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History

Overview[]

Gitche Manitou is the Great Spirit the ruler and Sky Father of the Manidoog the "Native American Gods". He is known by different names by the Native American tribes that worshiped him.

Origin[]

Gitche Manitou emerged from Giizhigong into an endless void of nothingness. He created the elements of rock, fire, wind and water. However, when he created light, his shadow cast by the light became the malevolent, sentient entity known as KhLΘG. KhLΘG wished to destroy all that Manitou had created, so Manitou took away KhLΘG's physical form and banished him into the nothingness.[4][5]

Secret Worlds[]

Working with his son Tawa, Manitou created Tokpela, the first mortal world, as well as Sotuknang, the first mortal being who was to act as their instrument and model the world according to their universal plan. However, the inhabitants of this new mortal world became corrupted and battled for resources leading to their destruction.[6][5] The Second World, Topka, was born from the flames that destroyed the First World. However, this world fell to a similar fate as Tokpela.[6][5] The third world, Kuskurza, arose from the icy wasteland that destroyed the Second World, but was later submerged in a great flood due to its inhabitants' sins.[6][5] After that, the Manidoog ventured through Sipapu and arrived on Tuwaqachi, also known as the Earth realm, where they created the current world. However, the previous worlds continued to exist and became known as the "Secret Worlds." They remained as the dwelling places of the spirits of their former inhabitants. Manitou created the Ghost Dancer to serve as gatekeeper between these realms.[6][5]

Ancient History[]

Many years ago, the ancestors of Takori's tribe were blessed with bountiful land in an area that was later known as Shotgun City during the days of the American Frontier. However when they refused to give back to the land they took from, the Native American tribe was apparently cursed by Gitche Manitou who punished them with a devastating drought. One of the natives prayed to Manitou for forgiveness, and the god allowed it to rain only after the native peoples built a massive well to collect the rain to prevent against future droughts.[7]

War with the Asgardians[]

Around 1000 AD, Vikings landed in North America and declared it for Odin and the Asgardians whom they worshipped. This conflict led to a brief skirmish between the Asgardians and the Anasazi. An agreement was made between Manitou and Odin. The Asgardians backed off from invading North America,[citation needed]

Third Host[]

In 1000 AD, the Third Host of the Celestials occurred, during which the aliens informed they would return 1,000 years later to judge Earth's right to continue existing. Manitou attended the Council of Godheads meeting to discuss this threat.[8]

American Frontier[]

Manitou often answered the calls of his worshipers, aiding them through various hardships, particularly when his worshipers called out to their gods for guidance as more Europeans began arriving seeking to share lands with the native tribes of North America. Gitche Manitou and the Manidoog as well as their worshippers called these invaders and their descendants "white men" because they arrived in ships with white sails, not so coincidentally because they lacked the more tanned or bronze skin of the Native Americans. Manitou even appeared to give his blessings when Comanche chief Grey Eagle sired a son, the so-called Red Warrior.[9] As an adult, Red Warrior once appealed to Manitou to bring down a storm to slay outlaws who killed the owners of a trading post.[10]

In the late 19th century, Gitche Manitou appeared before the Comanche brave known as Flaming Star and inspired him to find the "glowing dust from the heavens," actually the luminescent dust of a meteorite, and to use it on a costume for a future hero he foresaw would protect both Native Americans and the descendants of the Europeans. The man who would first don this costume was a lawyer named Carter Slade, who called himself the Ghost Rider.[11]

Gitche Manitou (Earth-616) from Ghost Rider Vol 2 49 0001

Modern Age[]

