You do not have us, Dr. Holland. You never did. 
- ā Lady Weeds src
History
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The Lady Weeds is the Avatar of the Green who hailed from the Victorian era in the 19th Century.
Actions as Avatar
When the Lady Weeds had her own rival for her power, she was pitted against him by the Parliament of Trees. Though he was quite powerful, he was only a man inside, and did not understand what it really meant to be an avatar, so she destroyed him. In order to show her strength as an Avatar to the Parliament and prevent further challengers from coming to oppose her, she then returned to her rival's home-country of Ireland, and altering its primary crop so that it would be slightly more susceptible to a certain type of fungus. The Green understood the message she sent, and did not send another challenger. In the process, she had caused the Great Potato Famine, killing nearly one million humans.[1]
Rise and Fall of the Seeder
Main article: Swamp Thing: Seeder
Upon meeting Alec Holland, the Avatar of the Green in the early 21st century, on the eve of his battle with his rival, the Seeder, the Lady Weeds met him with insults, commenting that Alec liked to almost die. She explained that his getting into situations that nearly result in his death was unnecessary - so clearly he must have been doing it on purpose. Angrily, Alec responded that he won't be spoken to like that, and warned her to come out and show him whatever lesson she has to tell - or face the consequences. Taunting him, she appeared as a small flower, and dared him to rip her up. He hesitated, and she took the opportunity to leap through his chest and suddenly expand into a mass of sharp roots and tendrils, tearing him to pieces.
Angrily, Alec reconstituted himself, warning that she put herself on his enemies list. She was unconcerned, reminding that she had all the same powers that he has, and knowledge on how best to use them. She explained that the precious body he prized was not him, but rather his body was the entire Earth, and the form with which he chose to walk the Earth was merely the expression of his own idea of himself. Lady Weeds instructed him to create a construct for her of grass, if only to demonstrate that he understood how much he could be. Alec responded that not thinking of himself as a person would be turning his back on all that he had left of himself, but she cruelly warned him that the Seeder would be taking the opposite approach.
When Alec ended up making the form of a man from the grass, Lady Weeds reminded that he needed to get out of his own head, because he was neglecting his true potential as all-powerful in the realm of fauna. The Parliament only believed the Seeder had a chance of succeeding Alec because Alec was weak. If Alec could understood how strong he truly was, Jason Woodrue would not be a threat at all.
By way of explanation, Lady Weeds told the story of her creation of the Great Potato Famine, using it as a lesson that he had to make certain not only that he was victorious, but also that he made sure no further challengers would ever come to oppose him. With that, she warned that until he learned this lesson, Alec would not be allowed to leave her domain. Upon eventually telling her that he was ready, Lady Weeds was skeptical, and wondered if he thought he was prepared to fight his way out. He responded that he has finally learned that he doesn't need to get out, conjuring a great fist of vegetable matter to crush her as a way of showing he was already out. Satisfied, Lady Weeds wished Alec luck at his next appointment, which promised to be even more trying. After his departure, she received the Seeder himself, to give him the same lesson.[1]
Upon the Parliament's decision that Alec's refusal to kill the Seeder meant he had relinquished his right to be the Avatar and they had thrust him back into the Green for eternity, Alec was directed to the Lady Weeds by the Wolf for a way to escape the Green once more. She was glad to see Alec, if only to taunt him for his failure to kill the Seeder. She reminded him that he would not receive her aid for free, and, when Alec suggested that she just offer information on how to leave the Green, she dismissively suggested that he kill himself. Upon being further pleaded with, she cryptically responded that there was a possible way, but it could lead to a permanent death that had no Green waiting at its end: going to the Parliament of Trees itself.
Dismissing the idea of him actually being elected to the Parliament itself as impossible due to his low reputation, she instead severed the retired avatars' connection to the trees in the Parliament's grove, waking them in the process. The Lady Weeds explained that she had planned this for some time, but never had the allies she'd need to beat the Parliament. They had to win against the enraged Parliamentarians or die, an assassination Alec relished in the thought of after so much abuse at their hands.
