title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Black Widow and Peregrine are sent on a mission to free hostages being held in a Marseille cathedral by Rapido. He and a group of mercenaries are trying to exploit the panic over the events in Paris to steal France's nuclear arsenal.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: During the "Ends of the Earth" storyline involving one of Doctor Octopus' schemes, Natasha is one of only three heroes left standing after the defeat of the Avengers by the Sinister Six, joining Silver Sable and Spider-Man to track the Six (albeit because she was closest to Sable's cloaked ship after the Avengers were defeated rather than for her prowess). She is later contacted by the Titanium Man to warn her and her allies about Doctor Octopus' attempt to rally other villains against Spider-Man. She is knocked out along with Hawkeye by Iron Man during a battle against the Avengers when they were temporarily under Octavius' remote control.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: During the incursion event between Earth-616 and Earth-1610, Natasha is involved in the final battle between the Marvel Universe's superheroes and the Ultimate Universe's Children of Tomorrow. She pilots a ship holding a handpicked few to restart humanity after the universe ends, copiloted by Jessica Drew. Her ship is shot down during the battle though, and she is killed in the ensuing explosion.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: As the evacuation of Earth-616 begins in light of the fact that Earth-1610 is about to come crashing down as part of the "Last Days" storyline, Black Widow is seen standing atop a building with Captain America who gives her a list of people to save and bring aboard the lifeboat. As she tells Sam she cannot save them all, Sam explains it's Natasha's job to assist in the effort to save as many people as possible before Earth as they know it is destroyed. As she leaves, her mind transitions to Cold War Russia, where a young Natasha (here called Natalia) speaks with two Russian functionaries in the infamous "Red Room". She is given her first mission: travel to Cuba and locate a family called the Comienzas, who are at risk from Raúl Castro's regime and who may have information of vital importance to Russia. She is told to rendezvous with another agent, her classmate Marina, and befriend the family under the guise of a Russian businesswoman. Natasha assures them of her competency and leaves. When one of the officers questions her youth, the other assures him, "she's a killer. She will not disappoint." Natasha meets Marina in Cuba and the two friends catch up before meeting with the Comienzas that night at a local bar. Using her talent for deception, she casually and politely convinces the husband and wife that she's seeking inside information to help her import various goods into the country. The Comienzas explain they cannot reveal said information, prompting Natasha to later explain to Marina that the family might need "a little push". Not too soon she effectively began terrorizing the family into desperation. First, she plants an American flag on their doorstep to mimic someone accusing them of defecting to the United States. Later after meeting with one of the Russian officers from the Red Room to report her progress, she detonated a car bomb outside their home when the first attempt did not make them "nearly desperate enough". Following the car bomb explosion, Natasha declares the family is indeed desperate enough to reproach for information. Before letting Natasha go, the officer announces she has one additional task before her mission is over: Marina has become too much enamored with her civilian guise, and is now a security risk. Natasha will have to eliminate her. Flipping to the present, Black Widow is saving as many people as she can, but she quickly flashbacks to Havana. Natasha and her then Red Room partner Marina are trying to help a family defect. Natasha's orders are simple: Kill the parents and make it public. When Natasha asks if she should kill the child too, her boss looks horrified that she would be so OK with that and tells her no. Having no problem following orders she sets up a meet and using a sniper rifle she takes out the pair without blinking. Next she shoots Marina's boyfriend then Marina herself. Next she shoots Marina's cat. Flipping back to the present, Black Widow is back saving people from the incursion as the reason that triggered Natasha's flashback is revealed ... a man she saved is holding his cat. This dark, heartless side of the Black Widow shows why she is trying so hard to do good today.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: During the "Secret Empire" storyline, Black Widow appears as a member of the underground resistance at the time when most of the United States has been taken over by Hydra and Captain America who was brainwashed by Red Skull's clone using the powers of the sentient Cosmic Cube into believing that he was a Hydra sleeper agent. While Hawkeye assembles a strike force of Hercules and Quicksilver to find the Cosmic Cube fragments, Black Widow sets off to kill Rogers herself reasoning that even if Rick's theory is true, the man Rogers was would prefer to die than be used in this manner. She finds herself followed by the Champions as she establishes her version of the Red Room. While preparing to shoot Captain America with a sniper rifle, she rushes to prevent Miles Morales from killing him as predicted by Ulysses, and is struck by his shield, breaking her neck and killing her. Despite the return of the real Steve Rogers and the downfall of Hydra, Natasha's death, along with other casualties, remains.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: However, while observing a dictator who recently rose to power due to his support of Hydra, Bucky witnesses the man being assassinated in such a manner that he believes only Natasha could have pulled off the kill and believes he sees the Black Widow (actually Yelena Belova) depart from her chosen vantage point.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: It was later discovered that a series of clones of the original Black Widow had been produced by the Black Widow Ops Program following her death. Its member Ursa Major bribed Epsilon Red to let him add the current memories of the deceased Natalia Romanova to one such clone while secretly disposing of the bad programming. The Black Widow Ops Program tasked the clone into taking out the remnants of Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. She revealed herself to Winter Soldier and Hawkeye while also killing Orphan Maker. To keep them from interfering, the Black Widow clone locked Winter Soldier and Hawkeye in a safe room within the Red Room. The Black Widow clone rose to the ranks of the Red Room while secretly persuading the recruits to turn against their masters. When Winter Soldier and Hawkeye arrived at the Red Room, the Black Widow clone dropped her cover where she began to kill her superiors, liberate the recruits and destroy all the clones and Epsilon Red. When the authorities arrived, The Black Widow clone, adopting the name Natasha Romanoff, left the Red Room, where she left a note for Hawkeye to stop following her and for Winter Soldier to join her in ending the Red Room.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: During the "Infinity Countdown" storyline, the Black Widow clone traced a dead drop signal left by a revived Wolverine in Madripoor. She discovered that Wolverine had left the Space Infinity Gem in her care. The Black Widow clone meets up with Doctor Strange who wants to dispose of the Space Stone. Doctor Strange did not want to take it as he knows what would happen if they are in the same proximity. She is among the Infinity Gem holders who are contacted by Doctor Strange stating that they need to reform the Infinity Watch in order to safeguard the Infinity Gems from such calamities like Thanos.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Captain America had Black Widow's clone infiltrate Roxxon as an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. operative-turned-contractor named Angel to spy on Roxxon and keep an eye on Weapon H. As Angel, she accompanied Weapon H and his assigned team to Weirdworld up to the point where Morgan le Fay of Earth-15238 exposed her identity to Weapon H. After getting out of the wreckage of the Roxxon Research Outpost, Black Widow reveals to Blake that she was sent to get the Roxxon group out of Weirdworld. Dr. Carrie Espinoza and the Roxxon soldiers with her salvage a Weirdworld Adamantine Crystal filled with Morgan le Fay's mystic energies which Dr. Esponoza states to Black Widow and Blake that it can power all of New York for 10 years. As the group arrives near the Inaku village, they witness Weapon H fighting Korg as Black Widow is contacted by Sonia Sung from Roxxon's headquarters. Black Widow tries to help Sonia get through to Weapon H until Dario Agger arrives. Black Widow is among those that are evacuated through the portal.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Black Widow has been enhanced by biotechnology that makes her body resistant to aging and disease and she heals faster than the average human. The white blood cells in her body are also enhanced by these implants, making them efficient enough to fight off most microbes, foreign bodies and other threats to her body, keeping her healthy and immune to most, if not all, infections, diseases and physical disorders.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Romanova has a gifted intellect. She displays an uncanny affinity for psychological manipulation and can mask her real emotions perfectly. Like Steve Rogers, she possesses the ability to quickly process multiple information streams (such as threat assessment) and rapidly respond to changing tactical situations, as well as having extensive espionage training.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Black Widow is a world-class athlete, gymnast, acrobat, and aerialist, capable of numerous complex maneuvers and feats. She can coordinate her body with balance, flexibility, and dexterity easily, and is an accomplished ballerina. She has mastered several martial arts such as jiu jitsu, aikido, boxing, judo, karate, savate, ninjutsu, various styles of kung fu and kenpo, as well as the Russian martial art sambo. She also underwent training on how to masterfully use sidearms, marksman rifles and melee weapons such as batons and combat knives.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: She is also a skilled hypnotist. She uses a combination of techniques such as direct eye contact, hypnotic conversational patterns and a soothing demeanor to reporters subjects' mind, influence thoughts, implant dormant post-hypnotic commands, or even affect memories and personality traits.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Black Widow uses a variety of equipment invented by Soviet scientists and technicians, with later improvements by S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists and technicians. She usually wears distinctively shaped bracelets which fire the Widow's Bite electro-static energy blasts that can deliver charges up to 30,000 volts, as well as "Widow's Line" grappling hooks, tear gas pellets, and a new element introduced during her ongoing series during the "Kiss or Kill" arc called the "Widow's Kiss"—an aerosol instant knock-out gas she has modified. She wears a belt of metallic discs; some are disc-charges containing plastic explosives, while others have been shown to be compartments for housing other equipment. Her costume consists of synthetic stretch fabric equipped with micro-suction cups on fingers and feet, enabling her to adhere to walls and ceilings. In the 2006 "Homecoming" mini-series, she was seen using knives, unarmed combat, and various firearms, but she has since begun using her bracelets again. While in disguise as Yelena Belova, when infiltrating the then Osborn-sanctioned Thunderbolts during "Dark Reign", she used a specialized multi-lens goggle/head-carapace that demonstrated various technical abilities, such as enhancing vision and communication. Later, she has used a modified gun based on her Widow's Bite wrist cartridge during her adventures alongside the new Captain America.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: In "Marvel 1602", a world where superheroes have started to appear several hundred years early, Natasha is a freelance spy and "the most dangerous woman in Europe." Initially allied with Matthew Murdoch (Daredevil's 1602 counterpart), she later betrays him to Count Otto Von Doom, whom she shares a romantic relationship with. It is Natasha who later comes to Doom's rescue when he is horribly burned by Thor's lightning & the accompanying discharge of Blake's golden sphere.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Natasha is still working with Count von Doom during "" where she is the captain of his flying ship. However, when she questions his plan to take the ship to the edge of the world, he pushes her over the side and appoints the Wizard captain.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: The "Secret Wars" War Zone of 1872 reimagines Natasha in the Wild West in the town of Timely. Natasha Barnes is a widow who was married to Deputy Bucky Barnes, who was killed by Mayor Fisk's men when he tried to stop a lynching. Fisk had her believe the Native Americans were responsible for his death until Sheriff Rogers told her the truth. After Sheriff Rogers was killed by Fisk and his men, Natasha teams up with Red Wolf and Doctor Bruce Banner to take Fisk down and destroy the dam separating the Cheyenne from their water.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: In the "Age of Ultron" story, Black Widow is shown after Ultron's attack with disfiguring scars on the right side of her face from an unknown source, disarming a desperate and panicked man who attempts to threaten her for resources before meeting up with Moon Knight in one of Nick Fury's old bases.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow appeared in the comic-book series based on the animated television series "".


