Members: Somon, Kariooq, Kolomaq, Ranaq, Tanaraq, Tolamaq, Tundra
One thousand years
ago, ancient powers were active in the north of Canada, powers that have spawned
legends. The greatest of these powers were the gods of the Inuit (Eskimo)
people, and the Great Beasts. The Great Beasts warred among themselves, and
would have destroyed the world, but the Inuit deities battled against them, and
sealed them away from the Earth. In the end, Tundra, the Beast of Earth, also
trapped the Inuit Gods so they could no longer interact with their mortal
worshippers. It remained that way for a millennium.
As time wore on, the barriers began to weaken. It is rumored that Nelvanna visited the earth in an avatar form at least once, during the 1940s, before she came to Richard Easton in the form of a beautiful maiden, offering to carry him away to her land for a short time, so she could conceive a child that could live permanently beyond the barrier and battle the Great Beasts should they reemerge. Easton agreed, and Narya, also known as Snowbird, was conceived.
When Easton returned to Earth, though but a single night had passed for him, seven years had passed on earth. Furthermore, his interaction with the gods had driven Easton insane, though he had acquired much knowledge. Eventually, for reasons that may never be understood, Easton summoned the Great Beast Tundra, who nearly destroyed much of Canada before he was subdued by Alpha Flight.
Other Great Beasts appeared: a drilling expedition released Kolomaq, the Living Winter, who was defeated by Snowbird when he was buried beneath a landslide; Ranaq, the Corruptor, who tried to possess people in two time periods simultaneously, but was destroyed by Talisman and a young boy who shot him with a piece of a magic amulet; and Tanaraq, who had possessed Snow bird’s teammate Walter Langkowski in his form of Sasquatch. Tanaraq was slain in combat with Snowbird, but Langkowski’s soul, which had been interchanged with Tanaraq’s, was trapped in the Realm of the Beasts.
Alpha Flight traveled to the Eye of the World, the last remaining portal to
the Beasts’ Realm, and journeyed into the Realm to find Langkowski’s soul
and save it. There they battled against Somon, the Greatest Beast, the Great
Artificer, Tundra, Kariooq the Corruptor, and Tolamaq, the Uncontrolled Fire.
Alpha Flight successfully regained Langkowski ‘s soul, Narya slew Somon, and
the Beasts’ Realm was destroyed. At the time, Narya proclaimed that the Beasts
themselves were annihilated.
She was wrong, though in subsequent appearances they seem to be reduced in
power. Somehow, the four Beasts of the Realm survived, and were summoned by
Pestilence into battle against Alpha Flight. They were again defeated. Finally,
the Beasts reappeared to attempt to corrupt Walter Langkowski, who had been
resurrected in the body of Narya, and had again taken up the appearance of
Tanaraq/Sasquatch. The Beasts were defeated by Box, who transformed Alpha Flight’s
headquarters into a giant spaceship and incinerated them during lift-off. It is
unlikely that this is the end of the Great Beasts. Furthermore, Talisman has
linked the release of the Great Beasts as one of the events that is the
precursor of the coming of the Sorcerer, the most malignant of ancient evils.
The Great Beasts prefer to operate through human intermediaries (“men of weakness”), tempting them with wealth and power, then destroying them.