Torquemada

Green Lantern
Status: Active
Space Sector: 3521
Sector Partner: Garmin Vid
Homeworld: Unknown
Predecessor: Unknown
Successor: Inapplicable

Biography:

Even before his induction into the Green Lantern Corps, Torquemada possessed the experience and wisdom that comes with wielding great power.  Torquemada was an accomplished sorcerer whose history, prior to joining the Corp, was foretold to Hal Jordan in the Book of Oa.  Torquemada was recruited by the Green Lanterns Brik and Percival.  He eagerly embraced the life of a Lantern.  Torquemada completed his training quickly and soon found himself the target of the mage Prentice, a member of The Yellow Circle.  

The Yellow Circle was a sorcerer’s cult devoted to the practice of a distinctive yellow magic.  Prentice sought to destroy Torquemada and steal the sorcerer’s power ring and power battery.  Prentice attacked the Green Lantern through Giselle, a young woman under Torquemada's care and a budding student in the magical arts.  Torquemada wished to avoid exposing the young girl to harm and was willing to surrender his power ring to the evil mage if it meant protecting Giselle.  However, Prentice underestimated the young girl’s cunning.  Thinking quickly, Giselle tempted the yellow magician into kissing her.  Unknown to Prentice, Giselle had been cursed with a spell that would turn anyone who kissed her into solid gold.  For some time, Torquemada had been using his own magic’s to free her from this curse.  Prentice's threat was neutralized and his “statue” joined the gallery of those unlucky individuals who shared his fate.  

Torquemada’s next adventure lead him to team up with Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern.  The mage used his magic crystal to learn the history of the Starheart, a mystical orb of magical energies created by the Guardians of the Universe in their attempt to gather the stray magic prevalent in the universe.  Torquemada’s crystal also revealed to him the story of the damnation of Yalan Gur, Earth’s oldest Green Lantern, as well as the origin of Alan Scott.

Fascinated by Scott’s natural melding of magic and Lantern lore, Torquemada sought out his assistance.  Scott soon agreed to assist Torquemada in his investigation of a mysterious magic that had been causing chaos throughout the galaxy.  During their adventure, Torquemada shared the tales of Ash, the Green Lantern devoted to the destruction of vampires, Barin, who was tortured by nightmarish visions, and Ayria, a renegade Green Lantern whose lust for power led to the genocide of three worlds.  

Together, Torquemada and Scott discovered the source of the destructive magic which was terrorizing the galaxy.  The Starheart had grown in power and was now manifested in a sentient and malevolent being of terrible power.  The Sentinel M'la, who had long guarded the threshold between order and wild magic, had been betrayed by the Starheart and was tortured and killed by the now evil entity.  With the horrible death of M’la, the Starheart’s magic dispersed throughout the universe, randomly conjuring the horrors which plagued the galaxy.  The Starheart brought back Alan Scott's youth and power but now sought to attack Scott's family.  In response to this attack, Alan Scott battled the Starheart while Torquemada used both his magic and the power of the Green Lantern to contain the evil magic.  Although they fought valiantly, Torquemada and Scott were unable to prevent the Starheart from rupturing and releasing its wild and chaotic magic throughout the wider universe.  Although he could not prevent the Starheart from rupturing, Torquemada was able to rescue Scott’s family.  He saved them from death by capturing a portion of the magic which focused on their destruction and sealing it in a magical orb.  

Torquemada was later responsible for restoring both his friend Alan Scott’s power, and his fighting spirit. Scott has abandoned his power ring and his title as Green Lantern, and was content for Kyle Rayner to carry on as Earth’s sole Lantern.  Scott was in deep morning over the deaths of his allies and friends in the Justice Society, causing him to fall into a depression and malaise.  Torquemada used his sorcery to conjure "ghosts" of the Golden Age Atom, Doctor Midnight and Hourman.  He then sent these spirits to attack Scott.   Faced with both his past and his responsibility to the present, Scott harnessed the energies contained within him to fight off the attacking specters.  Thanks to Torquemada’s intervention, Alan Scott realized that he must embrace his destiny and adopted the new moniker of Sentinel.

Torquemada was recently partnered with the Green Lantern Garmin Vid to patrol space sector 3521.  The two Lanterns were tasked with the investigation of the decimation of a convoy of civilian spacecraft.  While on site, they encountered a confused and apparently amnesic Kyle Rayner.  Although Torquemada attempted to assist his obviously distressed comrade, the erratic Rayner grew more paranoid and excited.  He rebuffed the sorcerer’s goodwill and refused to accompany Torquemada and his partner to Oa.  The confused and hostile Rayner violently attacked the two Lanterns, severely wounding Garmin Vid.  Torquemada used his powers to speed Vid off to Oa, crash landing on the Guardian homeworld while his partner’s life slipped away.  Torquemada rushed Garmin Vid to the care of the Lantern surgeon Soranik Natu, who managed to save the critical Lantern’s life.  

Torquemada and the recovering Vid would later reconcile with the real Kyle Rayner.  They soon learned that the “Rayner” who attacked them was, in actuality, a brainwashed and insane Alexander Nero; a long time foe of the real Kyle Rayner.  Torquemada remains a staunch member of the Green Lantern Corps and the Corps' most notable sorcerer.  He has recently offered his services as an instructor in the magical arts to any Lantern seeking to delve further into the arcane.