PRINCE WAYFINDERPRINCE WAYFINDER
Real Name: Wayfinder
Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Reality-7614) extraterrestrial (Ithacons);
active circa 15,000 years in the relative future
Occupation: Adventurer;
former Prince
Group Membership: The Wanderers
Affiliations: Alkinoos, Delphos, Rocky the Raccoon;
Agni, Kali, Mara, Yama, and numerous others;
unrevealed relationship with the Makers;
Enemies: The Haamin, Kirke and her
animal men knights (Sir Cat, Sir Ram, "Sir Ant," "Sir Clavo," "Sir
Mole," "Sir Porcupine," "Sir Stag," "Sir Warthog," etc.), monstrous
tree, Plagueosaur, Whirldemons,
Known Relatives: Unidentified father;
apparent ancestor of Dallan Rann and his son, Arcturus Rann
Aliases: Time Traveler, the Wayfinder
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
last seen within the Microverse, Reality-616;
formerly Witchworld, Reality-7614;
formerly mobile aboard the Star-Seed space ship;
formerly Ithacon, Reality-7614
First Appearance: Marvel Preview#4 (January, 1976)
Powers/Abilities: Wayfinder wore body armor
composed on an unidentified metallic material, and he wielded a sword
that fired sonic blasts powerful enough to drive off small aircraft.
History:
(Marvel Preview#4/2 (fb) - BTS) - Wayfinder is native of Reality-7614,
relatively 15,000 years in the future compared to the modern age of
Reality-616. The history of Reality-7614 is detailed here.
Wayfinder was one of the Ithacons,
a people descended long ago from Earth's humanity, who had colonized
various worlds.
(Marvel Preview#4/2 (fb) - BTS) - Wayfinder was the son of the barbarian king of Ithacon. The day that Wayfinder was born, an eagle slew a hawk over his head, and a priest looked up the symbolism in the holy star annals. The boy was the 16th in the royal line of the House of Ithacon, but the prophecy stated that the line ended at number 15, the father, indicating that the son would never be king.
Knowing this, the king resolved
that his son must follow the path the gods had laid out for him, of
which the king knew nothing, and so he named his son "Wayfinder."
Wayfinder's father trained him as a warrior from birth.
As a youth, Wayfinder was tutored
by Delphos, who was considered a wizard but, unknown to Wayfinder, was
a 10,000 year-old man from a previous age of science.
(Marvel Preview#7/2 (fb) - BTS) -
Wayfinder was brought up reading the Star-Annal: The Book of Earth,
which contained numerous myths, including those of the seeress and
witch Circe.
(Marvel Preview#7/2 (fb) - BTS) - Wayfinder was taught to hunt in his father's royal forests.
(Marvel Preview#7/2 (fb) - BTS) - After
Wayfinder grew to adulthood (although he had not yet reached the age of
confirmation, apparently when a young man was considered an adult and
possibly given the chance to see another world) and served as a warrior.
(Marvel Preview#4/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Haamin assaulted Ithacon, their
black air ships, easily devastating the low-technology Ithacons.
Eventually the Haamin dropped a warhead over the field of battle in
which the Ithacons' king and prince fought, and the king was mortally
wounded by the bomb. The king's men carried him to a hilltop with
sparse grass where he commanded them to set him down.
(Marvel Preview#4/2) - Wayfinder kneeled over his
father, who smiled at him. As laser-cannon fire lit the horizon, the
kings' troops advised the king that if the sceptre was to be passed to
his son, it must be now. When the king asked for his sword, Wayfinder
retrieved it, telling him that it was red with the blood of those he
had slain: "Loud will be the wailing of the women on the Haamin homeworld that night."
The king noted Wayfinder's delight in the metaphors of battle, and
Wayfinder replied that he found joy in following what his father had
trained him to be.
Delphos interrupted, reminding the
king of the prophecies, and so the king had Delphos relate how
Wayfinder was never to be the next king. Wayfinder was upset to learn
that his father had never told him of this, but the king told him that
he did not know his son's path, which he must find for himself.
Regardless, the king instructed Wayfinder that he was not to die with
him that day. He must depart only with Delphos, but that he was
prophesied to one day see with more than his eyes, to bear a sword in
his blistered hands that would glow with the fires of the stars, and
then to return to his home world.
