Druig

The power-hungry Eternal Druig spends millennia on Earth devising schemes to become Prime Eternal and cares little for humanity, earning his title as the lord of flame and nightmare.

Polarian Origin

The Eternal Druig is a Polarian Eternal, the Eternals that reside in Siberia. Son to the All-Father Valkin, Druig acts the dutiful son, but has an altogether different vision for the world than him. While Valkin believes his son has been influenced by the worst of humanity and wonders if Druig will ever be a hero, Druig suggests that he look from other views. Druig is more power-hungry than anything and plots schemes to seize power.

Around 18,000 BC, Druig helps his fellow Eternals battle the Deviants, who had conquered much of Earth before turning on the Eternals; though his fellow Eternals dislike Druig, they recognize his lethal skills, seemingly the only one of them who enjoys slaughtering Deviants. The war ends when the Deviants attack the arriving Celestials’ Second Host, who trigger the Great Cataclysm that sinks the Deviant homeland of Lemuria beneath the ocean as punishment for the Deviants’ transgression. 

Through the following years the Eternals visit primitive human civilizations, though Druig does not assist their development as the other Eternals did, and they become mistaken for gods. 

Around 1000 years ago Druig, Valkin, Ajak, and Virako visit Peru and prevent the mind-controlled Asgardian god Thor Odinson, AKA Thor, from freeing the imprisoned Deviant Dromedan. Coveting Dromedan’s immense powers for himself, Druig creates a Neutralizer helmet to control him, but instead falls under Dromedan’s thrall. Druig’s allies subsequently recapture Dromedan, unaware of Druig’s part in his escape.

Reality Manipulation

Like all Eternals, Druig is normally immortal and invulnerable, and it would take the dispersal of most of his atoms to permanently slay him. When his body becomes human, he is somewhat weakened, but if he is killed, he would be reborn fully Eternal once more. 

While possessing all his species’ superhuman attributes, he specializes in changing reality by manipulating it. He is superhumanly strong (Class 25), can also fly—often preferring to do so on fire or earth platforms generated out of the air—and teleport. Druig can telepathically sense someone’s psychological vulnerabilities or control their minds, and project energy from his hands or eyes, most commonly flame. 

Eternal Enemies

Druig most often clashes with the Deviants, whom he revels in destroying. He has little interest in human affairs and in his continual quest for power, he and Ikaris of the Olympian Eternals fight frequently. He even goes up against some of the X-Men, but allies with them situationally.

Few Allies

Druig allies with his Polarian Eternals, including his father Valkin, Eramis, and Legba, with the latter two serving him loyally.

Hungering For Power

By modern times, when the Celestials’ Fourth Host arrived on Earth, Druig had become a KGB agent. As a major, his fellow Eternals who are also KGB agents, believe that Druig revels in shaping of plots and the training of assassins. His family serves as Russians to discourage atomic confrontations.

Druig plotted to slay the Celestial Ziran the Tester with an ancient weapon the Celestials once used to destroy one of their own; he tortured fellow Eternals Sigmar and Ikaris to learn its hidden location, but before he could fire it at Ziran, Ikaris disintegrated Druig. His life force was then trapped in the Celestial prison, the Desecration Annex, though a fight between Genis-Vell, AKA Captain Marvel (later Photon), and the warden, Godstalker, nearly released it accidentally. 

More recently, the Eternal Sprite used the Dreaming Celestial’s power to change the world, transforming all the Eternals into humans with false identities and memories. Druig was reborn as deputy prime minister of Vorozheika, a former Soviet Republic. Though unaware of his true origins, his personality remained the same, and he planned to kidnap top foreign scientists for his country. Druig arranged for a celebrity party at the New York Vorozheikan embassy, ostensibly to raise Vorozheika’s international profile, while his assistant Prikrysh organized a “terrorist” raid to abduct the invited scientists; however, elements within Druig’s own Prosperity Party, concerned he was an old regime liability, ordered Prikrysh to have Druig killed during the attack. 

The party coincidentally brought together other amnesiac Eternals, Sersi, Thena, and Makkari, and their proximity combined with the stress of being held hostage triggered the partial recovery of their powers and, gradually, memories. Realizing he had been betrayed, Druig slipped away while his gunmen were being overpowered and returned to Vorozheika, swiftly effecting a coup and purging his enemies. 

Shortly after, Druig assisted Zuras and Ajak trying to prevent the Dreaming Celestial awakening, on condition that his fellow Eternals did nothing in the future to interfere with him or his country. Despite the Celestial awakening, the crisis was averted. After assisting his fellow Eternals against a Deviant army threatening Olympia, Druig used Vorozheikan intelligence to track down other Eternals still trapped in human form before Ikaris’ faction could. Ikaris and Thena tried to stop him snatching Legba, but Druig endangered Thena’s mortal child Joey to distract them, escaping with his prize.

When Ikaris became weary of Druig’s machinations and playing by the rules of his leader Zuras, he attacked Druig at his palace in Vorozheika. Druig fought back with the help of his Eternals Eramis and Legba. Ikaris then led them to the X-Men in San Francisco where they faced off with Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, James Howlett/Logan, AKA Wolverine, and Warren Worthington III, AKA Angel. They fought fiercely until Ikaris asked Druig to join him in a bigger fight against the Horde which just arrived on Earth. The Dreaming Celestial pleaded with the Fulcrum who sent the Horde and in showing how much the Celestial cared for Earth, the Fulcrum saw its evolution as worthy of companionship. Earth was saved and the Eternals went into hiding.

After the Final Host of the Celestials, the onset of the Dark Celestials, which led to the deaths of all the Eternals, they were once again reborn. Soon after, Zuras was murdered and the suspects included a recently freed Sprite, the Mad Titan Thanos, and Druig. Thanos attacked Polaria and killed Valkin, Druig’s father, giving Druig the keys to the kingdom. Kingo Sunen and Thena arrived to question Druig, still suspecting him, but their suspicions were dissolved when Thanos returned and attacked Druig. Thena and Kingo fought him off to the point of retreat and the pair of Olympian Eternals departed. Little did they know that during the battle Druig telepathically communicated with Thanos and offered to help him, but help him with what has yet to be revealed.