In opposition to the Green Light of Will stands the ancient power of the yellow light, the
power of fear. Fear is a primal emotion, one that can cripple or motivate, a feeling that
can force an individual into inaction or force them to take the actions that they deem necessary.
Hello, Ric here and today we will be exploring group who forged this power into a weapon
to rival the Oans Green Lanterns, the Sinestro Corps, named after arguably one of the greatest
lanterns of two armies. We already covered the birth of the emotional
spectrum and all its colours at the dawn of time, but with the origin of life in the universe,
came the introduction of the entities. These beings embody the power of a singular emotion
above all others, said to be the first beings in the universe to feel these emotions, the
first prey to outrun a predator experienced a spark of something ancient and the yellow
power of fear found its first host; Parallax was born. From there, this being, fuelled
by fear, but wielding the power to influence it in others and anchor itself to individuals,
twisting their minds, travelled across the cosmos causing entire cultures to fall to
paranoia and terror. Entire civilizations would fall under its sway and tear themselves
apart, the prey motivated by the fear to never be prey again. Eventually, the Guardians of
the Universe captured the malevolent entity and imprisoned it the same way one tames fear
in real life, crushing it under the weight of willpower. Sealing it in the central power
battery of their Green Lantern Corps, the entity, for a long time was contained. I tell
you this story so you understand the nature of fear in the DC universe, its corrupting
influence. Another tale then. In his time, the greatest
Green Lantern was Sinestro, a Korugarian from sector 1417. Korugar was a planet falling
into chaos of its own making and eventually, as its sector’s protector, Thaal Sinestro
could stand by no longer and took direct control in bringing order to his homeworld. However
his rule became totalitarian and his regime strict until the Guardians of the Universe
took notice and stripped him of his ring. But he did not let that stop him, after all,
he had been a Green Lantern, selected because of the power of his will. He went to the Weaponers
of Qward and had a new ring forged, one away from the Guardians control, one forged on
fear. Time passed, in which Parallax was freed,
the Green Lantern Corps was destroyed and rebuilt and new heroes rose in its ranks,
the power of the yellow ring was duplicated and spread to those in the universe who had
the ability to instil fear in others and the creation of the Green Lantern’s recurring
antagonists the Yellow Corps was created. Their mission was twofold. To subvert the
Green Lanterns, to show that a universe policed by fear would be easier to manage and to change
the Green Lantern Corps to better suit Sinestro’s vision through adversity. If they don’t
change, then the Sinestro’s Corps will eventually replace them.
The rings, created as a mirror of a weapon of which Sinestro was familiar with, sought
out those who could terrify others, those who could instil fear and compliance in others.
This meant that they often found their bearers in the criminals and the monsters in the horrifying
corners of the universe. Those who themselves were often the subject of folk tales and here-say,
the literal monsters under you bed. …Or the one just over your left shoulder.
Sinestro is controlling and arrogant, but he understood that to rule over such a crowd
and form them into a semi-capable force, he would have to put himself in an unquestionable
position of power over them. It is for this reason that the Corps is named the Sinestro
Corp, not the Yellow Lanterns, though this terminology isn’t incorrect. And the very
oath that they parody from the Green Lanterns ends with “Beware his power, Sinestro’s
Might!” Tales of Sinestro’s endeavours and the formation of the corps, its unjustly
outcast leader who discovered a better way are all recorded in the Book of Parallax and
are discussed among its members, permeated as legendary deeds by Lyssa Drak. All this
elevates Sinestro in the eyes of his Corpsmen to near messiah like levels, one who will
lead them into a new glorious golden light. Of course, being based on fear, Sinestro is
also paranoid, but rightly so when surrounded by such individuals and his rings bear many
failsafes and overrides that he has access to as well as the fact that his ring in particular
seems to have several abilities that others do not.