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Natasha Romanova appeared in the "Earth X" miniseries much the same as her 616 counterpart. After Absorbing Man was broken to pieces by The Vision after killing The Avengers (Giant Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye), part of his body was given to her to guard in order to prevent anyone from putting Absorbing man back together. She was killed sometime before the start of Earth X. Later in the series, she is revealed in the Realm of the Dead and is recruited by Mar-Vell into his legion of the undead.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Natasha is seen as a member of the Soviet Super Soldiers. Natasha later appears a member of Shang-Chi's Red Dragons, and is mentioned as a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: She appears in the New Dawn arc where The Executioner and she are hired by Mordo to kidnap Bruce Banner. They manage to succeed in doing so, with her escaping with Bruce while Tigra is dealing with The Executioner intent on keeping the reward for the job herself. However, during her escape, Bruce turns into The Hulk and destroys the submarine they were in, presumably killing her.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Black Widow is among the Avengers who are infected by the Sentry in "Marvel Zombies vs. the Army of Darkness". She is seen consuming a Yorkshire Terrier puppy. Later, in the original "Marvel Zombies" series, she is among the zombies who attack the Silver Surfer.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Under the Ultimate Marvel imprint Natasha Romanova is a member of the Ultimates, this universe's analogue of the Avengers. She debuted in "Ultimate Marvel Team-Up" #14 (June 2002) in a story written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Terry Moore, before becoming one of the major characters in writer Mark Millar and penciller Bryan Hitch's "The Ultimates", debuting there in #7 (Sept. 2002).


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Romanova is a former KGB spy and assassin, code-named the Black Widow, known for killing her ex-husbands, notably Alexi Shostakov. She was originally part of the Ultimates' covert operations ("black ops") team, but with the emergence of the Chitauri threat was subsequently moved to public status after a publicly acceptable background was written for her. She has genetic or cybernetic enhancements making her far better in combat than the average human. After accepting a marriage proposal from Tony Stark, she receives a black suit of Iron Man armor as an engagement present, along with a set of nanites to control the armor.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: Romanova is later revealed as a traitor—claiming that she betrayed the Ultimates because she feels that America has turned her country into a collection of drug-runners and prostitutes—responsible for killing Hawkeye's wife and children, revealing Bruce Banner's connection to the Hulk to the public, helping to frame Captain America as a traitor, and collaborating with the Liberators in their invasion of the United States. After she murders Edwin Jarvis and holds Stark hostage in an attempt to extort his fortune, Stark activates the nanites in her bloodstream, freezing her body in place, before knocking her unconscious with a wine bottle. She appears later in an emergency clinic, having cut open her wrists to bleed out the disabling nanites. Hawkeye kills her in revenge for her part in the murder of his family.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: By "The Ultimates 3" #1 a sex tape between Natasha and Stark has been leaked to the public. According to Janet Pym, the tape is of unknown origin and seems to have been professionally done with "close ups". Stark is shown to be in a state of depression over Natasha's betrayal and subsequent death. It is later revealed that one of the Ultrons calling himself Yellowjacket had leaked the tape. During the Brotherhood's attack on the Stark Mansion, Mystique shapeshifts into Natasha to get close to Tony in an attempt to kill him but is knocked unconscious by Wasp.


title: Black Widow (Natasha Romanova)

text: In "What If? Age of Ultron" #3, where Thor was killed, Natasha becomes the new wielder of Mjolnir to hold off an assault by the World-Serpent in Thor's absence.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: The ultraviolet index, or UV index, is an international standard measurement of the strength of the sunburn-producing ultraviolet (UV) radiation at a particular place and time. It is primarily used in daily and hourly forecasts aimed at the general public.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: The UV index is designed as an open-ended linear scale, directly proportional to the intensity of UV radiation that causes human skin to sunburn. Using the Fitzpatrick scale, a light-skinned individual would experience sunburn in about 30 minutes at UV index 6, without sunscreen. That same individual would experience sunburn in only 15 minutes if the UV index was at 12.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: The purpose of the UV index is to help people effectively protect themselves from UV radiation, which has health benefits in moderation but in excess causes sunburn, skin aging, DNA damage, skin cancer, immunosuppression, and eye damage, such as cataracts. The scale was developed by Canadian scientists in 1992, and then adopted and standardized by the UN's World Health Organization and World Meteorological Organization in 1994. Public health organizations recommend that people protect themselves (for example, by applying sunscreen to the skin and wearing a hat and sunglasses) if they spend substantial time outdoors when the UV index is 3 or higher; see the table below for more detailed recommendations.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: The UV index is a linear scale; each increase in value corresponds to a constant decrease in time to sunburn. Higher values represent a greater risk of sunburn (which is correlated with other health risks) due to UV exposure. An index of 0 corresponds to zero UV radiation, as is essentially the case at night. An index of 10 corresponds roughly to midday summer sunlight with a clear sky when the UV index was originally designed; now summertime index values in the tens are common for tropical latitudes, mountainous altitudes, areas with ice/water reflectivity and areas with above-average ozone layer depletion.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: While the UV index can be calculated from a direct measurement of the UV spectral power at a given location, as some inexpensive portable devices are able to approximate, the value given in weather reports is usually a prediction based on a computer model. Although this may be in error (especially when cloud conditions are unexpectedly heavy or light), it is usually within ±1 UV index unit as that which would be measured.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: When the UV index is presented on a daily basis, it represents UV intensity around the sun's highest point in the day, called solar noon, halfway between sunrise and sunset. This typically occurs between 11:30 and 12:30, or between 12:30 and 13:30 in areas where daylight saving time is being observed. Predictions are made by a computer model that accounts for the effects of sun-earth distance, solar zenith angle, total ozone amount, tropospheric aerosol optical depth, elevation, snow/ice reflectivity and cloud transmission, all of which influence the amount of UV radiation at the surface. The calculations are weighted in favor of the UV wavelengths to which human skin is most sensitive, according to the CIE-standard McKinlay–Diffey erythemal action spectrum. The resulting UV index cannot be expressed in pure physical units, but is a good indicator of likely sunburn damage.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: Unlike other common environmental scales such as decibels or the Richter scale, which are logarithmic (the severity multiplies for each step on the scale, growing exponentially), the UV index is linear and increase at a constant rate. This means that an index of 10 is twice as strong as an index of 5.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: The UV index is a number linearly related to the intensity of sunburn-producing UV radiation at a given point on the Earth's surface. It cannot be simply related to the irradiance (measured in W/m) because the UV of greatest concern occupies a spectrum of wavelengths from 295 to 325 nm, and shorter wavelengths have already been absorbed a great deal when they arrive at the earth's surface. However, skin damage from sunburn is related to wavelength, the shorter wavelengths being much more damaging. The UV power spectrum (expressed as watts per square meter per nanometer of wavelength) is therefore multiplied by a weighting curve known as the erythemal action spectrum, and the result is integrated over the whole spectrum. This gives a weighted figure (sometimes called Diffey-weighted UV irradiance, or DUV, or erythemal dose rate) typically around 250 mW/m in the midday summer sunlight. For convenience, this is divided by 25 mW/m to produce an index nominally from 0 to 11+, though ozone depletion is now resulting in higher values.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: To illustrate the spectrum weighting principle, the incident power density in midday summer sunlight is typically 0.6 mW/(nm m) at 295 nm, 74 mW/(nm m) at 305 nm, and 478 mW/(nm m) at 325 nm. (Note the huge absorption that has already taken place in the atmosphere at short wavelengths.)


title: Ultraviolet index

text: The erythemal weighting factors applied to these figures are 1.0, 0.22, and 0.003 respectively. (Also note the huge increase in sunburn damage caused by the shorter wavelengths; e.g., for the same irradiance, 305 nm is 22% as damaging as 295 nm, and 325 nm is 0.3% as damaging as 295 nm.) Integration of these values using all the intermediate weightings over the full spectral range of 290 nm to 400 nm produces a figure of 264 mW/m (the DUV), which is then divided by 25 mW/m to give a UV index of 10.6.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: After sporadic attempts by various meteorologists to define a "sunburn index" and growing concern about ozone depletion, Environment Canada scientists James B. Kerr, C. Thomas McElroy, and David I. Wardle invented the modern UV index in Toronto, Ontario. Environment Canada launched it as part of the weather forecast on May 27, 1992, making Canada the first country in the world to issue official predictions of UV levels for the next day. Many other countries followed suit with their own UV indices. Initially, the methods of calculating and reporting a UV index varied significantly from country to country. A global UV index, first standardized by the World Health Organization and World Meteorological Organization in 1994, gradually replaced the inconsistent regional versions, specifying not only a uniform calculation method (the Canadian definition) but also standard colors and graphics for visual media. In the United States, the WHO standards officially replaced the original US standards in 2004.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: On December 29, 2003, a world-record ground-level UV index of 43.3 was detected at Bolivia's Licancabur volcano, though other scientists dispute readings higher than 26.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: In 2005, the United States and Australia launched the UV Alert. While the two countries have different baseline UV intensity requirements before issuing an alert, their common goal is to raise awareness of the dangers of over-exposure to the Sun on days with intense UV radiation.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: In 2007, the United Nations honored UV index inventors Kerr, McElroy, and Wardle with the Innovators Award for their far-reaching work on reducing public health risks from UV radiation. In the same year, a survey among meteorologists ranked the development of the UV index as #11 on The Weather Channel's "100 Biggest Weather Moments".


