Winter King

King Khios of Boreas, mostly known as the **Winter King**, is the mysterious armored ruler of the Winter Kingdom.

## Biography

Nearly nothing is known of the Lar man known as the Winter King. He worked together with the Scribe to unlock the powers of the Winter Armor, an extremly powerful piece of technology supposedly created by Hephaestus to control his divine powers.

He joined the Inner Circle of the Guild because of his debt towards the Scribe, but found himself repeatedly at odds with the criminal organization because of his obsession with honor.

He was a key operative in the invasion of Myridia and in the formation of the Alliance, partecipating in the assaults against Strife and Eris. When the Guild became its own independent sector, the Winter King left the organization in protest against the invasion of Earth.

One of the only two members of the Guild (with the Mist) to survive the destruction of the organization, he formed the Winter Kingdom as a separate and independent entity. When Leiko Tanaka was exiled from Earth, he offered her asylum and made her his advisor.

He continued to be an ally to the Vanguard during the fight with Tiamat.

**SPOILER WARNING: Plot details of Beyond The Impossible #238-255**
Persuaded by Leiko Tanaka, the Winter King invaded Earth in the attempt to force Noriko Null to marry him. After finding out that Earth used to be a Lar outpost, the tried to take it over by unleashing the full power of his armor to freeze the entire world. Noriko Null managed to defeat him and drive him off the planet.

Seriously injured by the battle, the Winter King agreed to show himself out of the armor to Leiko, who he married in recognition for her service. With his defences lowered, the Winter King was swiftly killed by Leiko who became the new ruler of the Winter Kingdom.

## Powers

The Winter King wears the Winter Armor, an extremely advanced piece of technology created by Hephaestus from reverse-engineering Lar technology.

**Near invulnerability:** the armor is laced with indestructible Neutral Matter and is impervious to most physical attacks.

**Life support:** the armor allows the user to survive in outer space

**Cryokinesis:** the armor allows the user to create, shape and manipulate ice for various effects; the Winter King has created ice weapons and giant ice dragons, has frozen solid an explosion powerful enough to destroy a mountain, and was able to easily withstand attacks by Vesta. The armor is powered by a parallel dimension where the lowest possible temperature is much below that of his original universe.

## Trivia

* Although not revealed until much later, the Winter King is the first member of the Lar species shown in the series

## Defining episodes

* Beyond The Impossible #118, "House call" meets the Vanguard
* Beyond The Impossible #120, "The Winter King": meets Noriko Null
* Beyond The Impossible #135, "Calling all gods": is recruited in the Alliance
* Beyond The Impossible #140, "Endgame": end of the war against Hermes and Eris
* Beyond The Impossible #165, "Eleven": leaves the Guild
* Beyond The Impossible #205, "The Winter Castle" Leiko Tanaka revealed as his new advisor
* Beyond The Impossible #248, "Endless winter": freezes Earth
* Beyond The Impossible #254, "Knowledge and kings": is defeated by Noriko Null and Quantum
* Beyond The Impossible #255, "Long Live": is killed and replaced by the Ice Queen