The Unspoken

Origin

The Unspoken was the previous monarch of the Inhumans and Black Bolt's predecessor. His forgotten reign was not an unhappy one. Attilan thrived. The Unspoken, whose real name has been forgotten in history, was well-respected and loved by his people. Even the Alpha Primitives, upon whose sweat and toil Attilan was built, adored their monarch in their own simple way. Even though it is their station in life to serve, he treated them with kindness, shown by few others. He preferred their stoic company to courtiers' gossip and intrigue. Although the now-forgotten king was loved, above all, he was feared for his incalculable power by all but his cousin, Black Bolt.

The Unspoken had removed the Slave Engine from Attilan and hid it somewhere safe. The Slave Engine is the Inhumans' holiest relic and birthright. With its removal, Karnak sensed weakness all over Attilan which prompted Black Bolt and his cousins to confront the Unspoken. The confrontation led to a fight, one which the Unspoken lost due to weakness from having to move the Slave Engine. Following the fight, Black Bolt assumed the throne and the Unspoken was brought to the inhospitable wastes ringing Attilan's borders. Refusing to give up the location of the Slave Engine, Black Bolt spoke the Unspoken's name one last time. The next morning, the Unspoken was found by Alpha Primitives who nursed him back to health. For years, the Unspoken remained in the caves of Tibet with the Alpha Primitives growing and cultivating Xerogen Crystals. On one such dig, he chased out a boy who had stumbled upon his lair, leading him outside where he had noticed Attilan left to the moon.

Creation

The former Inhuman monarch, the Unspoken was created by Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage, Khoi Pham and first appeared in Mighty Avengers #27 .Dan Slott talking about the tragic nature of the villainous character "He's a horribly tragic figure. He's someone who should be an important legend, but he's not. So much of our identity is not just who we are, but what people say about us and how we're remembered. And he's this secret that the royals keep to themselves. Now he's a guy who literally howls at the moon because he thinks the royals are looking down at him from up there. What's even sadder is that he's been in a cave for several years so he has no idea that they're gone and there's nobody up there".

Major Story Arcs

Mighty Avengers

While in Tibet, G.R.A.M.P.A. detected the Unspoken, but were unable to identify who or what he was. They called upon Quicksilver to come in and identify who the Unspoken was. Immediately Quicksilver recognized the Unspoken and suggested that all of the Avengers should be called in. They came and fought their hardest but failed.

The Unspoken was finally defeated when the heroes used the chronal ray on the Slave Engine to accelerate the growth of the Xerogen Crystals which caused the Unspoken to age rapidly. The Unspoken was unable to fight anymore and was brought back to his cave by the Alpha Primitives where he would spend his last days.

Inhuman

Many months later, after the city of Attilan had been wrecked by an explosion and plummeted to the ground in the Hudson Bay near New York City, the Unspoken returned to the city (now known as New Attilan) where he proposed to marry Queen Medusa, whom was without husband at the time. Medusa refused and locked up the former king. The Unspoken, however, soon managed to break free and roamed the old catacombs of Attilan in search of Terrigen Crystals which he soon found. Although Medusa and Gorgon intervened, the Unspoken managed to defeat them and soon resumed power again. It was, however, not to last, since a group of newly transformed Inhumans stole the crystals away during a fight which caused the Unspoken to lose his powers once more. He was then imprisoned.

Powers and Abilities

Extremely powerful threat and being, the Unspoken is said to be the living embodiment of Terrigenesis, the process which grants the Inhumans their super powers. The Unspoken can therefore transform his own genetic make-up to exhibit any superhuman power he wants, although this process is not instantaneous. Potential capacity for limitless power exists. So far the Unspoken has demonstrated such power as size and density manipulation, energy blasts, super strength and durability.