title: Ultraviolet index

text: In 2022, a new mobile phone application that provides localized information on ultraviolet (UV) radiation levels has been launched by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).


title: Ultraviolet index

text: The recommendations below are for average adults with lightly tanned skin (Fitzpatrick scale: Type II). Those with darker skin (Fitzpatrick scale: Type IV+) are more likely to withstand greater sun exposure, while extra precautions are needed for children, seniors, particularly fair-skinned adults, and those who have greater sun sensitivity for medical reasons or from UV exposure in previous days.


title: Ultraviolet index

text: When the day's predicted UV index is within various numerical ranges, the recommendations for protection are as follows:


title: Dark Side of the Ring

text: Dark Side of the Ring is a Canadian documentary television series produced by Vice Studios. The series focuses on controversial subjects and events within the realm of professional wrestling.


title: Dark Side of the Ring

text: The series premiered on Viceland on April 10, 2019. On July 23, 2019, "Dark Side of the Ring" was renewed for a second season of 10 episodes, which premiered on March 24, 2020. For season 2, the series became a co-production with Canadian streaming service Crave (as part of owner Bell Media's distribution pact with Vice). An aftershow hosted by Chris Gethard, "Dark Side of the Ring: After Dark", was also added. On October 19, 2020, "Dark Side of the Ring" was renewed for a third season of 14 episodes, which premiered on May 6, 2021. All 3 seasons of "Dark Side of the Ring" were made available on the streaming service Discovery+ in 2021.


title: Dark Side of the Ring

text: "Dark Side of the Ring" was Viceland's highest-rated series premiere among viewers in the key demographic. The first season won the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" Award for Best Pro Wrestling DVD/Streaming Documentary of 2019, and the second season episode "The Final Days of Owen Hart" won the same award for 2020. Season 2 brought larger viewership numbers, with the season finale profiling the death of Owen Hart becoming the highest-rated program in Vice network history, at 626,000 viewers.


title: Dark Side of the Ring

text: In December 2020, Vice ordered two spin-off series: "Dark Side of Football" and "Dark Side of the 90's", which premiered on May 13 and July 15, 2021 respectively.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: Albert Johnson (November 2, 1974 – June 20, 2017), better known by his stage name Prodigy, was an American rapper. With Havoc, he was one half of the hip hop duo Mobb Deep.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: Prodigy was born on November 2, 1974, in Hempstead, New York, on Long Island. He was raised in LeFrak City, in Queens. He had one elder brother, Greg Johnson. He came from a musical family. His grandfather Budd Johnson was a saxophonist who was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993. His grand-uncle, Keg Johnson, was a trombonist. Both of them are remembered for their contributions to the bebop era of jazz. His mother, Fatima Frances (Collins) Johnson, was a member of The Crystals. His father, Budd Johnson Jr., was a member of a doo-wop music group called The Chanters. His great-great-great-grandfather, William Jefferson White, founded Georgia's Morehouse College.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: While attending the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, he met his future music partner, Havoc. The duo became Poetical Prophets before choosing the name Mobb Deep. Under the alias Lord-T (The Golden Child), the then-16-year-old Johnson landed an uncredited guest appearance on the "Boyz n the Hood" soundtrack, for his collaborative efforts on the song "Too Young" by Hi-Five in 1991. In 1993, Mobb Deep released its debut album "Juvenile Hell" on 4th & B'way/Island/PolyGram Records.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: Initially compared to fellow rapper Nas, who took a similar approach lyrically on his "Illmatic" album from 1994, Mobb Deep released "The Infamous" in 1995, which was certified Gold by the RIAA within the first two months of its release. 1995 was also the year that Prodigy began to raise his solo profile, by providing a guest appearance on LL Cool J's controversial "I Shot Ya (remix)". The song became a minor part of the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry, due to Tupac Shakur believing the song to be a diss referring to his robbery/shooting in Manhattan, New York at Quad Recording Studios – singling out the song's title (which many assumed was connected to Biggie's "Who Shot Ya?"), certain lyrics, and the timing of its release – the year after the shooting incident.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: Although the track was stated by Keith Murray to not have any lyrical shots aimed at Tupac, Mobb Deep responded in the following year to Tupac's "Hit Em Up" with "Drop a Gem on 'Em," a promotional single from their 1996 album "Hell On Earth". Ironically, "I Shot Ya" does feature a subliminal aim in Prodigy's verse to Murray, which continued friction that started sometime prior with an interlude from Mobb Deep's 1995 "The Infamous" album. The rivalry continued until sometime in 2012, when the two ended it by taking a picture together.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: A year and a half later, at the end of 1996, Prodigy and Havoc released "Hell on Earth", which debuted at number six on SoundScan. Their next release, "Murda Muzik", was heavily bootlegged while still in its demo stage, leaking, onto the streets and over the internet, rough versions of the nearly 30 songs the duo had recorded.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: In November 2000, Prodigy released his debut solo album "H.N.I.C." His followup solo album would be released in 2008.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: During the next six years, between the releases of his first two solo albums, Prodigy continued to work with Mobb Deep, releasing "Infamy" in 2001, "Amerikaz Nightmare" in 2004, and "Blood Money" in 2006.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: During this time, Prodigy had started work on his second solo album, "H.N.I.C. Part 2", which was first previewed on his official mixtape "The Return of the Mac", and was later released on the independent label Koch Records. The mixtape single, together with the mixtape video, was called "Mac 10 Handle". Prodigy then released "H.N.I.C. Pt. 2" through Voxonic Inc., a company in which he was an equity holder. In late 2009, Mobb Deep was released from their contract with 50 Cent's G-Unit label.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: During this time, Prodigy was served with a three-year sentence in Mid-State Correctional Facility (a medium-security prison), following a plea agreement stemming from a gun-possession charge. He was officially released on March 7, 2011.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: Prodigy was featured in the 2009 documentary "Rhyme and Punishment", which documented hip-hop artists who had been incarcerated.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: In 2011, Prodigy released a free EP called "The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP", his first project after being released from prison.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: On April 21, a song titled "The Type", with Curren$y, was released on Curren$y's free album "Covert Coup".


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: In 2011, Prodigy released his autobiography, "My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy".


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: In 2013, Prodigy released his second collaboration album with the Alchemist, titled "Albert Einstein". On April 1, 2014, Mobb Deep released "The Infamous Mobb Deep", their eighth studio album. In August 2016, he released an untitled EP of five tracks, in partnership with BitTorrent, an association that Prodigy had been working up for a while.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: In 2011, Prodigy released his autobiography, "My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy." It was co-written with Laura Checkoway and published by Touchstone Books.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: In 2013 Prodigy co-wrote the urban crime novel "H.N.I.C." with British author Steven Savile. It was published by Akashic / Infamous Books. They also co-wrote a second novel, " Ritual", that was released in 2015 by Akashic.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: Prodigy co-wrote a cookbook with Kathy Iandoli titled "Commissary Kitchen: My Infamous Prison Cookbook". It features a foreword by chef and food personality Eddie Huang and was published in 2016 by Infamous Books.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: The following is a brief timeline and chronology of some of the legal issues that Prodigy faced during his life:


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: From 1995 to 1997, the media-fueled "East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry" was occurring. This started when Tha Dogg Pound released "New York, New York," to which Mobb Deep took offense, as, in addition to the lyrics, the song's music video portrayed New York buildings being stomped on by Dogg Pound members. In response, Mobb Deep with Capone-N-Noreaga and Tragedy Khadafi released "LA, LA". 2Pac "dissed" Mobb Deep (along with The Notorious B.I.G.) in "Hit 'Em Up" where, in the outro of the song, he made a remark in clear reference to Prodigy's ailment in having sickle cell anemia. Mobb Deep responded in a track called "Drop A Gem On 'Em" which was released as a single 2 weeks before 2Pac was murdered. 2Pac also dissed Mobb Deep on the song "" and "Bomb First (My Second Reply)" which were released after his death. But Prodigy later sampled 2Pac's voice from a freestyle for the chorus on the song "Return of the Mac" (a.k.a. "New York Shit") on his album with the same name.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: On "The Infamous" track "The Infamous Prelude", Prodigy made remarks about rappers who rap about "smoking weed" and talk about "space shit". Def Squad took offense from this, but the feud was settled when Prodigy and Keith Murray met at a video shoot. The feud was rekindled when Prodigy again referenced "space shit" in his appearance on LL Cool J's "I Shot Ya" which also featured Murray. Murray saw Prodigy at a club one night and punched him. Prodigy recalled the altercation and threatened Murray in the song "In the Long Run" on "Hell on Earth". Murray released a song "Call My Name" on his "Enigma" album dissing Mobb Deep. The feud seemed to die down until Prodigy dissed Murray again in his 2004 song "Bad Blood." Murray has responded with numerous songs since. The feud has since died down, with the two sharing a photograph together with Busta Rhymes on social media. On Twitter, The reconciliation was confirmed by Prodigy in response to the photo not long after.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: During an interview, Prodigy stated that he did not like Saigon and Tru-Life (along with many other rappers).


