LORD TAVONLORD TAVON
Real Name: Presumably Tavon
Identity/Class: Alternate
Reality (Earth-93060/"Ultraverse") Extraterrestrial (Godwheel)
Occupation: Former ruler of an unidentified kingdom
Group Membership: The kingdom he ruled
Affiliations: Knights (including Ranadar) and subjects (including an unidentified healer)
formerly Necromantra (Thanasi, aka Marinna")
Enemies: Necromantra (Thanasi, aka Marinna"), Slithors;
presumably Lord Pumpkin
Known Relatives: Unidentified first wife (deceased), "Marinna" (Necromantra/Thanasi, second wife/widow), Arielle (daughter)
Aliases: "Darling," "Husband" (by Necromantra)
Base of Operations: Unidentified castle on the Godwheel, Reality-93060
First Appearance: Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#1 (April, 1995)
Powers/Abilities: Tavon was apparently a kind and just ruler who led his people to peace and prosperity.
He was an experienced and
reasonably skilled archer and equestrian, and he wore a suit of metal
armor into battle.
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History: Imprisoned within the castle was the wizard who had created Lord Pumpkin in the first place. (Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#2 (fb) - BTS) - Lord Tavon brought peace and prosperity to the people who had formerly suffered under Lord Pumpkin. (Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#3 (fb) - BTS) - Lord Tavon treated his foes with respect. (Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#1
(fb) - BTS) - Lord Tavon's wife died under unrevealed circumstances,
leaving him as the sole parent to their daughter, Arielle. To escape the void in his life, Tavon thrust his all into his kingdom and his daughter. (Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#1) -
Lord Tavon and his knights (including Ranadar) fired multiple arrows
into a slithor that threatened Arielle and a woman (secretly the evil
sorceress Necromantra, left virtually powerless by recent events) she
had encountered and fought to save. After seeing to Arielle, Tavon sent Ranadar to get the woman to a healer at once, and not to dally, as the slithors usually traveled in pairs. As the woman told him not to let her die, Tavon assured her he would not if it was within his power to prevent it; clearly intrigued with the attractive woman, he called her "My Lady." Back in Tavon's castle, as the woman recovered,
Tavon noted that the slithor's poison was usually fatal and that she
must have wanted to live very badly. He then introduced himself and
Arielle, and the woman -- noting them both to be very brave -- told
them to call her Marinna before explaining that her mother had tried to
kill her and then abandoned her on the ground where Arielle had found
her (see comments). Expressing
gratitude for their hospitality, she assured them that she would leave
when she was strong enough. Ari started to prompt her father, but he
agreed with her intent, and he asked Marinna to stay as long as she
wished. He further shared that this bedchamber had been his late wife's
but that it was good to see it occupied again...by so comely a visitor. Putting her hand on Tavon's she told him that she hoped to become more
than a visitor. In the ensuing days (weeks?, months?), Tavon
found that Marinna reminded him that he was a man, he enjoyed spending
much time with her, falling in love and oblivious to her evil nature. (Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#1 - BTS) - Tavon and Marinna were engaged to be married. |
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At her request, the wizard told her that her black magic was founded in death and that she could regain it by slaying those she hated and those she loved. (Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#1) - Tavon and Marinna were married. That evening, as they prepared to go to bed, he
told her how it had been so long since these walls had known the shadow
of a woman. After promising to share that chamber as their private place as long as he lived, Marinna slipped away, allegedly to get a promised garter. Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#1 -
BTS) - Instead, Marinna confronted and slew a slithor, which she hated,
and then she confronted the wizard, who told her she must now slay two
people she loved. Noting that she loved the wizard for showing her how to regain her magic, she slew him. |
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. (Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#1) - Returning to their bedchamber in her Necromantra form, she them apparently slew Tavon to death with her spiked lash. |
  .. (Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#2 - BTS) - Lord Tavon's funeral was held, and he was burnt upon a pyre. Marinna helped Arielle light the pyre, and she told the grieving girl that while she did not know who had slain her father, she would find out. As Lady Tavon, Marinna succeeded Lord Tavon as ruler of the kingdom. Marinna subsequently framed King Salman as Lord Tavon's murderer via sorcery and accused him of trying to have his way with her, and when Sir Ranadar tried to dissuade Lady Tavon from war, she accused him of conspiring to slay Lord Tavon and had him imprisoned. After destroying or banishing a giant gargoyle created and/or summoned by King Salman's sorcerer by duping it into slaying Salman and his sorcerer, Marinna told Arielle that she believed that creature was what had slain her father. |
Comments: Created by Mike W. Barr, Gabriel Gecko, and Stephen Baskerville.
