MAD HETTIE

Real Name: Henrietta (last name unknown)

Class: Human magic-user

Occupation: Vagrant, magician

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: England, 1700s to present

First Appearance: Hellblazer #9 (September, 1988)

Powers: Hettie was extremely long-lived and was a skilled magician. Her abilities included precognition, illusion-casting and mental domination.

History(Dreaming #6 (fb, BTS)) - <1776> Hettie witnessed the founding of the United States of America, and became friends with Thomas Jefferson. Destiny had created the seal of an eye in a pyramid for the new nation, and Jefferson put it in a box and hid it, entrusting the key and responsibility for it to Hettie. She promised to protect it from enemies of America, and to return it when it was needed.

(Dreaming #4 (fb), 5 (fb)) - <1827 / 1956> Lady Constantine stole a Mad Hettie's key that she got from Jefferson. Constantine didn't know what it opened, but knew anything possessed by Hettie was likely magical. Hettie stole it back, and fled into the nearby woods that were one of the soft places, where time periods slipped into each other. She ended up in 1956, where Hettie came across architect Brian Salmon, who was lost in the woods after encountering three faeries that had visited the earthly plane for midsummer's eve. Hettie told him fairies were hussies, and gave him her key for safekeeping. she directed him home, but after losing consciousness he ended up in 1996. Back in 1827 Constantine caught up with Hettie. Hettie warned her she was a dangerous enemy, but admitted she was a pretty good ally. She knew Constantine craved a way to extend her own life, and offered her life until 99 years of age if she agreed to stay out of Hettie's business, and they parted on good terms.

(Dreaming #6 (fb)) - Psychologist Prof. Muril Jenkins was doing a study on telepathy, and after hearing rumors of Hettie's abilities as a fortune teller, made her a case study. Hettie scored 100% on all the psi tests, and Jenkins realized Hettie could make her career, but found that every time she tried to enter data about Hettie in her computer it crashed, and eventually all the data disappeared. She confronted Hettie about it, but the old woman just cackled at her.

(Dreaming #4-7) - Hettie divined the location of the time-lost Brian Salmon, and chased away three young punks who were bothering him. After recovering her key from him, she loaded him into a stroller and wheeled him to Prof. Muriel Jenkins. Hettie told her Salmon was under an enchantment, and maybe she could help. Hettie dismissed her skepticism, and told her she had business to attend to in, but would return in a day. In Boston she went to the attorneys that kept the box Jefferson left her family in trust. As per her arrangement with Jefferson she brought the seal to Washington, D.C., where Destiny took it, signaling the end of the current era of the USA. He showed Hettie the new seal that would usher in a new era, and asked her if she would be its guardian for the next few centuries. Hettie agreed, saying it was something to do, and was pleased to know she still had some life left, it would give her time to make long term plans. Jenkins tried to help Salmon acclimate to the future, but he still felt like a living fossil. Hettie thanked him for his service, and he asked her to return him to his own time. She knew it'd be a headache, but she'd given her world, and told her friends that they'd have to deal with the Fae. Queen Titania agreed to let Brian travel back in time in exchange for a gift from Hettie. Brian asked Hettie what she'd promised the queen, and she told him to mind his own business. Hettie took Brian to Gaiteon's Lap, one of the free houses, for a stiff drink and a mode of transport into the past. She also made sure Brian met the love of his life, Muriel Jenkins, in the past.

Comments: Created by Jamie Delano & John Ridgway.

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