Back in the Legion Outpost issue 5 (and reprinted in The Best of the Legion Outpost) Margie Spears speculated on the demise of Legionnaires Mon- El and Lightning Lad.
1973�s Legion of Super Heroes v1 had a text piece from Cary Bates listing the Legionnaires killed in action: Lightning Lad, Ferro Lad and ERG-1.
Of those, Lightning Lad returned through the sacrifice of Proty I, while ERG-1�s secret was that he was an energy field when removed from his costume, and he hadn�t died at all.
Later in 1973, Margie pointed out an omission from the list. Mon-El had died in Action #384. He was poisoned by lead when his descendant Eltro Gand moved him into what he thought would be safety. In trying to avoid Dream Girl�s prophesy, Eltro ended up fulfilling it.
Eltro used an exchanger to save Mon-El. Action #384 explains that the Daxamite device �transfers life essence from the living to the dead.�
Margie uses this story to explain the changes in Mon El�s subsequent personality. As the Legion evolved, the cast�s personalities developed. Margie combines this with the Eltro scene and speculates that it�s actually Eltro�s life force contained within Lar�s body. During the Levitz years Lar would have to face a number of stressful events, and his reactions could be interpreted as adding more support to Margie�s theory.
But the article goes further. If this had actually happened, why wouldn�t the team�s telepath have realised. This would be Saturn Girl, the person that Lightning Lad sacrificed his life to save. The person who was brought back, through the same process used by Eltro.
As Action #384 tells us, the Exchanger �is built on the principle of the device that revived Lightning Lad when he was killed! It was ProtyI� who died for Lightning Lad� and Eltro has made the same supreme sacrifice!�
Margie�s article goes on to explain the repercussions of this in Saturn Girl�s life. It�s a good read, and well worth getting. A lot of this was picked up when Tom & Mary Bierbaum wrote the book beginning in 1989, and appears in 1992�s Legion v4 Annual 3.
There�s another occasion where life essence was transferred to save a Legionnaire. Bu coincidence, it�s also one of the team who was mentioned in Cary Bates� article, just with a name change.
In Superboy #234, Wildfire absorbs the energy of Imskian dragons to save his transformed team mates. He succeeds, but the energy he has absorbed was too much for his system, and he lay dying. The story continues in the next issue, where we�re told that �his whole energy structure disintegrating with every passing hour.�
Saturn Girl, who is a bit of an expert in trying to revive fallen colleagues following Lightning Lad�s demise, recalls the myth of the Titanian Psycho-Beast. �In its death throes, the beast produces an uncanny radiation�which revitalises destroyed energy paths.�
Following a conflict with another party interesting in the Beast, the Legion succeed in transferring it�s �death energy� to their fallen comrade, restoring him to health.
The device used by Eltro Gand back in Action #384 to save Lar, was located in the Legion�s HQ. Likewise, the device used by Brainiac 5 to save Wildfire was also located in the Legion�s HQ.
![[Linked Image]](http://i67.tinypic.com/qrwtoj.jpg)
Here are the two side by side. Artistic style aside, there�s a lot of similarity there. More than enough to think that the same equipment was used. So, if the life essence of the last Titanian Psycho-Beast was transferred into Wildfire, what would the repercussions be?
The first person likely to know the source of any changes would be Saturn Girl. But the same reasons apply to her not revealing this as applied to not revealing Lar�s secret. Mainly, to protect what happened to her husband, Lightning Lad.
We don�t know much about the Titanian Psycho Beast. We know that it�s the last of its kind. It may be a solitary being, and with no mate a lonely one.
We know that it will protect its territory and that it will defend itself when attacked. So, it can be aggressive when provoked.
Physically, it�s similar in a lot of ways to Brin Londo�s later transformation into Furball, showing that there� can be a lot more going on beneath an appearance. It also has an energy attack.
Loneliness, an aggressive attitude and possessing an energy attack are also traits and powers of Drake Burroughs: Wildfire.
While Proty and Garth were distinct, and where Eltro struggled with Lar�s emotional baggage gained over a millennia The Psycho Beast and Wildfire may have been a closer fit.
It may have learned to live with its solitude in ways that Drake Burroughs was still trying to. We would later see Drake reach out to his Academy students to tell them his origin. That would lead to building relationships with the team too, such as with Lightning Lad. He would continue to try and form a relationship with Dawnstar, and would become a mainstay in the group until Black Dawn.
The Beast�s powers of restoring energy pathways, may have been of huge benefit when Quislet helped Drake maintain an energy form later in the Baxter run.
So, it�s a beneficial relationship. The power of the Beasts was well known on Titan, It�s doubtful people would use their power if they saw their loved ones change into having monstrous personalities. The influence of the Beasts may live on in a number of people, such as Marek Chang�s son, in a subtler way.
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