GAEA
Real Name:
Gaea (also spelled Gaia)
Occupation:
Mother-Earth
Legal Status:
Inapplicable
Identity: The general populace of Earth is unaware of Gaea’s existence except
as a figure of mythological origin.
Aliases: Aditi (Hindi Name), Akka (Finnish), Ala (Yoruba), Ammavaru (Vedic), Citlalicue (Olmec), Coatlique (Aztec name), Danu (Celtic name), Domnu (Fomorian), Eithinoha (Iroquois), Erce (Russian), Ge (alternate spelling), Great Mother, Hannahanna (Hittite name), Hou-Tou (Chinese Name), Jord (Norse), Mother Earth, Mother Nature, Nana (Dahomey), Neith (Egyptian name), Nertha (German), Ninhursag (Sumerian name), Nokomis (Algonquin), Pachamama (Incan), Prakriti (Brahmanic), Rangi (Oceanic), Tellus, Terra, (Greek), Tiamat (Mesopotamian, possibly), Vaat (Siberian/Mongolian), Yo (Japanese),
Place of Birth:
Unknown, perhaps Inapplicable
Martial Status: Single
Known Relatives:
Atum (son by the Demiurge), The Cyclopes, The Gods of Earth, The Hecatocheiroi,
The Titans, The
Furies, The Giants, et al (sons and daughters/progeny by
Ouranus), Thor (son by Odin),
Frey (son by Njord),
Freia (daughter by Njord),
Ninmu (daughter by Ea), Quetzalcoatl,
Xolotl (sons by Mixcoatl), Quetzalpetatl
(daughter by Mixcoatl), Huitzilopochtli, The Centozochotzin (sons by Camaxtli),
Coyoxauhqui (daughter by Camaxtli), Dagda,
Leir, Gwydion (sons by Belenus/Elathan),
Arianrhod,
Penardun (daughters by Belenus/Elathan), Erichthonius (son by Hephaestus, alias Cecrops, deceased), Antaeus (son by
Poseidon, deceased), Charybdis (daughter by Gaea, deceased)
Group Affiliation:
The Elder Gods, ally of Brother Nature, Clea, The Defenders, Doctor Strange and
Humus Sapien
Base of Operations:
Mobile on Earth
First Appearance:
Doctor Strange I #6
Origin: Thor Annual 10
History: Gaea is one of the Elder Gods who first materialized on Earth shortly
before other life appeared. She and her brother Chthon were among those Elder
Gods who inhabited the land masses of the Earth (as opposed to the sea or
skies), and may have had something to do with forming certain geological
patterns. Although Gaea was humanoid in form, most of the Elder Gods were not.
Except for Gaea, the Elder Gods eventually degenerated into demons; in other
words, these Elder Gods became parasitic entities, needing to feed on the life
energies of other beings in order to survive. Since humankind had not yet been
born, these Elder Gods began preying on each other.
Fearing that the demons’ battles would
destroy the newly evolving life on Earth, Gaea called upon the Demiurge, the
sentient life force of Earth’s biosphere, and gave birth to the first of the
next generation of gods, Atum, who was dedicated to the consumption and
elimination of the evil, which the evil gods had wrought in their degeneration
into demons. Atum killed virtually all the Elder Gods, although some, like
Chthon and Set, escaped into other dimensional worlds.
Gaea was the only Elder God permitted by the
second generation of gods to exist. She infused her godly life essence into all
living beings on Earth. Each living being born on Earth is infused with a
portion of her life essence. It is for this reason that Gaea has been known
throughout human history as the patron goddess of all living things on Earth.
She is the embodiment of the spirit of life, growth, harvest and renewal on the
planet.
Under innumerable names Gaea has become a
member of every pantheon of gods worshipped by polytheistic religions throughout
human history. Her role in these pantheons has always been that of the maternal
goddess of Earth. In at least some cases, Gaea is actually the parent to races
of gods who were worshipped on Earth, and to particular gods in specific
pantheons as well as certain individuals. Her mates in these respective
pantheons seemed to be incarnations or forms of Demiurge, who were often
overthrown or conquered by members of her children. In some of these battles,
Gaea may have taken a form in which she could confront her displeased children.
