Wednesday 18 July 2012

Flodo's Oath


Green Lantern #217 (vol. 2), 1987

From the very earliest days of the Corps billions upon billions of Green Lanterns have charged their rings and recited an oath, pledging to shine a light over evil wherever it may be.  It is a tradition so strong that it has been adopted by Lantern Corps of every color in the emotional spectrum.  If you want to be a Lantern you've got to learn the oath (unless of course you're Kyle Rayner, the lone torchbearer, who knew nothing of the Corps and basically had to make things up as he went along).

Most Lanterns recite the tried and true oath beginning, "In brightest day, in blackest night..." but it may surprise you to learn that this is not the only oath to be quoted by the Corps as they load up on will power to fight the good fight.  Rot Lop Fan, for example, was recruited by Katma Tui in a land of eternal darkness and has no concept of light.  His oath begins, "In loudest din or hush profund..."

And so it is with our gaseous hero, Flodo Span.  He and his fellow members of the Green Lantern Corps of Klyminade each recite an oath that is personal to them.  Flodo has an unusal way of speaking, jamming words together in an awkward fashion that is surely forgivable in an abstract lifeform with no body, much less a mouth to talk through!   Even so, his dedication to his oath is as heartfelt and passionate as any lantern across all the sectors of space:

"Oncethere wasbut darkness, fulland forever...
Butthen came thelight, andthen thelife,
Andthen thelight ofthe GreenLantern...
Andthen myself... to doit justice!"

And he did indeed do it justice, in spades.  Flodo Span single handly (or, you know, handlessly... he is a bubble after all) defeated the biggest enemy the Corps have ever faced, the mad sentient Space Sector 3600.  Not bad Green Lantern Flodo, not bad at all.


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