BIOGRAPHY
Born sometime between 1840 and 1855, Lillian von Loont was born of proper English stock to a wealthy family that also had connections to Canada. By 1875, Lillian had met and married a man called Lionel. During an excursion through the Transylvanian Alps, disaster struck when Lillian and Lionel were motoring through the narrow, winding roads. The car skidded on some debris and crashed into the nearby forest, where Lionel was killed instantly. Lillian suffered serious injuries but alive, barely, she managed to wander through the dark Balkan woods until she stumbled upon a foreboding, ancient castle. Despite being delirious, Lillian sensed a great evil power through the ancient stone, and her injuries finally caused her to collapse on the front steps of the castle. Although as she passed out, she was aware that she was no longer alone – someone had found her.
[Note: In the flashback, Lillian remembers having her accident while riding an early motor-driven, horseless carriage. The memory is explicitly stated as having taken place in 1875 but the first of these vehicles did not appear until the mid-1890s.]
Days, or perhaps weeks later she awoke – her wounds healed and her mind clear. She discovered a man watching her, a strange man who introduced himself as a friend called Esteban Diablo. Lillian was soothed by his hypnotic smile. Lillian knew that his name was Spanish for Devil, but she immediately lost all fear of him, and he even nursed her back to health, behaving as a proper Victorian gentleman as expected. Lillian and Esteban spent much time together, exploring the depths of the ancient castle. Lillian was somewhat nervous as she was led through the ancient chambers, until eventually Esteban took her to his inner sanctum where he conducted his experiments into the prolongation of life. Lillian was astounded by this revelation, even more so when Esteban revealed that he was one thousand years of age.
Esteban proceeded to reveal further secrets to Lillian – that he was also the master alchemist known as Diablo. Lillian was startled when Diablo transformed into his extravagant costume, but was assured when he told her that he had grown fond of her. He confessed to her that he had known many women in a thousand years, but that he had never loved anyone – until now. Lillian suddenly forgot her proper upbringing and surrendered to the passions growing within her. Diablo and Lillian became more than lovers, as Diablo taught Lillian in the ancient arts of alchemy, and they maintained this relationship for nearly a year.
However, while Lillian and Diablo lived happily together, things were different beyond the castle walls. There, the villagers lived in fear of Diabo, who ruled this small village like a god. One day, eight of the villagers had finally had enough of Diablo. Lillian was inside the castle when she watched as the villagers chased Diablo to a hidden entrance into his laboratory. They knew that at certain points Diablo's power waned, and this was one such time. His hidden entrance was no longer so hidden, as the villagers had also wrecked all of the equipment within the laboratory, inside of which they now sealed Diablo. Lillian wondered how her beloved could have been betrayed but she need not have wondered long, as she was attacked by one of the servants who tried to capture him. Lillian, however, responded by killing him. She then investigated her beloved's laboratory but could not open it, and Diablo was trapped inside, where he would remain for a century.
Lillian made her way back to England and used her first husband's fortune to create her own alchemical workshop. Having been taught everything about alchemy by Diablo except for the secret of longevity, Lillian knew that she would have to discover that for herself, especially if she was to have her revenge. And so, for ten long years she tested and abandoned thousands of potions, until one fateful day when she discovered that for which all true alchemists search – transmutation. Lillian's potions transformed a block of lead into pure gold, and it was then that she determined there was a link between that divine metal and her quest for immortality. She now had the key to her revenge.
By 1887 or 1888, Lillian made her way back to Transylvania, ready to carry out her revenge. She ascertained the identities of the eight men involved in the betrayal of her beloved Diablo and arranged for herse
lf to be introduced to the first of them. Lillian was still a beautiful woman and, within a month, she and the first betrayer were wed. They honeymooned in Karlsbaad, a hundred miles from the tomb of Lillian's beloved Esteban, and on what would have been their wedding night. It was here that Lillian not only carried out her revenge but revealed that, although she had not discovered Diablo's potion of immortality, she had uncovered the link between impervious gold and eternal life – even though it cost her, in part, her own humanity. With her own hand now covered in gold, Lillian touched her second husband, and caused his entire body to turn to gold in a matter of moments.
