Theron

Theron
First appearance:	"Derek"
Created by:	Lee Falk and Phil Davis

Theron is a character from the Mandrake the Magician comic strip that first appeared in "Derek". Theron is the grand master of the College of Magic somewhere in the Himalayas. Theron is hundreds of years old, probably due to the energy of the powerful Crystal Cube of which he is the guardian.

Fictional Character Biography

The Phil Davis Era

Theron's wife

First time Mandrake told Narda about his childhood he said when he was twelve years old his father brought him to the "College of Magic". It was located in a hidden valley in mystery shrouded Tibet, and Theron was the head of the college. He was a master of illusions and taught the students mental magic like: mind reading, telepathy, instant hypnosis and other great secrets. Therons wife took care of Mandrake and his twin brother Derek while they lived and studied at the campus. Shortly after Mandrake graduated (at the age of eighteen) he read that a hill tribe attacced the college, looting and burning it. A few of the instructers had escaped, but Mandrake did not know what happened to Theron.

A few years later, while Mandrake is looking through a photo album from his college years, he makes mental contact with Theron. Theron needs Mandrake's help to stop an evil man with their powers loose in the world, a man graduated from the College of Magic. Theron says that he now is old and weak and cannot maintain mental contact for much longer, but that he has sent Mandrake a letter with a photo and more information.

Theron

After Mandrake had managed to capture the evil Swami, Theron personally appears in the courtroom and persuades the judge to hand over the prisoner to him so that he could be sentenced by the court of the College of Magic. Later Mandrake handed over an other ex-student to the court of the College of Magic, but Theron was not directly involved in this case.

One day Narda came to visit Mandrake, he sat in deep concentration in front of a crystal ball that had a small replica of the College of Magic inside. Asking about the strange artifact Mandrake told her about his years at the ancient College of Magic, and Theron "the master of magic". Mandrake said Theron became his teacher during his sixth year at college and that he the started to learn the deep arts like: levitation, mind control, instant hypnosis, creating hallucinations among others. After ten years, Mandrake graduated and Theron gave him the crystal ball so that Mandrake could reach him whenever he needed to talk to him.

In order to understand the power of the crystal ball, Mandrake suggested that Narda join him on a mental journey to college and greet Theron. Theron welcomed them warmly and showed Narda around the campus. But these were turbulent times and the college was suddenly attacked by aircraft from invaders. A bomb hit the college and the crystal ball went black.

Theron

Mandrake became concerned about what had happened to Theron and he and Lothar went to Tibet and the college. Normally, Theron would have no problem fighting the villains as he possessed powerful magical abilities. But now he was injured and had temporarily lost his sight. In addition, he was a prisoner of the invading forces. Mandrake managed to free Theron and afterwards he showed Mandrake around the new location of the college. It was now inside a large cave in a mountain. A mental reactor provided the power needed to light and run the campus. Mandrake learned that Theron had many secrets such as space travel and matter transfer, among others. To demonstrate matter transmitting, Theron and others used their combined mental energy to transport Mandrake and Lothar from the college to their home in the US, in a fraction of a second.

The Fred Fredericks Era

Theron

In Mandrake's study, there is a violet light that shines when Theron, the master of the College of Magic, wishes to speak to Mandrake, mentally through the crystal cubes. Once Theron called him he revealed that in addition to being thought transmitters the Crystal Cubes were much more, they amplified mental power to the Nth degree. It was Therons father who learned the secret of the cubes power when he was the master of the College of Magic, two centuries ago. Mandrake, Lothar and Narda went to the college to help Theron fight Luciphor, who was after the crystal cube that Theron had.

Next time the violet lamp lit it was coincident with a small voice, heard only by Mandrake. Now Theron needed Mandrake's help to fight off hostile forces trying to break into the college. At opposite sides of the Earth Theron and Mandrake consentrated on their cubes. Together they created a powerful whirlwind, an earthquake, lightning and shattered the enemy invaders to the four corners of the Earth. Afterwards, Mandrake took Lothar, Narda, and Karma on a mental visit to greet Theron. He showed them around the college and threw a big party in honor of the visitors.

Shortly before Mandrake graduated Theron, the grandmaster of the College of Magic, told Mandrake the the secrets of the Crystal Cubes. He told that for 308 years ago the college was a Temple of Magic, and he had just succeeded his father as the high priest. Theron was about 25 years old at this time and he started to experiment with the cubes and eventually revealed the powers that were within them. Now Theron made a mental call to Mandrake and through the crystal cubes he persuaded Mandrake to deal with his villainous twin brother. To drain the powers from him, like squeezing water from a sponge.

One day Mandrake told Narda that Theron had been in his mind all day. He said that Theron was 305 years old and Theron's father lived to be 408 years, when he was kicked in the head by a mule. Mandrake believed it had someting to do with the crystal cubes - meditating before them - absorbing its ray. Suddenly Mandrake got a mental call from Theron, urged him to come to College of Magic as soon as possible. When Mandrake arrived, Theron said there were two reasons why he had asked Mandrake to come. First he had been feeling ill lately and thought he was going to die. But the doctors had assured him that there was nothing wrong with him, and Theron was after all just 308 years old. His father lived to be 410 years.

The other reason for asking Mandrake to come was that Theron had become concerned about the crystal cube. He was the guardian of the cube and now he wanted Mandrake to guard it, and then to become the new grandmaster of the college the day he passed away. Mandrake tried to protest because the grandmaster posted always had been in Therons family, and he was not.

Then Theron told Mandrake the secret: Mandrake and Derek were born at the College of Magic. But before they could walk there was a war and all children were send away. The twins were taken away by Basil, a stage magician who studied at the college, and they spent their childhood with him. When Basil became ill he brought Mandrake back to the college, left and died shortly after. Theron showed Mandrake a locket necklace with a miniature picture of Mandrake's mother, who died after giving birth to the twins. Then he said that through the centuries he had many wifes and children, three still live: Mandrake, Derek and Luciphor.

Family

Theron has been married twelve times and said to had 30 - 40 children, only four of them are alive today; Luciphor, Derek, Mandrake and Lenore.

Notable appearances

Some of the stories where Theron has featured most prominently are:

Year	Title	Daily/Sunday	Comments
1969	Daily	"The Cobra Strikes (The College of Magic)"
1971	Sunday	"The Hidden College of Magic"
1980	Daily	"Derek"
1981	Daily	"Mandrake's Family"	Theron reveals that he is the father of Mandrake
1984	Daily	"Behind Death's Door"
1989	Daily	"King Kered"
1997	Daily	"Mandrake's Wedding at the College of Magic"