N'Garai

Origin

The N'Garai were Elderspawn^[6] demons created by the Elder God Chthon,^[3] after the Demogorge's attack on the degenerated gods.^[9]

They were one of the many races collectively known as the "Elder Races".^[8]

They lived on Earth millions of years ago, having enslaved humanity,^[10] but eventually left to live in another dimensional plane after being banished by some force^[11] (possibly the Angels led by Lucifer).^[12]

They also had a millennia-old rivalry with the Undying Ones, who also once ruled over humanity.^[13]

The Pre-Cataclysmic Age

The N'Garai returned to Earth by 100,000 B.C. and used humans as slaves, until they were driven back from Earth and into their dimension.^[4]

The Hyborian Age

Around 10,000 B.C., Kulan Gath was transported to the dimension of the N'Garai, which he described as making Stygia look like a paradise.^[14]

Antiquity

Some of the Mabdhara sought to claim the soul of Marada Starhair for her mystical powers, with the help of their servant Simyon Karashnur. They were successful in capturing her, and Y'Garon began torturing her and replacing pieces of her soul with his own in an attempt to make her his consort. However, Tribune Gaius Marcellus Fulva managed to save her and went to Rome, but the N'Garai eventually killed him for it after Marada was brought to Ashandriar. Then Y'Garon used his link to Marada to make another demon disguise himself as Marada.^[15] The disguised demon attacked Marada and her companion Donal MacLlanllwyr, and despite Arianrhod's efforts, the demon managed to kill Donal and abducted Arianrhod to force Marada to come to them, after which Marada had Rhiannon teleport her to Y'Garon's dimension, where she slew many of the demons who attacked her. She confronted both Y'Garon and Simyon and eventually managed to defeat them both.^[16]

A millennium ago, Kierrok sent his N'Garai to slaughter the witches residing in the Balkans and take over their eldritch mine. The mountain witches prayed to the goddess Witchcraft to save them, but their prayers were unanswered. The N'Garai had managed to kill most of the mountain witches, except for five individuals who retreated into the mines, where they forged magical tools to become the Hexfinders. With their new powers, the Hexfinders emerged from the mines and successfully repelled the N'Garai.^[17]

One thousand years ago, after Kan led the forces of Prince Jehan against the Wizard Kings, the prince's court magician, Vung, who had used the Black Mirror to lure Kan, captured Kan and Jehan's sister Shialmar to sacrifice them to the N'Garai. However, Shialmar offered her soul to them in exchange for power, to which they complied, allowing her to slay Vung and send Kan back to China.^[18]

In the late 13th century, the sorcerer Belasco used his magic to make contact with the N'Garai and made a bargain with them: In exchange for extraordinary powers, immortality and being transformed into a more demonic form, he would enable the Elder Gods to enter Earth's dimension so that they could conquer and rule Earth. However, after traveling to Pangea to cast the spell, Belasco was unable to seal the bargain when he discovered that the locket that was needed to open the inter-dimensional passage to Earth had been lost somewhere in an ancient Atlantean underground amusement ride.^[19][20]

Around A.D. 1460, the sorcerer Lady Turac, during her training in the dark arts, sacrificed a boy to the N'Garai in exchange for immortality that would enable her to battle her enemy, Count Dracula. The demons granted her request, but, since they found the boy's life to be insufficient, they also took as payment Turac's innocence, joy, love and vision.^[21]

In the late 19th century, after some N'Garai had entered the Earthly realm, they came into conflict with the Clan Akkaba and Apocalypse single-handedly killed an entire tribe of them. This was witnessed by a young Margaret Slade.^[22]

The Modern Age

Y'Garon accessed a Sa'arpool in an effort to bring the N'Garai to Earth. The Triad emerged from the Sa'arpool and attempted to claim Kate Fraser, but Dracula fought them off to save Kate, hurling them back to the Sa'arpool, which was destroyed afterwards.^[23]

When the X-Man Cyclops accidentally destroyed a cairn in Westchester County, the N'Garai, including Kierrok, re-entered reality, but were beaten back by Storm, who resealed the portal.^[24]

