On Qward Alone (Emerald Knights)

Episode 5 of the first season of Emerald Knights. This episode deals with Sinestro's recent excommunication from the Green Lantern Corps. As he is sent into the anti-matter universe to drift forever, he ends up on the planet Qward, a cold replication of the planet Oa. As Sinestro meets the Qwardians, he learns of a power that he can use to fuel his own Corps: fear.

Cast

 * Mark Strong as Thaal Sinestro
 * Leighton Meester as Arin Sur
 * Ken Watanabe as Abin Sur
 * Kiefer Sutherland as the Weaponer
 * Ariana Greenblatt as young Soranik Natu
 * Gemma Chan as Lyssa Drak

Story
“On Qward Alone” S1E5

Open in space, black with stars. Suddenly, a green light flashes in the middle of the scene, and in an instant the flash is gone and Sinestro appears. At first he struggles for air, on instinct, but realizes the Guardians have imbued him with a thin layer of Lantern Construct, allowing him to only drift about in space. He makes peace with this ending, and closes his eyes, ready to accept his new fate. Suddenly, he is pulled in by a tractor beam, and shot down to a yellow planet: Qward.

Emerald Knights Intro

Flashback: Sinestro and his good friend Abin Sur land on the planet Ungara, Abin’s home planet.

Sinestro

So, this is Ungara then? It’s.. lovely.

Abin Sur

Thank you Thaal, and it has it’s issues, but I do love my home planet. I only wish I could be here more often.

Sinestro

A luxury we Lanterns can not afford my friend.

Abin Sur

That much is true. Come, I want to introduce you to my family.

Sinestro and Abin knock on a door, and Arin Sur opens it.

Abin Sur

Arin, this is my friend from the Lantern Corps, Thaal.

Arin Sur

A pleasure to meet you.

Sinestro

Please, the pleasure is all mine.

The two lock eyes, smiling. Flashback ends.

Sinestro is dazed, waking up on the strange planet. A blue woman in yellow armor looks at him, and drags him in by his feet.

Sinestro

(Dazed) Where am I?

He’s promptly taken to a dungeon like space, and thrown in a cell. Sinestro seems to wake up more, and rushes to the bar of his cell.

Sinestro

HELLO? WHERE AM I?

Woman in Blue Armor

You are now a slave for the weaponers, like the rest of your kind. You will help forge our weapons for the right to breathe in our presence. If you don’t like that, we’ll simply hang your head next to the rest who didn’t. Welcome to Qward, you posi-matter scum. You may refer to me as Priestess Drak.

Sinestro says nothing, for the first time he’s being threatened without his ring on him: he feels fear.

Cut to a scene in the yard, Sinestro and other aliens are being told to follow the line. One alien is clearly nervous, almost panicking.

Alien #1

(Whispering to another alien) I’m making a run for it

Alien #2

What? Are you crazy?

Alien #1

What other choice do I have?

Suddenly, the alien morphs into a snake and attempts to slither away. The Qwardian Weaponers notice this and immediately blast him, as he explodes into purple chunks and pieces landing on everyone’s face.

Priestess Drak

Hey! Did you see that? Did you all see that?

The crowd nods. Sinestro doesn’t.

Priestess Drak

You! The red one! Is there gonna be a problem?

Sinestro

(Mutters) Of course not.

Priestess Drak

I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that?

Sinestro

I said no. There will be no issue.

Priestess Drak

Well, that’s too bad. I was really hoping for an issue.

She pushes Sinestro to the ground.

Priestess Drak

The next time I ask something, I expect you scum to respond. Do you understand me?

Sinestro says nothing. The Qwardian Weaponer kicks him in the stomach.

Priestess Drak

I ASKED YOU A QUESTION.

Sinestro

(Straining) I understand..

Priestess Drak

You understand? You understand what? To whom are you speaking?

Sinestro

(Still straining) I understand.. That I must always respond.. When I am asked a question.. Priestess Drak.

Priestess Drak

Well, that’s great. Now get up, and get back in line.

Sinestro weakly does so, while the guard moves back to the front of the line. They are taken to dangerous work stations.

Priestess Drak

Welcome to the rest of your lives. You will be looking for dents in our weapons, and banging them out until they’re perfect. We see any dents, any imperfections, and well.

She points her weapon at a random prisoner, and explodes him.

Priestess Drak

That will be you. Get to work with those hammers on the table.

Sinestro picks up the hammer and gets to work, every bang from the hammer exemplifying itself to him. BANG. BANG. BANG. Suddenly, these morph into the sound of a pickaxe hitting a rock, he flashes back to his days as an anthropologist on Korugar.

Sinestro is excavating a rare site, his entire life’s work beneath the pickaxe.

Korugarian

Isn’t it wonderful, Thaal? We’ve come so far from digging on the beaches of the Aznagreb Sea.

Sinestro

Indeed we have, my friend! Indeed we have! We’re mere hours, maybe minutes from the discovery that will make our careers! Cement us into the codex!

Korugarian

There’s nobody else I’d rather do this with, my friend. Nobody else.

Sinestro smiles, and goes back to mining. Suddenly, a large crash happens near Sinestro’s side of the site, he rushes towards it. He sees a fly-like alien who has crashed into the surface of the planet: no ship and in a glowing green costume with a ring on his finger.

Sinestro

Oh my- are you okay? Do you need to go to a hospital?

The alien lantern takes off his ring and hands it to Sinestro

Lantern

(Alien Language)

Ring

Translating..

