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Mr. Melmoth was the leader of the Sheeda and an enemy of the Seven Soldiers.

Describing himself as 'the last king ever', Melmoth ruled the Sheeda at the end of life on Earth, 1 billion years in the future. By his first wife, he had one daughter. After his wife's death, he married again. When the Sheeda discovered the time-machine built by Aurakles' people at the the beginning of history, he supervised its copying, and personally led the force that destroyed Aurakles' kingdom. Seeing how his kingdom had benefited from the cast-offs of a long-dead civilization, he repeated the procedure on other ancient civilizations.

However, at the First Fall of Camelot, in 8000 BC, he was finally deposed by his wife, who took the name Gloriana Tenebrae and crowned herself Queen. Left in the remains of Camelot, he called himself King Mordredd the Dead and ruled a city of the undead in the ruins of Camelot. His kingdom was destroyed by the last remnants of King Arthur's Knights, who destroyed his capital with an atomic weapon.

Now undead himself, Melmoth survived another five hundred years before he discovered the current location of the Undry Cauldron, which has the power to bring the dead back to life. In an occult transfusion, he replaced his blood entirely with the water of the Cauldron, giving him immortality. Thus sustained, he decided to build an army to retake his kingdom on his Queen's next attack.

Melmoth's activities are not closely recorded after this point. It is known that he made contact with Roanoke Colony in 1620, forcing the women to have his children. The half-human descendants of the colony subsequently formed a subterranean community beneath the bedrock of New York City. It is also known that in 1819 he traded a few drops of his immortal blood to the scientist Victor Frankenstein in exchange for scientific training. Doctor Frankenstein would subsequently use the blood in his reanimation experiments. In 1870, he fought the monster Frankenstein on a moving train in the town of Vanity, and survived the subsequent train-wreck as a disembodied head.[1]

He formed an alliance with the ancestors of Don Silencio, ruler of the East Coast mob, and used them to find runaways with unique abilities, who he trained as thieves. He made use of every scientific advance of the Golden Age to help his cause, usually stealing them from their rightful owners.

However, in the run-up to the Sheeda invasion, Melmoth's plans began to fall apart. His scheme to use Limbo Town and its inhabitants fell apart through the actions of Klarion the Witch-Boy, who forced him into a fire that left him horribly burned.

Melmoth burning

Melmoth burns

Falling back to a base on Mars, he planned to sell the golden tomb ornaments of the dead Green Martians to fund his war against his wife. However, Frankenstein was investigating a slew of missing children cases connected to the operation, and in the ensuing chaos, he fed Melmoth to the insectoid creatures roaming the ruins. Although Melmoth is still alive, his passage through the digestive tracts of the creatures has presumably stopped him.[2] Later, some Martian Apes resurrected him on Earth in the Magus Theatre. He became obsessed with "healing the wounds of the multiverse", intending to use an older edition of the Crime Bible to sacrifice all parallel universe Gothams to save the rest of the multiverse. He was stopped by Frankenstein and his allies, as Red Phantom managed to knock his soul out of his body and imprison him in his theatre.

Powers

  • Unique Physiology: Melmoth comes from a time and place in the future which is undetermined. It is said he is part subterranean human and part post-human. Furthermore, Melmoth's physiology was changed when he was affected by the Cauldron of Undry.
    • Immortality: Due to his extended use and time with the Cauldron he was effectively immortal even when removed from the magics.


Abilities

Equipment

Transportation

  • Drilling Machine: At one point, Melmoth organized the theft of a tunneling machine for his personal use during a plan.


  • Melmoth is apparently based on Melmoth the Wanderer, a character from 19th century literature.
  • Through his encounter with the Roanoke colony in 1620, Melmoth is the common ancestor of all Limbo Town residents.[3]

Related

Footnotes


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