Nathaniel Great Owl was a previous holder of the “Ghost Dancer” mantle, a position empowered by Gitche Manitou, the Great Spirit of the Manidoog, to protect the gateways separating the Earth realm from the Secret Worlds under his jurisdiction: Tokpela, Topka and Kuskurza.[1]
History
Eons ago, Gitche Manitou (the Great Spirit of the Manidoog) and his son Tawa (god of the sun) created three worlds prior to the current world. Each of these worlds were eventually destroyed as a result of the sinful behavior of their inhabitants, but these doomed realms and their inhabitants continued to exist as the “Secret Worlds.” Gitche Manitou empowered the “Ghost Dancer” to serve as the gatekeeper between these realms. The title and powers of Ghost Dancer were passed down through generations of mortals in the Earth realm.[1][2]
At least as early as the 1920s, Hopi shaman Nathaniel Great Owl served as the Ghost Dancer, dedicated to following the trails of errant spirits who breached the mystical barriers separating the Secret Worlds from the Earth realm. On December 21, 1925, the day of the winter solstice, Great Owl followed one such trail to an opulent house in New York City where he located famed photographer and ethnologist Curtis M. Edwards. Transforming into the Ghost Dancer, Great Owl detected that the illusion-casting Edwards was actually an errant Clown demon who was granted shape-changing abilities by Iktomi (the god of trickery) and used those powers to escape to the Earth realm and create the Curtis M. Edwards identity. In this human identity, the Clown demon traveled to various Indian reservations and took photographs that romanticized the slaughter of the indigenous population, to the overall detriment of indigenous culture. Great Owl exorcized the Clown demon and returned it to the Secret Worlds for atonement. Suspecting that Iktomi was responsible for the Clown demon’s transformative powers, Great Owl later removed Iktomi’s ability to change shape, trapping him in a single body.[3]
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Nathaniel Great Owl's human form
Eventually siring a son named Ethan, Great Owl’s duties as the Ghost Dancer forced him to leave his family behind as whispers drifted through the Secret Worlds foretelling a powerful entity that would one day attempt a forced entry into the Secret Worlds. But prior to the birth of Ethan’s son, James Owl, Great Owl dedicated James’ unborn spirit to the task of succeeding him as the next Ghost Dancer.
Over a period of more than 20 years, Great Owl tracked a skin-walker demon calling himself “Manitou” (“Spirit”), denying the demon the deaths that nourished it. However, in recent times, this Manitou demon, along with the legions of corrupted Clown demons under its influence, cornered Great Owl in a New York subway and killed him in an attempt to usurp the power of Ghost Dancer. The Ghost Dancer mantle was soon inherited by an unsuspecting James Owl, who, following a vision quest through the Secret Worlds during which time his worthiness to assume the mantle of Ghost Dancer was tested by the spirits of Great Owl and his forefathers, defeated the Manitou demon and his Clown demon subordinates.[2]Attributes
Powers
See Also
- 5 appearance(s) of Nathaniel Great Owl (Earth-616)
- 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Nathaniel Great Owl (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Nathaniel Great Owl (Earth-616)
- 3 image(s) of Nathaniel Great Owl (Earth-616)