The Noble De-Man's page

About The Noble De-Man

During the Last Great War, the Dark Lord Skeletor unleashed a horror on Eternia like none other before it: the De-Men! Savage, brutal beasts with ferocious might, the De-Men were an ancient Horde experiment that had been deemed a failure. Because while they were truly monstrous warriors, their ferocity was too great to be controlled. And so they were sealed away in underground vaults for thousands of years, waiting for someone cunning or foolish enough to loose them on the world.

Skeletor was that person. Twisting secrets of Eternian science and sorcery he and his followers gleaned from the very spells and devices used to imprison Skeletor himself to dark purpose, the Dark Lord created thouands of sets of manacles and leg irons that when clapped onto the De-Men, bound them and bent their fury to his will. With this horrible new army at his command, Skeletor began his final campaign, the one which nearly brought Eternia to his knees.

In the final battle with Skeletor, the tide turned when the Sorceress -- channelling all the power of Greyskull through the Swords of Power and Wisdom both -- broke Skeletor's great work. When his control over the De-Men vanished, his army fell into chaos. Many of the De-Men lashed out randomly against any they could see and fell on the battlefield that day. Some were cunning enough to flee back to the Dark Side, and haunt that shadowy realm still.

One changed.

Perhaps he had always been different, or perhaps the light of the Sorceress' magic struck him more deeply than the others. Even now he cannot say, and to him, the reason is immaterial. He simply knew in his heart that the freedom he had now was a great gift, and he would repay it by turning his strength against those who had made him a slave and a murderer. Immediately he turned on his commander -- the martial artist mutant Karatti. Caught completely by surprise, Karatti was severely wounded by the very skills he had taught the enslaved De-Man and fled the battlefield. He holds a grudge to this very day.

When the battle was over, with both He-Man and Skeletor vanished, the De-Man surrendered to the Eternian forces. Many clamored for his execution -- De-Men were nothing but thoughtless monsters, after all. But the Sorceress, even as she grieved for her missing husband, came and spoke with him. As they talked, he didn't ask for mercy, or demand release. He simply thanked her for freeing him from Skeletor's power. So moved that she stepped forward and placed her hand over his heart and, feeling the good radiating from it, she set him free once more.

"I feel something noble within you, De-Man," she said, "from today forward let justice and righteousness be the only things you are chained to."

With that she let the Power of the Universe flow into him. It radiated out from his heart to the symbols of his slavery -- Skeletor's shackles and leg irons -- and changed them. Symbols etched into the steel changed from glowing a baleful red to a bright, shimmering white.

"Rise, Noble De-Man," said the Sorceress, "I free you a second time, because Eternia needs hearts like yours more than ever, today."

And so he rose as Noble, taking what the Sorceress had called him as his name, and he has served as the Sorceress' guardian and champion ever since.