Camarilla of the N'Garai, wanting to get revenge on Marduk Kurios, decided to slay Satana Hellstrom.^[11] A N'Garai was summoned by a renegade priest to kill Exiter, the familiar of Satana. Although a demon himself, the familiar was utterly terrified by the Elderspawn.^[25]

When Dhasha Khan took control of Firebird's powers, he began transforming Earth back to how it was during the N'Garai's rule, but before he could summon them, Iron Fist managed to thwart Khan's plan and revert everything back to normal.^[26]

When Kulan Gath was teleported to the modern age, he attempted open a portal to the N'Garai via a Sa'arpool and attempted to offer Red Sonja and Spider-Man to them, but the heroes managed to thwart his plans.^[27]

During Christmas Eve, a N'Garai managed to arrive through a destroyed cairn near the X-Mansion and attacked Sprite, chasing her throughout the mansion before she finally incinerated him with the Blackbird's engines.^[28]

After Shanna the She-Devil found the long-lost locket, she and it were brought to Belasco,^[29] who was finally able to use it to cast the incantation that opened a portal for his masters to come to Earth. However, only seconds later, Ka-Zar was able to disrupt the spell, causing the dimensional passageway to close before it could be used.^[19] As punishment for his failure, the Elder Gods banished Belasco to an interdimensional limbo.^[30]

While trapped in that alternate dimension, Belasco began collecting fragments of Magik's soul to create replacement Bloodstones which, when used with the locket, would enable him to summon the N'Garai.^[31]

The Puffball Collective released the N'Garai, resulting in mass slaughter. Because of this, the Collective was banished to the Crossroads and the portal was shut to prevent another attack by the demons. The N'Garai killed the rest of the Collective and took over their planet, which was now branded as the "Demon World of the N'Garai". After the Collective tricked the Hulk into smashing through the barriers of the dimensions, the demons began attacking him. The Hulk managed to escape, sealing the portal behind him, while the demons slaughtered the Collective for failing them.^[32]

Pete Wisdom, Scratch and other operatives of Black Air had been observing a N'Garai cairn until, during a conflict between the X-Men and W.H.O., some members of Black Air foolishly slew some members of W.H.O., which allowed the N'Garai to be summoned. The X-Men and Wisdom fought them and used Scratch - who was now controlled by Psylocke - to drive them back into the cairn, which was then destroyed.^[33]

When the Dwarf tricked Aurora Poule into using the Darkhold to get her revenge on the town of Perfection, the N'Garai were summoned to aid her. Some of the N'Garai attacked Sam Buchana and Louise Hastings, but luckily they were killed by Sabretooth, while some others had trapped Victoria Montesi inside an elevator.^[34] Then, after Modred located the N'Garai's cairn, he told Aurora that her unborn child had now become a N'Garai, since they had no natural way to reproduce. After Modred sacrificed a woman by hurling her through the cairn to test if humans could pass through it, he went to the N'Garai's dimension to retrieve his soul.^[3]

After finding out that she was pregnant with her father, Chthon, Victoria tried to kill herself to prevent her from giving birth, but was stopped from doing so by Sam. Then, a group of N'Garai showed up and tried to catch Victoria in order to protect her to ensure the rebirth of their master. The duo were chased by demons throughout the ruins of the Sanctum Sanctorum, until they were saved by Doctor Strange.^[35]

Over time, the cairn near the X-Mansion reopened again, releasing another N'Garai. The N'Garai confronted Wolverine, but because of his regression to his feral state, he slew the demon and followed another one into the cairn. Nightcrawler went after Logan and found him battling an entire armada of N'Garai, despite being heavily injured. Because Logan had slipped into a feral rage, he intended to kill every single remaining N'Garai until there were none left. Kierrok, fearing that he might succeed, sent both of the X-Men back to their world.^[36]

Wanting to conquer his masters, Belasco tricked Bloodscream into assembling an entire armada of zombie ships to attack the N'Garai in Magneto's island within the Bermuda Triangle. The X-Men, alongside Lee Forrester, tried to investigate, but were eventually captured by Belasco. After Belasco trapped Psylocke inside a crystal, he used the crystal to open the cairn and conquer the demons. Belasco confronted Kierrok and at first had the upper hand, but Lee managed to shoot the crystal, shattering it, and Bloodscream sacrificed himself to push Belasco through the cairn before it closed.^[37]

