Dorrance, Edmund

**Sir Edmund Dorrance**, aka King Snake, is a former mercenary turned gang lord. With his Ghost Dragons, he has operations in Hong Kong and Gotham City. He is a formidable martial artist, despite his blindness.

## Edmund Dorrance

### Affiliation

Royal Artillery (formerly), British Army (formerly), Ghost Dragons (gang), Kobra (cult)

## History

### Early Years

Edmund's childhood and parentage is unknown.

### Mercenary

Edmund Dorrance is a British native who first distinguished himself in the Royal Artillery, a corps of the British Army. He and some friends then became mercenaries, offering their professional expertise to various anti-communist rebels, making considerable money in doing so.

While in Santa Prisca, working with local rebels, he slept with a female rebel. Their camp was taken by surprise by government commandos, and Edmund was blinded by gunfire. He fled the country, leaving his lover for dead. The woman was actually alive and pregnant with Edmund's son. She and their child were imprisoned for Edmund's crimes against the Santa Prisca government. The child grew up in prison, becoming the villainous Bane.

### Ghost Dragons

Edmund subsequently moved to Hong Kong and used the money he had acquired to start a double life. To the public, he was a Hong Kong businessman worth millions, with interests in shipping, banking, and electronics, while in secret he was one of the most feared men in Asia, a giant in the heroin trade. Taking the name King Snake, he found willing soldiers in the Ghost Dragons, a Chinese youth gang operating in Macau, Kowloon, and Hong Kong. Edmund appointed Lynx as his second-in-command of the gang.

Although he had a strong power base in Hong Kong, he could not hope to stay when the island was handed over to China. He began extending his interests into France and the United States. He decided to lay waste to the city of Hong Kong rather than have it be soiled by falling into Chinese hands. His plans to release a Nazi-developed plague after leaving Hong Kong were foiled by Robin, assisted by Clyde Rawlins and Lady Shiva, both of whom wanted revenge against King Snake. After the attack of his headquarters in Hong Kong, much of his gang was captured and he was presumed dead at the hands of Lady Shiva.

However, King Snake survived the attack and was merely left paralyzed due to a back injury.

After having his spine reinforced and regaining mobility, Sir Edmund moved to Gotham, where he wrestled control of the Chinatown district away from the Triad gangs, revealing himself to be alive, as well as initially focusing on Robin for revenge. Although his memories of the battle in Hong Kong were muddled, he eventually remembered that it was Lady Shiva that was most responsible for his defeat there, although he still remained hostile to Robin. Not long after, however, he lost power in a gang war, with his own Ghost Dragons rebelling and the Triad gangs sending assassins such as the Silver Monkey of the Brotherhood of the Fist after him.

### Kobra

King Snake survived and joined the international terrorist cult Kobra. He took advantage of a leadership struggle in that organization after the previous "Lord Naja-Naja" was disgraced.

Danny Temple, a friend of Robin's, was revealed to be the next in line for leadership. Temple was abducted and taken to a mountain lair of the cult. During the ceremony intended to invest Temple with leadership, however, King Snake rebelled, declared himself the next Naja-Naja and his followers healed his eyes in a Lazarus Pit the cult had access to which could only be opened by Temple, explaining Sir Edmund's subterfuge.

His eyesight restored, Sir Edmund battled against Robin, who was attempting to rescue Temple, while Kobra attempted to regain control of the Kobra cult. Luckily for Robin, Sir Edmund was unaccustomed to seeing, actually throwing his fighting style off. A vial of cobra poison used in the Kobra-cult initiation ceremony was knocked over. During his attempts to warn King Snake, Robin accidentally caused the villain to be blinded a second time. Robin and Danny Temple escaped, while King Snake was left trapped in the base with no escape.

After a significant amount of time, the villain Bane finally learned the identity of his father and tracked King Snake down to the mountain base. Sir Edmund had survived months alone, was barely alive and severely malnourished. Bane was emotionally conflicted during the reunion, apparently intending to kill his father several times, but did not. King Snake tried once more to seize control of the Kobra Cult, this time with his son at his side. After Robin and Batman intervened, however, Bane sided with them. In the resulting struggle, King Snake was knocked down a deep crevice, apparently dying.

### Blackest Night

King Snake was one of the many villains raised from the dead in Gotham City to join the new Black Lantern Corps as zombies during Blackest Night along with Abbatoir, Deacon Blackfire, Blockbuster, Magpie, KGBeast, the Trigger Twins, and the Ventriloquist. He was seen terrorizing the city, and tearing out the hearts of innocents to feed on their emotions and life force when they're feeling the most fear.

## Attributes

### Abilities

* **Martial Arts**: King Snake is a master of several of the world's most deadly martial arts. He kills without conscience and has earned the title of "the most dangerous man alive".
* **Enhanced Senses**: King Snake has turned his blindness into an asset, as it has allowed him to hone all of his other senses to an uncanny degree.
* **Stealth**: He uses the dark as his weapon.

### Other Characteristics

* **Blindness**: King Snake is blind, although he has largely made his vision impairment an asset rather than a handicap.

## Trivia

* King Snake has a steel-reinforced spine.