Bethany W Pope
Welcome back to “The Pope’s Comics,” our new regular column by award-winning novelist, poet, and Comic Watch contributor Bethany Pope! Bethany brings a wealth of knowledge on literature, LGBTQIA+ issues history, gender, comics, and so much more. We sincerely hope you enjoy!
As many of you are aware, this is Bisexual Awareness Week. As a bisexual non-binary person, this is pretty important to me. I’ve written several articles on bisexuality in comics, but since I’m working on The Hero Pattern right now I thought that it would be fun to apply it to a bisexual character who has only recently come out. I chose Captain Kate Pryde because, well, despite Guggenheim’s best attempts to dismantle her a few years ago in X-Men Gold, she remains one of my favorite characters. Her story has been absolutely laden with queer subtext so it’s nice to see that finally being explored in the text.
This means that I have delayed my already-written examination of Nightcrawler until next week. Buckle up for that one, kids. He’s my all-time favorite character and the essay is currently hovering at around six thousand words long.
As always (my usual disclaimer) the language of Lord Raglan’s Hero Pattern is sexist. I will be correcting for that in the text. I have inserted a complete pattern below, for reference, but I will only be exploring the points which apply to the character of Kate Pryde. Also, because this is Bi Pride week and I’m sick to death of the Bury Your Gays trope, I’m only posting nonviolent queer, queer subtext, and family pictures. Death is part of the pattern, so I’ll talk about it in this essay, but you won’t be exposed to any pictures.
The Hero Pattern
This pattern is based upon The Hero: A study in Tradition, Myth and Dreams by Lord Raglan
Incidents which occur with regularity in hero-myths of all cultures:
1. Hero’s mother is a royal virgin;
2. His father is a king, and
3. Often a near relative of his mother, but
4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and
5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god.
6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grand father to kill him, but
7. he is spirited away, and
8. Reared by foster -parents in a far country.
9. We are told nothing of his childhood, but
10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom.
11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,
12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor and
13. And becomes king.
14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and
15. Prescribes laws, but
16. Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and
17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which
18. He meets with a mysterious death,
19. Often at the top of a hill,
20. His children, if any do not succeed him.
21. His body is not buried, but nevertheless
22. He has one or more holy sepulchres.
Kate Pryde
Kate doesn’t begin accumulating points until relatively late in the index because, as she joined the X-Men at a very young age, we have extensive knowledge of her family and early life.
5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god.
Ororo Munroe, the goddess of the storm, filled a maternal role for Kate when she was a young girl. It’s not everyone who can say that they have an elemental diety for a parent. Aside from people like Achilles.
7. he is spirited away, and
When Kate first joined the X-Men, she was taken from her home and sent to school in New York. Since then, she has lived in Cornwall, on an interdimensional train, and she’s even spent some time having adventures in space with Star-Lord. Now, of course, she lives on the island nation of Krakoa.
8. Reared by foster -parents in a far country.
Aside from finding a parental figure in Storm, Kate was raised, in part, by Charles Xavier, the other adult X-Men and her friends in Excalibur.
10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom.
Kate is currently the Red Queen of the Hellfire Club, as well as occupying a ruling role on the Krakoan Quiet Council, where she serves alongside her former evil-stepmother (current ally and good friend) Emma Frost, Storm, Xavier and her long-time friend Nightcrawler.
11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,
Aside from saving the world from Magneto, the Brood, a giant space bullet, interdimensional Nazis, Belasco, and flat out running the X-Men for a number of years, Kate has a literal pet dragon. Saint Martha, in the Catholic tradition, tamed a dragon, making a friend of the beast in much the same way that Kate did with Lockheed. Kate, of course, is a Jewish Hero — one whose faith is a source of great strength and comfort. There are mythic parallels, is what I’m saying.
12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor and
Kate has never been married, but she has been engaged three times. Four, if you count that boy prince in Excalibur. I don’t, because underage marriage is icky, but I thought I ought to mention it. Kate’s second-to-last engagement was to the character Star-Lord, whose symbolic status is printed right there on the tin. There’s also the symbolic ‘marriage’ of her long-anticipated acceptance of her sexuality. There’s a moment in every queer person’s life, when understanding of who one is finally clicks into place. In Alchemy, this moment is referred to as the alchemical marriage, and it always represents the time when one is totally fulfilled. For many bisexuals, such as myself, that’s what this kiss symbolized.
13. And becomes king.
As I mentioned before, Kate ran the Xavier/Jean Grey School for many years, before ascending to her current role as one of the leaders of a nation.
14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and
There has been a lot of upheaval among the members of the Quiet Council, but none of it has been caused by the fact that Kate is a member.
15. Prescribes laws, but
Kate helps determine the future of the (growing) fictional nation.
16. Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and
In comics, the writers and editors are the gods. Every so often, the people currently in charge of the books either run out of ideas for a character or decide to cycle other members of the cast to the foreground. In the case of Kate Pryde, her writer (the extremely problematic real-life abuser of women, Joss Whedon) used her prolonged fugue state as a means of, ahem, ejecting her from the story.
17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which
Kate phased a world-destroying bullet through the planet and, in doing so, was literally driven into space.
18. He meets with a mysterious death,
I would say that being forced into a ‘permanent’ fugue and flying through the cosmos, for years, qualifies as mysterious, yes. There’s also the matter of her recent literal death in the pages of Marauders. Kate was murdered by her fellow Council member, and long-term enemy, Sebastian Shaw. The story of how she died, and whether she could be brought back, fueled the story for quite a while. The fact that her death and later rebirth led to the character having a deeper understanding of herself and a more solid, integrated sense of self was both alchemical and Jungian in its symbolism. Kate is one of the twice-born— a medieval state of mind.
19. Often at the top of a hill,
Kate died in a bullet that pierced the world and passed on through it. This is as public as you can get. All eyes were on her sacrifice, as they would be if the death happened on a literal hill. This death fills the same symbolic requirements.
20. His children, if any do not succeed him.
In the alternate reality future explored in the Days Of Future Past storyline, Kate’s children were dead.
21. His body is not buried, but nevertheless
During Kate’s time in the bullet, her body was flying through space. After her murder, her body was set into the sea— an Authurian image.
22. He has one or more holy sepulchres.
The bullet is still out there, marking her passing. Empty now, of course, as she is thankfully very much alive in current continuity.
Kate Pryde scores 16 points on this scale. This is higher than Elijah, but lower than Moses or King Arthur. In any case, she remains a fascinating character to explore.
Poet, novelist, fencer, pirate, Za-Za, and Comic Watch regular contributor Bethany Pope lives in China. They also hold an MA and PhD in creative writing. Their latest novel, The Hungry and the Lost, goes on sale December 1, 2021 from Parthian Books. You can follow them on Twitter at @theMasqueWriter.
