Vartu

Vartu is a Watcher and he was the first sent into a universal breach in an attempt to gain information and watch another universe. He disappeared and the other Watchers believed he had been killed but he did indeed make his journey.

The crossing changed Vartu and gave him a view into the future, and as a Watcher he watched. He came to know all that would happen in this new universe. It physically changed him also and he becae a darker soul.

He was discovered by the Uni-Lord after one of the breachs and he was dubbed the Dark Counsel. He seemed to know everything about the Uni-Lord, which made him question his omnipotence. Vartu told him that the lack of his people's faith in him was slowly killing him and gave him his counsel, the only free counsel he would ever give anyone. The Blackbodies were created with the advice of Dark Counsel and the Uni-Lord became addicted to the souls and prayers of the people of the universe.

Dark Counsel demanded his own Blackbody and for every consultation he received one of the powerful souls from the Congregation of Finality. Dark Counsel became addicted to the souls as well.

When the threat of the Silver Skyriders arrived, he combined his Blackbody with the soul of the Silver Surfer and had it attack them, calling it the Black Surfer. When they proved to be more powerful than he thought, he made it return to him for fear of losing his souls. He was then met by the Uni-Lord, who demanded a solution to the current situation. But as Dark Counsel, he only told the truth and the future, and the Uni-Lord could not understand that what he told would be reality and there was no way to change it.

When the Surfer was expelled from the Congregation he was able to reform himself through Vartu's Blackbody and take all it's souls. This caused him to revert back to his Watcher form and remember his past. But although he seemed to be normal once more, he had more sinister plots. When the Surfer took the power of the Uni-Lord into himself, Vartu tried to take it from him but failed. When the Surfer released all the souls into the cosmic breach, Vartu's soul was included for he had tried to become one with the power. Without a soul, Vartu laid down and dies, his watch finally over.