Laira

Origin

Laira was rigorously and strictly trained by her father to someday replace him as their sector's Green Lantern. Through his training, she became a master of their native martial arts and infused with a powerful sense of honor and tradition. Her father disappeared after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and she was chosen by the Guardians as a potential replacement. On Oa, she was assigned to Ke'Haan for training. Rather than fail as many had under Ke'Haan's harsh brand of tutelage, she became his prized pupil. Some suspected she became even more than that, but while the feelings for each other were there, both were too honorable to act on them.

Storyline

What Price Honor?

At the end of her training, she was sent on a mission to take care of a tyrant on her homeworld known as the Golden Dragon.

What she discovered was that the Golden Dragon was actually her father, who had not died as the Guardians told her. He was never pleased with the conduct of the ruling class of their planet, and when he returned from the Crisis, he acted on those beliefs with his ring in a similar way Sinestro had on Korugar.

For this, he was expelled from the Green Lantern Corps but continued his efforts regardless, under a new identity.

Laira refused to heed to her father's will and defeated him. She even refused to kill him as he requested of her, so he took his own life as honor dictated.

She was angered with the Guardians for their deception, but she had completed their final test of her. She was now fully a Green Lantern.

Emerald Twilight

When Hal Jordan gave in to Parallax's influence and was on a rampage towards the Guardians and Oa, Laira was among those called in to stop him. Along with Ke'Haan, she engaged the renegade Green Lantern, but both she and Ke'Haan were defeated. Hal stripped her of her power ring and left her for dead. As far as most of the universe was concerned, Laira died there.

Revenge of the Green Lanterns

The truth was that she and other Green Lanterns left for dead by Hal Jordan were collected by the Manhunters and brought to their planet within the forbidden Sector 3601.

She remained an unconscious captive there for years until a resurrected Hal Jordan came along with Guy Gardner to investigate the possibility that she and others were still alive. Hal Jordan freed them to help fight against the Manhunters, but as far as she and the others were concerned, no time had passed during their captivity and Hal was still a traitor.

Laira and the other Lost Lanterns allowed that issue to be put aside to deal with the more pressing danger of Hank Henshaw and his planet full of Manhunters.

They fought their way off the planet and returned to Oa, where the Lost Lanterns were welcomed back to the Corps. However, none were prepared to forgive Hal Jordan for what he had done.

Sinestro Corps War

Laira fought on the front lines when the war with the newly founded Sinestro Corps was waged. She and her fellow Lost Lanterns traveled to Qward to rescue Ion and support the Earthmen. Laira broke off into a group with Ke'Haan, Hannu and Boodika with the specific objective to retrieve Ion from the Sinestro Corps. In the course of this, they encountered the Anti-Monitor. Laira could only watch as the being almost immediately incinerated Ke'Haan.

Laira and the remaining Lost Lanterns completed their objective on Qward and returned Ion to Oa. On the way, she received the notification of the Green Lantern Corps new law. Lethal force had been authorized against the Sinestro Corps.

Laira went to Earth with the rest of the Green Lanterns to engaged the Sinestro Corps head on. In her grief and rage over the death of Ke'Haan, she fully embraced the new law. It was said that she killed twice as many members of the Sinestro Corps than any other Green Lantern.

Rise of the Alpha Lanterns

In the aftermath of the war, Laira mourned Ke'Haan's death like no other and no longer held back the feelings she carried for him. She and the other Lost Lanterns were given permission by the Guardians to escort his remains back to his family.

When they arrived on the planet Varva, they found in horror that Ke'Haan's whole family had been murdered and laid out for all to see under the burning insignia of the Sinestro Corps. The perpetrator of this crime, Amon Sur, had even remained at the scene to take credit for the deed and willingly turned himself in. Rather than accept his surrender, Laira murdered him in cold blood.