Disgusted at being deprived of both his birthright and his honor, Wayfinder accepted the instruction to depart, but he hoped that when he returned to Ithacon, his name would be screamed loudly to the gods and that they would quake in fear when it was learned that the Wayfinder had found his way, and that a new king reigned on Ithacon who feared no god or man, and who laughed in the face of prophecy.
Wayfinder then departed with Delphos, refusing to bid his father fairwell and denying that he had a father. He did not hear his father cry out, "May the gods protect you, my son."
From a safe distance, Wayfinder watched, with tears and screams, as the Haamin finished off the rest of his people. Delphos then brought Wayfinder back to his home, filled with scientific marvels, and he used a device known as the teacher to educate him in the history of his people and others who had descended from Earth's humanity. Delphos further informed the incredulous Wayfinder that he had experienced much of what the teacher had taught as he was 10,000 years-old.
As Delphos had predicted the energy drain caused by the teacher alerted
the Haamin to their presence, and they soon attacked Delphos' cavern
base. While Wayfinder's instinct was to stay and fight, he reluctantly
followed Delphs to his Star-Seed
ship, navigated by his computer/robot, Alkinoos. As they began to
lift off, Delphos was mortally wounded by Haamin laser fire, but
Wayfinder used his sword to fire sonic blasts to hold off their
attackers until Delphos reached orbit, out of range of the Haamin
ships. The dying Delphos advised him that while he didn't know about
all that "prophecy jazz," if he did find the sword that blazed like the
stars to think a little before he used it.
(Marvel Preview#7/2) - After Alkinoos confirmed that
there were not pursuing Haamin ships, Wayfinder buried Delphos in
space, singing
for him as he felt a man deserved to go to his gods with song, and he
swore vengeance on the Haamin who slew him; as there was no wine aboard
the Star-Seed to use as an offering to the stars as payment for
Delphos' journey, Wayfinder slit his own arm with his sword and offered
blood instead.
Wayfinder then had Alkinoos guid the Star-Seed to gather provisions and hide out from the Haamin
on the planet Hailailae, a.k.a. Witch-World.
Seeing game in the forest by the shore on the nearest island, Wayfinder
set out to hunt some game.
After a short, fruitless search, he stopped to drink from a stream, where, unseen, Rocky advised against doing this, just before a nearby monstrous tree -- apparently protecting its watering territory -- ensnared him with its tendrils and pulled him towards its maw. Using his sonic sword, he slashed at first the tendrils and then stabbed the tree itself, which -- injured or slain -- released him. Rocky then approached Wayfinder, and led him to find some food; en route the two introduced themselves.
(Marvel Preview#7/2 (fb) - BTS) -
Meanwhile, some sort of mer-creature boarded the Star-Seed, the
defensives of which were inoperative following overload during
planetary entry. Sensing hostility in the creature, Alkinoos extended a
blade from his wrist and confronted the creature.
.
.
|
. . (Marvel Preview#7/2) - Wayfinder subsequently picked
some Doonboggle flowers, unaware that they were guarded by a monstrous
plagueosaur, which then charged them. Wayfinder buried his sword behind
its shoulder, and the sonic charge built up within the creature until
it "imploded" (seemed like it exploded), killing it. When they prepared
to feed on the carcass, however, they were confronted by Kirke (whose
name Wayfinder recognized as a witch from the Star-Annal) and her
animal men, who wished the beast's meat for her own. As Wayfinder and
Rocky fought off her animal-men off, with Wayfinder apparently slaying
at least Sir Cat and Sir Ram (and possibly "Sir Porcupine"), Kirke
unleashed a blast of force from the gem on her scepter that subdued
both he and Rocky. Kirke's senses told her that Wayfinder was an
outworlder, and she was interested by this. She told Wayfinder and
Rocky that they would come along with her knights peaceably or else
they would die. |
.
|
The Sword then guided Wayfinder to gather the Wanderers, a group of aliens from “the scattered universes of infinity,” leading them to defeat the Haamin. (Micronauts II#13 (fb) - BTS / Micronauts II#14 (fb)
- BTS) - The Wanderers were incredibly diverse with but one
thing in common -- the DNA code of life. (Micronauts I#35 (fb) / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#7: Microverse entry) - The Sword then led the Wanderers across time and space to Earth-616 (which the Sword apparently believed to be uninhabited), and they arrived over 65 million years in the past, intending to make it their home and building a city in what would become India’s Indus Valley/Bahawalpur.