Although Tavon is described as
ruling a kingdom, he only called Lord Tavon, rather than King Tavon.
When Necromantra succeeded him, she was noted to be queen and
sovereign. In Necromantra#3, after Necromantra had conquered the realm
of King Salman and taken the crown of the queen mother, Kalina,
Necromantra told Arielle that she was the daughter of a a lord and the
step-daughter of a queen, NOW.
That makes me think Necromantra was not a queen
until conquering Salman's realm, and that Tavon was only a lord of the
land?
Loki, who is Scottish and has a better understanding of the matter than I do, said:
If Tavon took over the rule after the king was slain
(ignoring the bit about the usurper LP ruling in between) then he might not be
considered king automatically, especially by the other nobles. I'm seeing mixed
messaging in Necromantra#2, as everyone calls her Lady Tavon even after the
bald and bearded guy at the funeral of Tavon calls her sovereign, and the
first time she is called a queen is by someone in the crowd when she makes the
claim that Salman tried to rape her. And even after that the other nobles such
as Sir Ranadar continue to call her Lady, not Queen. She doesn't get called
Queen consistently until after she terrorizes the Queen Mother into handing
over Salman's crown. So my estimation is:
Tavon's realm was a kingdom, as evidenced by the fact it
originally had a king, but the monarch was slain by Lord Pumpkin and then LP
was driven out in turn by Tavon. Tavon was not a subject of Salman, as Salman
came to visit Marinna to discuss peace accords and treaties (not needed if he
already ruled her lands) and offered to unite their countries via marriage (so
not already one country). Either because he was too good and humble a man,
or because the other nobles (including the neighboring King Salman) would have
opposed it, Tavon never proclaimed himself king. Marinna/Necromantra was
much more willing to claim a royal title, but while she was dubbed sovereign
that means she was head of state, which isn't necessarily a monarch, and only
some of the peasants started calling her (erroneously) Queen; the nobles, being
way more conscious about getting such things correct, stuck to the official
title of just Lady Tavon. However, once she stole Salman's throne, she could
legitimately call herself Queen and expect the nobles to address her that way
too.
The chronology and characters in the Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra series was a bit hard to follow.
Necromantra's notation that her
mother had tried to kill her and then abandoned her there isn't
completely off (just slightly biased/twisted), as her body was spawned
via Mantra (Lukasz in the form of Eden Blake), making Mantra her
figurative mother, and Mantra had last battled Necromantra on the
Godwheel during the Godwheel series.
As the narrative said, "better he should take a slithor to his bed..."
It seems likely that the same man who married Tavon and Marinna conducted Tavon's funeral.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Lord Tavon should be distinguished from:
  --Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#1 Note: Nothing else to be said, just an expanded view of the wedding attendees, although the amulet appears again and will get a sub-profile or perhaps a full profile at some point... |
Appearances:
Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#1 (April, 1995) - Mike W. Barr (writer), Gabriel Gecko (penciler), Stephen Baskerville (inker), Roland Mann (editor)
First posted: 06/30/2023 - happy 30th anniversary of the Ultraverse!
Last updated: 06/30/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6' to 6'2" )
(Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra#1 - BTS)
- Seeking to meet with the unidentified wizard imprisoned in the
castle, Marinna threatened to tell Tavon that a guard had molested her
if he refused. 
.