Gitche Manitou was summoned in recent years to protect the sacred lands of his worshippers from white men who threatened to destroy a dam in order to loot a town with scuba gear. Destroying the dam would be a threat to the sacred lands. Johnny Blaze as the Ghost Rider unwittingly fought against Manitou believing him to be involved in the plot, but Manitou nailed Ghost Rider with a spirit arrow, forcing him back to human form. Neither Ghost Rider nor Manitou was able to stop the dam from blowing up. However, Blaze was sent back in time to the 19th century with the help of a human mystic named Spotted Doe who believed this Ghost Rider to be a malevolent demon.[12] Manitou sent agents to fight this Ghost Rider and eventually felled Ghost Rider with his magical axe, forcing him to return to the form of Johnny Blaze. Manitou was preparing to spear the helpless John Blaze when the criminal Tarantula and his men grabbed Spotted Doe. As Blaze went to Spotted Doe’s defense, Manitou realized he was wrong about this Ghost Rider’s motivations and restored him back to his proper place in time. Ghost Rider was returned moments before the dam was destroyed. Returned in time to stop the explosion, Ghost Rider stopped the terrorists and saved the sacred lands.[13]

Attributes

Power Grid[16]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Experienced Fighter:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Multiple Types:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Warp:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Superhuman:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Incalculable:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Superhuman (75-100 ton):Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Omniscient:Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Genius

Powers

  • Manidoog Physiology: Gitche Manitou possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Native American gods but to a far superior degree.[14]
    • Virtual Immortality: Like all of the Manidoog, he is exceptionally long lived, but he is not immortal. He has not aged since reaching adulthood and cannot die by any conventional means.
    • Superhuman Durability: Manitou possesses greater resistance to physical damage than the majority of his race.[11] He is immune to all Earthly diseases and is resistant to conventional injury. Gitche Manitou also has exceptional physical endurance against harm. He can appear underwater for long periods of time and still breathe even without air present or exist on the highest land formation of earth where the temperature, elevation or lack of oxygen would otherwise be fatal to human beings.
    • Regenrative Healing Factor: If he were somehow wounded, his godly life force would enable him to recover with superhuman speed.
    • Superhuman Strength: Manitou also possesses superhuman strength far greater than the average member of his race and can lift 90 tons.[14]
    • Superhuman Stamina: His Anasazi metabolism provides him with far greater than human endurance in all physical activities.
    • Superhumanly Dense Tissue: Anasazi flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Native American gods.
    • Magical Energy Manipulation: Gitche Manitou also has exceptional mystical power above any other Manidoog, equal to Odin, Zeus and the Elders of the Universe. He can tap into and manipulate the energies of the Orenda, the sum total of positive and natural energies of the Giizhigong spiritual plane, for a variety of effects resembling magic.[1]
      • Telekinesis: He can move and levitate matter.
      • Weather Manipulation: Manitou control the forces of weather, such as creating storm and manipulating the wind in order to fly or levitate himself. He can create such forces of storm to decimate a large valley.
      • Dimensional Travel: He can also manipulate the energies of the Orenda to create interdimensional apertures to cross between time and space, or to travel from Giizhigong to the Earth realm.[1] ***Summoning:He often uses this power to summon creatures native to Giizhigong, such as the Thunderbirds and Hobomokko, to aid him in battle.[1]
      • Energy Manipulation: He can propel and manipulate mystical energies to conjure shields or lightning-like bolts or to enable himself to glow as bright as a small sun, such as when he traveled into the underworld.[11]
      • Animal Empathy: His mystic rapport with earth is great enough that all the animals of earth from bears to squirrels acknowledge his reverence.
      • Cosmic Awareness: He has exceptional senses on a nearly omniscient level allowing him to perceive disturbances on a cosmic scale.[11]
      • Shapeshifting: He can also shapeshift between humanoid, animal and energy forms as in ancient times when he appeared as various animal forms or by appearing through sunbeams passing between the branches of a tree.[11]
      • Astral Projection: He can also project and speak through his image molded from clouds or stellar matter, such as the Aurora Borealis to the Inuits, and can ethereally manifest in the Earth realm via mortal mediums.[1]

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Gitche Manitou often wields a mystical "Spirit Hatchet" and "Sprit Arrows" imbued with the power of the Orenda.[1] He is also equipped with a dagger composed of metal similar or identical to Olympian adamantine or Asgardian uru and a bow and arrow.

Trivia

  • Legend surrounding the creation of the mystical creature known as KhLΘG stated that the creature began life as the shadow of Gitche Manitou.

See Also

Links and References

References

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