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Post by redsycorax on Mar 1, 2023 0:35:37 GMT
In a thread below, I've drawn attention to the absence of background detail about Thanagar, the homeworld of Katar and Shayera Hol (Earth-One's Hawkman and Hawkwoman). All we know about it is that it orbits Polaris, that its inhabitants have access to interstellar travel, that they discovered antigravity and Nth metal, that they entrusted law enforcement on their world to hawk-emblazoned officers, that Katar and Shayera were sent to Earth to pursue one of their world's villains, that they teamed up with Ray Palmer/the Atom on numerous occasions, eventually joined the Justice League and were recalled to Thanagar shortly before it fell to the Adaptoid plague, which led to chaos there, only resolved by the acceptance of early JLA enemy and Kanjar Ro rival Hyathis as their planetary ruler.
What else would the rest of you suggest? One of the other things I've worked out is that given that Polaris is a class A white giant binary star, Thanagar would have to orbit it at a greater distance than Earth for it to be in its habitable zone, given Polaris is hotter and larger than our own sun. In chronological terms, I suspect Katar and Shayera may both be somewhat older than the rest of their Justice League compatriots. Justice League Animated had them worshipping Ixthulhu, an analogue of a certain Great Old One, and engaged in an interstellar war with the Gordanians. I really liked Shayera's characterisation in that series- she was definitely more her own woman than a carbon copy of Katar.
And no, I haven't read Hawkworld. Does it add anything to the characterisation or background motivation of Katar and Shayera?
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Post by johnreiter902 on Mar 1, 2023 0:56:55 GMT
There are some other things that we know
Marriages are symbolized on Thanagar by the man giving the woman a part of earrings instead of a ring. Thanagar is a post-scarcity society where thieves steal only for pleasure and fame. A generation ago Thanagar was conquered by the Manhawks, who were driven off by Katar Hol's father. It was in honor of him and his hawk-based artificial wings that the Hawk Police were founded
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Post by DocQuantum on Mar 1, 2023 1:02:27 GMT
It's established that the Earth-1 Katar Hol is nearly a century old (Earth years) as of 1985. Shayera is probably closer to 60 Earth years old. I made notes trying to firmly establish the Hawks' ages at some point, but I haven't been able to find them. This information comes from the Shadow War of Hawkman, so it's canonical.
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Post by redsycorax on Mar 1, 2023 2:10:15 GMT
Thank you, Doc and John. I think I was part of that discussion if you're referring to a certain thread on this website, when you were trying to ascertain the relative ages of Earth-One heroes. I managed to find some data about what distance a habitable zone planet would need to be at and given Polaris' greater radiation intensity and size and binary status relative to our sun, it's not surprising that Katar and Shayera are older than their Terran companions. The canon is quite correct, although the reason for it being so needed to be elaborated.
However, apart from interpersonal relationships and recent history, we haven't learnt as much about Thanagarian history and culture as we have when it comes to Krypton, which proliferated markedly in the Silver Age sixties with the advent of Supergirl, Kandor and the Phantom Zone criminals. For some reason, the same hasn't been true when it comes to Thanagar or most of the other DC universe worlds outside our solar system. For example, we know that Rann fought a devastating nuclear war 10,000 years ago, but apart from its advanced technology, little else about its cultures or history. Mon-El's Daxamites are vulnerable to lead (presumably radioactive end-state lead left over from heavier element deterioration over time) and are reknowned biophysicists, as well as possessing interstellar travel, but little else. Shrinking Violet's Imsk has differences with the United Planets over space dragon migration routes. Cosmic Boy's Braal and Ultra Boy's Rimbor are in recession. Projectra's Orando is medieval. Element Lad's Trom was subjected to planetary genocide and he is its only known survivor. Dream Girl's Naltor is a galactic financial centre due to its inhabitants precognitive abilities. Saturn Girl's terraformed Titan has been a boon to the Science Police due to the fact that its inhabitants are telepaths. Winath is an agricultural world. Bgztl is a four-dimensional world and had a troubled past. Durla's metamorphs are shunned and stigmatised. Colu is a advanced technocracy. Inhabitants of Talok VIII, such as Shadow Lass, can generate shadows, and so on. When it comes to the Teen Titans, Tamaran is sexually libertarian and a warrior culture and Azarath is an other-dimensional religious sanctuary. As for the Justice League, Mars-One was inhabited by Green and White Martians, who fought a devastating war due to interneccine struggles over the deteriorating world's remaining natural resources. We know more about Darkseid's Apokolips than we do about many of the other DC universe worlds, including Thanagar.
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Post by redsycorax on Mar 8, 2023 1:11:24 GMT
Okay. According to the DC database website, we know this about Silver Age Thanagar. It's a technocracy with little history of social inequality and crime. As Doc has said above, it was threatened by invaders called the Manhawks until Katar Hol's father, Paran Katar, established the Wingmen (sic) to remove the threat. The Wingmen became Thanagar's planetary police force and Katar and Shayera Hol followed metamorph criminal Byth to Earth, decided to stay to study Terran policing methods and later both joined the Justice League, until they were summoned to Thanagar. The Equalizer Plague devastated the planet, although Katar and Shayera were able to escape back to Earth. At that point, former Alstairian (Antarean) tyrant queen Hyathis intervened and ended the plague. In return, Hyathis became absolute planetary ruler and ruled for many years, given that while she was a tyrant, she was also highly competent and effective as a ruler and returned the planet to its former prosperity, but at the cost of its individual freedoms. All of these events occurred before the Crisis on Infinite Earths cutoff point, so they can still be regarded as continuity. Thankfully, we can disregard the scientifically challenged "Rann-Thanagar War" post-Crisis event, which would have rendered Rann uninhabitable and lifeless as soon as it arrived in the Polaris planetary system, due to Polaris' greater size and radiation output: Source: dc.fandom.com/wiki/Thanagar |
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Mar 9, 2023 18:53:09 GMT
Thanagar has been shown a bit since those stories in stories on the E-1 site. Feel free to read some of them.
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