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: On the night of September 19, 2007, after an impromptu performance by Saigon during a Mobb Deep show, words were exchanged between Saigon and Prodigy. This escalated into an argument, which resulted in a physical altercation when Saigon punched Prodigy twice before leaving the club. Two video versions of the events have since emerged. One version, in slow motion footage, showed Saigon hiding under a table. Another released version of the video, showed Saigon running away from the club. The feud, however, apparently died down, since (in an interview two months before Prodigy's release from prison) Saigon expressed happiness that Prodigy was coming home.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: While in prison, Prodigy wrote a letter about his disillusionment with hip hop and rappers. He directly referenced Crooked I's name in the letter, commenting,


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: Crooked I responded in a blog entry, and challenged Prodigy to a one-on-one fight upon the rapper's release. Following Prodigy's death, Crooked I paid tribute in honor of him by posting an image of him on Instagram.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: In July 2012, Prodigy's musical partner, Havoc, wrote a series of derogatory comments about Prodigy on Twitter, including accusing Prodigy of engaging in homosexual relationships in prison. At first, Havoc claimed that his Twitter account was hacked. However, he later confirmed that he wrote the tweets and expressed his frustrations with Prodigy in an interview with AllHipHop. He stated that Mobb Deep was on an "indefinite hiatus" until the duo worked out their differences. Havoc later released a diss track aimed at Prodigy, which was titled "Separated (Real from the Fake)". Prodigy did not respond to Havoc's song and, even stated publicly, that Mobb Deep would eventually reconcile. In March 2013, the duo announced that they had reconciled and were going on tour.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: Some hip hop music has been inspired by the theory that a powerful international secret society exists. Often it is referred to as the Illuminati, after the Bavarian secret society founded in 1776. "Complex" magazine has claimed it was Prodigy who started the interest in the theory. Prodigy had often spoken publicly against the alleged international secret society during his life.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: Prodigy rhymed about a secret society in his collaboration with LL Cool J in the song "I Shot Ya (Remix)", from the 1995 album "Mr. Smith". From prison in 2007, not long before the release of "H.N.I.C. Part 2", Prodigy wrote and published an open letter to Jay-Z in which he made some cryptic allegations alluding to the theory. In 2008, Prodigy titled a song "Illuminati", from "H.N.I.C. Part 2". In his final solo album released during his life, "The Hegelian Dialectic" (2017), Prodigy also referred to the theory. It was reported that Prodigy was working on a musical about his Illuminati theory at the time of his death.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: In an interview with "Vibe" in November 2000, Prodigy spoke about what inspired him to directly address his battle with sickle cell disease in his song "You Can Never Feel My Pain", from his debut studio album "H.N.I.C". He attributed his nihilism to the "permanent physical suffering" caused by his lifelong battle with the condition.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: On June 20, 2017, it was reported that Prodigy had died at the Spring Valley Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, while hospitalized for complications related to his sickle-cell anemia. He was performing in the Art of Rap Tour in Las Vegas with Havoc, Ghostface Killah, Onyx, KRS-One, and Ice-T when he was hospitalized.


title: Prodigy (rapper)

text: According to a coroner's report, Prodigy was admitted to Spring Valley Medical Center after suffering a significant medical episode arising from his life-long battle with sickle-cell anemia. Days later, on the morning of June 20, he was found unresponsive by hospital staff. It was reported at the time that Prodigy died from accidental choking. The complaint, which was filed on behalf of the family by the Gage Law Firm, alleges that the Spring Valley hospital breached their duty of care for Prodigy by "failing to maintain a working IV access," and by "failing to continuously monitor oxygen levels" as ordered by physicians in the hospital, and that those failures led to Prodigy's death.


title: The Pale Blue Eye

text: The Pale Blue Eye is an upcoming American thriller film starring Christian Bale as a detective in 1830 in West Point, New York who investigates a series of murders with the assistance of a young Edgar Allan Poe. The film is written and directed by Scott Cooper, adapted from the 2003 novel of the same name by Louis Bayard. In addition to Bale, the film features an ensemble cast that includes Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey, Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, and Robert Duvall.


title: The Pale Blue Eye

text: "The Pale Blue Eye" is scheduled to be released in select theaters on December 23, 2022, before its streaming release on January 6, 2023, by Netflix.


title: The Pale Blue Eye

text: In 1830, veteran detective Augustus Landor investigates a series of murders at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. He is aided by Edgar Allan Poe, a young cadet at the academy.


title: The Pale Blue Eye

text: In February 2021, it was announced that Christian Bale would star in the thriller film "The Pale Blue Eye", written and directed by Scott Cooper, based on Louis Bayard's novel of the same name, and produced by Cross Creek Pictures. The film would be Bale and Cooper's third together, after "Out of the Furnace" and "Hostiles". Bale and Cooper were also set to produce with John Lesher and Tyler Thompson.


title: The Pale Blue Eye

text: On March 6, 2021, it was announced that Netflix pre-bought the rights to the film for around at the European Film Market. In June 2021, it was reported that Harry Melling would star as Edgar Allan Poe.


title: The Pale Blue Eye

text: Filming began on November 29, 2021, at the historic Compass Inn in Laughlintown, Pennsylvania. In December, filming took place at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. That month, additional cast members were announced, including Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Timothy Spall, Fred Hechinger, and Robert Duvall.


title: The Pale Blue Eye

text: Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor and Senator-elect John Fetterman and his wife Gisele are extras in a scene in the film. They became friendly with Bale and Cooper in 2013 while they were filming "Out of the Furnace" in Braddock, Pennsylvania, where Fetterman was mayor at the time. Bale stated, "John’s got this fantastic face, hulking figure... So I said to Scott, 'We’ve got to have him in the tavern... That’s a face that fits in the 1830s.'"


title: The Pale Blue Eye

text: "The Pale Blue Eye" is scheduled to be released in select cinemas on December 23, 2022, before its streaming release on January 6, 2023, by Netflix.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: The Lady of the Lake (, , , , ) is a name or a title used by several either fairy or fairy-like but human enchantresses in the Matter of Britain, the body of medieval literature and mythology associated with the legend of King Arthur. They play pivotal roles in many stories, including providing Arthur with the sword Excalibur, eliminating Merlin, raising Lancelot after the death of his father, and helping to take the dying Arthur to Avalon. Different sorceresses known as the Lady of the Lake appear concurrently as separate characters in some versions of the legend since at least the Post-Vulgate Cycle and consequently the seminal "Le Morte d'Arthur", with the latter describing them as a hierarchical group, while some texts also give this title to either Morgan or her sister.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Today, the Lady of the Lake is best known as either Nimue, or several scribal variants of Ninianne and Viviane. Medieval authors and copyists produced various forms of the latter, including: Nymenche (in addition to Ninianne / Ninienne) in the Vulgate "Lancelot"; Nim[i]ane and Ui[n/ui]ane (in addition to Viviane) in the Vulgate "Merlin" (Niniane in the version "Livre d'Artus"); Nin[i]eve / Nivene / Niviène / Nivienne and Vivienne in the Post-Vulgate "Merlin" (Niviana in the Spanish "Baladro del Sage Merlin"); and Nimiane / Niniame and Vivian / Vivien in "Arthour and Merlin" and Henry Lovelich's "Merlin". Further variations of these include alternate spellings with the letter "i" written as "y", such as in the cases of Nymanne (Nimanne as in Michel le Noir's "Merlin") and Nynyane (Niniane).