The Ru'Tai, a slave caste of the N'Garai, were inspired by Wolverine's battle against Kierrok and rebelled against their oppressors, killing Kierrok along with their leader, Pilgrimm, keeping his eye as an amulet.^[38]

When Kulan Gath attempted to sacrifice the goddess Peliali to his masters, his plans were thwarted by the Avengers and Peliali's daughter Silverclaw. This left Kulan Gath to be consumed by his masters instead.^[39]

Not all of the N'Garai had been slain and they regrouped, teaming up with Belasco who, until now, had not realized that the N'Garai were his masters. They gave Belasco a new arm and planned to conquer Limbo, intending to use it as a stepping stone towards Earth. Belasco tricked Shadowcat into believing that Earth had been conquered by the N'Garai via a illusion. She and the other X-Men performed a black magic blood spell to aid them against the demons, but instead it disguised them as the N'Garai, with Kitty trading their souls to the N'Garai, which allowed them to take possession of the other members of the X-Men - the Banshee, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Sunfire. Then Bleasco revealed his illusion and his plan, and sent the N'Garai to attack Kitty and Magik.^[40] After Magik dispatched the N'Garai that was sent after her, the N'Garai possessing Storm tried to suck the Archangel's soul, which it succeeded in doing despite the efforts of Psylocke and Pilgrimm.^[41] Then a more evolved N'Garai emerged from the cairn wanting to eradicate mankind, while the N'Garai-possessed Banshee and Sunfire went to Genosha to claim the souls of the Iceman and Polaris, which they also succeeded in doing.^[42] The evolved N'Garai assaulted Thunderbird in Limbo, getting the upper hand, until Wolverine intervened to save his friend's life. Unfortunately, 13 N'Garai cairns had appeared around Earth near sites of mystical power, such as Vatican City, where the N'Garai-possessed Colossus and Nightcrawler were. They clashed with Pilgrimm, Phoenix and the Beast, but the demons managed to steal the Beast's soul.^[43] After collecting all of the Bloodstones, Belasco began reading the spell, but he and the N'Garai were assaulted by Wolverine, Thunderbird and Phoenix. Pilgrimm also entered the battle against both sides, but was defeated by Phoenix. Then Magik tricked Belasco by using Kitty to resurrect the X-Men and they were able to destroy Belasco's castle and all of the cairns around the world, ending their threat.^[44]

The N'Garai B'Terak and M'Drul established themselves in Abergylid, Wales, kidnapping local residents to have them sacrificed to Kierrok. Despite being invisible to normal human eyes, the X-Man Pixie was able to see them thanks to the darkness that had been put on her soul by Magik, and contacted the disbanded X-Men. After handing a list of the missing town's people to the local constable, Rhys, she witnessed the two demons trying to kidnap some children. She held them off long enough for the children to escape and retreated to the local museum, where she summoned her Souldagger and killed the demons. However, another group of N'Garai soon appeared and attacked her, but luckily she was saved by the regrouped X-Men who had gotten the message. After killing the demons, the X-Men went to their base inside a mining cave where they found Kierrok, who had been partially brought to Earth thanks to the sacrifices. While the X-Men battled the N'Garai, Pixie tricked Kierrok into destroying the supports of the cave, causing the entire cave to collapse on top of Kierrok, severing his link to Earth, but not before Pixie teleported the X-Men to safety.^[45]

At some point in time, the N'Garai established a nest in Avebury, Wiltshire, England. The nest was then destroyed by Union Jack and Spitfire.^[46]

The N'Garai attacked the Xavier Institute once again when Rockslide accidentally used the destroyed cairn to reform his body. This opened a portal for the N'Garai to pass through, forcing the X-Men led by Rogue to battle them in order to protect the students. Gambit and the Iceman attempted to clear the way to the portal, but in that moment a N'Garai general attempted to kill one of the students in order to widen the portal. Husk soon joined the battle, but as the N'Garai broke through their defenses, Rogue absorbed some of the students' powers to bring down the general. The N'Garai were then driven back to their dimension, with the portal soon destroyed by Frenzy and Marvel Girl.^[47]

