Creation

Lore was created by writers Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning and artist John Higgins, and first appeared in Scarlet Witch (1994) #2.

Major Story Arcs

Lore was a former Nexus Guardian of her world until she exhausted her own world's magic many eons ago. She has been traveling from dimension to dimension doing the same. At some point the Insectoid army called the Scatter started following her "finishing off her leftovers."

Earth 616 & Meeting Scarlet Witch

While the Wanda Maximoff of Earth 616 is investigating the abandoned town of Unity, New England, Lore breaches the Avengers West Compound and disposes of the Avengers stationed there. One by one, Lore warps Wanda's teammates with magicks into twisted creatures and sets them upon her, alongside a resurrected Master Pandemonium. Lore brought Pandemonium back from Mephisto's Realm with the promise of being able to claim Wanda for himself, if he can lure her to Unity. In that time Lore was tapping into the energies of the Earth itself, using her power as a Nexus Being to siphon the mystical energy of the planet. Now at a state of true power, Lore confronts Agatha Harkness and Scarlet Witch in the catacombs beneath Unity, where she is revealed to be a variant of Wanda Maximoff. As two Nexus Beings are incapable of existing on the same plane of reality, Lore has taken a spectral form on 616 and plans to drive Wanda insane, then possess her body to fully access this universe's mystic energy and devour it. She exhausted her own Earth's core years ago, and has been devouring Earths across numerous universes, leaving a trail of Nexus Being corpses in her wake.

In order to save herself and grant a chance of victory, Wanda uses her hex magicks to permit two Nexus Beings to co-exist within the same reality. Now she is on the physical plane Lore no longer requires Wanda's body to possess, and the necromancer summons an army of the dead to kill Scarlet Witch. However Wanda exorcises the necromancy from the dead's essence and answers their cries to rest once more. Enraged, Lore lunges at Wanda and the two engage in an arcane duel, with Lore striking down Pandemonium in the process and inadvertantly restoring the West Coast Avengers to their human forms. However, now that Wanda has given Lore physical form, the dark witch begins her incantation to devour Earth 616's mystical energy. She also summons the soul energy of her previously-conquered Nexi to grant her power to destroy the Scarlet Witch, but the souls of untold murdered Nexi turn on Lore and tear her defences down, leaving her weakened for Wanda to deal the killing blow.

Infinity

Although Lore's soul is still bound to the underworld after her banishment by Wanda and the Nexi, she is able to reanimate her corpse on the Earthly plane and frees Master Pandemonium from a demonic prison. She guides him in a plan to absorb the souls of every civilian living in a Pennsylvanian town, and from this it is implied Pandemonium shall use his power to help free Lore. However the Avengers arrive, and the anti-hero Shroud uses his powers to defeat the Lore thrall.

The Witches' Underworld

When Wanda Maximoff is killed by the Griever at the End of All Things, she is sent to The Witches' Underworld and must find her way to The Witches' Road if she is to return to Earth before the Griever destroys all that is. On her journey she encounters Lore, who has used her necromancy to seize power of the underworld and bars Wanda's way from accessing the Witches' Road. The two battle, with Lore conjuring spectres of Wanda's past to break her sanity once more, however Wanda breaks through the necromancer's hexes and confronts Lore - a dark mirror of Wanda herself, whose descent and abuse of dark magicks resulted in cosmic destruction that killed billions. Wanda allows this grief and guilt to wash over her, knowing she has proven herself and atoned for her past sins. Lore has also accepted her folly in yearned to be the "ultimate Nexus Being," instead choosing to rule over Hell than grovel to reach Heaven. Lore proves undefeatable in her realm of power, so Scarlet Witch tricks Lore and flees above towards The Witches' Road.

In Other Media

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

It can be argued that Lore's story in the 1994 Scarlet Witch mini series provided significant inspiration for the corrupted Wanda Maximoff in Multiverse of Madness. Maximoff - corrupted by absorbing dark power and a unique being in her reality - gains access to alternate universes by travelling through dream states with the intent to possess that reality's Wanda Maximoff and cause untold chaos. Both Lore and MoM Scarlet Witch are worshipped by demonic creatures as a prophesied being of dark magick and raw power.

In turn, Wanda's design in Multiverse of Madness inspired the redesign of Lore by artist Russell Dauterman for the 2024 Scarlet Witch series.