Name

Current Alias

Aliases

Thank you for musing aloud that you are amutant, girl! Dr. Karl Lykos thanks you... and so does...Sauron!!

Early Life[]

As a young boy, Karl Lykos went with his father on an expedition toTierra del Fuego near the Antarctic Circle. Along with them on the journey were a physician, Dr. Anderssen, and his daughterTanya, who was about the same age as Karl.^[2]

Pteranodon Attack[]

At one point during the trip Tanya became lost, and Karl found her in a cave being attacked by giganticpteranodons, a form of flying reptile from the age of dinosaurs. (In actuality, these pteranodons were from theSavage Land, the tropical region inAntarctica where prehistoric creatures still live. Apparently, the pteranodons had traveled to Tierra del Fuego through natural subterranean tunnels.) Karl drove the pteranodons off with his walking stick, but not before he was severely bitten. Traumatized by their experience, neither Karl nor Tanya remembered the pteranodons, and Dr. Anderssen used his medical skills to save Karl's life. Grateful to Karl for saving Tanya's life, Dr. Anderssen allowed Karl to live with him and Tanya after Karl's father died.^[2]

For reasons that have never been explained, the pteranodon bites somehow changed Karl, apparently altering his genetic structure. Karl discovered that he needed to drain life energy from other living beings to survive. His first unintentional victim was his dogJager, whom he drained of energy simply by touching him. Karl kept his condition a secret, even after he found himself forced to drain energy from other human beings. However, he killed none of them, merely leaving them temporarily weakened.^[8][2]

As Karl grew older he fell in love with Tanya, but the stern Dr. Anderssen refused to let her marry Karl because of his lack of financial means. So Karl Lykos set off for medical school, vowing to become wealthy so he could marry Tanya. Lykos became a hypnotherapist, but his need for life energy increased as he became an adult. Hence, he constructed devices through which he could drain his patients' life energies into himself.^[2]

Professor X[]

Lykos met the geneticist ProfessorCharles Xavier while Lykos was still studying to be a doctor. Together they worked on the secret "Project Mutant." It has yet to be explained exactly what this project was, why it was secret, what results it might have had, and who, if anyone, had commissioned it if not Xavier himself. Xavier knew about Lykos' need and ability to siphon the life energy of others into himself, but he never told his protégés, the mutant hero team known as theX-Men, about it.^[2]

Following a battle between the X-Men and the roboticSentinels, the X-Men'sHavok, at that time unable to control his superhuman abilities, tried to kill himself by releasing his full power. The resulting explosion buried him in rubble, nearly killing him. Aware of the connection between Xavier and Lykos, the X-Men rushed Havok to Dr. Lykos'Manhattan office, believing he was the only physician they could trust with the knowledge that Havok was a mutant.^[2]

Sauron[]

After treating Havok's wounds, Lykos began using his equipment to drain life energy from him. However, this was the first time that Lykos had ever siphoned energy from a superhuman mutant, with a result that he had never experienced before. The energy triggered his metamorphosis into a creature that resembled a half-humanoid pteranodon, who retained his human intelligence and ability to speak. However, the transformation distorted Lykos' personality, turning him evil. Hence, Lykos took the nameSauron, after the archvillain ofJ.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.^[2] Sauron soon battled the X-Men, but fled when Havok awoke, causing him to begin to change back to human form. Soon afterwards, Lykos had an argument with Dr. Anderssen, who still refused to permit him to marry Tanya. Then Lykos drained energy from the mutant Lorna Dane, later known as Polaris, causing him to transform into Sauron again. After battling the X-Men once more, siphoning more energy from them, Sauron flew to the Anderssens' home to kill them. The Anderssens recognized Sauron's voice as that of Lykos just before the X-Men arrived, and Sauron fled.^[6]

Sauron flew all the way to his father's cabin in Tierra del Fuego, and then reverted to human form, having expended the mutant energies he had absorbed. Horrified at having tried to kill Tanya, Lykos decided to starve himself to death. But several days later, Tanya arrived, followed closely behind by the X-Men. Feeling the urge to drain Tanya's life energies, Lykos instead fled, only to fall over a precipice. Tanya and the X-Men searched for Lykos to no avail and assumed he had been killed.^[6]

