Sheeda
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The Sheeda are a fictional race in DC Comics. They were created by Grant Morrison for his 2005 Seven Soldiers of Victory project, although their first DCU appearance was in Morrison's introductory run on the JLA: Classified series in 2004.
The Sheeda are a blue-skinned race from the future. Sheeda are either capable of changing size or existing in a wide variety of sizes. The smallest are a little larger than mosquitos. These Sheeda can take control of a sentient being by attaching themselves to the back of the creature's neck. They are also somehow related to both spiders and maggots. In addition, they are capable of inter-breeding with regular humans. They are masters of both science and magic. As such, they have created creatures such as the Mood 7 Mind Destroyer (Guilt) and the Submissionary Constructs.
The Sheeda are tied to Seven Imperishable Treasures, based on the Four Treasures of Celtic myth. Thus far, we have seen the Foundation Stone of Manhattan (based on the Lia Fáil), the hammer of Bors (possibly based on Mjolnir) the Cauldron of Rebirth, the Gwydion (a homonculus made of 'living language', based on Merlin) and the sword Excalibur (possibly the counterpart of the sword of Nuada).
History
The Earth is six billion years old, and humanity is 250,000: both more than enough time for civilization to flourish several times over. Yet, so far as we know, our civilization (6000 years and counting) is the only one to make it as far as this. Where are all the others?The answer to this, in the story, is that once a civilization reaches a certain level of development, the Sheeda arrive to 'harvest' it; to destroy its monuments and defeat its champions. Over the course of the story, we have them accomplish this task with Arthurian Camelot (according to the story, Arthurian Camelot is a recurring motif in history: the particular Camelot destroyed by the Sheeda existed in the 81st century B.C.).
More recently, the Sheeda have returned, first via something called the Miracle Mesa in the American Southwest which, according to local Native American legend, rotates through other worlds. The Sheeda, as a preparation for the defeat of the era's champions (such as the Justice League), lure a team of superheroes (the reformed Seven Soldiers of Victory) to the area and defeat them in an event known as the Harrowing. The Sheeda are deeply superstitious about teams of seven members, and seek to destroy all such teams.
The Sheeda traditionally attack humanity in a period of utopia. This time, however, they have been drawn out by Zor, the "Terrible Time Tailor", a renegade member of the Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp.
The first three issues of JLA: Classified were published before any part of Seven Soldiers of Victory, and appear to be a prequel to that series. In JLA: Classified, the Sheeda arrange for the disappearance of the Justice League and subsequently enslave the Ultramarine Corps superteam that responds in the League's absence to an emergency instigated by the Sheeda and Gorilla Grodd. The Sheeda are defeated, but the scale of their threat is not fully understood, let alone halted.
The Sheeda "ambassador" Neb-Uh-Loh promises an upcoming "Harrowing" and claims that the incursion was merely a test of the Earth's superheroes; the next time the Sheeda attack, Neb-Uh-Loh claims, they will be more stealthy about it. It's likely that Seven Soldiers depicts this latter, more stealthy approach.
Origin
The Sheeda are not extra-dimensional, inhuman, or diabolical. They are from the future: roughly one billion years from now. They are either an evolved or gengineered form of humanity, or they are the race the inherits from us. Whichever, the Earth now orbits a dying sun, and mismanagement of the planet by their predecessors has reduced it to a wasteland. The black flowers of Slaughter Swamp now cover the Earth, the seas are reduced to mist.
In this world, the Sheeda live. Their culture is horrific - described a 'a grim parody of civilization' by one character. Its arts, sciences and ecology is at a standstill. However, they have discovered time travel technology. Using this, they travel back through time, come to a certain era, and lay waste to the planet, taking most everything of value and taking most of the populace as slaves. First, it provides for their world, since it has fallen into shambles, and second, it gives the populace something to do besides plot an uprising.
They justify their pillaging, to outsiders at least, in the following terms: "Mankind has always taken from the Earth all that he thought he needed, with no thought for consequences. Our predecessors did what they had to to survive. This has culminated in us, the super-survivor lifeform. Are we not human? Is it not just to take the fragrance of a self-destroying civilization - before it is swept away on the shores of the infinite?"
Sheeda Characters
- Melmoth, former king of the Sheeda. His throne was usurped by his wife and he was sent back in time to the first fall of Camelot, where he assumed the role of Mordredd the Undead. Desperate, he found the Cauldron of Rebirth in Slaughter Swamp, achieved immortality, and has been plotting revenge ever since (see Melmoth the Wanderer). Currently, he is dead on Mars by the hands of the undead assassin known as Frankenstein (the DC Frankenstein Monster, not Mary Shelley's original monster).
- Gloriana Tenebrae, Melmoth's second wife and Queen of the Sheeda, is the villain of the story. She is trying to retrieve the Seven treasures before the Harrowing. She is apparently the basis of the evil queen in the 'Snow White' legend, since she has made several references to wanting to be 'the fairest of them all'. She is also presumably the inspiration for various legends concerning the ruthless Queen of the Fey (her name comes from Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene). Currently she is being hunted by the . Her totem is the jellyfish.
- Ne-Buh-Loh, whose official title is Celestial Huntsman, is the Queen's chief warrior. He is apparently indestructible, and possesses the ability to 'kill with his gaze'. He is also known as Nebula Man - the being who defeated the Golden Age Seven Soldiers of Victory. He was defeated, and possibly destroyed, by Frankenstein.
- Misty Kilgore, a young girl currently in the care of Zatanna, is Melmoth's child by his first wife. She has a basically good nature, and with her 'magic die', she can work magic similar to Zatanna's. Her name among the Sheeda is 'Arriachnon'.
- In addition, the people of Limbo Town, including Klarion the Witch Boy, are all Sheeda-descended half-breeds.
Meta-commentary
- The Sheeda have been seen using Erdel Gates and green 'lanterns of truth'.
- The character Ne-buh-loh remarked to Misty Kilgore that, while he once loved her, he sees 'only guilt now'.
- The Seven Unknown Men say that they try to keep reality in good repair, but that Zor the Renegade took the process too far, trying to 'change the pattern'. Their remark that unless the Sheeda are stopped, the 'results to your dimension could be catastrophic', echoes the many 'world will never be the same' comic events of recent years (Avengers Disassembled, Identity Crisis, House of M, Infinite Crisis, Marvel Civil War).
- During Zatanna's fight with Zor, Zor says: 'I know your plans because I am the universe that contains them!' Gwydion, the shapeshifting homonculus replies, 'And I, the many hands that hold them and the eyes that see...'
- In Guardian #4, the Terrible Time Tailor says to the Newsboy Army, "One day black flowers will cover the earth and kids like you won't be worth a damn." This could be seen as a metafictional prediction of the Modern Age darkening of superhero comics, and the general fall of overtly comical characters.
- In Bulleteer #3, one character at a superhero convention says, 'Look at us. Selling our precious memories for room and board.'
- Most of the people who have faced the Sheeda have died promptly. However, those who have survived the Sheeda have pretty much lasted through anything.
See also
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