boat sinking.

(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1705 A.D.> - Hans and Gertrude died in a family boating accident; only Fiona survived. She inherited an estate worth millions.

    Fiona insisted that their parents had died in a boating accident....

Comments: Created by Robert Weinberg, Tom Derenick, Ted Pertzborn & Harry Candelario.

Meteor(ite):

• I'm no expert in the matter, but my understanding is this (look it up for more information):
• An asteroid is a solid mineral floating body in space, generally formed closer to the sun
  
• A comet is a combination of of mineral and ice floating in space, generally formed farther from the sun. I believe I learned that comets tended to follow specific orbits, etc., like the recurring Halley's comet...not sure if that is consistent to comets.
  
• A meteor is an asteroid or piece of a mineral from a comet that hits Earth's atmosphere, often producing a bright light as they glow hot while burning up in the atmosphere, which most of them do. They are also called shooting stars as they move through space. A meteor shower is multiple asteroid or comet mineral fragments hitting at the same time.
• A meteorite is a meteor that reaches/hits the Earth's surface, which is what this one was...so meteorite is the correct term.
• I have also seen the term "meteoroid" used to describe both/either comets and asteroids floating in space
  

Salem Witch Trials:

1. There are a lot of profiles dealing with this subject, including Miles Alden, Charity Brown, John Burroughs, Dark Rider, Abigail Harkness, Agatha Harkness, Cotton Mather, Betty Parris, John Proctor, Hiram Shaw, Obadiah Shaw, Tituba, Abigail Williams, Witches of New Salem, Mary Wolcott, at least.
   Let me know there are others that I missed.
2. Cotton Mather, Betty Parris, John Proctor, Tituba, Mary Walcott (with an "a"), and Abigail Williams were real world historical figures in the Salem Witch Trials.
3. William Stoughton (without the "r"), who does not yet have a profile, is also a real world historical figure in the Salem Witch Trials.
4. In Reality-616, Dracula apparently manipulated Tituba to orchestrate the Salem Witch Trials as vengeance for the death of Charity Brown, and the Dark Rider was the power behind Cotton Mather.
5. While Miles Alden was not a real world figure, John Alden is listed as a survivor of the Salem Witch Trials.
6. The Charity Brown profile and the triple profile for Betty Parris, Mary Wolcott, and Abigail Williams I think have the most detail on the subject, but it would be nice to have a Salem Witch Trials event profile.
   Any qualified takers?
7. Tituba could certainly be expanded to her own profile.
   

• Virginia
• 1673 - Colony of Virginia
• 1686-1689 - still Colony of Virginia but it almost all the other colonies now considered part of larger Dominion of New England
• 1689 and on until Independence, back to Colony of Virginia.
• Germany
• For Hans - yes, Holy Roman Empire for Hamburg in 1660, and indeed all of the 1600s and more.
• England
• The Kingdom of Great Britain formed with the Union of Crowns circa 1707, and became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. Prior to the Union of the Crowns, England and Scotland were still separate kingdoms and separate countries, even though by this point they shared a single monarch.
• Title for the daughter of a lord
• Depends on the type. Most have no title (beyond Miss), but if the lord was an earl or duke then she'd be titled Lady. The wife of a Lord gets to call herself Lady; the husband of a Lady doesn't get to call himself Lord.
• As there's no evidence that her father was an earl or a duke, or the Duke of Earl, I'll leave Gertrude as untitled...

• Clarity and Finality were defined as mutants in-story.
• It used to be a pretty standard origin for mutants that the parents had been mutated by radiation, which is why the children were mutants. Professor X and the Beast are perfect examples.
• Franklin Richards used to be a mutant, but the current policy is that he used his cosmic energies to make it appear that he was genetically a mutant.
• However, I don't see anyone taking away the mutant status of Professor X or the Beast...
• So, anyway, who knows in the current mutant status quo whether Clarity and Finality are/were mutants...and we don't know whether Gloria had powers...
  

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Hans Knoblach should be distinguished from:

• KNOWBOT ( ) - computer hacker, helped Sinclair Spectrum, employed by Hydra, ultimately slain by Killobyte to prevent him from revealing his employers--Daredevil I#326
• KNOWHERE (Continuum Cortex, Cosmo) - colony at the Rip, based within decapitated head of immense Celestial, converted into zombie-like slave of Abyss, disintegrated after Abyss was re-contained--Nova IV#8
  
• CAPTAIN KNOW-MORE of Earth-97103 - granted greatest wish to Jolly, Sue Storm, Thang, and Wreck. Counterpart of Namor (and the Wizard of Oz)--What If II#100/2
• other "Kno" characters, groups, items, events, races, or places...
  