One of the earliest forms of this repeating cycle was recorded in Ancient
Sumerian cuneiforms as the first gods of the Mesopotamian tribes warred with the
ancient sea-goddess Tiamat and allegedly slew her. Atum, in his form as ancestor
of the Ogdoad, ancestors of the later Egyptian gods, was often attacked by the
serpent Apophis, but this may be a form of Set, whose worshippers were later
stolen by the later Egyptian god Seth. The
Coati, future gods of the later Aztec and
Mayan Empires, allegedly slew Gaea in the form of the serpent, Cipactli, but
whether this truly was Gaea, or if these are all different versions of one
account is unrevealed. If anything, these accounts confirm Gaea as the ancestor
of the later gods of earth.
According to ancient Greek Myth, Gaea gave
birth to Ouranus, the sky-god, with whom she then mated and then gave birth to
the Titans, the first generation of
the Olympian
Gods. Two of the Titans, Cronus and
Rhea, were parents of Zeus among another generation of gods. Ouranus, however,
was displeased with his other children by Gaea, the Cyclops and the
Hecatocheiroi, and imprisoned them in Tartarus.
In Mesopotamian Myth, Gaea, in her role as
Ninhursag, was approached as a mate by Ea, the Mesopotamian sea-god, and gave
birth to Ninsar, the plant-goddess. Ea seduced their daughter when she reached
adulthood and she gave birth to the plant-goddess Ninhurra. He seduced Ninhurra
as she reached adulthood and she gave birth to Uttu, another plant-goddess. Gaea
cursed Ea with eight different diseases for his behavior and he became a living
corpse as a result unable to die due to his godhood. The Mesopotamian gods
prevailed on Gaea to remove her curse, but she would not do it unless he
surrendered their daughters unto her. Ea recanted his earlier deeds as his
daughters used their knowledge of plants to cure him and then departed his
presence under Gaea’s protection.
However, tired of the exile of her other
children in Tartarus, Gaea petitioned one of the Titans to oppose Ouranus and
free their siblings from the underworld. Cronus, the youngest of the Titans,
however, stepped forth and took a scythe and slew Ouranus, overthrowing him as
Ruler of Olympus. Failing to live up to his promise to free his imprisoned
brethren, Gaea warned Cronus that he would have a child that would overthrow
him. Cronus, meanwhile, cast all his children into Tartarus as they were born
(Later myths claimed he swallowed them). Gaea helped to conceal the birth of his
son Zeus from him (and possibly that of Zeus’s brother,
Poseidon) and had Zeus
protected and sheltered by other goddesses (possibly the daughters of Ea) to
conceal him from Cronus. When he grew to adult age, Zeus stormed Tartarus and
freed his siblings, the Cyclops and the Hecatocheiroi. They helped him to over
throw Cronus and the Titans from Olympus as Zeus imprisoned the Titans in the
underworld.
Several generations later, Gaea realized she
was not happy with the Titans being imprisoned in Tartarus either and conceived
Typhon and the Giants to oust Zeus from Olympus. After Zeus defeated Typhon,
Gaea sent the Giants to overthrow Zeus. Themis, a Titaness, predicted that
neither god nor mortal could kill the Giants. Zeus called upon his son,
Hercules, who was not completely mortal or completely immortal, to fight by his
side against the Giants and slay them from invading Olympus.
Gaea also served roles of a peaceful and
beneficent nature as well. In her role as Nokomis, the Native American earth
mother, she received the young god Manabozho after he was cast out from heaven
through the mischief of his brother, Coyote, the trickster-god. She raised and
protected him on Earth and as an adult, Manabozho returned to heaven to replace
his grandfather as ruler of the Anasazi
Gods. Worshipped as the mother-goddess Danu
by the ancient Celts and Gaels of Western Europe, Gaea conceived and gave birth
to the Tuatha da Danaan (Children of Danu) to serve as eternal enemies of the
Fomorians. Foremost among them was The
Dagda, who became Ruler of the Celtic
Gods, and Leir, god of sea and storm. Desiring a son to protect earth from
dangers he foresaw, Odin, Ruler of the Asgardian Gods, approached Gaea in her
form of Jord, the Norse Mother-Earth, to produce a son who would combine the
power of Asgard and the power of Earth with himself. That son was Thor, who,
however, was raised by Odin’s wife Frigga, and did not learn his true
mother’s identity until years later.
On the arrival of the Third Host of the
Celestials upon Earth, the leaders of Earth’s pantheons of Earth learned that
these extraordinarily powerful extraterrestrial beings intended to return to
earth centuries later to judge its inhabitants. If the Celestials judged against
humanity at that time, they would destroy Earth. Over the following centuries,
while the leading male gods of the pantheons planned means of defense against
the Celestials, the leading goddesses sought out members of the human race who
had the highest genetic potential. Twelve such humans were selected and evolved
by the goddesses into godlike beings themselves, who became known as the Young
Gods. Gaea presented these twelve Young Gods to the Fourth Host of the
Celestials as examples of the human race at its finest. As a result, the
Celestials judged in humanity’s favor and departed Earth, taking the Young
Gods with them. This was perhaps Gaea’s greatest achievement in her role as
protectress of all life on Earth.
