Tomar Re

History

Tomar Re was working as a scientist on his homeworld Xudar, when he was approached by the Guardians Of The Universe who wanted him to become one of their Green Lanterns.  Soon after completing his probationary period, Tomar-Re was dispatched on a mission to rescue the population of Krypton. The Guardians had at this point considered making the Green Lantern Corps independent of Oa. They prophesied the offspring of Jor-El and Lara of Krypton in Space Sector 2813 would be genetically perfect, and birth an ideal future leader of the Corps.

It was discovered that the planet Krypton would explode due to the core of the planet being unstable. Tomar was dispatched to delay the planet's destruction until the inhabitants found a way to fix the problem.  Evacuation of the population was not an option. Two hundred fifty thousand years ago, a device called the "eradicator" was developed as weapon against alien intervention. The eradicator created a defect in the natives' genetic structure designed to "tie" the Kryptonians to their homeworld. The Green Lantern worked unseen by the natives of Krypton.

Tomar scoured the skies of space looking for a certain material, stellarium, that would absorb the planet's radiation.  It took months to gather enough of the element, but Tomar-Re worked feverishly to complete his task. It was in the Ariel star system that Tomar-Re found a deposit of stellarium. He was unable to see that Ariel itself was also unstable, and after mining stellarium the star went nova destroying the system and blinding Tomar from the radiation.

He soared the skies blinded, wanting to get the material back to Krypton. The only thing guiding him was the power ring that saved his life during the super nova. But Tomar wasn't in time to save Krypton and the planet exploded before he could arrive. Kal-El was only saved by the Manhunters who helped in him getting to Earth.

As the years passed, Tomar-Re earned his legendary status in the Green Lantern Corps. The emerald warrior of Space Sector 2813 developed a devise called the Zathon Ray Communicator which warned against disasters.  One day, while holding back a migrating group of blood grass, he was visited by Hal Jordan of Earth. He was saddened that his good freind Abin Sur died and that Hal was his replacement.  The two Green Lanterns were soon summoned to Oa to convene a meeting regarding the threat of LEGION. Along with Salakk of Slyggia, the three Green Lanterns approached the Great Book of Oa for answers to the Legion problem.  Jordan was soon put alongside Kilowog who trained him in the ways of the Green Lantern. The Green Lantern were put to the test when Legion arrived on Oa. The planet was soon overun by the Legion and the Green Lanterns were forced to retreat. The last ditch effort of Hal Jordan saved Oa and freed it from the grasp of the Legion.

Following the defeat of Legion, the more intensive aspects of Hal Jordan's training would be continued by Sinestro of Korugar. The Green Lantern of Korugar was a model for all to follow, his sector the most orderly in the universe. It was unknown to the Corps that Sinestro ruled with an iron fist. Katma Tui led a revolt against Sinestro, and Tomar Re was one who found that Sinestro had gone far over his mandate as a Green Lantern. Sinestro was put on trial and found guilty. Tomar recommended Katma Tui to serve as a Green Lantern in her sector of Korugar.

In the years to come, Hal and Tomar would come to each other's assistance on many occasions. One such time, was on the world of Aku. He was unable to aid the world and called for more Green Lanterns.  Hal was the first to arrive on the planet and helped aid in the fight against an invasion of monsters who were on the planet.

The Green Lantern of Xudar kept a watchful eye on Hal Jordan. He attempted to give Jordan early warning of a violent "cosmo-storm" that had struck Xudar. The storm had strange effects on his power ring and would likely do the same to Jordan's ring. Tomar-Re was unable to deliver the warning in person due to an important case on Xudar.  Jordan's ring did indeed act peculiar. He had been fighting the suervillain known as Sonar when the ring gave out. Suspecting something might be wrong, Jordan ordered his ring to create an emergency pocket of energy to remain near at all times to protect him if he was hurt or killed by Sonar. With this, he was able to defeat Sonar.  When the cosmo-storm cleared, Tomar-Re was able to send an energy image to make sure Jordan was safe. Apparently, some of the Xudarian's message made it through the storm, subconciously picked up by Jordan's ring which put two and two together.

On another occasion, Tomar was one of the Green Lanterns who were to capture by group of criminals on the Guardians' prison planet. The group wanted to destroy the Green Lanterns and were succesful in killing a number of Green Lanterns including including Davo Yull of Pharma and Chogar of Tyrea.

When Tomar retired he was made one of the Green Lanterns Honor Guard, a title that pleased Re very much. Even though he was retired, he would still be active in activities of his emerald comrades. Throughout his career, Tomar-Re never forgot the destruction of Krypton. He met Superman when the Guardians of the Universe enlisted the Man of Steel to help defeat the Weapons Master, who had usurped control of the power rings.

Tomar was a mentor to many of today's Lanterns.

Death

During the so called Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Central Power Battery that charged all of the Green Lanterns' rings was attacked by the Anti-Monitor. The Monitor put fifteen Green Lanterns in stasis which then unleashed their powers on the Green Lanterns who were trying to help.Tomar-Re was utilized by the Central Battery to communicate with the Guardians and the Corps. The Battery had learned of the nature of the Anti-Monitor when he had taken control of it. The repository of power explained why the Corps should save the Dark Moon of Qward, the Genesis Point for the Anti-Monitor. The moon's destruction would free the Anti-Monitor from all constraints of the material world. The Green Lanterns set out for the Antimatter Universe to stop Guy Gardner and Hal Jordan's mission to destroy the Qwardian moon.

The Green Lanterns engaged in battle.  Xax of Xaos was one of the first of the Corps to fall against the Weaponers of Qward.  Tomar and Hal fought side by side against Hal's enemy Goldface. Many Green Lanterns would fall during the battle and Tomar was one of these.  As he was dying, Tomar-Re fulfilled his final duties as a Green Lantern, passing his ring on to a worthy successor.  Tomar-Re's ring lifted off his finger and hovered in front of John Stewart. This surprised the assembled Green Lanterns, as Stewart was already one of them. The ring told Stewart he was wearing Hal Jordan's power ring. Both rings hovered in the air before settling on to their rightful owners. Hal Jordan was given back his power ring. Tomar-Re saw that things were right before he finally slipped away. John Stewart conferred the final honor in the name of the Guardians. Hal Jordan was a Green Lantern once again.

One of Tomars dying wishes was that John would serve as a Green Lantern. Tomar-Re's body resided in the Crypts of Oa, until Oa's destruction at the hands of Hal Jordan-Parallax.  The people of Xudar still speak of Tomar's legends and will never forget their one true hero.

Other versions

Tomar's Oath

"And I shall shed my light over dark evil,

For the dark things cannot stand the light,

THE LIGHT OF THE GREEN LANTERN!"

Other Media

He is mentioned in "The Batman".
He's appeared as a background character in "Batman the Brave and the Bold".
He is set to appear in "Green Lantern First Flight".