However, Lykos somehow survived and made his way through underground passages, to the Savage Land. There he managed to remain in human form, until he had to rescue an unconscious Iceman from hungry pterodactyls. Iceman, in his current state failed to recognize Lykos until it was too late and Lykos became Sauron once more and aided the X-Men as well as the jungle lordKa-Zar in taking down Magneto and his Mutates one more time. After the battle, Lykos reverted back to his human self and became an ally to Ka-Zar.^[9]

Many months later the new X-Men arrived. Compelled to siphon energy from the X-Men'sStorm, Lykos briefly reverted to Sauron once more. But when the stolen energies faded, he returned to human form and proved to be an ally to the X-Men.^[10]

Savage Land Mutates[]

Lykos reverted to Sauron once more sometime later and teamed up with the Savage Land Mutates against Ka-Zar, theAngel, andSpider-Man. Sauron continued to make repeated attempts to conquer the Savage Land and use its people for sustenance, but has been defeated every time. After one defeat by the X-Men, their member, theBeast, managed to create a medicine that would satiate Karl's hunger, and, with the threat of Sauron seemingly over, Karl resumed a normal life with Tanya, whom he soon married.^[11]

Brotherhood of Mutants[]

Years later, Lykos was confronted by the mutant known as theToad, who hoped to recruit Sauron into his latest version of the terroristBrotherhood of Evil Mutants. The Toad used a device of his own design to force Lykos to drain the life energy of Tanya, transforming Lykos back into Sauron, killing Tanya in the process. Sauron joined the Toad's Brotherhood in a bid to kill off Feral as a favor to the Morlock known as Thornn. During the battle Sauron targeted and seemingly killed Cannonball but he was forced to surrender after being assaulted by the mutant teamX-Force.^[12] He recovered by draining life force from various targets, but re-emerged in an effort to help Toad recruit theX-Patriots into the Brotherhood. Sauron and the rest of the brotherhood were defeated by X-Factor thus failing to recruit the X-Patriots. During the battle, Sauron bragged about killing Cannonball.^[13] Sauron together with the brotherhood captured and hypnotized a teleporting mutant and planned to sneak attack the X-Men, but they chose to eventually retreat from battle when attacked by Darkhawk and Sleepwalker.^[14]

Animalistic[]

Sauron's next bid for power in the Savage Land was foiled by the X-Men'sWolverine,Rogue, andJubilee.^[15] He then had theSavage Land Mutates kidnap Havok, hoping to use his energy to satiate his hunger. When his teammatesCyclops,Phoenix, andPolaris came to the rescue, Sauron had both Summers brothers placed in a energy-transferring machine, and the mix of energy mutated Sauron even further, making him larger and stronger than ever. Phoenix tried to engage Sauron on theAstral Plane, but it was Lykos' personality who prevailed, making a suicidal leap into the abyss of his own mind, taking his hated alter-ego with him. As a result, Sauron's mind appeared to be stuck in an animalistic state.^[16] After yet another encounter with Ka-Zar, his suppressed human mind slowly returned to him and reasoned out a plan, allowing Sauron to stow away on a trip Ka-Zar was planning toNew York City. Upon arriving inAmerica, Sauron sought out the X-Men but was once again defeated. He was then handed over to the espionage agencyS.H.I.E.L.D. by Wolverine.^[17]

Weapon X[]

Somehow, Sauron ended up in custody of the newWeapon X program, under the auspices of the mysteriousDirector, who hoped to use the program's mutants for the benefit of humankind, even if that meant performing deadly missions and interning mutant captives.^[18] Sauron was experimented upon in the program, becoming initially less intelligent, more prone to berserk rages, and without the ability to use his hypnotic powers. One of Sauron's initial assignments was to recruit mutants for the Weapon X program, and he succeeded in capturing the mutantJack.^[19]

Sauron served the program for many months, but later began escaping the confines of the program to stalk victims, preying on the innocent to feed his hunger for the life forces of others. He was discovered by agentBrent Jackson, who was hoping to form a group to stage a coup to replace the Director. Sauron agreed, and Jackson's allies joined the teamUnderground, led by the mutant soldier-of-fortuneCable, who hoped to take down the Weapon X program. The Underground was able to infiltrate the Weapon X complex, ousting the Director and nearly crippling the program. However, before the final defeat, agent Jackson betrayed the Underground, turning Cable's psychic powers against his allies. Jackson captured the Underground members and altered their memories to erase everything they had seen or learned about the program. Jackson took credit for saving the program and was named the new Director of the Weapon X program by its mysterious benefactors. Sauron continued to serve the Weapon X program under Brent Jackson.^[20]

