Zartra (Atlantean) (Earth-616)

Zartra
Name	Zartra
Aliases	Princess Zartra
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Atlantean Royal Family; Western Sea Tribe
Relatives	Parents: Tanas (father, deceased); Elanna (mother) Spouses: Kamuu (husband) Children: Harran (son) Descendants: Kalen (grandson); Atlantean Royal Family (descendants) Family-in-Law: Orrek (uncle-in-law); Stegor (father-in-law, deceased)
Marital Status	Married
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Eyes	Irises: Blue
Hair	Auburn
Skin	Blue
Unusual Features	Pointed ears
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Atlantean
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Place of Birth	Western Sea
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	New Atlantean, Western Sea Tribe
Occupation	Queen of Atlantis Formerly princess
Base of Operations	Atlantis, Atlantis, Atlantic Ocean Formerly Western Sea
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Steve Gerber, Howard Chaykin, Joe Sinnott
First	Sub-Mariner (Vol. 2) #66 (July, 1973)
First	Sub-Mariner (Vol. 2) #66 (July, 1973)

History

Circa 6000 BC, about 12,000 years after the Great Cataclysm, Princess Zartra, a member of the nomadic Homo mermani from the Western Sea, arrived at the sunken ruins of Atlantis. She had travelled there with her father, King Tanas, and her mother, Queen Elanna, as they led their army to battle the army of King Stegor of the Eastern Sea. The warring tribes of barbarians both wished to claim the city and its hidden treasures.

In the joust of kings that was held before the battle, Tanas was killed by Stegor, and then, once the battle began, Elanna personally led the charge against Stegor's hordes and, after encountering King Stegor, she killed him in battle. After driving her standard through Stegor's lifeless heart and into the earth, Elanna declared, "In the name of Tanas and love -- Elanna rules the seas!"

However, Queen Elanna's abilities as a seeress had allowed her to learn that Prince Kamuu, the son and heir of the late King Stegor, was destined to found an undersea city to be called Atlantis where his people would settle, build, multiply, and prosper. Hoping that her daughter would be able to share that destiny, Queen Elanna sent Zartra to the ruins to find and make peace with Kamuu.

As her mother had perhaps foreseen, Zartra did find Kamuu shortly after he had had a mystical experience that had shown him his destiny. The young princess approached Kamuu as he was swearing to wrest control of the ruins and identified herself as Zartra, the daughter of Queen Elanna, his sworn enemy. When Kamuu demanded to know why she had approached him, Zartra pointed out that she had come with her sword sheathed because her mother knew of his destiny thanks to her mystic abilities as a seeress. With this confirmation of his destiny, Kamuu then asked why Elanna would have sent her daughter to him since she had surely known that he would be forced to kill her. Zartra replied that her mother had hoped otherwise and that she had come to make peace with him. When Kamuu was surprised to find that the idea of a truce with the slayer of his father was not as unthinkable as he might have supposed, Zartra then suggested that they throw down their swords in friendship. Once that had been done and they were clasping hands, Zartra added, "And perhaps...more than that."

At some later point, after their tribes had been united into one people, Zartra and Kamuu stood side-by-side, both of them holding up their swords to salute their subjects as they worked to rebuild Atlantis.

Zartra married Kamuu and became the first empress of undersea Atlantis.

Attributes

Powers

• Atlantean Physiology

Notes

• Although it has been stated that Kamuu and Zartra, after ruling for many years, eventually died and were succeeded by their son, Prince Harran, this has not been referenced within any published story.
• According to an earlier chapter of the Tales of Atlantis storyline, the war between the two nomadic tribes took place in the sunken ruins of Atlantis which had been on the ocean's floor for the 5,000 years that had passed since the Great Cataclysm. This would place the founding of undersea Atlantis at c. 13000 BC. However, other stories (like Saga of the Sub-Mariner #1) and various Official Handbook entries give different dates that are more recent.
• On maps of the Hyborian Age, the body of water to the west of the main continent of Hyboria is called the "Western Sea" or the "Western Ocean." However, the Western Sea that Zartra's father ruled was only the westernmost portion of that Western Ocean, the entirety of which is now known as the Atlantic Ocean.

See Also

• 2 appearance(s) of Zartra (Atlantean) (Earth-616)
• 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Zartra (Atlantean) (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) of Zartra (Atlantean) (Earth-616)
• 2 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Zartra (Atlantean) (Earth-616)
• 1 image(s) of Zartra (Atlantean) (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Zartra at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe