The Pope’s Comics: Examining The Hero Pattern: Nightcrawler

By Bethany W Pope

 on October 2, 2021

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!

Examining the Hero Pattern: Nightcrawler

I’m not going to lie, I had trouble writing this one, primarily because Nightcrawler is my all-time favorite fictional character (regardless of medium) and I have a hell of a time being objective about him. No one with tattoos representing a character (and I have two) should try to write a semi-serious, semi-academic paper about them. Yet here I am. 

As you read, if ever you become frustrated by my enthusiasm, imagine my poor spouse and the days (months, years) of Nightcrawler talk he’s been forced to endure. 

As always, I’m using Lord Raglan’s Hero Pattern as a means of analyzing the mythological features of this pop culture character in order to (hopefully) examine the ways that mythology functions in the modern world. Lord Raglan’s work is inherently sexist, so I’ll be correcting for that within the text. As usual, this essay is not meant to disparage any currently practiced religion, rather it is meant to highlight the aspects that all myths have in common. 

Here is a copy of the entire pattern. I will only be examining the points which apply to this character, but it’s good to see the whole in its entirety.

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.

Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner)

1.Hero’s mother is a royal virgin

Nightcrawler was adopted by the Romani sorcerer queen Margali Szardos. Although she has two biological children, she has never been depicted as being in a physical relationship with anyone at all. There’s also the possibility that Mystique impregnated her wife, Destiny, who eventually gave birth to Kurt. This was Chris Claremont’s intention for the characters, and it has been hinted at repeatedly within the text. Of course trans relationships involving sex function against cultural constructs of virginity the same way that straight cis relationships do. However, Mystique identifies and is presented as female, and if we are inhabiting a medieval mindset, it’s worth noting that often royal women engaged in sexual relationships with their ‘companions’ and that those relationships had no social impact on the status of their virginity. This was because the purpose of the artificial state of ‘virginity’ (and I’ll emphasize that it is a construct with no real physical reality) is to ensure the status of a bloodline. If you’re wife is a virgin when you marry, the paternity of your children is secure. That’s it. There is no inherent spiritual quality to virginity. Queer sex, at least among high status women, didn’t ‘count’ because no children could result from that variety of sex, leaving the property (the woman and eventual children) secure. 

2. His father is a king, and

Nightcrawler’s biological father was believed to be a German nobleman who Mystique was scamming. Currently, his father is thought to be the Demon lord Azazel, ruler of the Brimstone Dimension. As noted above, there is a possibility that he was fathered by Mystique, leader of several mutant terrorist groups and current member of the ruling body of the Krakoan nation.

4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and

No matter how you swing it, Mystique was married and her husband was not Nightcrawler’s father. That’s not too out there (happens all the time, as a matter of fact) but the fact that the baby looked like a demon definitely tips this measure. 

5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god.

Aside from the fact that Nightcrawler is often mistaken for a devil (which would, I suppose, make the Judeo-Christian God his literal father, an interesting position for a Catholic) the fact that his paternity was also ascribed to Azazel, a deity who was one of the fallen children of the Judeo-Christian God also fulfills this requirement.

6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grandfather to kill him, but

Mystique chucked him off of a cliff as a means of allowing herself to escape a violent mob. 

7. he is spirited away, and

In various comics, he was either rescued by Margali or Azazel, either before he hit the water or after. In any case, he was raised within a traveling circus — a fact that is, in some respects, the very definition of being ‘spirited away’.

8. Reared by foster -parents in a far country.

Nightcrawler was raised in a provincial German circus, where he performed as an acrobat.

10. On reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future Kingdom.

When Nightcrawler was an adult, he was first rescued and then recruited by Charles Xavier. Xavier brought him to America and instilled him as a member of the second generation of X-Men.

11. After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast,

Nightcrawler has fought in many battles, but his first as a superhero was the Mutant Island Krakoa. Before this, Nightcrawler engaged in a battle with his foster brother, who he believed was murdering children. 

12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor and

Ok, this can go two ways. Nightcrawler was in a long term relationship with his (currently dead) foster-sister (and I have to say, as someone with an adopted sibling: EW) and that definitely ‘counts’ as she was the heir to their mother’s role as Witch Queen. The other way is through the church. Nightcrawler became a Catholic priest. Even now (and certainly during the era that we think of as Medieval) when a person became a priest or a nun they were said to be ‘married’ to the Church. They were the brides of Christ or the grooms of the Church. This follows, in a roundabout way, with the perception of him being the son of either a devil (fallen son of God) or Azazel (God’s grandson). Either way, there’s a level of incest involved that I, personally, would rather not think about.

13. And becomes king.

Nightcrawler is currently serving as a member of the Quiet Council (the ruling body of the Krakoan nation) alongside one and, now, possibly two of his parents. He has also (briefly) led the X-Men, Excalibur (for longer), and he is currently leading The Legionaries — Krakoa’s police force. 

14. For a time he reigns uneventfully and

Nightcrawler has been helping to govern the Island nation with little difficulty.

15. Prescribes laws, but

As a member of the Quiet Council Nightcrawler defined one of the three main laws of the nation — ‘Make More Mutants’.

16. Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and

During the run up to his death during the Messiah Complex series, Nightcrawler had taken several leaves from the X-Men, including one that was due to the fact that he felt that he’d been replaced by the teleporter Pixie. 

17. Is driven from the throne and city, after which

While Nimrod was hunting the mutant girl Hope, Nightcrawler was pushed thousands of miles from his base. 

18. He meets with a mysterious death,

His first death occurred while he was rescuing Hope. His second occurred when he teleported Logan onto the surface of the sun (as a means of stopping the creation of Master Mold), and his third death occurred on a moon of Mars after he teleported it away from the populated surface of the planet. All three would certainly count, to people observing them, as both mysterious and highly unusual.

19. Often at the top of a hill,

The positioning of Nightcrawler’s first death (his body in the center of a cluster of his friends) was definitely intended to be reminiscent of a hill. His second and third deaths occured on top of the biggest (and in the sun’s case, brightest) cleared surface available. 

20. His body is not buried, but nevertheless

His second body was incinerated. His third is probably still on that moon. 

22. He has one or more holy sepulchres.

Nightcrawler has a memorial on the campus of the Xavier Institute. He’s been pictured standing beside it, which has to be a bit of a mind-f*ck, or would be, if he actually existed. 

Nightcrawler scores 19 points, scoring exactly the same as King Arthur, lower than Oedipus (21) but higher than Romulus (18). Before the Krakoan era, his score would have been considerably lower, so it’s interesting to see how much the current era is adding to the mythology of the X-Men. 

Bearded Nightcrawler is the best Nightcrawler. Fight me.

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.