Lillian arranged for her 'statue' to be shipped back to her home in England and arranged for word to get back to the village in Transylvania that her new groom had deserted her. Within a matter of weeks, one of his friends was lured into Lillian's web to become husband number three. Lillian then began an odyssey that took her around the world and back, as the other six men had not remained in the village. She tracked them across various locations, until finally she had eight 'statues' in her collection, all eight of the men responsible for Diablo's imprisonment. [Alpha Flight (1st series) #21]
That odyssey lasted approximately a decade and, by 1896, Lillian was now extremely wealthy. With her fortune, she purchased a small, lush island called Tamarind Island, located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, off the coast of British Columbia in Canada. Lillian had a regal mansion built on the island and set up a complex alchemy laboratory within its walls. Using the skills she had learned from Diablo, and the secrets of transmutation that she had discovered for herself, Lillian, now probably aged in her mid-40s or 50s, continued with her quest for immortality. Unable to replicate Diablo's success, through unrevealed means Lillian somehow created a robotic form that replaced her skeleton. Vital organs were contained in the chest area of the robot form, and her head was kept alive above the robot form. She wore a golden mask over her face. This combination of alchemy and transmutation kept her alive. She wore a long, elegant white cloak over her new form, and wheels replaced her feet, giving the appearance that she was floating. Lillian maintained a relatively low-profile after having her collection of eight statues shipped to Tamarind Island, where her husbands lived on, encased within a golden prison.
At some point around the early 20th Century, Lillian joined the mysterious Thule Society, a group of powerful sorcerers and scientists with connections to the terrorist organization known as Hydra. The Thule Society were concerned with life and death – and how to escape it. Part of their exploration led them to learn of the mysterious artifact known as the Unforgotten Stone. Referred to as Madame von Loont, Lillian accompanied Baron Wolfgang von Strucker to visit the facility, which had located the stone off the coast of the Soviet Union. Lillian even speculated that that stone could be the Philosopher's Stone, though others refuted her suggestion. The facility raised the stone from the ocean, and the horrors within the stone were unleashed when the facility used X-rays to examine it. The blackness that emerged from the stone began to consume the facility and those within it, but Lillian and Strucker were able to escape. [King in Black: Namor #2]
Lillian made her last known public appearance in 1929, prior to the Great Depression of the 1930s, and several years later she was declared legally dead. Little details exist regarding the extended family of Lillian, but the mansion and the island it stood on was eventually passed on to either her own brother, or the brother of one of her husbands. When he passed, it was left to his daughter, who would later have a son, Walter Langkowski – who would go on to become Alpha Flight's Sasquatch. The island was fairly isolated and only visited by Walter once when he was a child. As a member of Alpha Flight, he learned a new headquarters was in need and, along with his teammate and lover, Aurora, journeyed to Tamarind Island to investigate the old mansion to assess whether it could become Alpha Flight's new home, despite the rumors that the mansion was haunted. In truth, Lillian still lived at the mansion, which remained in pristine condition, something Langkowski found odd when he explored it. It was then that Lillian made her presence known, after Aurora stumbled across the statues of Lillian's 'dead' husbands, Lillian used her transmutation abilities on her great-nephew, turning Walter into a gold statue. Lillian then introduced herself to Aurora – as Gilded Lily. [Alpha Flight (1st series) #20]
Gilded Lily took the shocked Aurora into her laboratory, which was located within the center of the mansion. Aurora, overcome by fear, switched to her passive Jeanne-Marie persona, unable to defend herself against Gilded Lily. Lillian had never had the opportunity of creating a female statue before and hoped to do so with Aurora. However, as she prepared to lower Aurora into a vat of molten gold, Lillian was startled by the arrival of Walter, who, upon hearing Jeanne-Marie's cries, transformed into his Sasquatch form and broke through his golden prison. Lillian was impressed by the beast who appeared before her but did not want to be bothered by him. Using an elixir, she controlled the floor, which hurled its stones at Sasquatch to distract him.
Nevertheless, Sasquatch punched his way through and began to do the same to Lillian's equipment in the laboratory. Lillian appeared non-bothered by this, though, and turned her attention back to Aurora, until Sasquatch grabbed her cloak, which tore off and revealed her strange, robotic body. Gilded Lily had little time to react before Sasquatch grabbed her and pulled off her mask, revealing her deformed face. It seems this broke whatever alchemy had held her together, as almost immediately her face and then her robotic form crumbled to dust. An instant later, the entire laboratory and everything in it also crumbled to dust, leaving a hollow within the rest of the mansion, which remained intact. [Alpha Flight (1st series) #21]
Afterwards, Alpha Flight took up residence on Tamarind Island and, with the Canadian government once again funding the team, the mansion was repaired and outfitted with the latest modern technologies.