Her actions called the new law regarding lethal force into great question, as even her own fellow Lost Lanterns felt what she had done has murder. Laira saw no problem with what she had done and wanted no part of the others' judgment of her. She fled an attempt to place her into a sciencell but was stopped by the Alpha Lanterns, a branch of the Green Lantern Corps that had just been created to deal with issues just like hers. She was put on trial for her actions on Varva and found of skewing the purpose of the new law to commit murder. Boodika, former Lost Lantern and now Alpha Lantern, personally stripped her of her Green Lantern badge and ring.

Rage of the Red Lanterns

Laira felt dishonored and betrayed by the results of her trial. She was escorted in Hannu's ship off of Oa to return her to her home-world, and he tried to reassure her that there was still hope of returning to the Green Lantern Corps. She was too angry to listen to him, telling him that she didn't need the Guardians or their power rings. This wouldn't stop her vengeance against the Sinestro Corps for all that had happened to Ke'Haan, his family and her loss of honor.

This is when it came for her. A red power ring crashed into Hannu's ship, tearing it apart. It told Laira that she had great rage in her heart and set itself on her finger, transforming her into a Red Lantern before Hannu's eyes.

She traveled to Ysmault, now the homeworld of the Red Lantern Corps, to be fully inducted to the Corps along with its other chosen ringbearers. Many of her fellow Red Lanterns were like her, burning with rage against the Sinestro Corps. She was overcome with the red spectrum of hate. She went along with her new leader, Atrocitus, and the rest of the Red Lanterns to intercept the Green Lanterns taking Sinestro home ot Korugar to face a public execution. The Red Lanterns sought to execute him themselves on Ysmault. Laira and her fellow Red Lanterns arrived to find members of the Sinestro Corps had already ambushed the Green Lanterns. It didn't matter. The Red Lanterns tore through both corps to get to Sinestro, and when confronted by Hal Jordan, Laira unleashed the burning fury of her new ring on him.

The Red Lanterns succeeded and brought Sinestro back to Ysmault, crucifying him. Still overcome by rage, Laira had to be thrown away from Sinestro by Atrocitus to keep her from killing him herself. His blood was to be her leader's and not hers.

When Hal Jordan arrived on Ysmault to retrieve Sinestro, Laira was part of the ambush that captured him. She stood by while Atrocitus spoke to Jordan, reminding him of how he gave in to Parallax and left Laira to die. Then, Atrocitus gave Jordan to Laira to kill. Before she could act, members of the Sinestro Corps attacked her and the other Red Lanterns to free Sinestro. Two Blue Lanterns also arrived, freeing Jordan. She tackled him to the ground before he could get far, and he tried to reach her with his words, telling her he wouldn't let her get lost again like before. He tried to have his ring remove her red ring only to be informed that doing so would be fatal to her.

But Jordan did manage to reach her. Laira stopped herself from trying to kill him, gaining enough control of herself to ask for help. A moment later, Sinestro struck her from behind with a fatal blast of energy. She died in Hal Jordan's arms as Sinestro looked on. Her death pushed Jordan over the edge, causing him to give into his rage against Sinestro and become a Red Lantern himself.

Blackest Night

The Lost Lanterns accompanied the Alpha Lanterns on a mission to bring down the Red Lantern Corps on Ysmault, but the Lost Lanterns had another agenda. They wanted to recover Laira's body so that it could be given a proper burial. As the battle progressed, Graf Toren and Tomar Tu were successful in reaching Laira's corpse. However, as this was happening, a swarm of black power rings descended upon Ysmault. A ring found its way onto Laira's hand, and she reanimated as a Black Lantern, attacking Graf and Tomar.

Powers and Abilities

Martial Arts Training

She was known for never looking at her target when she struck, so that her attacks could never be predicted and defended against. She was a highly proficient martial artist and utilized the power of her ring like an extension of her own body.

Green Lantern Power Ring

Laira, for a long time, wielded a Green Lantern power ring, which gave her several very formidable abilities and tactical resources:

• Emotional Spectrum Green Will Energy Conduit: The rings use pure energy supplied by a Power Battery, which in most cases takes the form of bright green light. This energy is the green light of willpower of the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum. A Green Lantern's ring, considered by some to be one of the most powerful weapons in the known universe, has the ability to affect and use fundamental forces of the known universe, including electromagnetic energies such as gravity, radiation, heat, light, and powerful blasts of concussive force. It is also theorized that the ring also has a basis in other dimensional energies commonly called magic by users of such energies. The ring can also create fields of force formed from an unknown energy that is bound by the users' will. The limitations of such use are the skill, knowledge and imagination of the user.
• Energy Projection: The ring can be used to fire blasts of energy or create weapons such as projectiles of them. The ring can project beams of force powered by the will of the user. Their appearance does not indicate the power of the weapon. The weapon's power is more an indication of the will of the user.
• Force Field: The ring can create various force fields of various sizes and shapes to protect the wearer and others in the vicinity. With the cosmic scope of a Green Lantern's duties, it is only natural that the power ring is designed for operation in space. The ring creates a force field around the wearer, protecting them from the hazards of the void including filtration of stellar radiation and microscopic particulate matter which would ordinarily be fatal should the space debris strike the ring wielder at high speeds. An atmosphere appropriate to the ring wielder's biology is created inside the force-field while body temperature is maintained and waste products are removed. Gravitational stresses which could cause injury are stabilized for the ring wielder. Theoretically, a ring wielder could use the ring as their sole source of life support. The force field is created instantaneously whenever needed as part of the ring's automatic defensive system.
• Energy Constructs: The primary function of the power ring is to provide a weapon capable of transforming the wearer's thoughts into physical constructs through the wearer's strength of willpower. A Green Lantern can create any particular items or construct that they can imagine as long as they have the willpower necessary to will it into existence. The constructs exist only as long as a Green Lantern is fueling them with their willpower. Items created by the rings are not indestructible and are only as powerful as the willpower of the Green Lantern creating them. The types of constructs usually reflects the ring wearer's personality.
• Phasing: The power ring allows the wearer to pass through solid objects such as walls, though this is also a function of the ring-bearer's will and not an automatic ability of the ring itself.
• Environmental Playback: Upon request, the power ring can recreate a holographic environment based on data in its memory banks. The ring-bearer can observe events in a ghostlike state, but the cannot alter the outcome of the playback. All objects in the playback will appear in the full spectrum of colors, regardless of the wielder's level of expertise creating simulacra. The power ring will automatically end the playback if outside interference warrants the ring-bearer's undivided attention.
• Invisibility and Light Refraction: A ring-bearer can render themselves invisible by willing the ring to bend light waves around their body. A similar action allows an experienced ring-bearer to create objects of colors other than green, even simulacrums of living people.
• Energy Absorption: The ring can absorb and store other energies. Doing so does not replenish the normal store of energy the ring has. For example: a ring that needs recharging but contained a store of electricity could only discharge that electricity.
• Superhuman Strength: While not super strength of the conventional sense, a Lantern, while using constructs created by the ring, becomes capable of lifting/moving tremendous weights far heavier than they would normally be able to with comparatively little effort.
• Flight: By the manipulation of anti-gravitons and directed molecular movement, the ring allows the user to fly at incredible speeds. In atmosphere, a Green Lantern has been known to fly as fast as Mach 10 in atmosphere by creating an aerodynamic envelope around their body. In space, a Green Lantern's flying ability has been shown to reach velocities far exceeding light speed. In atmospheres, air friction is not a hindrance since heat is either absorbed or reflected by the ring's field.
• Wormholes and Spacial Warps: The power ring grants its bearer access to wormholes in space, enabling a Green Lantern to rapidly cut the time and distance needed to respond to an emergency. Black holes can also be navigated by experienced ring wielders. A Green Lantern can travel through a black hole to be deposited outside a white hole in a far off sector of space.
• Time Travel: Time travel is possible with the power ring, though the further forward in time a ring-bearer travels, the more willpower it takes.
• Limited Cellular Regeneration: A Green Lantern can use their ring to heal physical injuries in their self or others.
• Electromagnetic Scanning: The ring has a wide range of detection abilities based on the imagination of the user. If the ring-bearer can conceive of it, they can probably detect it. Most normal electromagnetic phenomena are within the range of the ring, including radio, radar, television, infrared, ultraviolet, microwave, and high frequency band communications.
• Thought Relay: Otherwise known as a telepathic link, which can be used to coordinate tactics with other Green Lanterns or report of the status of an active mission to a sector partner or other Lantern. The links can also be established with non-Green Lanterns, though it requires more willpower.
• Galactic Encyclopedia: The earlier rings worn by the Corps functioned as references for their bearers. Having the vast knowledge of the Book of Oa to draw upon, each ring functions as a ready reference on most peoples, stellar events and conditions that may have been seen by other rings or other Green Lanterns.
• Universal Translator: The power ring can translate virtually any language in the universe, facilitating diplomatic encounters rather than violent confrontations. Complications arise when a frame of reference for translation is not available, as evidenced during Katma Tui's induction of Rot Lop Fan into the Green Lantern Corps. Katma Tui had the difficult assignment of explaining the concepts of "light" and "color" to the sightless Rot Lop Fan. She overcame this barrier by using sound rather than light as the basis of the ring's power. Some Green Lanterns, such as the planet form known as Mogo, have used the ring to create an intermediary "being" to expedite communication.
• Material Alteration: The Green Lantern's uniform is not made out of fabric. It is created by the power ring whenever the ring-bearer wills to wear it. Most Green Lanterns wear similar uniforms that are programmed into the ring by default. However, each Green Lantern is able to adjust their uniform to fit their own needs, personalities, or whims. The green parts of the wearer's uniform are usually very warm or hot to those who touch it, while the black parts are very cold. The uniform also produces a "siren" taking on the form of the Green Lantern Corps' symbol, circling the Green Lantern when active. The symbol, or badge, will not appear on the uniform until after a newly inducted Lantern has completed training on Oa, leading to the term "White-Circle" to describe a rookie Lantern.
• Ring Duplication: A power ring is capable of duplicating themselves. Each duplicate shares the qualities and capabilities of the original ring. The duplicate rings are subject to over-ride control by the original ring-bearer, and take a significant expenditure of energy to create.
• Emergency Beacon: A Green Lantern in distress can use their power ring as an emergency beacon. The alert can be directed to a Green Lantern's neighboring sector, or it can be a Corps-wide alert.
• Homing Beacon: A homing beacon in the power ring can lead one Green Lantern to another. Though a power ring can be ordered to disguise itself to elude power ring wielding trackers.
• Mind Alteration: Though the ethics of mind tampering may be debatable, sometimes it is deemed necessary. As the power ring relies on thought and will to operate, mind tampering is not impossible. The real difficulty lies in properly applying the power. There lies a risk of severe damage to the mind where alterations are being attempted should mistakes be made. A ring-bearer can use the power ring to erase portions of an individual's memories. Green Lanterns have used mind techniques as part of training. New recruits may be subjected to mind scans by other Green Lanterns or the Guardians of the Universe. They are taught to build mental defenses to protect themselves from mental attack. The power ring can also be used to beam information from the ring wielder to another being. Green Lanterns have used this technique to share information regarding their enemies during combat situations.
• Pocket Dimension: A ring-bearer can use their ring to create a small extra-dimensional holding space in which they can store their power battery for ease of retrieval. These pocket dimensions can be accessed from any location.
• Security Protocol: The rings can be programmed. They are coded to the wearer to make them unusable if stolen. The ring will refuse to take an action that would kill a being unless they are on Oa or have obtained permission. The Guardians recently removed the lethal force prohibition, first to allow lethal force against members of the Sinestro Corps, then against all enemies of the Green Lantern Corps.
• Preset Conditions: Commands can be stored in the ring to be executed at a later date even if the bearer is not wearing the ring.

Red Lantern Power Ring

Laira was a bearer of the Red Lantern ring before her death and had all the powers that came with it. The abilities the ring grants him are:

• Acid: She has the ability to expel a fiery acid from her mouth.
• Animating: A Red Lantern can will things to move how he wants.
• Caustic Effect: Red Lantern power can damage and drain away the power of other lanterns almost like a poison. For example green lanterns who survive a Red Lantern attack will begin to lose power from the almost napalm like attacks of Red Lanterns.
• Communicator: The ring can act as a personal communicator between Lanterns.
• Costumes: The wearer of the ring may create any costume they choose, based on their personal preferences, whenever they choose. The ring projects the costume over any clothes already worn at the time. While Red Lanterns have no costume code they all are red and black with the Red Lantern symbol displayed.
• Energy Projection: The rings can also project beams, form protective bubbles and force fields, and fire destructive blasts. The attacks often come from the mouth from a Red Lantern.
• Energy Constructs: The rings can construct anything the wearer can imagine from hard-light energy, as long as they are willing to make it. The more determined the wearer is, the more complex and intricate these things can be. The constructs can even be so complex as to form working machines, computers, and even people. Red Lanterns have difficulty creating constructs due to their anger.
• Flight: The ring allows the wearer to fly in atmosphere or in space, and can achieve incredible speeds, moving from planet to planet in a matter of hours.
• Heart Replacement: Red Lantern Rings replace the heart of the lantern who wields them so removing a Red Lantern ring is often fatal without medical attention or the presence of a Blue Lantern. Atrocitus had his heart ripped from his body and was able to return to the fight within seconds since his ring serves as his heart.
• Mirages: The Ring can create mirages/illusions.
• Recharging: The rings need to be recharged by means of a Power Battery. Other large sources of power may be used to recharge a power ring, however effectiveness may vary. The internal power source of a Manhunter Android is, in effect, the same as a power battery, and can be used to recharge a power ring. During the JLA / Avengers crossover, a Cosmic Cube was used to recharge a depleted ring, although this is not an ideal solution and is available if there are no other options.
• Ring Duplication: Each ring can duplicate itself, creating a second ring which may be given to another as a backup, for protection, or to help the lantern in times of great need. This duplicate ring is exactly like a normal ring.
• Temperature Control: The Ring can increase or decrease the temperature of anything, even something as large as stars, or even create bubbles of intense heat or cold, even down to Absolute Zero.
• Electro-magnetic scanning: The ring can allow(through the use of x rays) the user to see through walls, without the people on the other side knowing. it can also scan along the Electromagnetic spectrum.
• Wormhole/Warps: The ring can open wormholes to cut down on distance.

Animates Series/Films

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights

She participates during the main storyline as she battles against Krona. As the Green Lanterns are waiting for the start of the battle; Hal tells a sub plot about Laira to Arisia, a rookie who Hal is doing her rookie orientation. Later, Laira rescues Hal Jordan and Arisia from the attack of the shadow shield that is protecting Krona during his raising from the Sun.

In this sub-plot into the main story, Laira responds to an attack to her home planet. Her people is losing the battle. The Green Lantern for that sector arrives to help them but he dies during the scuffle. As a result, the ring choose her to carry on as a new Green Lantern. Her first instinct calls for help from the other green lanterns. As a result her home is safe from the invasion after reinforcements arrived. However, her father is really disappointed that she asked for help from the Green Lanterns. She did not let him defend his people or die trying. She left to begin her training. In her first mission alone, she had to return as mediator because her people were responsible for the massacre of their remaining enemies.

As she arrived, her Mother in law battle her but she manages to break her armor to defeat her. Laira advances to the palace where her brother is waiting for her to face her. He has the the ability to make himself invisible. He comments about his abilities to hide and points out her inability to find him in the past when they were kids. They also discuss why he is on his father's crusade and from his point of view she betrayed her family.

As the battle progress, she is able to overcome him as well by using the green light energy to make him visible. She is also able to break his armor as well. The Golden Dragon is a race of warriors who use a golden armor to protect themselves against enemies. After the armor is damaged, they are not as strong opponents. She advances into her old room where she finds memories of her past life there. In the place, Laira and her father talk to explain how they feel about the situation. He doesn’t see any peacefully solution. He wears his armor and prepares to face in combat. It's the only way to regain his honor. She explains her point of view but since there is no compromise. They battle against each other, even they love each other as father and daughter.