title: Lady of the Lake

text: According to Lucy Paton, the most primitive French form of this name might have been Niniane. The much later form Nimue, in which the letter "e" can be written as "ë" or "é", was invented and popularized by Thomas Malory through his 15th-century "Le Morte d'Arthur" and itself has several variations: her name appears as Nymue, Nyneue, Nyneve and Nynyue in William Caxton's print edition, but it had been rather Nynyve (used predominantly) and Nenyve in Malory's original Winchester Manuscript. Even though 'Nymue' (with the "m") appears only in the Caxton text, the modernized and standardized 'Nimue' is now the most common form of the name of Malory's character, as Caxton's edition was the only version of "Le Morte d'Arthur" published until 1947. Nimue is also sometimes rendered by modern writers as Nimuë since Tennyson's 19th-century poem by the same title.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Arthurian scholar A.O.H. Jarman, following suggestions first made in the 19th century, proposed that the name "Viviane" used in French Arthurian romances were ultimately derived from (and a corruption of) the Welsh word "chwyfleian" (also spelled "hwimleian" and "chwibleian" in medieval Welsh sources), meaning "a wanderer of pallid countenance", which was originally applied as an epithet to the famous prototype of Merlin, a prophetic "wild man" figure Myrddin Wyllt in medieval Welsh poetry. Due to the relative obscurity of the word, it was misunderstood as "fair wanton maiden" and taken to be the name of Myrddin's female captor. Others have linked the name "Nymenche" with the Irish mythology's figure Niamh (an otherworldly woman from the legend of Tír na nÓg), and the name "Niniane" with the Welsh mythology's figure Rhiannon (another otherworldly woman of a Celtic myth), or, as a feminine form of "Ninian", with the likes of the 5th-century saint Ninian and the river Ninian.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Further theories connect her to the Welsh lake fairies known as the Gwragedd Annwn (including a Lady of the Lake unrelated to the legend of Arthur), the Romano-British water goddess Coventina (Covienna), and the North Caucasian Satanaya (Satana) from the Nart sagas: associated with water, Satana helps the Scythian hero Batraz gain his magic sword. Possible prototypes include characters from Geoffrey of Monmouth's "Vita Merlini", Merlin's one-time wife Guendoloena, and his sister Ganieda. Another possibility is Diana, the Roman goddess of hunt and nature, the spiritual descent from whom is actually explicitly stated within the French prose narratives; also the mythical Greek sea nymph Thetis, mother of the great hero Achilles who similarly provides Achilles with magical weapons. Laurence Gardner interpreted the Arthurian romances' stated Biblical origins of Lancelot's bloodline by noting the belief about Jesus' purported wife Mary Magdalene's later life in Gaul (today's France) and her death at Aquae Sextiae; he identified her descendant as the 6th century Comtess of Avallon named Viviane del Acqs ("of the water"), whose three daughters (respectively the mothers of Lancelot, of Arthur, and of Gawain) would thus evolve into being known as the ‘Ladies of the Lake’.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Chrétien de Troyes's "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart", the first known story featuring Lancelot as a prominent character, was also the first to mention his upbringing by a fairy in a lake. If it is accepted that the French-German "Lanzelet" by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven contains elements of a more primitive version of this tale than Chrétien's, the infant Lancelot was spirited away to a lake by a water fairy ("merfeine" in Old High German) known as the Lady of the Sea and then raised in her Land of Maidens ("Meide lant"). The fairy queen character and her paradise island in "Lanzelet" are reminiscent of Morgen (Morgan) of the Island of Avallon (Avalon) in Geoffrey's work. Furthermore, the fairy from "Lanzelet" has a son named Mabuz, an Anglo-Norman form of the name of Mabon, the son of Morgan's early Welsh counterpart, and reputed prototype, Modron.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Following the above mentioned works of Chrétien and Ulrich, the Lady of the Lake began appearing by this title in the French chivalric romance prose by the early 13th century. As a fairy godmother-type foster mother of the hero Lancelot, she inherits the role of an unnamed aquatic fairy queen, her prototype from 12th-century poetry. While Ulrich's "Lanzelet" uses the changeling part of the fairy abduction lore in regards to Mabuz and Lancelot, the Lady has no offspring of her own in Chrétien's and later versions.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In the Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate) prose cycle, the Lady resides in an otherworldly enchanted realm, the entry to which is disguised as an illusion of a lake (the Post-Vulgate notes it as Merlin's work). There, she raises Lancelot from his infancy following the death of his father King Ban, teaching Lancelot arts and writing, infusing him with wisdom and courage, and overseeing his training to become an unsurpassed warrior. She also rears his orphaned cousins Lionel and Bors after having her sorcerous damsel Seraide (Saraïde, later called Celise) rescue them from King Claudas. All this takes her only a few years in the human world. Afterwards, she sends off the adolescent Lancelot to King Arthur's court as the nameless White Knight, due to her own affinity with the color white.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Through much of the Prose "Lancelot Propre", the Lady keeps aiding Lancelot in various ways during his early adventures to become a famed knight and discover his true identity, usually acting through her maidens serving as her agents and messengers. She gives him her magical gifts, including a magic ring of protection against enchantments in a manner similar in that to his fairy protectoress in Chrétien's version (the same of another of her magic rings also grants Lancelot's lover Queen Guinevere immunity from Morgan's power in the "Prophéties de Merlin"). Later she also works to actively encourage Lancelot and Guinevere's relationship and its consummation (this includes sending Guinevere a symbolically illustrated magic shield, the crack in which closes up after the queen finally spends her first night with Lancelot), and furthermore personally arrives to restore Lancelot to sanity during some of his recurring fits of madness.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: The Vulgate Cycle is first to tell of either a different or the same Lady of the Lake in the Prose "Merlin"-derived section. It takes place before its main Vulgate "Lancelot" section but was written later, linking her with the disappearance of Merlin from the romance tradition of Arthurian legend. She is given the name Viviane (or similar) and a human origin, although she is still being called a fairy. In the Vulgate "Merlin", Viviane refuses to give Merlin (who at this time is already old but appears to her in the guise of a handsome young man) her love until he has taught her all his secrets, after which she uses her power to seal him by making him sleep forever. The Post-Vulgate revision changes it into Viviane causing Merlin's death out of her hatred and fear of him. Though Merlin knows beforehand that this will happen due to his power of foresight, he is unable to counteract her because of the 'truth' this ability of foresight holds. He decides to do nothing for his situation other than to continue to teach her his secrets until she takes the opportunity to get rid of him.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Consequently, she entraps and entombs her unresisting mentor within a tree, in a hole underneath a large stone, or inside a cave, depending on the version of this story as it is told in the different texts. In the "Prophéties de Merlin", for instance, Viviane is especially cruel in the way she disposes of Merlin and then takes Tristan's brother Meliadus the Younger as her actual lover. There she is proud of how Merlin had never taken her virginity, unlike what happened with his other female students such as Morgan. The Prose "Lancelot" explains this by a spell she put "on her groin which, as long as it lasted, prevented anyone from deflowering her and having relations with her." The "Lancelot" too has Viviane leave Merlin for another lover, in this case the evil king Brandin of the Isles, whom she teaches some magic that he then applies to his terrible castle Dolorous Gard; in the Vulgate "Merlin", an incognito Viviane abortively turns King Brandegorre's son Evadeam into the deformed Dwarf Knight for refusing her love. Conversely, the "Livre d'Artus", a late variant of the Prose "Lancelot", shows a completely peaceful scene taking place under a blooming hawthorn tree where Merlin is lovingly put to sleep by Viviane, as it is required by his destined fate that she has learned of. He then wakes up inside an impossibly high and indestructible tower, invisible from the outside, where she will come to meet him there almost every day or night (a motif reminiscent of Ganieda's visits of Merlin's house in an earlier version of his life as described by Geoffrey in "Vita Merlini"). In any case, as a result of their usually final encounter Merlin almost always either dies or is never seen again by anyone else. Only in the recently found, alternative Bristol "Merlin" fragment, she resists his seduction with the help of a magic ring during the week they spend together; this particular text ends with him reuniting with Arthur.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: According to her backstory in the chronologically later (but happening earlier plotwise) Vulgate "Merlin", Viviane was a daughter of the knight Dionas ("Dyonas") and a niece of the Duke of Burgundy. She was born in Dionas' domain of Briosque near the forest Brocéliande, and it was an enchantment of her fairy godmother Diana the Huntress Goddess that caused Viviane to be so alluring to Merlin when she first met him there as a young teenager. The Vulgate "Lancelot" informs the reader that, back "in the time of Virgil", Diana had been a Queen of Sicily that was considered a goddess by her subjects. The Post-Vulgate "Suite de Merlin" describes how Viviane was born and lived in a magnificent castle at the foot of a mountain in Brittany as a daughter of the King of Northumbria. She is initially known as the beautiful 12-years-old Damsel Huntress ("Damoiselle Cacheresse") in her introductory episode, in which she serves the role of a damsel in distress in the adventure of the three knights separately sent by Merlin to rescue her from kidnapping; the quest is soon completed by King Pellinore who tracks down and kills her abductor. The Post-Vulgate rewrite also describes how Diana had killed her partner Faunus to be with a man named Felix, but then she was herself killed by her lover at that lake, which came to be called the Lake of Diana ("Lac Diane"). This is presumably the place where Lancelot du Lac ("of the Lake") is later raised, at first not knowing his real parentage, by Viviane. Nevertheless, in the French romances only the narration of the Vulgate "Lancelot" actually makes it clear that its Lady of the Lake and Viviane are in fact the one and same character.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Another, unnamed Lady of the Lake appears in the Post-Vulgate tradition to bestow the magic sword Excalibur from Avalon to Arthur in a now iconic scene. She is presented as a mysterious early benefactor of King Arthur, who is directed and led to her by Merlin, granting him Excalibur and its special scabbard after his original (also unnamed) sword is damaged in the fight against King Pellinore. This takes place during the time when Merlin is still at Arthur's side and prior to the introduction of Viviane in the same story.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Later in the Post-Vulgate "Suite du Merlin", this Lady of the Lake is suddenly beheaded at King Arthur's court by Sir Balin as a result of a kin feud between them (she blames Balin for the death of her brother, while he blames her for the death of his mother, who had been burned at the stake) and a dispute over another enchanted sword; her body later vanishes. Modern retellings, however, often make her the same character as Viviane and usually omit that episode.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In some cases, it is uncertain whether Morgan and the Lady of the Lake are identical or separate characters. According to Anne Berthelot, Morgan herself is ""the" Lady of the Lake", as compared to the "upstart magician" Viviane, in the French prose cycles. The 13th/14th-century English poem "Of Arthour and of Merlin" explicitly gives the role of Lady of the Lake to Morgan, explaining her association with the name "Nimiane" by just having her residing near a town by called Nimiane (Ninniane).


title: Lady of the Lake

text: The 15th-century Italian prose "La Tavola Ritonda" ("The Round Table") makes the Lady a daughter of Uther Pendragon and thus a sister to both Morgan (Fata Morgana) and Arthur. Here she is a character mischievous to the extent that her own brother Arthur swears to burn her at the stake (as he also threatens to do with Morgan). This version of her briefly kidnaps Lancelot when he is an adult (along with Guinevere and Tristan and Isolde), a motif usually associated with Morgan; here it is also Morgan herself who sends the shield to Guinevere in an act recast as having malicious intent. The Lady is also described as Morgan's sister in some other Italian texts, such as the 13th-century poem "Pulzella Gaia".


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In the 14th-century French prose romance "Perceforest", a lengthy romance prequel to the Arthurian legend, the figures of the Lady of the Lake and of the enchantress Sebile have been merged to create the character of Sebile of the Castle of the Lake, an ancestor of Arthur. The Lady of the Lake who raises Lancelot is also mentioned in "Perceforest", deriving her ancestry line from the descendants of an ancient fairy named Morgane, whose own source of power was the deity Zephir.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In Thomas Malory's 15th-century compilation of Arthurian stories, the first Lady of the Lake remains unnamed besides this epithet. When the young King Arthur, accompanied by his mentor Merlin, comes to her lake, she holds the replacement Excalibur (the original sword-from-the-stone having been recently broken in battle) out of the water and offers it to Arthur if he promises to fulfill any request from her later, to which he agrees. Later, when the Lady comes to Camelot to receive her end of the bargain, she asks for the head of Sir Balin the Savage, whom she blames for her brother's death. However, Arthur refuses this request. Instead it is Balin, claiming that "by enchantment and sorcery she has been the destroyer of many good knights", who swiftly decapitates her with his own magic sword (a cursed blade that had been stolen by him from a mysterious lady from Avalon just a moment earlier) in front of Arthur and then sends off his squire with her severed head, much to the distress and shame of the king under whose protection she should have been there. Arthur gives the Lady a rich burial, has her slayer banished despite Merlin telling him Balin would become Arthur's greatest knight, and gives his permission for Sir Launcenor of Ireland (an Irish prince similarly named but entirely unrelated to Malory's Lancelot written as Launcelot, who is not yet introduced in the story) to go after Balin to avenge this disgrace by killing him.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: The second Lady of the Lake is sometimes referred to by her title and sometimes referred to by name, Nimue (Nynyve in Malory's original Winchester Manuscript). Nimue, whom Malory describes as the "chief Lady of the Lake", plays a pivotal role in the Arthurian court throughout his story. The first time the character named Nimue appears is at the wedding of Arthur and Guinevere, as the young huntress rescued by Pellinore. She then proceeds to perform some of the same actions as the Lady of the Lake of his sources but is different in some ways. For instance, in the Post-Vulgate "Suite du Merlin", Malory's source for the earlier parts of "Le Morte d'Arthur", the Lady of the Lake traps Merlin in a tomb, which results in his death. She does this out of cruelty and a hatred of Merlin. In "Le Morte d'Arthur", on the other hand, Nimue is still the one to trap Merlin, but Malory gives her a sympathetic reason: Merlin falls in love with her and will not leave her alone; Malory gives no indication that Nimue loves him back. Eventually, since she cannot free herself of him otherwise, she decides to trap him under rock and makes sure he cannot escape. She is tired of his sexual advances, and afraid of his power as "a devil's son", so she does not have much of a choice but to ultimately get rid of him.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: After enchanting Merlin, Malory's Nimue replaces him as Arthur's magician aide and trusted adviser. When Arthur himself is in need in Malory's text, some incarnation of the Lady of the Lake, or her magic, or her agent, reaches out to help him. For instance, she saves Arthur from a magical attempt on his life made by his sister Morgan le Fay and from the death at the hands of Morgan's lover Accolon as in the Post-Vulgate, and together with Tristan frees Arthur from the lustful sorceress Annowre in a motif taken from the Prose "Tristan". In Malory's version, Brandin of the Isles, renamed Brian (Bryan), is Nimue's evil cousin rather than her paramour. Nimue instead becomes the lover and eventually wife of Pelleas, a gentle young knight whom she then also puts under her protection so "that he was never slain by her days."


