Power ring (weapon)
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Green Lantern Corps
All Green Lanterns wield a power ring that can generate a variety of effects and energy constructs, sustained purely by the ring wearer's strength of will. The greater the user's willpower, the more effective the ring. The limits of the power ring's abilities are not clearly defined and it has been referred to as "the most powerful weapon in the universe" on more than one occasion. Across the years, the ring has been shown capable of accomplishing anything within the imagination of the ring bearer. Often the rings are used to form solid-light constructs, the power and size of which are limited only by the ring-bearer's willpower.Power rings allow the user to fly and to cover themselves and others with a protective force field, suitable for travelling through outer space. They can also generate beams and solid structures of energy that can be moved simply by thinking about doing so, enabling the user to create cages, transportation platforms, walls, and battering rams. The ring can also be used to search for energy signatures or particular objects. It can serve as a universal translator. The ring can manipulate sub-atomic particles (effectively producing new elements) and split atoms, but those powers are rarely used by Green Lanterns.
The rings of the Green Lantern Corps (GLC) appear to be semi-sentient computers, able to talk to and advise the user as to various courses of action.
Green Lantern Rings typically hold a limited charge. Alan Scott's ring and the Green Lantern Corps rings have time limits in that they must be recharged every 24 hours. Kyle Rayner's ring is limited by amount of energy it holds, but no set time limit; the energy is expended by Rayner's use of the ring, so the duration of each charge is determined by his actions.
The Green Lantern rings are often recharged by a portable power cell that looks like an old fashioned lantern that is colored green. The user typically points the ring towards the lantern, and usually gives a Green Lantern oath while recharging the ring.
Alan Scott's ring cannot directly affect objects made of wood, and Green Lantern Corps rings cannot directly affect objects colored yellow. Originally it was believed that the Guardians wanted the rings to have a weakness to prevent a Green Lantern from becoming all powerful, although recent events have revealed that the yellow "impurity" was in fact a yellow-energy being of pure fear, trapped in the Central Power Battery. Lanterns have typically found ways to get around these limitations by affecting objects indirectly. For example, if the Lantern is faced with a yellow gas approaching him, a fan can be created to blow it away since the fan only directly affects the normal air around it, not the gas. Kyle Rayner's ring can affect both wooden and yellow objects, but his mind has proven to be susceptible to forms of external control (such as hallucinogens, psychic attacks, and other phenomena that disrupt his thought processes). Nowadays, a holder of a Corps ring can overcome the yellow weakness by recognizing the fear behind it, and facing that fear (Green Lantern (4th series) #1, July, 2005).
In addition, the effectiveness of a wielder's power ring can be adversely affected by a weakening of resolve and will. For example during the Millennium affair, Hal Jordan fought a Manhunter who psychologically attacked him in the battle to make him doubt that the people he was protecting valued the principles he was fighting for. Jordan's resolve began to weaken and his ring lost effectiveness until he was nearly defeated. However, one of his charges then struck the Manhunter and declared that she did deeply value Jordan's principles as well. With this dramatic affirmation, Jordan's faith in his cause was restored and the ring instantly returned to full power to defeat the Manhunter.
Green Lantern Corps rings typically reserve a small portion of their power for a passive force field that "protects the wielder from mortal harm". In dire emergency, that energy reserve can be tapped, at the expense of said protection, until it too is exhausted. Kyle Rayner's reconfigured ring can "run low", but never completely loses its charge; however, it doesn't shield him from harm if he's caught off-guard.