Gaea is no longer worshipped or thought to be
real in the number of monotheistic cultures of modern day Earth; however, she is
frequently invoked by members of the Wiccan religion (white witches). Several
quite proficient modern day witches include Sara Bailey of Los Angeles,
California, the Halliwell Sisters of San
Francisco, California, Angelique Bouchard-Collins of
Collinsport, Maine, Samantha Stephens
of Westport, Connecticut, Sabrina
Spellman of Salem, Massachusetts and Hermione Granger-Weasley of London,
England, often at times summoning her to add power upon their spells
without taxing upon their abilities. In fact, whether people believe Gaea to be
real or not, when they refer to Mother Nature or Mother Earth, they are speaking
of Gaea.
Other beings Gaea has granted power include
the ancient Sisters of Danu to the modern Ardina, Brother Nature, Clea, Dr.
Strange, the Neuri, Prometheus and Topaz. She has even directed opposition from
Dormammu when he held her captive in the center of the Earth and the mad Deviant
Maelstrom. The sorceress Circe (not to be confused with the goddess
Circe) once
entrapped her to steal energies from the gods of Earth, but Gaea called upon
Wonder Woman to save her. Her pain resulting from the harm humanity had done to
Earth nearly drove the mutant Humus Sapien to take the lives of all of mankind.
She was also captured by the extra dimensional scientist Yandroth and forced to
place a curse on the original Defenders, compelling them to gather to oppose
threats to Earth. She continued to perpetuate this curse herself for a time,
pleased to even have unwilling protectors, but she dissolved it after the
Defenders became corrupt due to Yandroth’s influence. She informed Nighthawk
that he would have the power to summon the Defenders in the future should the
need arise.
Height/Weight/Eyes/Hair:
Varied
Unusual Physical Features:
Gaea can appear in humanoid form with varying characteristics, generally with an
ethnicity match to those of whoever sees her.
Strength Level: Gaea possesses Class 100 level strength to lift (press) well over a hundred tons but she rarely engages in physical activities.
Known Superhuman Powers:
Gaea possesses great mystical powers of an undefined nature. She can draw on the
spiritual energies of all of Earth’s living beings since all of these beings
share part of her life essence. She can command the forces of nature on Earth,
such as storms and volcanic activity. Although Gaea’s powers may seem similar
to many of those of the living planet, Ego, Gaea and Ego are actually two very
different kinds of beings. Ego is a planet that has acquired sentience, whereas
Gaea is a goddess who has infused her life essence into the living beings of her
planet. Gaea is known to have great powers to heal injured living beings and to
cause living beings to grow. She has considerable telekinetic power and can even
levitate Thor’s hammer, which few beings can lift through non-mechanical
means. Gaea can also bestow mystical power upon sorcerers and mystics who know
how to call upon her for it, including those with malevolent intent, such as
Morgan le Fay.
Gaea does have a humanoid form, but she
generally manifests herself in whatever humanoid form she chooses. Usually, she
appears as a young woman with long black hair and blue eyes, but as Jord, she
appeared as a young woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. It has been suggested
that she always appears in the form of however image she was worshipped as by
whatever race on earth. So if she appeared before a ethnically diverse group,
she would appear in the form of a ethnic image connected to that person, such as
African to a person of African descent and Asian to a person of Asian descent
even simultaneously. In any of her humanoid forms, it is likely she has
superhuman strength, stamina, vitality, enchanted youth and longevity and resistance to conventional
injury and terrestrial disease.
Comments: This bio describes Gaea as she has appeared in Marvel Comics, DC Comics, the Legendary Journeys and the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson franchises. It also includes cameos for Sara Bailey of Los Angeles, California (The Craft, 1996), Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Paige Halliwell of San Francisco, California (Charmed TV Series, 1998 – present), Angelique Bouchard-Collins of Collinsport, Maine (Dark Shadows TV Series, 1965-1972), Samantha Stephens (Bewitched, 1964-1972), Sabrina Spellman (Sabrina The Teenage Witch, 1996-2003) and Hermione Granger (Harry Potter: Books I -VI, 2000-2012).
Clarifications: Gaea is not to be confused with:
Last updated: 03/15/16