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In an analysis by Kenneth Hodges, Nimue appears through the story as the chivalric code changes, hinting to the reader that something new will happen in order to help the author achieve the wanted interpretation of the Arthurian legend: each time the Lady reappears in "Le Morte d'Arthur", it is at a pivotal moment of the episode, establishing the importance of her character within Arthurian literature, as she transcends any notoriety attached to her character by aiding Arthur and other knights to succeed in their endeavors, subtly helping sway the court in the right direction. According to Hodges, when Malory was looking at other texts to find inspiration, he chose the best aspects of all the other Lady of the Lake characters, making her pragmatic, compassionate, clever, and strong-willed. However, Nimue's character is often seen as still very ambiguous by other scholars. As summarized by Amy S. Kaufman,


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Malory does not use Nimue's name for the Lady of the Lake associated with Lancelot, who remains unnamed as well and may be considered a third one (it is possible that Malory had only access to the "Suite du Merlin" part of the Post-Vulgate Cycle as a relevant source). In the end, a female hand emerging from a lake reclaims Excalibur in a miraculous scene when the sword is thrown into the water by Sir Bedivere just after Arthur's final battle. The narration then counts Nimue among the magical queens who arrive in a black boat with Morgan. Together, they bear the mortally wounded Arthur away to Avalon. (In the original account in the Vulgate Cycle's "Mort Artu", the chief lady in the boat, holding hands with Morgan and calling for Arthur, is not recognised by Girflet who here is this scene's witness instead of Bedivere.)


title: Lady of the Lake

text: A number of locations are traditionally associated with the Lady of the Lake's abode. Such places within Great Britain include the lakes Dozmary Pool and The Loe in Cornwall, the lakes Llyn Llydaw and Llyn Ogwen in Snowdonia, River Brue's area of Pomparles Bridge in Somerset, and the lake Loch Arthur in Scotland.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In France, Viviane is also connected with Brittany's Paimpont forest, often identified as the Arthurian enchanted forest of Brocéliande, where her lake (that is, the Lake of Diana) is said to be located at the castle Château de Comper. The oldest localization of the Lake is in the "Lancelot en prose", written around 1230: the place where Lancelot is raised is described there as to the north of Trèves-Cunault, on the Loire, in the middle of the (now extinct) forest of Beaufort-en-Vallée (the "Bois en Val" of the book).


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Walter Scott wrote an influential poem, "The Lady of the Lake", in 1810, drawing on the romance of the legend, but with an entirely different story set around Loch Katrine in the Trossachs of Scotland. Scott's material furnished subject matter for "La donna del lago", an 1819 opera by Gioachino Rossini. Franz Schubert set seven songs from Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake", including the three "Ellen songs" ("Ellens Gesang I", "Ellens Gesang II", and "Ellens Gesang III"), although Schubert's music to Ellen's third song has become far more famous in its later adaptation, known as "Ave Maria". The full French name of the University of Notre Dame, founded in 1842, is "Notre Dame du Lac". This is translated as "Our Lady of the Lake", making reference to Mary, mother of Jesus as the Lady of the Lake, evidencing fusion between Arthurian legend and middle-Christian history.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Modern authors of Arthurian fiction adapt the Lady of the Lake legend in various ways, often using two or more bearers of the title while others choose to emphasize a single character. Influenced by her story, fantasy writers tend to give their Merlin a sorcerous female enemy, usually either Nimue, Morgan (often perceived as more plausible in this role due to her established enmity with Arthur in much of the legend), or Morgan's sister Morgause. In any case, versions of the Lady (or Ladies) of the Lake appear in many works, including poems, novels, films, television series, stage musicals, comics, and games. Though her identity may change, her role as a significant figure in the lives of both Arthur and Merlin remains consistent. Some examples of such works are listed below.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Alfred, Lord Tennyson adapted several stories of the Lady of the Lake for his 1859–1885 poetic cycle "Idylls of the King". He too splits her into two characters; Viviane is a deceitful villain who ensnares Merlin, while the Lady of the Lake is a benevolent figure who raises Lancelot and gives Arthur his sword.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Nimue appears in T. H. White's book series "The Once and Future King" as a water nymph and Merlin's enchantress. True to the legend she traps Merlin in a cave, but White's Merlyn does not convey it as negative, and even refers to it as a holiday. They thus disappear together near the beginning of "The Ill-Made Knight" (1940), however Merlyn later returns in "The Book of Merlyn".


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Nineue ferch Afallach, "Tennyson's Vivien", is a fairy enchantress in John Cowper Powys's novel "" (1951). In Welsh mythology, Modron ("divine mother") was a daughter of Avallach; she was derived from the Gaulish goddess Matrona and may have been the prototype of Morgan le Fay. The novel ends with the protagonist Porius saving the wizard Myrddin (Merlin figure) from his entombment by Nineue on the summit of Snowdon, Wales' highest mountain.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: The 1960 musical "Camelot" includes the character Nimue who has a song called "Follow Me" performed in Act I. In the play, Nimue, a beautiful water nymph, has come to draw Merlyn into her cave for an eternal sleep. He begs Nimue for answers, as he has forgotten if he has warned Arthur about Lancelot and Mordred, before his memories fade permanently and he is led away. She does not appear in the film adaptation, but "Follow Me" is echoed in the notably similar "Come with Me" sung by the Lady of the Lake for Galahad in the later musical "Spamalot" (2005).


title: Lady of the Lake

text: The Lady of the Lake is satirized off-screen in the 1975 film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", in which late 20th century notions are inserted into a mythic tale for comical effect. In a famous scene, a peasant named Dennis says, "Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony." Arthurian scholar N. J. Higham described this iconic dialogue line as ever "immortal" in 2005.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In the DC Comics Universe, Vivienne is the Lady of the Lake. Nimue is the good Madame Xanadu (introduced in 1978), her youngest sister, and their middle sister is the evil Morgaine le Fey (given name Morgana); their surname is Inwudu. The Lady of the Lake has appeared in "Hellblazer", "Aquaman", and her sister's own series. In the 1983 DC Comics series "Camelot 3000", an unrelated Lady of the Lake is referred to as Nyneve, depicted as a woman with a beautiful body but wearing a mask, whom sends to confront the heroes of Camelot. When Nyneve removes the mask, Merlin, upon seeing her face, is unable to resist her and departs, thus removing him from Morgan's path. Later, when he escapes her control, it is revealed that her only facial feature is a gigantic mouth with a long serpentine tongue, "vagina dentata" style, which Merlin turns against her.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Mary Stewart's 1979 novel "The Last Enchantment" in her "Arthurian Saga" series radically recasts the story of Merlin and Niniane (Nimue), completely removing the aspect of malicious seduction and treachery dominant in the traditional version; it is the witch Morgause, the mother of Mordred (with Mordred notably undergoing a similarly revisionist treatment as Nimue), who takes Nimue's traditional role and then continues as the chief villain. In this depiction, after she saves him from being poisoned by Morgause, Merlin takes Niniane on as an apprentice, with her at first disguised as a boy named Ninian, and willingly teaches her his magic, which he had refused to Morgause. When her identity as a woman is discovered, they fall in love despite their age difference. Their love is peaceful and idyllic; even when Nimue marries Pelleas, this is not a betrayal of Merlin. As Merlin gives her the secrets of his power and how to control it, he seems to lose them himself, which he does not mind. In a depleted, weakened condition, he falls into a coma, and is believed to be dead. Nimue has him buried within his "crystal cave", from which he escapes after a few weeks, through a combination of chance luck and ingenious planning, and travels incognito to let Arthur know he is still alive and can help him against Morgause and Morgan. Nimue takes Merlin's place as the court enchanter, while Merlin retires to the crystal cave and lives a quiet and happy life as a hermit. Niniane takes his place and role to the degree she even proclaims "I am Merlin", thus creating a 'Nimue-Merlin' character.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In John Boorman's 1981 film "Excalibur", an uncredited actress plays the Lady of Lake, twice holding up the fabled sword, once for Merlin to give to Uther Pendragon, and once to return to Arthur. Separately, the Morgana character (played by Helen Mirren) takes on other parts of the traditional Lady of the Lake story, learning the occult arts from Merlin and ultimately trapping him with his own powerful "Charm of Making", the magic of shapeshifting.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Marion Zimmer Bradley's 1983 novel "The Mists of Avalon", a feminist retelling of the legend, takes the tradition of multiple Ladies one step further, with Viviane, Niniane and Nimue all being separate characters. Furthermore still, in Bradley's works, both the 'Lady of the Lake' and the 'Merlin' are names of offices in the Celtic pagan hierarchy: the Lady of the Lake is the title of the ruling priestess of Avalon, and the Merlin is a druid who has pledged his life to the protection of Britain. Various tragic characters assume the title of the Lady of the Lake, including Viviane, the initial High Priestess of Avalon, Arthur's aunt, and Lancelot's mother who ends up killed by Balin (here as her other son Balan's foster-brother); Niniane, Taliesin's daughter and yet another of Arthur's half-sisters who reluctantly becomes the Lady of the Lake after Viviane is slain and becomes Mordred's lover until he kills her; the main protagonist and narrator Morgaine (Morgan le Fay), portrayed similar as in the medieval romances but more sympathically; and Nimue, a sympathetic and tragic young priestess who falls in love with the Merlin but is duty bound by Morgaine to seduce and lure him to his death – following which she drowns herself. They are played by Anjelica Huston,


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Joan Allen (Morgause), and (Nimue) in the book's 2001 television adaptation. Their ancestors (the previous priestesses of Avalon and, before that, of Atlantis) are subjects of Bradley's extended "Avalon" universe novels, among them the direct prequel "Lady of Avalon" (1997), the third part of which follows the young Viviane.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In his Christian themed "The Pendragon Cycle", Stephen Lawhead takes up the figure of the Lady of the Lake under a different name: the Faery princess Charis, daughter of Avallach, the king of Atlantis and later of Avalon. Married to the Breton prince Taliesin, she gives birth to Merlin. After Taliesin's death, Charis takes care of Merlin at Lake Logres, hence her name "Lady of the Lake". She is the protagonist and narrator of the first book in the cycle, "Taliesin". The figure of Nimue belongs to Charis' shapeshifting evil sister Morgian (Morgan), the main antagonist through the entire series, including the modern-day-set "Avalon: The Return of King Arthur".


