Who's Rao and why's he so great?

[ChadtheH]

Supes fans, please clue me in. Probably in two or three back issues of DC titles leading up to the 52 serials I've seen Supes or someone in his immediate circle of friends exclaim "Great Rao!" I say before, but for all I know he's still doing this since I generall avoid "event" titles like 52. But I have never seen the issue(s) where this saying is explained.

Is Rao a person, deity, hero, machine, or just some really big mind-bending idea? Seems a bit strange to start building a theology or mythology of god(s) on Krypton, especially since I seem to recall reading that Kryptonians were scientific and pragmatic to a fault-- if anything, they worshipped their own knowledge. And even if they did have deities, how would Kal-El know much about them? Help me out here.

[Jack Zodiac]

Rao was the name of their sun and the name of their chief diety. Get it? Rao? :) Anyway, the "Rao's beard!" and "Great Rao!" exclamations have been around for decades. Why he's still using them, while he's so disconnected from his Kryptonian heritage, I have no idea.

[Sabrinaset]

In early Kryptonian Mythology, Rao was the God of Bananas. He was worshipped with a song, which goes something like this ...

RAAAAAAA-OH!!

RA - AH - AH -OH!

Daylight come and me wanna go ho-OME!

Six-foot, seven-foot, eight-foot BUNCH!

[CaptainAwesome]

In early Kryptonian Mythology, Rao was the God of Bananas. He was worshipped with a song, which goes something like this ...

RAAAAAAA-OH!!

RA - AH - AH -OH!

Daylight come and me wanna go ho-OME!

Six-foot, seven-foot, eight-foot BUNCH!
I was going to say something stupid like "And Rao was his name-o..." but yours is better. Way to tally me banana.;)

[Zanku]

I remember when Rao was mentioned to gods like Zeus they got pretty peeved, he must not be well liked either.

[Shellhead]

I've always assumed that "Rao" rhymes with "tao" or "pow."

[Jack Zodiac]

"Wow." Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's how it's pronounced. Unless they Kryptonian it up, like "Ra-O." I doubt it, though.

[Ontir]

I've always said r-ow, like dow or tao, which though spelled differently, are pronounced just the same.

[ChadtheH]

I remember when Rao was mentioned to gods like Zeus they got pretty peeved, he must not be well liked either.


I suppose he wouldn't be – talk about keeping your people down! Kryptonians only come into their own when they leave Rao's sphere of influence for places like Earth, or Apokolips, or New Genesis, or Oa, etc (lotsa yellow suns in the DCU). Seems allegorical or something -- like Adam and Eve leaving the garden because they wished to be gods themselves? Eh, maybe I just overly Judeo-Christianize everything (I wouldn't be the first).

On a very tangential note, I wonder if the Guardians of Oa ever had a Green Lantern on Krypton. Would they have needed one?

[Jack Zodiac]

Krypton's usually agreed to have been in Sector 2813, the sector directly neighboring Earth's Sector 2814. Tomar-Re would have been the active Green Lantern for this sector around the time of Superman's birth. In an alternate universe explored in JLA, Jor-El succeeded in preventing Krypton's destruction, and after Tomar-Re's death, instead of Tomar-Tu becoming the next Green Lantern, Kal-El did.

The Guardians have always had at least one Lantern in every space sector except 3600, and accept every race in the universe, regardless of previous powers. There was even a Daxamite Green Lantern once. The guy was a monster.

[Sanagi]

There was also a GL story about Tomar-Re trying and failing to save the Kryptonians.

[Ronnigon]

In early Kryptonian Mythology, Rao was the God of Bananas. He was worshipped with a song, which goes something like this ...

RAAAAAAA-OH!!

RA - AH - AH -OH!

Daylight come and me wanna go ho-OME!

Six-foot, seven-foot, eight-foot BUNCH!

Sabrina, I now love you.

Please marry me, before I forget how cool you are.

White male oppressor that I am, I promise to constantly keep you freshly pregnant... just like a captive brood mare at a dairy ranch.

Isn't heterosexuality great?

[Absalom]

The real Rao, who is both a sun and a sun-god, can be seen talking to Despair of the Endless in Sandman: Endless Nights.

She was talking to Rao about the creation of life on an unstable world and the possibility of a lone surviving being existing to continually mourn the destruction of that world.

[algertman]

Just posting to say that headline is great

[Captain_Marvel]

In early Kryptonian Mythology, Rao was the God of Bananas. He was worshipped with a song, which goes something like this ...

RAAAAAAA-OH!!

RA - AH - AH -OH!

Daylight come and me wanna go ho-OME!

Six-foot, seven-foot, eight-foot BUNCH!


That was THE funniest thing I've seen all day.:D :) :p

[lucifernomi]

The real Rao, who is both a sun and a sun-god, can be seen talking to Despair of the Endless in Sandman: Endless Nights.

She was talking to Rao about the creation of life on an unstable world and the possibility of a lone surviving being existing to continually mourn the destruction of that world.


Great scene. Also a great lesson. Never take advice from an avatar of despair. The way the system works in the DCU, would Rao have lost his god-hood when when he destroyed the only people who worhipped him?

[Jack Zodiac]

Well, there's still one. ;) So he'll probably wind up living like Bast did. Eating mice in some dusty pyramid? Or something similar but fitting.

Also, that story was awesome because Dream totally nailed Oa's sun. :D

[Absalom]

Originally Posted by lucifernomi

Great scene. Also a great lesson. Never take advice from an avatar of despair. The way the system works in the DCU, would Rao have lost his god-hood when when he destroyed the only people who worhipped him?
Well, he was already an abstract-antropomorphic-godlike-entity before there was even intelligent life on his star system to worship him, so I guess he's still alive until the day he becomes a black-hole.

[Steve Brady]

I think that Rao is just meant to be the star, and not the god Rao. If there was a Bast there was probably a Ra, but that doesn't mean he's the same entity as little Sol.

[Ronnigon]

Can anyone post a pic of what Rao looks like?

[Jack Zodiac]

I think that Rao is just meant to be the star, and not the god Rao. If there was a Bast there was probably a Ra, but that doesn't mean he's the same entity as little Sol.

In Kryptonian mythology, Rao created the red sun of Krypton. So yeah, he's a god, and the star embodies him.

And sorry, Ron, but I can't seem to find any pictures of him. If I had a working scanner, I'd scan my copy of Endless Nights for ya'.

[Indigo Al]

In Kryptonian mythology, Rao created the red sun of Krypton. So yeah, he's a god, and the star embodies him.

And sorry, Ron, but I can't seem to find any pictures of him. If I had a working scanner, I'd scan my copy of Endless Nights for ya'.

And in Sandman mythos, all gods start out as dreams - thus, Rao and Oa's sun could have been nascent dreams about to become gods in this story.