With difficulty, the Parliament was killed, with Alec both leaving to the surface and cutting off the connection of other avatars to the world so as to avoid the Lady Weeds' ambiguous morality running freely on Earth. Still, as he had no power beyond being a mere tree, she attempted to drag him back down into the Green so as to bring herself to the surface instead. After he took the power of the Avatar from the blessings of the Green itself, Alec brought three Avatars out of the Green in the process, rendering them powerless: the Wolf, the Lady Weeds, and Brother Jonah.[2]
The Wolf and the Lady
Main article: Swamp Thing: The Sureen
Soon after the expulsion from the Green, Lady Weeds took residence, naked, in a tree that told Alec that it wanted her out. She had just killed a snake with her bare hands when Alec turned to her, claiming she did so because it got too curious. Given that he chose not to bring her with him when he ascended through the grove, Lady Weeds wondered aloud why he saved her, a claim that he rejected as purely accidental, as he did not intend to bring her along. Slyly, she stated that she was at his mercy.
Alec's first order of business was to house his guests in the house his predecessor had built for Abby Arcane. Inside, there would be clothes and food. While they availed themselves of those, he had to go out to find something. Before agreeing to stay, The Wolf reminded him that they were new to this era, and they must have the need to explore and learn satiated. Before they would stay put, Alec has to show them something of the world as it was now. After clothing them, Alec took the three to a Mardi Gras parade on New Orleans' famed Bourbon Street.[3]
Some time later, just outside Louisiana, the Wolf and Lady Weeds were not pleased with the accommodations they were given by the Swamp Thing after they were ripped from The Green, and forced back into human bodies. They were insulted to have been brought back without any purpose or power. However, though they lacked the power of the Green, Wolf did have some money that he left behind when he became Avatar which could have since become worth quite a bit, providing financial power instead. Though Alec had been watching them like a hawk, they suspected he would soon be quite distracted by something they had set up. Wolf and Lady Weeds found a lawyer, but despite his promise of lavish payment, the man was not eager to work on spec. Grimly, Wolf warned that if he was a man of great wealth and means, and this man turned him down, he would ensure that the lawyer loses everything. Leaning seductively next to the man's ear, Lady Weeds promised that when he lost everything, she would be the one to take it.
In New Orleans, a newly moneyed Wolf watched as Lady Weeds got her first tattoo. Reluctantly, the artist warned that the design she wanted were so drastic that she would never be able to pass with the "normals" again, that it would hurt, both concerns that she dismissed entirely, ordering him to perform his craft. Once done, the pair would get to business.[4]
Lady Weeds was more than satisfied with the elaborate tattoos she covered her human body with. Brother Jonah and Capucine found her and the Wolf, as per Alec's instructions before he underwent the rite of Locum with the Sureen. Upon Capucine's comment that they would return to Alec rather they wanted to or not, Lady Weeds appeared to agree with the Wolf's assessment that they simply wanted to enjoy their new lives instead of being beholden to the Swamp Thing, but the two of them returned to the by-then burned down house that they had first come to after regaining their human bodies. Aside, Lady Weeds demanded to know why Wolf agreed to return to this place, and he admitted in confidence that he had already set a plan in motion, and their role in this place was not yet done.