Wraithwitch, with the assistance of the Department of Occult Affairs, activated a machine near Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. that brought the N'Garai, among other demons, to Earth. The demons and the D.O.A. operatives proceeded to attack the Avengers inside Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., distracting the heroes long enough for Crossbones to steal the Hammer of Greithoth. The demons were eventually banished back to their dimension after the Valkyrie destroyed the machine.^[48]

Alternate Reality Versions

Earth-982

A lone but strong N'Garai had managed to arrive to Earth, thanks to a cairn located in Central Park. While Wolverine and his daughter, Wild Thing, were passing time together, the N'Garai attacked them. Father and daughter fought back at the demon, forcing it to retreat back into the cairn, which was subsequently destroyed.^[49]

Earth-17342

Chthon and his N'Garai rose to power and conquered the entire Earth thanks to a plague that they released. This reality was shown by Kang the Conquerer as one of the many possible futures of Earth.^[50]

Earth-31690

The N'Garai came across and battled several heroes during the latter's missions.^[51]

Earth-199999

The Elder Beasts were created by Chthon to guard the Temple of the Darkhold on Wundagore Mountain, and serve the prophesied Scarlet Witch.^[52]

Earth-TRN566

A group of N'Garai were led by Kierrok to awaken the Dweller-in-Darkness in order to bring devastation on Earth, which would allow them to feast on what remained. Kierrok brought his kind through a ceremony in Salem Center, but they were all banished back to their dimension by Erich Zann using the Book of R'lyeh with the help of the X-Men.^[53]

The N'Garai's fangs, claws and blood were deadly poisonous and extremely durable.^[47] They were also very strong, as normal humans were unable to stop them.^[35] The N'Garai were capable of magic, being capable of creating demonspawns formed of light and smoke to protect their cairns,^[24] though the Ru'Tai were far more capable at sorcery, as they could slow someone's healing factor.^[38]

The N'Garai, despite possessing disturbing alien minds, could fall victims to telepathic attacks.^[44] When a N'Garai died, its body completely dissolved, leaving nothing but a strong stench behind.^[46]

Monarchy. The N'Garai were separated into three different castes: the ruling caste Mabdhara; the warrior caste "lesser N'Garai"; and the slave caste Ru'Tai.^[54][4]

Primitive. The N'Garai used various magical artifacts like the Sa'arpool.^[13]

Most of the N'Garai were simple-minded bloodthirsty monsters,^[47] being nothing more than savage animals driven by rage and instinct.^[38] Still, they revered Chthon and the Elder Gods and saw themselves as their children.^[24][35] They also deemed humans as lower lifeforms to be treated as animals.^[10]

The Ru'Tai were far more intelligent than the rest of the N'Garai, as they had vision and understood the universal energy of balance. They were a collective intelligence, though some could achieve the right of individuality, a sense of self and a name.^[38]

• Mabdhara (Masters)
  • Kierrok the Damned
  • Triad
    • Y'Garon
    • Y'Bsgloth
    • Y'Griarth
  • Klejan Kan
  • Syxra
  • Zo
• B'terak^{[citation needed]}
• M'Drul^{[citation needed]}
• Warrior caste / "lesser N'Garai"
• Ru'Tai
  • Pilgrimm

The Dark Gods worshiped by Psyklop are unidentified, but they might be the N'Garai.^[55]

• Although their first full comic book appearance was in X-Men #96, the N'Garai actually first appeared in a prose story by Chris Claremont in Giant-Size Dracula #2.

• The term "Mabdhara" is either stated to be a N'Garai,^[54] or to be the Masters, the most significant N'Garai.^[4]
• The N'Garai bear a striking resemblance to the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise.
• Ian McNee found out that the N'Garai were one of the four main mystical threats which could be traced back to Chthon, the other three being vampires, werewolves and zombies.^[56]