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In Bernard Cornwell's 1990s novel series "The Warlord Chronicles", more historically grounded and realistic than usual treatments of Arthurian legend, Nimue is an Irish orphan adopted by the British druid Merlin. She is a prominent character in the books, being a childhood friend of, a major love interest for, and finally an adversary to the series' main protagonist, Arthur's warrior Derfel Cadarn. She begins as Merlin's most adept priestess and lover, but as she grows ever more brutal and fanatical, by the time of the final novel she will turns against him and imprisons him, torturing him to reveal the last of his magical secrets in her desperate obsession to bring back the Old Gods of Britain at any price. Eventually, she brings Merlin to total madness before ultimately sacrificing him to their lost gods, whose return she believes would rid the island of the Saxons and the Christians alike. As Nimue believes the key to her goal is to sacrifice Gwydre, Arthur's son with Guinevere using Excalibur (as she already did with Gawain), Derfel's final act of casting the sword away is not to return it to her but to hide it from her forever. Stephen Thomas Knight, commenting on Cornwell's vicious Nimue, with her tunnel-vision ruthlessness, vindicativeness, and frequent use of prolonged torture, opined the "pro-Celtic quasi-historian" author "links her to the Saxons as part of her hostility to decent people, including Merlin." Symbolically, both Nimue and the hypocritcal Bishop Sansum, representing the Christian side of the books' major theme of the danger of religious extremism, remain still alive as the story comes to the end.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In the 1995–1996 animated series "Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders", the name of the first season's antagonist Lady Kale (voiced by Corinne Orr), an evil sister of the Queen of Avalon and a former student of Merlin who magically imprisons him, was created as an anagram of Lady of the Lake. She is a witch who ruthlessly tries to take control of Merlin's own magic so she can rule Avalon forever, later working together with the also evil Morgana. A good character actually named as the Lady of the Lake (or the "Spirit of Avalon" in an alternate version "Starla and the Jewel Riders") also briefly appears in the eponymous episode "Lady of the Lake" ("Spirit of Avalon") to help Lady Kale's good niece Princess Gwenevere defeat Kale and save Merlin and Avalon.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In the 1998 miniseries "Merlin," the characters of the Lady of the Lake (played by Miranda Richardson) and Nimue (played by Isabella Rossellini) are separated, with the former being a goddess-like beneficent fae who is the sister of the evil Queen Mab (also Richardson in a dual role), and the latter being a noblewoman damsel in distress with no supernatural powers who is the object of Merlin's affections. In the motif evoking Edwin Arlington Robinson's 1917 poem "Merlin", the Lady of the Lake and Merlin live together in another world until he leaves in order to help Arthur; in the end, however, Merlin returns to her and makes them both young again with the last of his magic. In the 2006 pseudo-sequel "Merlin's Apprentice", Miranda Richardson reprises her role as the Lady of the Lake, as the only returning cast member aside of Merlin's Sam Neill, though she portrays a much different characterization. In this depiction, the Lady is the main antagonist who serves as an enchanter to an army of barbarians who seek to destroy Camelot. The Lady herself wishes to punish Camelot for the way they poisoned her streams and drained her lakes. This miniseries also depicts Merlin's sleep in the cave; as he slept, the Lady used her magic to conceive a son with Merlin and then enchanted him to sleep for 50 years.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In French television series "Kaamelott", the Lady of the Lake, played by Audrey Fleurot, is an angel sent to help King Arthur progress in the quest for the Grail. Upending the established connections, the series' Lancelot not only never interacts with the Lady but cannot even see her.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: The BBC 2008–2012 drama series "Merlin" also features two characters based on the Lady of the Lake. Nimueh, played by Michelle Ryan, serves as the primary antagonist of the season 1. The character has no connection to Merlin beyond his opposition to her plans, and her only connection to a lake is her use of a location called the Isle of the Blessed (Thomas Wentworth Higginson's 19th-century name for Avalon). The ninth episode of the season 2 is titled "The Lady of the Lake", wherein a sorceress named Freya, played by Laura Donnelly, dies and vows to repay Merlin for his kindness to her. In the season 3 finale, Freya, now a water spirit, gives Excalibur to Merlin so that he can give it to Prince Arthur Pendragon.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Nimue, the Blood Queen, appears as one of the primary antagonists in the "Hellboy" comic book series by Mike Mignola, influenced by the classic comics series "Prince Valiant", where she was introduced in 2008 as a witch who driven mad after the powers she acquired from Merlin gave her knowledge of the Ogdru Jahad, prompting the witches of Britain to dismember her and seal her away underground. Resurrected in the present day by King Arthur's last descendant, Hellboy, she assumes the mantle of the Irish triple war goddess the Morrígan and assembles an army of legendary and folkloric beings to eradicate mankind, only to stopped by Hellboy at the cost of his own life. Although having been turned into an evil creature trying to destroy the word, Nimue still had a human part "that hated and feared what she had become." She is portrayed by Milla Jovovich in the 2019 film adaptation "Hellboy".


title: Lady of the Lake

text: Nimue is featured in the ABC 2010s fantasy series "Once Upon a Time" in which Arthurian characters live in the land inhabited by other fairy tale characters. She appears as the main antagonist in the first half of Season 5, portrayed by Caroline Ford. She is introduced in the eponymous episode "Nimue" when, fleeing from Vortigan who sacked and burned her village, she meets Merlin and they fall in love; with Merlin being immortal, Nimue drinks from the Holy Grail so they can be together forever. Afterwards, she kills Vortigan, which darkens her magic and turns her into the very first Dark One. Nimue breaks Excalibur but Merlin cannot brings himself to kill her and ends up being trapped in a tree. At some point, Nimue dies but she manages to live on in all of the following Dark Ones, appearing to them as a vision. She forms an alliance with Captain Hook, manipulating him into casting the Dark Curse and reviving her and the Dark Ones, and then leads a Dark One invasion in Storybrooke, which ultimately leads to her demise at the hands of Hook, who betrays her to redeem himself and destroy her and the Dark Ones forever using Excalibur. At this time, she was played by a male actor, Guy Fauchon. The separate character of the Lady of the Lake is referenced several times as Lancelot's mother, but she never appears; even the episode titled "The Lady of the Lake" does not feature her and instead refers to Prince Charming's mother.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: The 2017 film "" features the Lady of the Lake as played by Jacqui Ainsley, wife of the film's director Guy Ritchie. She has bound Excalibur to the Pendragon bloodline after Merlin used it to destroy the Mage Tower and appears to catch the sword underwater after Arthur throws it into the lake in shame at his failures; she pulls Arthur underwater and motivates him to fight Vortigern before returning the sword to him. This good Lady of the Lake has her mirror image in the film's monstrous character "Syren" that replaces the two dragons in the film's revision of the legend of Vortigern's Tower.