The GLC rings do not necessarily have to be worn to be wielded in some functions. For instance, the Green Lantern, Ch'p, once faced a hostage situation where the villain demanded he take off his ring or the hostage would be harmed. Ch'p complied, but not before ordering the ring to fire a restraining beam on the villain seconds after being removed from physical contact (which was done, and the villain was captured). Rayner can will his ring to return to him if it is ever removed or lost. Although never explicitly mentioned, Hal Jordan and other Green Lanterns have also exhibited the ability to summon their rings at substantial distances. Jordan has even used sheer willpower to get ahold of his power ring and gain control of it when other people were wearing it. Precisely how this is accomplished is never made clear, though it might be that the ring's artificial intelligence recognizes the call of its rightful bearer and activates some preset protocol causing it to return to the Green Lantern who owns it. (The flight rings of the Legion of Super-Heroes work in a similar fashion, being attuned specifically to their wearer.)
NOTE: In the story "Green Lantern Vs Power Ring" (Green Lantern No. 18, January 1963) it has been established that Hal Jordan is able to mentally control the ring off his finger from a distance up to 100 yards.
GLC rings can also be used to emit simulated radiation from Green Kryptonite. This radiation is apparently just as powerful and painful to Superman and other Kryptonians as the genuine rays, but the ring wielder needs to concentrate to maintain this effect. An alien imposter who stole Jordan's ring used this ability to subdue Superman in order to kill him, only to be struck by Jordan to break his concentration to allow Superman to recover and attack.
Standard Green Lantern Corps and Alan Scott's rings can be used by anyone who wears them. Rayner's ring is keyed to his genetic pattern and is useless to anyone else, except for Hal Jordan, as shown in Green Lantern (3rd series) #99. However, this has also been subsequently changed. As of "Green Lantern: Rebirth", only people with exceptional wills can use power rings, a restriction which makes uses of the rings by average individuals improbable. Still, the requirements needed to wield a power ring have changed sporadically across the years, often creating continuity errors. In some incarnations a power ring can only be used by someone who literally has no concept of fear and is completely honest. In the Elseworlds tale "Red Son," for example, Lex Luthor is unable to use the ring found on the dead Abin Sur since he is quite obviously a dishonest figure and must give the ring to that reality's Hal Jordan, a slightly unhinged figure who nevertheless exhibits fearlessness, honesty, and an uncommon will. But in the paperback "The Road Back," Hal and Guy Gardner temporarily lose their rings to two smalltown rubes at a diner when they unwisely decide to brawl without using their powers. The hicks are able to wield the power rings with apparent ease until they are subdued by Jordan and Gardner. Sometimes a Green Lantern must literally be brave and honest to even use the ring, sometimes it's just recommended. It remains to be seen whether or not power rings will be kept out of the hands of average people in the post "Rebirth" Green Lantern series. Allowing power rings to fall into the wrong hands has been a favorite plot device in many previous Green Lantern stories.
Normally an individual will only receive a power ring upon the death of the previous wielder, and then only if they pass the criteria for membership in the Corps. Often, the search for a new wielder is consciously initiated by a current Green Lantern when he realizes death is imminent, but it has also been demonstrated that a ring can conduct such a search on its own if circumstances require it. Also, though it is frequently implied that there are a fixed and finite number of power rings in existence, many stories show power rings creating duplicates of themselves for the purpose of arming auxiliary Green Lanterns. During a particular story arc in which a pre-Parallax Hal Jordan was cast forward in time to meet Kyle Rayner, it was stated that a ring of the Green Lantern Corps had the ability to duplicate itself without limit, thus allowing the entire Corps to be reconstituted from a single ring if necessary.
Origins
The Guardians of the Universe held several campaigns to bring order to the universe. Their most successful and enduring was the Green Lantern Corps. Currently, two members are assigned to a sector, armed with a power ring. The wearers project green beams of plasma-based energy. The ring bearer is only limited by their willpower.
The Corps' Weapon.