|
|
|  |
 |
.
|
(Micronauts II#13 (fb) - BTS / Micronauts II#14 (fb)
- BTS) - The Makers brought Wayfinder and
the Wanderers to the Microverse, using them to populate the Spiral
Path, to give life and meaning to the structure they had created. They intended the beings populating the Microverse to be champions of the life that they intended for their universe. (Micronauts I#35 (fb)) - The Sword in the Star transformed Wayfinder into the first Time Traveler, and he used his new power to bind the Whirldemons so they could not escape. By the power of the Enigma Force, the Microverse was brought into being, and it was populated by Wanderers. . (Micronauts I#34 (fb) - BTS) - Between the newly created Microverse and the Earth dimension, Wayfinder/Time Traveler created a barrier known as the Spacewall. (Micronauts I#31-35 (fb) - BTS) - A tomb (or
perhaps just a monument) to Wayfinder and the Wanderers was established
on Deadzone, part of Microverse's Homeworld. The Sword in the Star
either placed itself within the tomb, or established a failsafe, such
that should the Enigma Force ever become incapacitated, the Sword in
the Star would be re-formed within Wayfinder's tomb. The Sword further created three "Keys to the Enigma Force," which could unlock Wayfinder's tomb and release the Sword to restore the Enigma Force. An obelisk was left behind at the site of Wayfinder's monument, written in their language, from which Sanskrit would eventually be patterned. The obelisk bore an image of Time Traveler and the three keys, and it stated: "A time of darkness will there
be; (Micronauts I#30 (fb) - BTS) - A similar obelisk with the same meassage was left on Earth in what would become India's Indus Valley/Bahawalpur. |
.
|
(Micronauts I#26 - BTS) - Baron Karza tore the
secrets of the Enigma Force from Commander Rann's mind, bound the
Enigma Force/Time Travelers and began to siphon the power of the Enigma
Force into himself. (Micronauts I#28 - BTS) - Acroyear harnessed the power of Spartak's worldmind and, aided by the distraction of Queen Esmera's suicide sting, shut down Argon's mind, driving out Karza and allowing the Enigma Force/Time Traveler to escape. Rann's mind was shut down by the stress of having the Enigma Force torn from it. (Micronauts I#31 (fb) - BTS) - The damage to the Enigma Force caused it to retract to within Wayfinder's tomb in Homeworld's Deadzone. (Micronauts I#29 (fb) - BTS) - As the Micronauts
traveled within the mind fo Arcturus Rann to revive him from a coma
caused when Baron Karza tore the secrets of the Enigma Force from his
mind and bound the Enigma Force/Time Traveler(s). Within his mind, they
glimpsed an image of the obelisk. (Micronauts I#30 - BTS) - In the modern era, the obelisk
detailing information on Wayfinder was
found by agents of the Dutch archeologist Dr. Martin Vandenburg in India's Indus
Valley/Bahawalpur. Also drawn to the obelisk, Dr. Stephen Strange met with Vandenberg. At the same time in the Microverse, Wayfinder drew an image of the obelisk, its text and images on a computer screen, and Microtron translated the text. Rann stated his belief that the message was a warning from the Time Travelers that danger confrnted the Microverse should they (the Time Travelers) ever be destroyed. The Micronauts resolved to find the three keys and use them to contact the Enigma Force, and a powerful planetquake emphasized the urgency of their mission to stave off the "time of darkness." (Micronauts I#31 (fb) - BTS) - Dr. Strange translated the text on the obelisk, which he brought back to his Sanctum Sanctorum. (Micronauts I#31 - BTS) - As Dr. Strange viewed the past of Wayfinder and his allies on Earth, the Micronauts encountered one of the "great distresses" on Homeworld's Oceania, gaining one of the keys to the Enigma Force after Aquon had used it to save the people of Seazone as their city shattered, transforming them into mer-people. (Micronauts I#32 - BTS) - In the city of Polaria, on Homeworld's Subzero Zone, Prince Peacock obtained after another of the keys after slaying the Snowbear, not realizing it was his transformed queen and lover, Fria. Peacock surrendered the key to Commander Rann. Meanwhile, Dr. Strange breached
the Spacewall into the Microverse to learn the fate of Wayfinder and
his associates. (Micronauts I#33 - BTS) - On Homeworld's Tropica, Acroyear located
the third and final key, also gaining new allies in Devil and Fireflyte. (Micronauts I#33 - BTS / Micronauts I#34 (fb) - BTS) - Meanwhile, Dr. Strange followed the energies from the Obelisk into the
Microverse, to Homeworld's Deadzone, where he was stalked by one of the
whirldemons, who had been released when the Enigma Force was rendered dormant. (Micronauts I#34) - Prince Argon, corrupted by Karza, betrayed the Micronauts and stole all three keys, but they were freed by Pharoid, and Fireflyte led them to reclaim the keys, fleeing to Deadzone with Argon in hot pursuit. Dr. Strange found the legendary tomb of Wayfinder and his allies, but was then ambushed by one of the whirldemons. (Micronauts I#35) - The Micronauts arrived, freeing Dr.
