Salem Nader (Prime Earth)

Salem Nader, also known as Salem the Witch Girl, was the sidekick to Doctor Fate. Her familiar is a cat named Midnight.

History

Origins

Salem's parents were an Armenian-American immigrant and a witch who fled from Limbo Town. Her parents abandoned her at age six and retreated to another dimension so her mother's "Limbo Town Curse" would pass to her. The curse meant that anyone Salem cared for would suffer some kind of misfortune, which could be anything from a minor inconvenience to a fatal accident.

In 1940 she met Doctor Fate, who took her in despite her warnings. She found that Fate was immune to her curse and became his sidekick, although she still kept her distance from others and maintained a grating, arrogant demeanour to keep people at bay. During her time as Fate's sidekick the pair would regularly meet with Mister Miracle and Justice Society Dark in Slaughter Swamp to try and find a way to break her curse, requiring Salem to repeatedly fight Solomon Grundy. All of Fate's attempts to break Salem's curse failed, and when Inza Cramer was almost killed by the curse Salem ran away.^[1][2][3] She disappeared from the world on March 13, 1944.^[4]

Lost Children

When Barry Allen and Doctor Manhattan altered the timeline, thirteen heroes and villains, including Salem, were erased from history. The Time Masters preserved them by placing them in stasis pods in the Time Lab.^[1][5] Per Degaton's meddling in the timeline caused the pods to fail and they were reintegrated back into history before the timeline was fully restored.^[6]

A "time scavenger" known as The Childminder captured Salem and many other forgotten sidekicks of Golden Age heroes before they could be fully restored to their proper place in history. They were imprisoned on Orphan Island, an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean outside the normal flow of time.^[1][7] The sidekicks managed to defeat the Childminder and her employer, an adult version of Corky Baxter, with the help of Stargirl, Red Arrow and Hourman. As they could not be returned to their proper places in time, Hourman transported them to the present, where they became known as the Young Justice Society.^[8]

The Justice Society attempted to find homes for the time-displaced young heroes. As Kent Nelson was deceased, Salem was sent to stay with Kent's grandnephew Khalid Nassour, the new Doctor Fate. Salem was heartbroken to learn that Nelson's memories of her had been erased and he had never spoken about her before his death. She refused to respect Khalid or view him as a true Doctor Fate, believing that he was not strong enough to break her curse.^[4]

Justice Society

Salem accompanied Nassour, Huntress and other members of the Justice Society to try and recruit Solomon Grundy into the JSA, as he had been a member in Helena's timeline. Salem attempted to temporarily break Grundy's zombie curse and restore him to life so that he, as Cyrus Gold, could be reasoned with. The spell went wrong and she incinerated him instead; although she wasn't particularly upset about it, even quipping that it was a Saturday.

After the mission, Khalid teleported them to the gate into Limbo Town, as he thought that Salem would be happier there than on Earth. However, she refused to go through and blasted him, then tried to take the Helmet of Fate from him, believing that she should be Doctor Fate. They fought but with the helmet Nassour was too powerful for her. He told her that he was going to stay out of her life until she had overcome her resentment and teleported her back to Earth to be watched over by the JSA.^[3] She took part in the missions to capture The Harlequin's Son^[9] and Gentleman Ghost.

Mordru, another new recruit looking for redemption, foiled Gentleman Ghost by killing Hawkman and using his life energy to restore Craddock to human form. Although Hawkman returned to life almost immediately, many in the JSA were horrified by what Mordru had done. However, Salem did not care and even labelled it "funny". The JSA narrowly voted to give Mordru another chance and welcomed him onto the team. However, as soon as they did the Legion of Super-Heroes teleported in from the future and demanded that they hand Mordru over.^[10]

The two teams fought until Nassour also appeared from the future, accompanied by the Legion of Substitute Heroes. He revealed that Eclipso was among them, and had used his powers to manipulate the two sides into violence so he could take over all their minds. Eclipso revealed himself, ripping his way out of Wildcat. Eclipso took control of most of them with the Heart of Darkness, but Huntress and Mordru were able to resist long enough to shoot the Heart with an enchanted arrow, shattering it and trapping Eclipso inside when it reformed.

Salem could sense that Nassour had been afraid of Eclipso and congratulated him for having the same kind of courage as Kent Nelson, acknowledging him as a worthy heir to the Fate legacy. She teleported away to Limbo Town to confront her parents and free herself of the curse.^[11]

Possible Future

In one possible future, Salem became one of the last Lords of Chaos and an enemy of the Justice Society, chiefly Doctor Fate. She fought the JSA and Fate several times with intention of ending Kent Nelson's legacy.^[12] Salem would eventually make a deal with Per Degaton that made him a living paradox, unable to be killed. She also devised a sacrificial ritual which would allow whomever performed it to rewrite history and replace their legacy with a team of their own by killing every generation of the JSA, travelling backwards in time. Degaton would succeed in killing every JSA team throughout history except for the Justice Society of 2023 and the original, but was defeated before he could complete the ritual.^[13]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Magic: Salem possesses great magical power due to her extradimensional heritage, training, and having unlocked the secrets of the Tower of Fate.^[1]
  • Dimensional Travel^[11]
  • Eldritch Blast: Salem can produce dark ankh-shaped energy blasts similar to her mentor.^[8]
  • Empathy^[11]
  • Enhanced Senses: Salem can see through non-magical illusions such as holograms.^[9]
  • Flight^[9]
  • Pyrokinesis^[3]
  • Teleportation^[14]

Abilities

• Occultism: Salem is a skilled witch-in-training trained by Kent Nelson, possessing great knowledge of the supernatural.^[1]

Weaknesses

• Limbo Town Curse: The curse she inherited after escaping Limbo Town causes "bad fates" to befall anyone Salem becomes close to.^[1]
• Power Instability: While powerful in her own right, Salem's tendency to overextend her magical powers can cause unintended problems.^[1]
  

Paraphernalia

Transportation

• Sweep: Salem's sentient enchanted broomstick.

Notes

• Her first name is a play on Salem which is known for the Witch Trials.
  

Trivia

• Salem was 13 years old when she was taken from the timestream.^[15][1]
• Supposedly, Salem first appeared in More Fun Comics #56, but does not appear in said issue.

Related

• 17 Appearances of Salem Nader (Prime Earth)
• 17 Images featuring Salem Nader (Prime Earth)
• 1 Quotations by or about Salem Nader (Prime Earth)
• Character Gallery: Salem Nader (Prime Earth)

Footnotes

Justice Society of America member This character is or was a primary member of the Justice Society of America in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice Society of America members" category.

Doctor Fate Villain(s) This character is or was primarily an enemy of Doctor Fate . This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Doctor Fate Villains."

Justice Society Villain(s) This character, team or organization is or was primarily an enemy of the Justice Society, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice Society Villains" category.