Honorata the Great-Great-Grandmother

***Honorata the Great-Great-Grandmother***  is the second issue of *The Saga of the Metabarons* (the main series of The Metabarons franchise). It was written by Alejandro Jodorowsky, illustrated by Juan Giménez and released Les Humanoïdes Associés in 1993. In the english version it was released in two issues: *The Knighting of Othon*and *Honorata, the Sorceress,* both released in 2000.

In this issue, Othon is knighted Metabaron by the Emperor for saving the Imperial egg, and he and Honorta father a child, Aghnar, thanks to her witch powers.

## Plot

### **The Knighting of Othon**

In City Shaft, the story has now skipped three
centuries. The City is now deserted, only cyber-cops stand watch, when suddenly
the last Zacuda Frolex in existence drops down the ventilation hatches of
Police Central and lays a single egg before dying, which gives birth to a
mutant Zacuda Frolex which accidentally reactivates the attack program in the
Central Brain, making the cyber-cops attack the Metabunker. Tonto and Lothat
decide to activate the Metabaron’s bio-electrogram (which lasts three minutes in
a solid state before dissolving) to defend themselves. The bio-electrogram uses
the metacraft to destroys the cyber-cops. Now that they’re safe, Tonto
continues Othon’s story.

The story continues in a flashback: The castrated
Othon, who has grown cruel and solitary, sacrifices the natural beauty of Okhar
and transforms the rustic Castaka fortress into a maxi-prototnic tower, where
he lives with the two daughters of his faithful servant, Iku-Itta.

One day the news is announced that scientists
have achieved the long-awaited miracle: the creation of embryos of androgynous
siamese twins from an ovum of the Empress, fertilized by the sperm of the
now-sterile Emperor, and called Janus-Jana. As a horde of pirates, which had disguised
their pirate mega spacecraft-carrier as a planet, falls upon the priceless
Imperial offspring which was being carried in a Mother-coach, the Emperor makes
an appeal for help from all his faithful subjects. Othon regains his taste for
life by declaring battle on the evil pirates.

He breaches all the Emperor’s
security on the Golden Plate to present his plan in person. Putting the most
advanced technology into the service of his trickery, and ruthlessly bombarding
the artificial pirate planet, Othon wipes out all the pirates.  Othon is invited to join the Mother-coach’s
escort, but he gets angry when he doesn’t receive the respectful treatment he
thinks he deserves, so he ends up taking the Imperial egg from the Mother-coach
by himself and directly gives it to its parents, assuring that the Empire doesn’t
get betrayed. Othon is knighted Metabaron by the Emperor. The Empress promises
to scour the entire galaxy to find a gift that might fulfill the castrated
warrior.

One night on Okhar, while Othon sadly rides
Bari’s horse, a Shabda-oud priestess named Honorata, introduces herself as
being sent by the Empress. Despite her reputation as a witch, she is a
magnificent and desirable woman, who entrances Othon, making the warrior’s servants jealous.

### **Honorata, the Sorceress**

Although
Othon can no longer father a child, Honorata is able to impregnate herself with
a drop of the warrior’s blood. Her pregnancy processes normally, but two
jealous servants hurl her from the top of the fortress. As Honorata falls,
Othon is able to shoot her with epyphite cartridge, enabling her to float on
the wind where she gives birth to a by whom they name Aghnar. The two sisters
fall to their death and Iku-Itta eventually hangs himself. Honorata then
reveals to Oton that the Shabda-Oud were expecting her to give birth to a
hermaphrodite so that they could proclaim it the perfect androgyne and seize
the throne. They have seven years to prepare their defenses against the
Shabda-Oud before they discover the truth.

The
introduction of epyphite during his birth has made Aghnar lighter than air.
Othon wants to kill him, for he will never be a warrior, but Honorata, now
sterile, forbids it. She places steel bracelets around his waist and ankles,
which keep him on the gorund. She then goes into exile on the sacred mountain  of Anasima, filled by monster like the carnivorous
eodactyls, where she the time to teach her son to use his mental power and how
to resist pain, and even forces him to kill creatures he had befriended so that
he learns to control grief. One day he manages to beat his mother in combat,
for which she gives him the only kiss he will receive in his entire childhood.

When Aghnar
turns seven, they return to the Castaka fortress where Othon puts his son to
the test, making him fight a formidable robo-killer, who every ten minutes
grows a new arm. Then, he submits him to a terrible torture: a machine that
crushes his feet, which Aghnar can stop at any time. Even so, the boy doesn’t
budge. His feet are crushed, but he has passed the test. That’s how, Tonto
tells us, mutilation and prostheses became key ingredients of the Metabaronic
imitation.

 Other Issues

1. *Othon the Great-Great-Grandfather*(1992)
2. ***Honorata the Great-Great-Grandmother***(1993)
3. *Aghnar the Great-Grandfather*(1995)
4. *Oda the Great-Grandmother*(1997)
5. *Steelhead the Grandfather*(1998)
6. *Doña Vicenta Gabriela de Rokha the Grandmother*(1999)
7. *Aghora the Father-Mother*(2002)
8. *Nameless, the Last of the Metabarons*(2003)