The Raft[]

After being imprisoned in theRaft for refusing to participate in any more Weapon X assignments, Lykos escaped with the help ofElectro during a jailbreak concocted by theSkrulls. TheNew Avengers pursued him to the Savage Land. After transforming into Sauron he was shot through the head by the secondBlack Widow. Fortunately for Sauron, he had absorbed Wolverine's regenerative healing factor and recovered from his injury. He was taken back into custody, but not before returning the favor to Black Widow by burning her with his fiery breath. Sauron was placed in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody and Maria Hill planned to return him to Weapon X.^[21]

Hellfire Academy[]

Kade Kilgore later rescued Sauron and recruited him to theHellfire Academy. As a member, he was present atMudbug's recruitment^[22] and recruitedGlob Herman while the X-Men's students were on a field trip in theSavage Land.^[23] Sauron acted as the Academy's evil science teacher once the first class was assembled.^[24]

Working with Stegron[]

• Life-Force Absorption: In human form Karl Lykos is fairly typical, except he keeps his ability to absorb the life forces of other living things to sustain himself. This often triggers histransformation into his pterodactyl form.^[27] He has used a device on one occasion to absorb energy, but in lieu of a device like it, skin to skin contact is required.^[2]
  • Mutant Power Absorption: If he absorbs the life force of a mutant he will absorb a portion of their powers temporarily.^[28][27]
  • Energy Blasts: Due to manipulation by the Weapon X program, Sauron could absorb electrical power from aircrafts. He could then expel the energy in energy bursts from his hands.^[29][27]
  • Superhuman Strength: In pterodactyl form he is superhumanly strong (able to lift approximately ten tons)^[7][27]
  • Superhuman Durability: In pterodactyl form he becomes more durable than a normal human being.^[7]
  • Superhuman Agility: In his pterodactyl form his agility is enhanced to superhuman levels.^[7]
  • Superhuman Reflexes: In his pterodactyl form his reflexes are enhanced to superhuman levels.^[7]
  • Winged Flight: Possesses the ability to fly at a natural winged flight limit.^[27]
  • Claws and Beak: A lethal beak full of teeth and sharp talons on his hands and feet.^[27]
  • Fire Breath: Ability to breathe fire, which he used to burn the second Black Widow in revenge for shooting him.^[28][27] The flames are powerful enough to inflict third-degree burns on someone as resilient asHercules.^[30]
  • Hypnosis: Sauron also has a powerful hypnotic ability that requires direct eye contact to complete.^[27] He frequently uses his hypnotic power to give his victims terrifying delusions that allies have become monsters.
  • Telekinesis: Sauron had been perfecting new technological ordinance which can be operated via psychokinesis. Having used this new facility of his power to operate his "Mentally Adapted Ordinance Side-arm".^[3]

• Medical Science: Karl Lykos is a skilled hypnotherapist, geneticist, and medical doctor.^[7][27]
• Hand-to-Hand Combat: Lykos fighting style relies more on strength and savagery than actual skill.^[7]

• While Sauron can feed off of any being, it seems that mutants, especially energy manipulators give him a substantially larger amount of energy to use. He has targeted Havok on quite a few occasions.
• He allegedly killed any child he had.^[5]

• "Lykos" is a Greek term for "wolf", the Latin equivalent is "lupus" and the Latinized form is "lycus". It appears in Greek mythology as the name of several figures, and was also a common name for various rivers. It is the root word for the term "lycanthrope". The term literally means "werewolf", but also has the meaning of a human with a curse that causes involuntary shapeshifting. The werewolf condition is called "lycanthropy".
• Jubilee has compared Sauron toRodan,^[4] a flying reptilian monster who has appeared in films by the Toho studio since 1956.
• Sauron shares his name with the Dark Lord Sauron, the main antagonist from J.R.R Tolkien'sThe Lord of the Rings. In fact, he named himself after Tolkien's character, stating upon his first transformation, "I choose--EVIL! An evil so great... so monumental that only one name in all the annals of literature will contain it! The name of Tolkien's ultimate villain... that Dark Lord who personified evil... who was truly evil incarnate...! The name of... SAURON!!"^[2]
• Sauron has described himself as sapiosexual.^[31]

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