title: Lady of the Lake

text: In the illustrated novel and Netflix series "Cursed", a feminist re-imagining of the Arthurian legend, Nimue is the protagonist, portrayed by Katherine Langford in the adaptation. Writer and showrunner Tom Wheeler said he was inspired by "this really evocative image of this young woman’s hand reaching out of this lake and offering the sword to Arthur, so that image is what captivated us. And it's a really mysterious, magical, sad image, and it begged all of these questions: Why is she giving the sword to Arthur? What was their relationship? Why him? Why does she have the sword?" (Contrary to Wheeler's stated belief, it is not Nimue who gives the sword in Malory's unrevised telling.) In "Cursed", before becoming the Lady of the Lake, Nimue, also known as the "Wolf-Blood Witch", is a young woman coming into her Fey abilities, but whilst her home was ravaged by the Christian fanatics called the Red Paladins she is sent on a mission by her dying mother to deliver "The Sword of Power" (Excalibur but never named) to Merlin. Taking great liberties from the source materials, "Cursed"'s Lancelot (known until the finale as only "The Weeping Monk") is already adult when Nimue first meets him and is for most part just one of her enemies, Merlin is revealed to be her father, and she is instead Arthur's love interest. The story of "Cursed" ends abruptly when Nimue is shot with arrows by a nun named Iris (an original character with no counterpart in the legend) and falls with the sword into a body of water, where she (or her spirit, as her exact fate is left unexplained) will guard the sword until "a true king rises to claim it." Albeit the TV series adapted the entire original book, it was supposed to continue in the canceled second season.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the original Yankee Stadium that operated from 1923 to 2008; it is situated on the former site of Macombs Dam Park, one block north of the original stadium's site. The new Yankee Stadium replicates design elements of the original Yankee Stadium (including its exterior and trademark frieze), while incorporating larger spaces and modern amenities. It is the third-largest stadium in Major League Baseball by seating capacity.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: Although construction began in August 2006, the project spanned many years and faced many controversies, including the high public cost and the loss of public parkland. The $2.3 billion stadium, built with $1.2 billion in public subsidies, is one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: Along with baseball, the stadium has hosted soccer matches; in 2014, it became the home field of the new Major League Soccer expansion club New York City FC, which is owned by City Football Group and the Yankees. Yankee Stadium was intended to be an interim venue for the club until a soccer-specific stadium is constructed. It has also occasionally hosted neutral-site college football games, including the annual Pinstripe Bowl, as well as concerts and other events.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner began campaigning for a new stadium in the early 1980s, just a few years after the remodeled Yankee Stadium opened. Steinbrenner at the time was reportedly considering a move to the Meadowlands Sports Complex in New Jersey. New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean in 1984 authorized the use of land for a new baseball stadium in the Meadowlands, but the state legislature did not provide financing for the stadium. In a statewide referendum in 1987, New Jersey taxpayers rejected $185 million in public financing for a baseball stadium for the Yankees. Despite the rejection from New Jersey, Steinbrenner frequently threatened to move as leverage in negotiations with New York City.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: In 1988, Mayor Ed Koch agreed to have city taxpayers spend $90 million on a second renovation of Yankee Stadium that included luxury boxes and restaurants inside the stadium and parking garages and traffic improvements outside. Steinbrenner agreed in principle, but then backed out of the deal. In 1993, Mayor David Dinkins expanded on Koch's proposal by offering his Bronx Center vision for the neighborhood, including new housing, a new courthouse, and relocating the Police Academy nearby.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: In 1993, New York Governor Mario Cuomo proposed using the West Side Yard, a rail yard along the West Side of Manhattan and owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as the location for a new stadium for the Yankees. However, Cuomo lost his re-election bid a few months later. By 1995, Steinbrenner had rejected 13 proposals to keep the Yankees in the Bronx.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: In 1998, Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer proposed spending $600 million in public money to add dozens of luxury boxes to the stadium, to improve highway and public transportation access, and to create a Yankee Village, with shops, restaurants, and a museum. Steinbrenner rejected this as well. That same year, Mayor Rudy Giuliani unveiled a plan to relocate the Yankees to the West Side Yard for a $1 billion stadium. However, with most of the funding coming from taxpayers, Giuliani tabled the proposal, fearing rejection in a citywide referendum. The West Side Stadium plan resurfaced in December 2001, and by January 2002, months after the September 11 attacks, Giuliani announced "tentative agreements" for both the New York Yankees and New York Mets to build new stadiums. He estimated that both stadiums would cost $2 billion, with city and state taxpayers contributing $1.2 billion.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: Michael Bloomberg, who succeeded Giuliani as mayor in 2002, called the former mayor's agreements "corporate welfare" and exercised the escape clause in the agreements to back out of both deals, saying that the city could not afford to build new stadiums for the Yankees and Mets. Bloomberg said that Giuliani had inserted a clause in this deal that loosened the teams' leases with the city and would allow the Yankees and Mets to leave the city on 60 days' notice to find a new home elsewhere if the city backed out of the agreement. At the time, Bloomberg said that publicly funded stadiums were a poor investment. Bloomberg's blueprint for the stadium was unveiled in 2004, at the same time as the plan for the Mets' new stadium, Citi Field. The final cost for the two stadiums was more than $3.1 billion; taxpayer subsidies accounted for $1.8 billion.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: Groundbreaking ceremonies for the stadium took place on August 16, 2006, the 58th anniversary of Babe Ruth's death, with Steinbrenner, Bloomberg, and then-Governor of New York George Pataki among the notables donning Yankees hard hats and wielding ceremonial shovels to mark the occasion. The Yankees continued to play in the previous Yankee Stadium during the 2007 and 2008 seasons while their new home stadium was built across the street. The community was left without parkland for five years.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: During construction of the new stadium, a construction worker and avid Boston Red Sox fan buried a replica jersey of Red Sox player David Ortiz underneath the visitors' dugout with the objective of placing a "hex" on the Yankees, much like the "Curse of the Bambino" that had allegedly plagued the Red Sox long after trading Ruth to the Yankees. After the worker was exposed by co-workers, he was forced to help exhume the jersey. The Yankees organization then donated the retrieved jersey to the Jimmy Fund, a charity started in 1948 by the Red Sox' National League rivals, the Boston Braves, but long championed by the Red Sox and particularly associated with Ted Williams. The worker has since claimed to have buried a 2004 American League Championship Series program/scorecard, but has not said where he placed it. These attempts didn't have much effect upon the home team, though: the Yankees went on to win the 2009 World Series at the end of their first MLB season in the new stadium.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: The new stadium is meant to evoke elements of the original Yankee Stadium, both in its original 1923 state and its post-renovation state in 1976. The exterior resembles the original look of the 1923 Yankee Stadium. The interior, a modern ballpark with greater space and increased amenities, features a playing field that closely mimics the 1988–2008 dimensions of the old stadium. The current stadium features 4,300 club seats and 68 luxury suites.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: The stadium was designed by the architectural firm Populous. The exterior was made from 11,000 pieces of Indiana limestone, along with granite and pre-cast concrete. It features the building's name V-cut and gold-leaf lettered above each gate. The interior of the stadium is adorned with hundreds of photographs capturing the history of the Yankees. The "New York Daily News" newspaper partnered with the Yankees for the exhibition "The Glory of the Yankees Photo Collection", which was selected from the "Daily News" collection of over 2,000 photographs. Sports & The Arts was hired by the Yankees to curate the nearly 1,300 photographs that adorn the building from sources including the "Daily News", Getty Images, the Baseball Hall of Fame and Major League Baseball.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: The seats are laid out similar to the original Yankee Stadium's stands, with grandstand seating that stretches beyond the foul poles, as well as bleacher seats beyond the outfield fences. The Field Level and Main Level comprise the lower bowl, with suites on the H&R Block Level, and the Upper Level and Grandstand Level comprising the upper bowl. Approximately of the stadium's seating is in the lower bowl, the inverse from the original Yankee Stadium. 50,287 fans can be seated, with a standing room capacity of 52,325. The new stadium's seating is spaced outward in a bowl, unlike the stacked-tiers design at the old stadium. This design places most fans farther back but lower to the field, by about an average of . Over 56 suites are located within the ballpark, triple the amount from the previous stadium. Seats are wide, up from the previous stadium's wide seats, while there is of leg room, up from of leg room in the previous stadium. Many lower-level seats are cushioned, while all seats are equipped with cupholders. To allow for the extra seating space, the stadium's capacity is reduced by more than 4,000 seats in comparison to the previous stadium.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: Many design elements of the ballpark's interior are inspired by the original Yankee Stadium. The roof of the new facility features a replica of the frieze that was a trademark of the previous ballpark. In the original Yankee Stadium, a copper frieze originally lined the roof of the upper deck stands, but it was torn down during the 1974–75 renovations and replicated atop the wall beyond the bleachers. The new stadium replicates the frieze in its original location along the upper deck stands. Made of steel coated with zinc for rust protection, it is part of the support system for the cantilevers holding up the top deck and the lighting on the roof. The wall beyond the bleacher seats is "cut out" to reveal the subway trains as they pass by, like they were in the original facility. A manually operated auxiliary scoreboard is built into the left and right field fences, in the same locations it existed in the pre-renovation iteration of the original Yankee Stadium.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: Between the exterior perimeter wall and interior of the stadium is the "Great Hall", a large concourse that runs between Gates 4 and 6. With seven-story ceilings, the Great Hall features more than of retail space and is lined with 20 banners of past and present Yankees superstars. The Great Hall features a LED (light-emitting diode) ribbon display as well as a 25' by 36' LED video display above the entrance to the ballpark from Daktronics, a company in Brookings, South Dakota.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: Monument Park, which features the Yankees' retired numbers, as well as monuments and plaques dedicated to distinguished Yankees, has been moved from its location beyond the left field fences in the original Yankee Stadium to its new location beyond the center field fences at the new facility. Monument Park is now situated under the sports bar; black shades cover the monuments on the back wall during games to prevent interference with the vision of the batter. The new location of the monuments is meant to mirror their original placement in center field at the original pre-renovation Yankee Stadium, albeit when they were on the playing field. The transfer of Monument Park from the old stadium to the new stadium began on November 10, 2008. The first monuments were put in place on February 23, 2009. Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera requested that the Yankees reposition the team's bullpen, as well as add a door to connect the Yankees' bullpen to Monument Park, in order to allow access to it by Yankee relievers. The organization complied with his request.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: The field dimensions for the outfield fences have the same distance markers as the original facility prior to closing yet the dimensions are not identical. Due to the design of the right-field stands and the inclusion of an embedded manual scoreboard, the right-field wall is an average of closer to home plate. Overall, the fences measure to left field, to left-center field, to center field, to right-center field, and to right field. At the old Yankee Stadium, the right field wall curved from the right-field corner to straightaway center, while at the new ballpark the fence takes a sharp, almost entirely straight angle. This results in a difference at certain points between the right field markers of as much as . The dimensions in left field are substantially the same despite the presence of an embedded auxiliary scoreboard there as well. All these differences make the current Yankee Stadium more batter-friendly than the original one.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: The outfield fences measure high from the left-field foul pole until the Yankees' bullpen, when the fences begin to gradually descend in height until the right field foul pole, where they are tall. This also marks a decrease from the previous Yankee Stadium, where the outfield walls stood at a height of approximately . The distance from home plate to the backstop is , a reduction of from the previous facility. The field is made up of Kentucky bluegrass, the same surface as the previous stadium, which is grown on a farm in Bridgeton, New Jersey. The grass is equipped with a drainage system (featuring over of pipe) that makes the field playable an hour after taking of rain.


title: Yankee Stadium

text: Yankee Stadium features a wide array of amenities. It contains 63% more space, more in total, than the previous stadium, with wider concourses and open sight lines on concourses. Along with of wired Ethernet cable, the building has sufficient fiber-optic cable wiring that Cisco Vice President and Treasurer David Holland calls the building "future proof". Over 1,100 HD video monitors are placed within the stadium and approximately $10 million worth of baseball merchandise is housed within the ballpark.