Soon after Alpha Flight had made themselves at home within Lillian's mansion, now called Mansion Alpha, the rumors of the mansion being haunted came true, as Lillian's spirit became conscious, as part of the very mansion itself. At first she was confused, uncertain about what had happened to her. She realized that she was now everywhere, and nowhere. Her beloved mansion was no longer familiar, it was modern and strange – but she sensed the power within, both the mansion itself and from the super beings living within the mansion's walls. Seeking her precious laboratory, Lillian's spirit eventually came across what had been built in her laboratory's place – a swimming pool, gymnasium, conference room high-tech computer system. Lillian's essence was even able to explore the computer system, called Alphanex, and it was there that she recognized a file on Aurora, and discovered that her great-nephew, Sasquatch, had died. She then learned what Sasquatch had done to her and her reaction was a literal scream that echoed through Mansion Alpha, which created a seismic shock, startling Alpha Flight.
Seething, Lillian plotted to destroy Alpha Flight. Still connected to Alphanex, however, she made another startling discovery – that her beloved Esteban Diablo was alive. Although no longer imprisoned in Transylvania, he was indeed in a prison and took it upon herself to aid him. Within the laboratory belonging to Alpha Flight's Roger Bochs, Lillian manipulated an array of chemicals to create an electrical element, which she was able to send through the telephone cables to rescue her beloved.
The electrical element traveled promptly through the telephone cables, surprising prison guards at the Oswego prison facility in New York. In his cell, Diablo recognized the creature as being conjured via alchemy, and realized that there was only one person who could have created such a creature, though he assumed her to be deceased. The guards had little time to react before the electrical element converted Diablo into an electrical current to transport him through phone cables, across the border to Canada, over the mainland and through underwater cables to Tamarind Island.
During this time, Lillian's spirit ascertained that two of the unwelcome residents in her home posed a threat to her – Michael Twoyoungmen (who was the current Talisman, the Binder of Spirits) and Madison Jeffries (Alpha Flight's associate, who had the mutant power of transmutation). So, as Alpha Flight tried to uncover the problem with their mansion, Lily shunted a current of energy through the computer system, which knocked Jeffries unconscious. She then did the same to Twoyoungmen, by causing the elevator to malfunction with him trapped in it. Lillian kept the other members of Alpha Flight busy by various methods. Her touch even reached to the exterior of the mansion, where she kept two of Alpha Flight's most powerful members, Vindicator and Snowbird, trapped. Having recognized Aurora earlier, Lillian sought her out and pulled her through a mirror, which acted as portals to Lillians dark heart, trapping Aurora within.
Lillian's spirit also spoke to Diablo as he made his way through the mansion, confused and frightened. Finally, Lillian was able to manifest as a mist-like apparition, this being the first time Diablo had seen her in some hundred years, and the first time he saw her as Gilded Lily. Lillian revealed to Diablo that she carried out revenge against his betrayers and of how she attained her own form of immortality. Lillian, still deeply in love with Diablo, then explained that she had a plan to take on a new body to attain that immortality she so desperately craved. However, when Diablo refused to help her on the basis that he did not want to be joined forever to a woman as old as her, or every bit his alchemical equal, Lillian was enraged and threatened to let Alpha Flight loose against him.
Preferring to assist Lillian than face off against Alpha Flight, Diablo agreed, and so Lillian transported him through the mansion to a laboratory, where Lillian appeared in a tall mirror, with Aurora as her captive. Lillian had learned about Aurora's mental instability, and the fear that overwhelmed her when she was in the dark. Upon seeing Aurora, Diablo became much more interested in helping Lillian take over Aurora's body. Diablo began to mix the various chemicals required for transferring Lillian's consciousness into Aurora. As Alpha Flight arrived in the laboratory, Lillian continued to use her master over the mansion to keep them at bay.
However, when Diablo completed the potion and passed it to Lillian in the mirror, this allowed a sliver of light to shine into the mirror, causing Aurora to gather herself. She then distracted Gilded Lily with a flare of light, before snatching the vial containing the elixir to transfer Lillian's consciousness. Lillian was startled by this and had little time to react before Aurora shoved the elixir down Lillian's throat. This caused her spirit to tumble through the mirror as Aurora escaped and what remained of Gilded Lily once again crumbled to dust. Diablo then willingly returned to prison. [Alpha Flight Annual #1]
Alpha Flight continued to live at Mansion Alpha without any further hauntings, until the mansion was badly damaged following an assault by Bedlam the Brain-Blast. Despite the mansion still belonging to Walter Langkowski, Alpha Flight has never returned to Tamarind Island. Its most notable visitor since was Veronica Langkowski, Walter's ex-wife, who falsely laid claim to the mansion, only to be unimpressed that it had been reduced to ruin. Given Lillian's essence resurfaced some time following her original death, it's entirely possible that her spirit really does continue to haunt Tamarind Island and the ruins of the once glorious mansion, waiting for someone to return....