Upon Alec's reintroduction to Lady Weeds and Wolf in the body of Pistil, the former wondered how Alec felt, and, with his response that he felt weak, she smirked, saying that he would now understand how she felt in her newly human body.[5]
Wolf oversaw the repair of Alec and Abby's old house in Houma, explaining to Lady Weeds that doing so would ingratiate them with Alec, incurring obligation, a concept which made the Lady Weeds state that she would never understand him. The Wolf was disturbed, however, to learn that his plans for D.W. Ag have gone awry, which he also told the Lady Weeds about.[6]
Returning to Louisiana after a conflict with Aquaman, Alec demanded that the former avatars tell him everything about the Green, being sick of surprises such as KreuzblĆ¼tlers. As far as Lady Weeds was concerned, Alec brought this lack of knowledge on himself, since, as the Wolf explained, the destruction of the Parliament also destroyed billions of years of collective knowledge for which the three former avatars were no replacement. Though Alec responded that even without the Parliament, he still had them to rely upon, Lady Weeds, knowing the gesture would be largely symbolic, thrust a knife up through Alec's skull as she announced that he did not, nor did he ever, have them.[7]
Swamp Thing grabbed up the Lady Weeds, warning that if she has turned against him after he made the effort to save her, he would not hesitate to send her back down into The Green and into dormancy. The Wolf warned that while the Lady Weeds can be difficult, it was Alec who brought her there, and removed her from her paradise, destroying it thereafter. He reminded that both he and Brother Jonah were going through the same frustration, but that they would endeavor to help her acclimate. Relenting, Alec turned to his captive and warned her that he would like to see her gone, but would help her, only if she chose to stay of her own accord. She responded that she would stay, and though Alec didn't trust her, he set her down.
With Alec gone due to some manipulation by Wolf causing him to leave to fight for the Green elsewhere, the Lady Weeds complained to Wolf that his plan nearly got her sent back into dormancy. He had promised that he would find a way to install her into the Avatar's body, and, in exchange, she would return him to the Green as the sole member of the Parliament of Trees. Instead, he had merely been playing with his own new trappings of humanity. Wolf confessed that it isn't easy to plot the downfall of the most powerful being on the planet, and begged her patience. In the meantime, Lady Weeds was annoyed to be left behind with Capucine around, finding the woman's devotion repulsive. The Wolf responded that he had a plan to remove Capucine from the equation, but it involved the injection of a substance that will change the Lady Weeds' form significantly, and there would be no going back once she used it. He added that he had made progress she was not yet aware of, and offered his explanation of all he had done regarding the false Sureen.
Later, after his plan to wear down Alec with a demonic legion failed due to the demons quitting the job and returning the allotted money, the Wolf remained confident that he could achieve greatness in this world, but no longer wanted to do so, and simply wanted his life in the Green back. The Lady Weeds responded that this last was not merely a setback, but rather a failure, and it would be her turn to lead their partnership. With that, she injects the syringe he gave her into his neck. She soon after went to Brother Jonah's home, and gravely wounded him in his gut with a knife.[8]
Some time later, Lady Weeds stood at the edge of the road waiting for a car to pass by. The Lady Weeds warned her companion that as soon as Alec realized what they did, he will use the plants to try to find them. Therefore, they had to succeed in their efforts now, or die forever. Unlike the Wolf, who she had mutated into a deadly creature with his own syringe taken from his work with his false Sureen, Lady Weeds did not plan ahead, and she required his cooperation in everything to come in order to get what she wanted, which was the same as they had determined to be their ultimate course of action since the beginning of this partnership. Some time later, Lady Weeds had the man who ended up picking her up on the side of the road to drive her to the hospital, and demanded that he give her his lighter and vehicle at knife point. Though he promised to give both up without telling anyone what he saw, but she stabbed him through the throat anyway. Stepping out of the truck, she then parked it next to the hospital, on fire, and released the Wolf from the back of the truck.
Alec took the bait, and he arrived at the hospital to see the blaze next door, and the blood spattered all over the hospital's windows. As Alec and the Wolf battled, Lady Weeds took advantage of the distraction to return to the swamp, and sought out Guarav. She demanded him to serve every avatar, including herself.
Come morning, Lady Weeds and Wolf returned to downtown New Orleans, and took a pair of child hostages, calling on Alec to come to her. Alec obliged, but she warned that if he attacked, the Wolf would kill their hostages. Lady Weeds explained that she was well aware that despite all whom the Wolf killed the night before, Alec would do anything to prevent him from killing two more. Alec's only recourse was to kneel and let Guarav put her into the Avatar's body. When Alec refused, Lady Weeds commands the Wolf to injure his hostages. The Wolf hesitated, and she taunts his cowardice. In response, he released the hostages, enraging her further, and announces that he would rather fail than succeed in this artless way. He declared that they were both a plague upon this earth, and thrust his claws through his own throat.
