SNOWBIRD
Real Name: Narya
Other Aliases: Anne McKenzie
Group Affiliation: Former member of Alpha Flight
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #120
Creator: John Byrne

        In the Marvel Universe it has been revealed that the gods of many ancient civilizations actually exist. This is also the case with the gods of the Canadian north. In ancient times the gods had battled the Great Beasts for the fate of the world. To end the conflict the gods wove a spell to trap the Beasts in their own ruined realm. In the instant the spell was cast the Beast known as Tundra was able to turn the spell against the gods, exiling the gods from Earth just as much as the Beasts.

        In recent years the gods came to the realization that the barrier against the Beasts was weakening, and might fall. They themselves were still trapped. In order to create an agent that could battle the Beasts in their stead, they used an ancient headband to summon an archaeologist named Richard Easton through the barrier. There they asked him to sire a child with Nelvanna, Goddess of the Northern Lights. Easton was rather reluctant, as Nelvanna resembled an ancient crone. However, he agreed readily enough once the god known as the Shaper made Nelvanna into a beautiful woman. The resultant child would be half-human, and able to pierce Tundra's barrier. Easton returned to Earth, believing only one night had passed. In reality, seven years had gone by.

        When her time drew near, Nelvanna approached Michael Twoyoungmen to act as a "midwife" to the birth. Twoyoungmen agreed, and during the birth realized the child was a metamorph, with no set form. To grant it one he cast a spell to bind the child to the land, and humanity. He did so too well... although he didn't realize it at the time, Twoyoungmen's spell would later have profound consequences.

        On the day she was born Narya was physically one year of age. Within another year she appeared a woman of twenty. Soon after her first birthday she and Twoyoungmen were visited by James Hudson and his wife Heather. James invited both Narya and Twoyoungmen to join Department H after Heather saw Narya change into her avatar, a great white owl, to hunt.

        Narya took part in the First Flight adventure, and began adjusting to human ways. To grant her a more normal life Hudson arranged a cover identity of RCMP officer Anne McKenzie, while Narya became a charter member of Alpha Flight as Snowbird.

        Snowbird first encountered the Great Beasts on Earth when her father used the ancient headband for its other purpose: to summon Tundra to Earth. [Easton had gone insane from his experience in the Eskimo gods' realm. It should be noted that Snowbird never had any idea that it was her father who summoned the Beast. -C] This adventure served to recreate Alpha Flight after its first disbanding.

        Snowbird remained a stalwart part of Alpha Flight, battling both the Beasts and other menaces. On an adventure to New York she discovered the consequences of Shaman's long-ago spell: she was bound to the land of Canada, and would weaken and die if she left its borders. But Snowbird survived and continued to live and learn about life. She eventually fell in love with Douglas Thompson, a fellow Mountie who had fallen for Anne McKenzie.

        Narya left Alpha Flight after a battle that killed Walter Langkowski and resulted in the seeming end of the Great Beasts. Allowing Alpha to believe she had returned to the realm of the Eskimo gods, she instead retired and moved in with Thompson.

        Eventually Narya became pregnant, and went to Shaman for assistance. Talisman, seeking to humiliate her father, ordered the spirits to take him to an island that housed a maelevolent being called Pestilence for the birth. Pestilence possessed the child, and in subsequent battles with him Snowbird, Doug Thompson and their son were all killed. Although the Eskimo gods had been disapproving of her relationship with Thompson, after their deaths all three souls were granted entrance to the gods' realm.

        After her death both Snowbird's mortal form and her spirit remained active. Snowbird's body was possessed twice, first by Pestilence and then by Walter Langkowski, and has since been mystically reshaped by Narya into an exact duplicate of Walt's original form. As well, Snowbird's spirit returned to the mortal realm twice after her demise.

        Snowbird herself has since returned to the land of the living in a new body. Her people apparently arranged for her return in a convoluted plot that involved a spliter group of the Advanced Idea Mechanics. The reason for her return has not been revealed yet. Narya was one of the Alphans recently on a mission to the Plodex homeworld; she was not, however, a part of the team that was killed battling the Collective.

        Snowbird is a demi-goddess and has several super-human powers. She is super-humanly strong, but the extent of her strength is unknown. She can fly, but her top rate of speed is similarly unknown.

        Narya has psychic abilities that enable her to "replay" the recent past of an area in her mind. She also has the mental ability to compell others to aid her in her struggle against the Great Beasts.

        Snowbird's main power is that she is a metamorph, capable of changing into other creatures. Her shape-shifting power is what allows her to look human. When in a non-human form Snowbird possesses all the instincts and abilities of that form, but must fight a constant battle against being engulfed by those instincts. Her transformations are for the most part limited to animals, and she has adopted the great white owl as her totem. The sole exception is that Snowbird has been able to shape-change into a duplicate of Sasquatch. All of Narya's alternate forms are pure white in colour.

        Before her death Snowbird discovered that she was no longer bound to Canada as she once was. She is capable of leaving its boundaries without any consequences.