Mary

Origin

Mary appears as a woman in her mid-twenties, with none of her backstory known. Although Callum Israel, captain of The Kapital and The Massive, has known her intimately for two decades, he does not seem to notice her unchanging appearance. Neither do the other crew members aboard the Ninth Wave vessels. The discrepancies only come to mind when a code picked up from a rescue beacon from lost Massive is decoded into audio signals that closely resemble a song Mary frequently sings.

The crew starts to notice that Mary refers to Rhodesia frequently, a short-lived unrecognize state in southern Africa that persisted between 1965 and 1979, as if she were there, recounting stories of her life there. Her being in her mid-twenties in the undefined mid-2010s setting of the entire story and her being about 25 years old, it is impossible for her to have been in Rhodesia. She also recounts stories of her life in the USA during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, among other significant times in human history. She was there when Cleopatra and Julius Caesar met, saw the first Europeans make landfall in South American in the 1400s and watched as humans fished before time was recorded.

Eventually, it is revealed that Mary has always been a woman in her mid-twenties, watching the Earth since its creation. She and her kind have always been in the background, gently nudging humanity in the direction of a symbiotic lifestyle with the planet. The Crash that ended the world as we know it was a less gentle nudge.

Powers and Abilities

Mary possesses some form of immortality and undefined powers of healing. She is able to cure Callum Israel’s cancer without much of an effort. The healing powers require «a sacrifice», though.

It is unclear whether or not she can teleport, bilocate or astral project, as she appeared next to a dying Callum Israel aboard his ship, The Kapital, while she was simultaneously in the Sahara desert, escorting a water convoy. This may have been the actual Mary or a fever dream by Israel.

Physically, apart from her immortality, she appears to be a regular human being. She is biologically compatible with humans, able to give birth to hybrids of her species and human beings. She is a skilled swimmer and free diver, can climb great heights and appears to be largely ignorant of pain.

Creation

Mary was created by Brian Wood, her first appearance was in Dark Horse Comics’ Dark Horse Presents #10.