Origin
Arak was born as Bright-Sky-After-Storm. His mother, Star of Dawn, told him his father was the god of thunder. Some of the Quontauka tribe believe this to be true, others are doubtful.
From an early age, Bright-Sky-After-Storm showed great aptitude with the bow and arrow.
When he was a boy, to prove his courage and divine heritage, he was dared to bring back the paw of the powerful bear spirit that lived north of the village. He failed, but the bear spirit only caused him minor injury, and imparted to him the wisdom that he should act for his own motives, not at the whim of others.
His grandfather, the tribe’s medicine man, was grooming him to be a shaman, however, after witnessing a close friend die, despite his grandfather’s best efforts, he decided that he wanted to be a warrior rather than a shaman.
Once while fishing, Bright-Sky-After-Storm and his father Proud-Elk caught only a water snake, which Bright-Sky killed – saving Proud-Elk’s life, and a turtle. The shaman told Bright-Sky that since the turtle is a friend to man, it was a good omen, but since he killed the serpent he would be fated to battle of its brothers all his life – foreshadowing the coming of the Quontauka’s serpent-worshiping enemies.
Creation
Roy Thomas, who had worked on Conan for Marvel, created a wandering barbarian hero for D.C. Instead of creating a dark ages or bronze age Caucasian type barbarian, he chose instead to make a wandering Native American hero.
Character Evolution
Major Story Arcs
Star Of Dawn, Arak’s mother, was wandering alone one day when she was seduced by the evil serpent god. She was praying and struggling to get away when the god of thunder came to rescue her. The god of thunder aka He-No took Star of Dawn to his realm. Here she was able to recover from the serpent’s bite. She gave herself to He-No in gratitude. Not really in love with He-No, Star of Dawn began to miss her people. She was returned to her tribe. The tribal shaman recognized the two deities marks that Star of Dawn bore. He also recognized that she gave birth to He-No’s child. The child was named Bright Sky After Storm; translated, this means “he will follow in his father’s footsteps, who is the thunder.”
Many years later, a serpent-worshiping tribe attacked. He-No was also attacked by the serpent god himself. He-No was beating the serpent but he saw that his son was about to die. He went to kill his son’s attacker getting severely wounded in the process. He-No arranged for Bright Sky After Storm to be in a canoe to float out of the enemies reach.
Bright Sky After Storm is discovered by a viking boy and is saved just as his canoe is about to sink. He is unconscious. He wakes up just enough to hear the words He-No. He then stands up and knifes the necklace of the viking leader which had a hammer symbol on it referring to the Norse god Thor. The leader demands that he be killed, but a local man saves him and adopts him and gives him the name “Arak”. Arak is raised as a viking, and is especially trained in warfare. Arak has exceptional skills with a small axe. He is also trained in using swords, shields, and bows.
Arak participates in many viking raids. Mostly raiding monasteries for treasure.
One piece of treasure is a golden cross that hangs upside down from the mast of the ship for a good luck hammer of thunder. One day, a sea serpent sent by the sorceress
Angelica attacks the vikings and some monks, killing many including Arak’s adoptive father. Arak took the golden cross and threw it at the serpent, killing it. One survivor monk says that his god has delivered them. Arak does not know if it had been the monk’s god, Thunder, or his own god, whom he had all but forgotten.
Later Arak dies and encounters his father, He-No, who explains his origin and offers him a place at his side. Arak refuses to instead find the remnants of his tribe, now wandering across North America. He-No angrily returns his son to his body – but empowers him with a single feather from his enormous Headdress of Power. From then on, Arak possessed the ability to see spirits and a resistance to magic. Although still a warrior at heart, Arak now has the abilities of a shaman. He then leaves his friends in Japan and returns to North America to find his Tribe. He finds his people and leads them to an island off the West coast of Canada where they settle and thrive. On his deathbed, He-No appears to him, to grant Arak his love and a mystic cloak for a descendant who he promises will be a savior in times of need. Arak passes into the spirit world happy and the cloak is left for Flying Fox.
Helix
Another person took up the name Arak after the first one. He was a member of the group Helix, a group of experiment children who got powers. Arak could control the panther winds, to let him fly, create hurricanes or tornados. Together he and the other Helix members fought Infinity Inc. many times until they disbanded. Arak was killed by Penny Dreadful.
Convergence
When the ultimate version of Brainiac stole several cities at the moment of their destruction to take them to a planet outside time and space to experiment on them, he mysteriously disappears. Telos, who understands Brainiac’s needs and motivations, has different plans. Taking Brainiac’s place in his absence, he drops all the domes containing the different cites simultaneously. This results with every city being in conflict with the other.
It is later established by Deimos that Telos is really the only survivor of his parallel world, who upon the Blood Moon and Brainiac’s invasion agreed to serve him in exchange for his family being spared.
Upon remembering his past life, the being known as Telos succeeds in helping his former master and the heroes of Multiverses past save the Multiverse and goes off to find his family. When they are not where Brainiac said they would be, Telos confronts him and Brainiac sends him to free Techne and save Colu from Computo. It is revealed that Telos’s real name is Arak and his wife is Valda the Iron Maiden, making these two characters one and the same.
“CITIZENS OF MY WORLD! I have brought this convergence upon you. Now is the time. The hour is near. Judgement is here. Only one city shall survive, only the strong. Since your arrival, I have been the air that you breathe–the water you drink. I am the very ground you walk upon. I am your starless sky. I am the world. I am Telos. I have tended to your every need. But now, the domes will fall–and champions must rise. Never have the powerful among you been more necessary, for I you are about to partake in the greatest experiment of all. Your time has ended. Your worlds are dead. But I have the power to grant one city a future. Some of you came to me at a time of infinite crisis. Others were brought here in the final moments of their zero hour. Whether it was a flashpoint for a time that never was– or of kingdoms that will never come…everyone here was granted life as a result of my dominion. THAT CHANGES NOW. Today your captivity turns to competition. And only one cityamong many will survive this day! Defenders of each domain will battle the other, and only the greatest heroes will live! Deny me–your people will be destroyed. Disobey me–your cities will be crushed by me hand! Dare to circumvent these conflicts in any way…and the citizens will pay the price. There is no room to make common cause among you. No quarter given. Only one city will survive this day–all other worlds will finally know the dark embrace of oblivion!”- Arak as Telos to his cities
Powers and Abilities
Arak is a good swordsman, and skilled with a tomahawk. He is competent with the bow and arrow. And, he also possesses limited and undefined magical powers.