Parallax
Early in Green Lantern History, the Guardians imprisoned the fear entity known as Parallax in the main power battery on Oa. This caused an impurity on the corresponding spectrum yellow. As knowledge of Parallax fell into folklore, the only mention of this phenomena was as "the yellow impurity." When Sinestro was also imprisoned, he awakened Parallax and helped it corrupt Hal Jordan to escape. This effectively removed the impurity during Kyle Rayner's run as the lone Green Lantern. When Parallax presence was revealed and reimprisoned, those who could overcome great fear were not affected by yellow.Green Lantern: Rebirth #3, 2005Recharging
In addition to the power ring, Green Lanterns also have a Power Battery which is used to recharge the ring. While the original Power Rings had to be recharged every 24 hours, the current incarnation of the Power Ring needs to be recharged only when the energy supply is depleted. The process is not instantaneous, so many Green Lanters recite an oath while the ring charges. This is done to reaffirm the person's commitment to the Green Lantern Corps, and to measure the time it takes the Ring to charge. The Oath is not required to charge the Ring. While many Green Lanterns create their own oath, many of them use Hal Jordan's oath as a sign of respect:
- In brightest day, in blackest night,
- no evil shall escape my sight!
- Let those who worship evil's might,
- beware my power... Green Lantern's light!
(Note: The word "Blackest" is often replaced by "Darkest", especially in more recent comics. This was done in order to not have the term "black" be a negative. In story line, this was written off as Hal Jordan's attempt to be politically correct.)
Blue Beetle Scarab
When in close proximity of the new Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes, the power rings of both John Stewart and Guy Gardner sparked uncontrollably (it should also be noted that Hal Jordan's did not). Later exposure to Blue Beetle drove Guy into a beserker rage, nearly killing Jamie before realizing he is a teenager("I don't hurt kids."). It has yet to be seen whether the scarab affects other rings the same way.Infinite Crisis #6, Blue Beetle #1 (2006)Power ring variants
The Qwardian power ring
Sinestro
Upon his banishment to the anti-matter universe of Qward, Sinestro acquired a yellow power ring. This power ring could only be recharged by fighting a Green Lantern. The ring was later acquired by Guy Gardner, but as he found out, it only spoke in Sinestro's native language. He last appeared with it in the JLA: Classified. Sinestro had the ring upon his return in Green Lantern: Rebirth but the details of his acquisition of it are unknown.Sinestro has been activelly recruiting members for the "Sinestro Corps", and specifically looking for those who can "instill great fear."Green Lantern#10, 2006
Alex Nero
Due to the death of Sinestro, the Qward felt that they needed another agent of Chaos and made a second yellow ring. This ring was first given to the assassin Fatality, but she failed them and they took the ring from her (along with her right hand). The ring was then given to mental patient Alex Nero. Nero was a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from severe delusions and several bi-polar issues. He was a great artist, but unlike Kyle Rayner, the Green Lantern he would face, he mostly drew horribly vivid scenes of demons and hell. With his severely warped psyche, the ring was incredibly dangerous in his hands. Every demon and monster that he thought was there became real. He was last seen when he faced off against Rayner to claim the power of Ion.
Power Ring
Power Ring is also the name of several supervillains from Earth-Three and the anti-matter universe, usually associated with the Crime Syndicate of Amerika. He has had several incarnations and all have been evil versions of current Green Lanterns, including Hal Jordan, Kyle RaynerJLA: Earth 2, 2001, and John Stewart.JLA #107, 2005 Their power rings are cursed with the entity Volthoom, who communicates much like the AI of Corps power rings. Other than that, their powers are mostly similar to the positive-matter power rings.Starheart
Alan Scott uses a power ring, which uses energy from the Starheart. Before the creation of the corps, the Guardians gathered all the magic they could and imprisoned it in the Starheart. The power of this ring cannot affect wood. The limits of this ring's power are currently unknown. Residual effects from wearing it were however passed down to Scott's children, both Alpha-class metahumans, Jade and Obsidian.Jade was able to tap into the Starheart naturally, instead of through the ring. For a time, Alan Scott absorbed the Starheart, and he was able to use the power without a ring as the conduit as well. When Jade died, Kyle Rayner absorbed her energy. Rayner can now tap into the starheart and the Central Power Battery as Ion.
See also
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References
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