Strange from the whirldemons, after which Argon, his Dog Soldiers, and his Death
Squad joined the struggle. Despite the efforts of the whirldemons and Argon's
forces, Commander Rann eventually learned that the spacewall between the Earth
dimension and the Microverse was crumbling, so that the realms would merge and
destroy each other. Rann began placing the keys into Wayfinder's crypt, and the
power of Wayfinder and his allies was released. The Sword in the Star, the embodiment of the Enigma Force, then merged Dr. Strange and Arcturus Rann, imbuing them with the Uni-Power and transforming them into Captain Universe. Captain Universe flew out to the Spacewall, and its component parts used their knowledge and abilities to restore the Spacewall, after which Captain Universe split up, with Dr. Strange returning to the Earth dimension. Meanwhile Fireflyte sacrificed the remainder of her energies to destroy the whirldemons. The Sword meanwhile apparently dissipated, spreading its energies across the Microverse once again. |
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Ed Hannigan, Craig Russell, and Rick Bryant.
The Sword in the Star was initially to be a set story,
10-12 issues long, as the back-up feature in a bi-monthly black-and-white Starlord (by Steven Englehart, which never came out). Instead, both features started out in the pages of
Marvel Preview, with Starlord continuing to receive intermittent coverage over
the succeeding decades under Chris Claremont and other writers (you can check out Starlord
here). The Sword in the Star got a second appearance in Marvel
Preview#7, at least in part because Bill Mantlo had already written the
second part when he was told that the magazine was canceled, the story
was going to be in Marvel Previews and to hold off on any future
episodes.
Bill Mantlo used Wayfinder and the Sword in the Star in his
Micronauts series, but Kirke and Witchworld have never been seen again,
to the best of my knowledge.
Tragically,
Bill Mantlo suffered severe brain damage from a closed head injury
(essentially too much swelling of his brain with an intact skull), and
he is severely limited and certainly no longer able to write.
http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/comics/Rom/comic/mantlo.shtml
Our appreciation goes out to Bill and his work with the obscure, especially
in resolving plotlines. Our best wishes go out to Bill and his family, as well.
Similarly the story behind Rocky Raccoon's presence on
Witch-World 15,000 years in the future in Reality-7614 and his transportation to or from Halfworld (and subsequent loss of his
British accent) in the modern time period will never be known, either.
There are some cool text features by Bill Mantlo in Marvel Preview#4 and #7 that discussed how Wayfinder was meant to be a modern day Ulysses, and how Bill drew heavily on various myths and legends.
It's interesting that Mantlo patterned his own epic after Greek epics, such as The Odyssey, but when he added it into the Microverse, the characters were all patterned after Hindu gods. Wayfinder was to have been a "modern day Ulysses."
The essential bit to note is that Bill Mantlo, both in the MICRONAUTS expanded version of SWORD IN THE STAR, and the X-MEN MTU with the Hindu Gods (Marvel Team-Up Annual#1), utilized ideas from Roger Zelazny's Hugo-award winning LORD OF LIGHT.
The Hindu Gods as portrayed in MTU are lifted straight from Zelazny's modified Hindu pantheon.
The story of a ship full of Humans coming to a world, finding it inhabited by energy demons, using their powers to "bind" and exile the demons, and use their super-science to turn themselves into Hindu-like gods, is the essence of LORD OF LIGHT.
Mara in Zelazny's version (hence, Mantlo's) is a male god with the power to cast illusions -- nicknamed The Dreamer. (Sort of like the X-Men's Mastermind.)--Apparently patterned after the Hindu Goddess Maya.