Gertrude Hunter was the daughter of an English Lord and was a citizen of England (see comments above for both) (Cable I#94 (fb)) <1670 A.D.> - Gertrude married Hans Knoblach, the son of a wealthy German merchant family. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1671 A.D.> - Gertrude and Hans were awarded a large tract of land in Virginia and moved to America. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) - Gertrude had other relatives who moved to Salem, Massachusetts. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1673 A.D.> - Gertrude gave birth to a daughter, Gloria. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1675 A.D.> - Gertrude gave birth to her second child, William. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1680 A.D.> - Gertrude gave birth to her third and final child, Fiona. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1692 A.D.> - Gloria went to visit Gertrude's relatives (see comments), living in Salem, Massachusetts. There Gloria was accused by one of the village children of being a witch. Gloria was judged and hanged in June of that year. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1695 A.D.> - Apologies for the Salem Witch Trials were sent to the relatives of those executed. It was little comfort to Gertrude, Hans, or their remaining children: Their daughter was dead, and no apology could bring her back.      Fiona became so upset over her sister's murder that her parents feared for her sanity, confining to the family mansion for a year. Her only visitor was a minister who read to her from the Bible. When she emerged, she did speak of her sister again. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1700 A.D.> - Traveling to Europe on a business trip, selling tobacco for his father, William remained overseas. (Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update#4: Dark Mother profile) - Fiona arranged her parents' death in a boat sinking. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1705 A.D.> - Gertrude and Hans died in a family boating accident; only Fiona survived. Fiona inherited an estate worth millions. (Cable I#93 (fb)) - Hearing of their parents' deaths, Clarity -- accompanied by Calvin and Sarah -- returned home as quickly as he could. Although he missed their funeral, he met with Fiona, asking why she had murdered them and suggesting perhaps because father had objected to financing her plans for revenge.     Fiona insisted that their parents had died in a boating accident... --Cable I#94

Having been born in the English colony of Virginia between 1607 and 1686, Gloria and her siblings would be citizens of England (Virginia colony). . (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1673 A.D.> - The oldest child of Hans and Gertrude Knoblach, Gloria was born, presumably in Virginia. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1675 A.D.> - Gertrude gave birth to her second child, William. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1680 A.D.> - Gertrude gave birth to her third and final child, Fiona.

. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1692 A.D.> - Gloria went to visit Gertrude's relatives (see comments), living in Salem, Massachusetts. There Gloria was accused by one of the village children of being a witch. Gloria was judged and hanged in June of that year. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1695 A.D.> - Apologies for the Salem Witch Trials were sent to the relatives of those executed. It was little comfort to Gertrude, Hans, or their remaining children: Their daughter was dead, and no apology could bring her back.      Fiona became so upset over her sister's murder that her parents feared for her sanity, confining to the family mansion for a year. Her only visitor was a minister who read to her from the Bible. When she emerged, she did speak of her sister again. --Cable I#94 Note: William and Fiona had powers, but did Gloria? Having abilities would certainly have made her a target of the Witch Trials, but obviously, even in Reality-616, many if not most of those accused and/or executed did actual have any powers or practice witchcraft.

(Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) <1660 A.D.> - A fiery meteor(ite) fell to the ground near Hamburg, Germany. Six children there on holiday found the stone. Whatever the glowing material was, it dissolved into dust before any scientist could examine the meteor.     Within six months, 5 of those 6 children died. Only one, a boy named Hans Knoblach (who had come from a wealthy German merchant family), survived, seemingly with no problems. (Cable I#94 (fb) - BTS) - At least two of Hans' children had superhuman powers. --Cable I#94

Appearances:
Cable I#93-94 (July-August, 2001) - Robert Weinberg (writer), Tom Derenick (penciler), Ted Pertzborn & Harry Candelario (inker), Pete Franco (assistant editor), Mark Powers (editor)

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update#4: Dark Mother profile (December, 2010) - Jeff Christiansen & Mike O'Sullivan (head writers/coordinators), Stuart Vandal, Markus Raymond & Mike Fichera (assistant coordinators), Sean McQuaid, Michael Hoskin, Stuart Vandal, Markus Raymond, Rob London, Kevin Garcia, Gabe Schecter, Madison Carter, Ronald Byrd, David Wiltfong, Jeph York & Jacob Rougemont (writers), Gus Vasquez & Tom Chu (select character artwork), Theodore W. Kutt (copy editor), James Emett & Joe Hochstein (editorial assistants), Alex Starbuck & Nelson Ribeiro (assistant editors), Jennifer Grunwald & Mark D. Beazley (editors, special projects), Jeff Youngquist (editor)

First posted: 12/01/2023
Last updated: 12/01/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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