Ghost Widow
Ghost Widow is an in-game character in the City of Heroes MMO and an elite member of Arachnos.
In-Game History
(From the City of Heroes website.)
Before her origin event her name was Belladonna Vetrano.
She was an Arachnos Night Widow.
Night Widows are trained in the arts of stealth, infiltration, and disguise.
They spend most of their time in civilian clothes and assumed identities, ferreting out secrets or blackmailing business leaders into cooperating with Arachnos's designs.
If assigned a mission that involves combat, the Night Widow has discretion to form a strike team comprised of other Arachnos forces. It was on such a mission in 1989 that Vetrano was killed.
She was leading a team on Mercy Island to sanction a troublesome member of the Family.
The records become unclear at that point, but one thing is certain: Ventrano's mission was a complete failure. Not only did she fail to achieve her objective, but nearly every member of her team was killed.
Only one soldier survived: the leader of the Wolf Spider squad, one Paolo Marino. I believe that Paolo Marino is the brute now called Wretch. Despite the fact that Belladonna Vetrano is now the creature called Ghost Widow, I am certain she died that day.
Her current existence can only be called unlife.
It seems that she serves Lord Recluse loyally because he had his Arachnos Mystics free her from the location of her death. She was trapped there with only Wretch as a companion for some time.
It is unclear at this time what Recluse's motives are in relation to his ghostly servitor.
Ghost Widow is never fully material. She is able, through concentration, to affect the everyday world-and when she does, only then can she be harmed. She has Wretch by her side almost constantly, and he operates as her hands.
It is uncertain at this time how she sustains herself, but I believe she has the ability to drain life energy from her victims. I have seen her heal Wretch's wounds, so I can only assume she can transform life essence into sustenance for herself.
It appears that when she uses the ability she calls her Soul Storm, she summons forth the spirits of those she has killed and forces them to torment her enemies.
Other References
As revealed in the Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight storyline Limelight, Ghost Widow is bound to Arachnos itself. As long as it exists, she does.
The Fateweavers believed that a young girl named Crystal Burke would eventually destroy Ghost Widow. They helped give her the power to one day fulfill the prophecy as described in the Mu Codex, but the child was sprited away to Paragon City by Legacy Chain and the Midnight Squad. Crystal would later return to the Rogue Isles. Knowing of the full details of the prophecy, Crystal would confront Ghost Widow and intentionally let herself be killed, thinking it would break the prophecy. Instead, she was saved by her teammates in the Guardians of the Dawn.
In 2011-2012, Ghost Widow is featured as the main protagonist in the Countdown to Gawd Complex Storyline featured at KK-Comics.
(See her Paragon Wiki entry for more information.)