Offhand I don't recall a Maya or Maia in LORD OF LIGHT, but there might have been one. She would have been a minor character.
The major players were Yama (Death - the One in Red), Agni (Lord of Fire), Kali (death, female), then Shiva (chaos), Ratri (night)... Brahma was supposed to be in charge but he didn't do much... Wayfinder in its MICRONAUTS appearance is sort of like Zelazny's hero, Kalkin (or Siddharata, or Sam, or Binder) -- except Sam is not blind and there's no Sword in the Star...
Did I read somewhere that the Sword in the Star was supposed to be Galactus' lifeforce/consciousness very very far in the future? I can't have made that up.... So obviously SOMEONE revisited the theme after Mantlo...
--That would be Universe X, issue#5 to be specific (as I was reminded by Crekeels). What's true of Earth X is not necessarily true of any other reality unless expressly stated as such in non-Earth X books. That's my policy, and that's Marvel's policy, too.That doesn't mean that it is definitely not true, though...just no more true than if it had never been printed--Snood.Jean-Marc Lofficier
Mantlo originally described the Sword in the Star as "a power carefully hidden by a long dead science. It is a power so great that it could very well shake the foundations of the galaxy."
Wayfinder referenced Apollo and Aphrodite.
How tall way Wayfinder:
Courtesy of Loki:
ASSuming Rocky Raccoon is Rocket (and his handbook
entry says they are one and the same) or at least has similar stats, then
Marvel Preview#7, p12 of the story shows Rocket only stands to just under the
level of the bottom of Wayfinder's crotch. That'd make Rocket (4' tall) a bit
under 4.5 heads tall to Wayfinder's 7.5
figure-drawing-proportions.jpg
(350×440)
which means Wayfinder should be at least 6'8",
perhaps even a few inches taller. Truly heroic proportions.
However (Snood again):
Having reviewed this
story multiple times, I have a hard time believing that this is indeed
Rocket-616, although I suppose it could be his alternate future (like
17,000 A.D.) counterpart.
Having re-re-re-re-reviewed the
stories to the point of madness, in order to fit Peter Gillis' stories
in with Bill Mantlo, the only thing that makes the most sense to me is
that the Makers created the Sword in the Star and manipulated the
convoluted series of events to develop the Microverse proper.
Wayfinder previously had a sub-profile in the Earth-7614 (Sword-in-the-Star) profile, originally posted 08/10/2004.
Huge thanks to Mike Fichera for supplying the sweet colorized image of Wayfinder.
This profile was posted on 11/19/2025, Bill Mantlo's 74th birthday.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Prince Wayfinder should be distinguished from:
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z hardcover#7: Microverse entry (March, 2009) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer/coordinator), Madison Carter, Mike Fichera & Stuart Vandal (coordination assistants), Sean McQuaid, Michael Hoskin, Stuart Vandal, Ronald Byrd, David Wiltfong, Madison Carter, Mike Fichera, Chad Anderson, Chris Biggs, Eric J. Moreels, Mark O'English, Al Sjoerdsma, Jacob Rougemont, Gabriel Shechter, Markus Ettlinger, Jeph York, Rich Green, Andrew Goletz & Anthony Flamini (writers), Brian Overton (copy editor), John Denning & Cory Levine (assistant editors), Mark D. Beazley (editor, special projects), Jeff Youngquist & Jennifer Grunwald (editor)
First posted: 11/09/2025
Last updated: 11/15/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
� 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!
.
(Micronauts I#31 (fb) - BTS / Micronauts II#13 (fb) - BTS / Micronauts II#14 (fb)
- BTS / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z
hardcover#7: Microverse entry) - Wayfinder eventually acquired
the Sword in the Star (aka Sunsword), which rendered him physically blind so that he would
learn to rely on a deeper vision. 
(Micronauts I#35 (fb)) - However, at the time Earth (or
at least the part Wayfinder and the Wanderers landed in) was ruled by Whirldemons,
who wished the destruction of all other
intelligent life, resented the newcomers and attacked them, seeking to bury them beneath the city's walls.
(Micronauts I#31 (fb) - BTS) - While his allies
engaged the Whirldemons, Wayfinder communed with the Sword in the Star,
asking it for help. The Sword transformed Wayfinder and his people,
filling them with its own awesome power and allowing them to pass
safely from Earth into some subatomic solar system.
