History
Grigar[1] is one of the Cat People who now live in the extradimensional Land Within, a demon-realm to which their ancestors were banished centuries ago by the sorcerers who had created them. Grigar is the most recent male known to have been chosen to serve as the Balkatar ("the summoned one") who, as part of the spell that banished his people, is the one member of his race who can leave the Land Within. However, he can only travel to Earth when summoned there by a sorcerer and must obey the commands of his summoner. The punishment for disobedience is death.[2]
At one point, this Balkatar was summoned to the abandoned Daemond Mansion by the West Coast Avengers who were seeking to contact the Cat People in order to help their teammate Tigra (Greer Nelson) who had begun to behave somewhat erratically due to a conflict between her human and cat souls. When his dramatic arrival startled the Avengers into attacking him, Grigar fought back but ceased battling once Tigra revealed herself. When Tigra asked that she and her friends be taken to his land, Grigar agreed and instantly transported them to the Land Within. Once there, Grigar guided the heroes into the city where they were confronted by Skubar who reminded Balkatar that the rule against transporting outworlders to the Land Within was absolute and punishable by death, but Tigra's presence caused the group to be immediately escorted to the king instead. Once in the throne room, the Avengers objected violently when King Gerark ordered that the costumed humans were to be put in cages while he talked with the womancat privately, but Hawkeye listened to Grigar when he pointed out that their resistance wouldn't help their friend and the heroes stood down. Once the humans had been led away, Grigar remained in the throne room while Tigra revealed her backstory and explained her problem to the king. When the king decided he needed time to consider Tigra's situation, he ordered Grigar to take her from his sight, but to guard her well.[1]
Grigar took Tigra to the rocks outside the city where, after he revealed that Balkatar was his title and not his name, the two of them were soon being intimate together. Afterwards, when Tigra asked him what his name was, the Balkatar introduced himself as Grigar, but Tigra said that she would keep calling him Balkatar because it fit him better. When it became clear that Tigra didn't know much about their history, Grigar revealed the origin of the Cat People and how they had been banished to the Land Within. He also explained how the two Cat People who had escaped being banished, Flavius and Helene, had created the first Tigra by magically turning a human woman into a Cat-Person. Once this Tigra had slain their enemies, she mated with the Balkatar of the time[3] to begin the second race of Cat People whose descendants had saved Greer Nelson's life by transforming her into Tigra.[4][1]
Later, Grigar was with Tigra when the king revealed that he would help her once she had killed their enemy, Master Pandemonium. Grigar discretely kept silent when Tigra later lied to her teammates by claiming that the king had agreed to help her with no strings attached.[1]
Later, at a feast attended by all the outworlders, Grigar sat beside Tigra who was the honored guest.[5]
Back on Earth, when the West Coast Avengers lost the lead they were following to Master Pandemonium, Tigra summoned the Balkatar to find him for them. Grigar succeeded in his task and was able to direct the heroes to a building they recognized as the abandoned Anvil Pictures studios. Later, as the heroes were escaping from the traps into which they had fallen, the Balkatar secretly appeared to Tigra alone to show her a more direct way to reach Master Pandemonium so that she could kill him. However, Pandemonium was able to escape before Tigra could go through with killing him.[6]
The Balkatar was away on Earth serving another sorcerer when Tigra, a slightly different team of West Coast Avengers, Hellstorm (Daimon Hellstrom), Hellcat (Patsy Walker) and Master Pandemonium unintentionally arrived in the Land Within via the River of Oblivion. When Tigra ultimately refused to execute Master Pandemonium for the Cat People, the king declared her a traitor and removed her cat-soul, transforming her back into her powerless human self. King Gerark then ordered all of the outworlders to be locked away until the Balkatar returned that evening so that he could see what "his friend" had become. While locked up, Hellcat took the opportunity to give her Cat Suit, a version of the one Greer had once worn as the Cat, to Greer so that she could fight alongside the Avengers.[7]
That evening, Grigar returned and reported to the king that his mission to the Land Without had been successful. When the king told him what had happened with Tigra and mentioned that some new Avengers had accompanied her, Grigar recognized his description of "a rather lovely woman in yellow with blue claws" (Hellcat) as someone wearing the Cat suit. As Grigar began to warn the king, Greer (wearing the Cat suit) led the Avengers into the throne room. As the other humans battled the king's guards, Grigar confronted Greer and, certain that she couldn't resist his masculine charm, tried to seduce her into not fighting him. Although it seemed to work at first, that was just a ploy to give her the chance to get in the first blow. After a fierce but brief battle, Greer defeated Grigar by using her suit's cable-claw to bind him to a pillar. Soon afterwards, the "cat-soul" was released and re-entered Greer's body, transforming her into Tigra again, but with her human mind in complete control of her new and improved body. However, since Greer's new Tigra form looked slightly different from her old Tigra form and more closely resembled the Tigra from their legends, the rest of the Cat People refused to continue fighting her or her friends. Master Pandemonium used this distraction to obtain the soul-shard that the Cat People had been keeping for Mephisto, then escaped into the River of Oblivion. With no reason to stay in the Land Within, Tigra and the other outworlders returned to Earth.[7]
Later, when Agatha Harkness summoned the Balkatar to restore a feral Tigra to her former state, Tabur appeared before her instead and attacked her. After restoring Tigra, whom he desired as a mate, Tabur revealed that he had become the king of the Cat People after traveling to the Land Within and killing the king. The fact that Tabur was able to feel "the call" when Agatha summoned the Balkatar suggests that he had also replaced Grigar as the Balkatar.[8]
It has not been revealed if Grigar survived whatever Tabur did to replace him as the Balkatar or if Grigar became the Balkatar again after Tabur was turned into a cat by Agatha Harkness, something that ended his reign as monarch.[3]Notes
- Grigar's predecessor was Berreg,[3] the Balkatar who, when ordered to do so by King Gerark, disobeyed the sorcerer Daemond by transporting Morbius to the Land Within instead of killing him.[2] The fact that Grigar later became the new Balkatar implies that Berreg was executed for that crime, presumably by Gerark.
See Also
- 4 appearance(s) of Grigar (Earth-616)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Grigar (Earth-616)
- 2 mention(s) of Grigar (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Grigar (Earth-616)