While Wolf died of his suicide, Lady Weeds escaped to to the police cordon surrounding them, feigning victim-hood. The police ushered her into the back of an ambulance, but after killing the EMT inside, she discovers that she was trapped at the mercy of Capucine, who has caught up with her. Capucine commented that she had loved just once in the last hundred years, and Lady Weeds took that from her. Lady Weeds reminded that the Avatar would never allow Capucine to kill her, but Capucine admitted that she could do other things. Swiftly, Capucine snapped Lady Weeds' neck, leaving her alive, but paralyzed from the neck down, so she would feel even more powerless than she claimed she felt in her human body since her escape from the Green.[9]
The Metal
With the rise of The Metal, the now-quadriplegic Lady Weeds was suggested by the A Calculus as their choice as an Avatar of the Metal.[10] Lady Weeds was transformed into the Avatar of the Metal By the A Calculus, for the coming War against the other Kingdoms. Dubbing the Calculus as The Rithm, she went on to recruit Miki of The Grey to the cause of the Metal by encasing his avatar body of fungus within a metallic shell. Afterwards, she told the Omega Calculus that their army would need commanders, and so sought out the newly escaped Anton Arcane, who, after some prodding, showed the desiccated human corpse of Alec Holland himself.[11]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Avatar of The Rithm: As the Avatar of The Rithm, her new body is made entirely of Metal.
- Heat Vision:
- Mechanokinesis: As the Avatar of The Rithm, she displayed the ability to appear and control electronics and convert the bodies of others into machines.[11]
- Wings
Formerly, she had the following as an Avatar of the Green:
- Avatar of the Green: As the Avatar of the Green, her body was composed of plant-based stem cells that are capable of forming into any form of plant life imaginable.[5]
- Elemental Control: As the Avatar of the Green, she had complete control over plant life.
- Chlorokinesis
- Immortality: Theoretically so long as there is some vestige of plant life on the planet Earth, Avatars of the Green will always have a vehicle through which to house their consciousness, thus rendering Avatars effectively immortal.
- Self-Sustenance: The ability to nourish oneself, typically via an external energy source. In an Avatar's case, likely some form of photosynthesis.
- Superhuman Strength: Green Avatars' strength levels are directly tied to their connection to the Earth. With additional power supplied by The Green, the Avatar's ultimate strength level is nearly incalculable.
Abilities
Weaknesses
- Vulnerability to Poison (Formerly)
- Vulnerability to Fire (Formerly)
- Power Loss: As her powers rely upon her connection as an Avatar, she is powerless as a human if cut off from the source of her powers.
- Restricted Mobility: (Formerly) As of having her neck broken by Capucine, is paralyzed from the neck down. She regained mobility upon being chosen as the Avatar of the Metal.
Paraphernalia
Weapons
- Arm Cannon: The Machine Queen's right arm has an energy-based cannon attached to it.[11]
Related
- 21 Appearances of Lady Weeds (Prime Earth)
- 5 Images featuring Lady Weeds (Prime Earth)
- 3 Quotations by or about Lady Weeds (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Lady Weeds (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
- ā 1.0 1.1 Swamp Thing Annual (Volume 5) #2
- ā Swamp Thing (Volume 5) #27
- ā Swamp Thing (Volume 5) #28
- ā Swamp Thing (Volume 5) #29
- ā 5.0 5.1 Swamp Thing (Volume 5) #30
- ā Swamp Thing (Volume 5) #31
- ā Swamp Thing (Volume 5) #32
- ā Swamp Thing (Volume 5) #33
- ā Swamp Thing (Volume 5) #34
- ā Swamp Thing (Volume 5) #36
- ā 11.0 11.1 11.2 Swamp Thing (Volume 5) #37
  This character specifically relates to the Swamp Thing and is predominantly seen in the Swamp Thing family of titles. This character may be part of the Swamp Thing's supporting cast, a minor acquaintance, or one of his adversaries. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the Swamp Thing Characters category. |