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| As a result of the New 52 in 2011, the entire line of DC characters was relaunched, incorporating properties belonging to the company's imprints: Wildstorm, Milestone, and Vertigo. As such, elements of this character's history have been altered in some way from the previous incarnation. For a complete list of all versions of this character, see our disambiguation page. |
Deiphobe, the Cumean Sibyl of ancient times, is today known as Clarice Sackville, a mysterious, high-class occultist in London.
History
The woman later known as Clarice Sackville was born in ancient Greece and shipped at a young age to serve in the oracle at Cumae. The god Apollo fell in love with her, still a virgin, and he raped her in his own temple, and afterwards, with remorse, offered her a gift as a token of his love; she took a handful of sand and asked to live as many years as there were grains of sand. Subsequently, she called upon the Kindly Ones to wreak vengeance upon Apollo, but they denied her petition.[1]
At some point, Clarice's "handful of sand" ran out, and she sought other methods of staying alive (and creating a more youthful appearance, since she had neglected to ask Apollo for eternal youth). One of these methods involved a vampire named Gwendolyn; after Gwendolyn killed a victim, Clarice was able to absorb their life essence and gain more life and the appearance of youth.[1]
By the late 20th century, Clarice could usually be found in London's Tate Club. By this time she had allowed legends to grow up around herself, including claims that she was the daughter of a Tory peer and a scullery maid, and that she had been conceived on a Satanic altar during a full moon.[2]
In the 21st century, she begrudgingly found herself aligned with the Djinn Marid in his nefarious plot to reclaim the world but she secretly aided John Constantine in his quest to stop him.[2] When Constantine disappeared for several years, Clarice, Map and Gwendolyn approached Tommy Willowtree and pretended to be the "Guardians of the Merlintrove", setting Willowtree on a path towards taking the place of the absent Constantine.[3]
Clarice and Gwendolyn subsequently fled to America, where they took up residence on a paddleboat in the Mississippi River.[3][1] Constantine eventually found her in New Orleans, where she helped him revive the Swamp Thing but also tried to feed Noah Ikumelo and Natalie to Gwendolyn. Because of this, Constantine encouraged the Swamp Thing to regrow himself out of the microflora growing in Gwendolyn's undead flesh, destroying her.[1]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Abilities
Weaknesses
- Power Limitation: Clarice's power of longevity isn't invincible to attack. If a magic user were to exploit her power, she would age rapidly to the age she would naturally be and die.
Notes
- This character or object is an adaptation of Deiphobe, the Cumaean Sibyl, a character or object in traditional stories. These include, but may not be limited to religious texts, myth, and/or folk lore. More information on the original can be found at Wikipedia.org.
- Clarice Sackville was created by Warren Ellis and John Higgins, first appearing in Hellblazer #134. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Clarice Sackville first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in The Hellblazer #2 by Simon Oliver and Moritat.
Trivia
- In her long life she has loved men and women.[4]
Related
- 19 Appearances of Deiphobe (Prime Earth)
- 1 Images featuring Deiphobe (Prime Earth)
- 1 Quotations by or about Deiphobe (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Deiphobe (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
  Constantine Villain(s) |