Saturday, May 12, 2012

Zatannurday: Sindella

Last Mother's Day weekend I mentioned a bit about Zatanna's often absent mother Sindella.

I wanted to dive a little deeper into that character this year and looks at some the lineage she and Zee share.



We know very little about the witch named Sindella.  We know she is a member of the DC universe's Homo Magi race.  We know she can claim Atlantean Lord Arion as an ancestor (as can most of the Homo Magi).  In some continuities then this makes her a somewhat distant relative to Power Girl.  She even has some similar tastes in clothes.



We know that at some point she meets Giovanni "John" Zatara in Turkey and she returns to America with him.  A year later Zatanna is born.  She later fakes her own death so the other Homi Magic don't go looking for her or Zatanna.   This could also be an "in universe" explanation for why Zee's first name sounds so much like her last name.  Sindella didn't want her daughter found through the power of her name.

Sindella and Zatanna both have a "Medulla Jewel" in their brains.  This seems to be a focus of their magical power.  Sindella is shown using magic and not needing to speak it backwards, it is assumed that Zee can do the same. One thing is known that they can use it to communicate telepathically.  So I guess Zee would know if she were still alive.

The interesting notion here is that Sindella is an Atlantean, either by birth (she could be immortal like Arion; she doesn't look old enough to have a daughter that is 30+) or by birthright.  In game then she could (if still alive) be a walking treasure trove of occult knowledge.  Maybe even enough to rival Dr. Fate.

There is precious little out there on this character. We know next to nothing about her and Zatara meet, what she was doing prior to that and, well, basically everything else about her.


I am afraid that if we see here at all in JL Dark it will be as something to torture Zee.

1 comment:

Bubbashelby said...

Interesting that I never once gave a single thought as to who Zatanna's mother was. This is cool knowledge!