Not all the Sinestro Members are criminals however, some like Raynunn, a size shifting
alien are simply intimidating individuals, or Prince Lorix who goes by the incredibly
accurate and imaginative alias, Space Ape. These individuals align more to Sinestro’s
end goal of the Corps which is to instil order, through intimidation sure, but they focus
on the end goal, not the methodology. Two- Lobe used to find victims of crimes, track
down their antagonists and implant the telepathic experience of their victims into their mind
to deter crime. The general principle for the Yellow Lanterns
is to spread fear throughout their assigned sector when not being marshalled for a scheme
by their illustrations corps leader, Sinestro. Naturally this builds the terrifying reputation
that the overall plan of intimidation requires and allows those in the Corps to revere Sinestro
further for his “permission” to act out. As mentioned, the corps divides the universe
into 3600 sectors, as the Green Lanterns do and this is far from the only similarity,
to be expected when the founder originally wore a green ring. Let’s start there, the
Rings. Like the many counterparts, they draw energy from a personal power battery, which
in turn syphons power from the central battery. Well mostly but we’ll get to that. The ring
has the same abilities to protect the wearer from harm and simulate an environment to sustain
the wearer even in extremes. It had communications functions and translators, telepathic links
and access to an interstellar network for faster than light travel. It too can fire
energy beams and generate constructs, however, more often than not, these constructs end
up taking on a more menacing appearance when created. This is because the rings power is
amplified by the emotion of fear, in both the wielder and those around it; this effect
is so profound that the rings can even charge of the ambient fear of a populous. One ability
that the rings do have is the power to scan a person psyche and reveal a targets fear
to the user which then creates an effective cycle of fear fuelling the ring which it turn
amplifies the fear. More similarities exist in the oath that they
swear. The beginning of the Sinestro oath parodies and flips the Green Lanterns, showing
its opposition in ideology. The middle segment is a mission statement of sorts with a greater
emphasis on intimidation and the final is a warning to both those who oppose the corps
and a reminder to those within to respect its founder.
So the central power battery is generally the most common way to charge the rings, functioning
in the same way as the Green battery, concentrating the ambient fear of the universe into a coherent
energy source. But it has also been proven that other sources can power the rings, like
the mentioned ambient fear of a large population. Likewise a more focused Fear Engine could
be used to replace and charge a battery, or even Parallax itself. The base of operation
has likewise been as varied as their power sources, an artificial Warworld has been used,
which is effectively a mobile fortress, Qward itself, the home of the weaponers who forged
the rings, and New Korugar, Sinestro’s subjugated home planet and it is the last instance that
we see a modicum of restraint as the populous is expected to conform to the corps’ authority
and the Korguarian culture is crushed under yellow boot, but overt cruelty against his
people is not permitted. The uniform of the Sinestro Corps is built
on the design favoured by Thaal Sinestro, the eight pointed star with high collar, metal
armbands and belt. Unlike the green lanterns, however, the design is not able to be altered
by the wearer without Sinestro’s express permission… yeah Lyssa, you can wear that…
that’s um… phew..fine…is it hot? I’m hot… seriously though, its just another
example of Sinestro’s desire for complete control and perhaps an attempt to further
unify such an unstable corps. However, as Green is the centre of the emotional
spectrum, it exerts no influence over its wielder, but the further from the centre you
drift, the more influence the emotion has over you. Fear’s effects are insidious and
not as noticeable as say the explosive rage of the Red Light, but it does have an influence,
many who use a yellow ring describe the ability to spread fear as intoxicating and invigorating,
making it difficult to give it up. A member of the Sinestro Corps would do well
to remember that they are effectively tools of Sinestro, extensions of his will. The thing
is, Sinestro is doomed to fail. Fear is not forever. Its hold over a person or even a
populous cannot last; a body becomes exhausted by it, a people become apathetic to it. Any
form of tyranny will never endure, a brutish club of a tactic that history has shown repeatedly
to fail. Despite Sinestro’s goal to instil order in the universe, the yellow light of
fear all but ensures that his work will never be done, because inevitably he will be the
cause of such unrest… and his corps isn’t just going to stop either because fear seeks
to take control. This is further reinforced by the joining of several Sinestro Corps members
into the Green Lanterns, those members who wish to restore order above the drive to spread
fear. They understand that fear can be used to intimidate, but isn’t an answer in of
itself. Thanks for listening to this cultural index.
The Sinestro Corps is pretty awesome thematically. I’ve always seen it, at best, as an extreme
version of what Batman does, difference is Batman still has hope. Sure in theory, the
idea of intimidation into submission works, but over a long period of time it’s just
unsustainable, something Sinestro and many villains, real and fictional fail to grasp.
Next index can be chosen below in the comments and I was thinking either the Kryptonians
from the Krypton TV show which I just got done with and was pleasantly surprised by,
or the Sangheli Elites of the Halo universe. Until the next video, thanks again for watching,
and beware your fears made into light. Goodbye.