Red Sonja (Earth-616)

History

Origin

Red Sonja lived with her family in a humble home in the Western Hyrkanian steppes. When she had just turned 17 years old, a group of cruel mercenaries killed her father Ivor, her mother and two younger brothers and burned their house and all their possessions. She survived but at the cost of her own virginity after she was brutally raped by the leader of the group, leaving her in shame. After all this, the goddess Scathach then appeared to her, and instilled in her incredible skill in handling swords and other weapons on the condition that she would not allow herself to be loved by another man unless he defeated her in fair combat.^[7]

Adventures with Conan

Eventually Red Sonja started working as a mercenary and the King of Pah-Dishah hired her services, sending her to the city of Makkalet, where she came across Conan the Barbarian. Sonja assisted Conan in defeating The Vulture,^[2] and afterwards they worked together to steal the Serpent Tiara from the King of Makkalet, fulfilling her mission for the King of Pah-Dishah. Although Sonja promised Conan a reward for his assistance, she left Makkalet once she recovered the tiara.^[8]

Upon her return to Pah-Dishah, Red Sonja faced treachery as the King took the tiara from her and made her a prisoner. The King planned to make Sonja part of his harem, but that night, Sonja murdered the King and his close guards. Sonja escaped Pah-Dishah and rode west until she arrived to The Maul, where she met with Conan once again. Reunited, Conan and Sonja worked together to stop an undead being,^[3] but they were soon chased from the city by bounty hunters, who were seeking Red Sonja for the murder of the king.^[9] Their escape led Conan and Sonja to the hideout of a couple of vampires, who made the adventurers their prisoners. The vampires planned to feed from them, but Conan managed to trick them into releasing him, allowing Conan and Red Sonja to escape and burn their hideout, killing the vampires inside. After escaping a certain death, Red Sonja knocked Conan unconscious and continued on her own path, leading danger away from the Barbarian.^[10]

Much later, Sonja and Conan met again and confronted the evil sorcerer Kulan Gath.^[11]

Further Adventures

Red Sonja also went to the future on two separate occasions when she possessed Mary Jane Watson and teamed up with Spider-Man in defeating Kulan Gath who had also traveled to the future in one of many attempts to take over modern day Earth.^[12]

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

A sword-master in peak human physical condition, martial arts expert, as well as knowledge and experience of fighting the supernatural.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

• Red Sonja was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Smith for Marvel Comics in the loose adaptation of the historical fiction short "The Shadow of the Vulture" (1934; adapted in Conan the Barbarian #23; February, 1973).
  • She was partially based on Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino (main protagonist of "The Shadow of the Vulture") and, to a certain degree, on Dark Agnes de Chastillon.^[13]
  • Although, Marvel Comics credited Red Sonja as "the heroine created by Robert E. Howard",^[14] and Red Sonja was still a part of the Robert E. Howard estate. After the 1985 Red Sonja movie,^[15] and the last Marvel Comics title, the one-shot Red Sonja: Scavenger Hunt #1, the character (owned by Kull Properties, Inc.)^[16] was moved to its own company, Red Sonja, LLC. Red Sonja, LLC was then bought, separating her from Conan. She was briefly licensed^[15] with Blackthorne Publishing in 1998, then Cross Plains (1999), before Dynamite Entertainment acquired the rights, and began publishing their first Red Sonja series in 2005.^[17] Due to that legal status, Red Sonja didn't return to Marvel Comics in 2018-2019 along with Conan and other characters.^[15]
  • This profile reflects only on Marvel's involvement with the character, and with whatever implied or referenced background is necessary.
• The origin of Red Sonja, "The Day of the Sword", first appeared in Kull and the Barbarians #3 by Roy Thomas, Doug Moench and Howard Chaykin, and was later redrawn by Dick Giordano and Terry Austin for Savage Sword of Conan #78.
• In the Dynamite comic book series, Sonja's origins are portrayed in "flashbacks" within each issue beginning with issue #8. The goddess makes her first appearance in the new series in issue #12, which also marks the return of the deadly sorcerer Kulan Gath.
• Red Sonja writer Frank Thorne, along with Mike and Sal Caputo, wrote a song entitled "The Ballad of Red Sonja" which they performed at a New Jersey nightclub called Lily Langtry's in 1977.^[18]
• As an Hyrkanian, Red Sonja invoked the names of the Tarim^[8] and Erlik,^[19] but has invoked other deities' names, such as Mitra.^[20]
  

Trivia

• Red Sonja was played by Brigitte Nielsen in the 1985 film "Red Sonja", and by Angelica Bridges in the episode "Red Sonja" on the Conan TV series.

Links and References

• 123 Appearances of Red Sonja (Earth-616)
• 7 Minor Appearances of Red Sonja (Earth-616)
• Media Red Sonja (Earth-616) was Mentioned in
• 88 Images featuring Red Sonja (Earth-616)
• 10 Quotations by or about Red Sonja (Earth-616)
• Character Gallery: Red Sonja (Earth-616) 
• Red Sonja at Wikipedia
• Red Sonya at Wikipedia
• Red Sonja at the Dynamite Entertainment Wiki

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Footnotes