Lantern

Please.. Take this… finish the fight for me.

Sinestro looks at the ring

Sinestro

What are you-

Lantern

Weaponer of Qward.. Dangerous.. Put it on.. Please..

Sinestro hesitates, but puts on the ring, transforming him for the first time into Green Lantern. Sinestro admires himself, and is blasted back by a yellow blast. A weaponer of Qward walks towards Sinestro, weapon pointed.

Sinestro

No!

He reaches out, and a green blast pushes back at the Weaponer.

Sinestro

..Fascinating.

The weaponer blasts back, and out of reflex Sinestro crates a green shield, blocking his attack

Sinestro

Very fascinating.

Sinestro continues to blast at the Weaponer, moving in on him. The Weaponer strikes the ground, launching Sinestro in the air, where he finds out he can fly.

Sinestro

What an amazing contraption.

Sinestro blasts the Weaponer, and the Weaponer jumps up and grabs Sinestro by the leg, throwing him closer to the ground (he catches himself and flies near the ground). Realizing that he can’t win this off force alone, he baits the Weaponer into following him into the excavation site. Sinestro flies in and the Weaponer follows him, Sinestro blows a hole through the top and topples the entire cave on the Weaponer. Sinestro lands near the alien.

Lantern

You did it.. You.. (coughs) please, give me back the ring…

Sinestro

The ring.. this?

Sinestro points at the ring

Lantern

Yes… I need it.. I need medical attention.. I need to (cough) call for..

Sinestro

I don’t know. The way you collapsed on my planet, oh God the mental strain that must perform..

Lantern

(Coughs) please…

Sinestro

Not to mention the strain on your body physically.

Lantern

(Strains and wheezes)

Sinestro

Yes… sorry traveller, I can not give such a tool back to a man this damaged in good faith, it looks like I’ll be holding on to this for you. But not to worry, when all is said and done, I’ll be 10,000 times better than you at whatever this is.

Finally, the Lantern dies.

Ring

Lantern 1417 deceased, scanning for replacement. Replacement found, please report to Oa for training.

Sinestro

I am intrigued. Very intrigued.

In real time Sinestro quits and throws the hammer down.

Sinestro

ENOUGH!

Suddenly, Qwardian Guards surround him with weapons, and Priestess Drak walks in.

Priestess Drak

No, no, I want to hear what this one has to say before I gut him.

Sinestro

Do you know who I am? Do you know what it is I’ve done? I am THAAL SINESTRO. The GREATEST Green Lantern to ever exist. EVER. And you have me here, wasting away to-

Priestess Drak

Stop. You say you’re a Lantern?

Sinestro

The best. Of the best.

Priestess Drak

So how would the best of the best end up in anti-matter space? Without his ring?

Sinestro

The Guardians are fools. Children who play with powers they do not understand.

(Collective gasps from the other prisoners)

Priestess Drak

The Guardians.. You know of them?

Sinestro

Of course, those blue-faced cowards.

Priestess Drak

And you share this deep hatred for them?

Sinestro

Frankly, I want nothing but to watch their bones rot by my feet. What do you mean by share?

Priestess Drak

Come, prisoner. There is somebody you need to talk to.

Sinestro and Drak walk through dark tunnels and caves with other Guards, and they enter a throne room. A humanoid man in yellow armor sits on the throne, with a giant yellow beam shooting behind him.

The Guards and the Priestess bow down, leaving Sinestro to keep standing up.

Sinestro

So, I can assume you’re the leader here?

The Weaponer

I am the Weaponer, I rule over all of Qward. Tell me what it is he’s been brought here for, Drak.

Priestess Drak

He knows of the Guardians, and he knows hatred for them. He was a Lantern, your majesty.

The Weaponer

A Lantern? And you’ve defected?

Sinestro

I’ve come to realize those ways do not benefit me anymore. Yes, I have defected.

The Weaponer

Come, we have much to discuss.

The two walk through a hallway, with Drak and the rest of the soldiers close behind.

Sinestro

The opposite of my universe, you say? So this world would be..

The Weaponer

Oa. We are their cursed counterparts, where they see willpower, we see fear.

Sinestro

Fear?

The Weaponer

Yes. We use the emotion, channel it through the central power battery.

The Weaponer points to the battery.

The Weaponer

Through that battery runs the yellow impurity, the representation of all the fear in the universe. It runs our entire planet.

Sinestro and Weaponer continue to walk, and Sinestro notices a wall drawing of a giant yellow beast.

Sinestro

What is this?

The Weaponer

The legend of Parallax. The living embodiment of fear throughout both universes, said to have been born right here on Qward. As the story goes, the beast terrorized the entire galaxy eons ago. Then one day, he simply went missing. My Weaponers have been searching relentlessly for the fabled creature, but even I doubt it’s existence. Let’s move along.

Sinestro

Quite interesting indeed… so am I to assume you Weaponers are the answer for the Green Lantern Corps

The Weaponer

Not yet. That’s where you will come in.

Sinestro

What does that mean.

The Weaponer

For years, we have been trying to make our own power rings, run on fear. With those, we could conquer not only our universe, but the other side as well.

Sinestro

And you want me to build this ring?

The Weaponer

Precisely. You are said to have been the greatest Green Lantern, yes?

Sinestro

Of course, but I am no-

The Weaponer

Then it is settled. Come with me to your quarters, get a good night's rest. You will have plenty to do tomorrow Lantern.

Sinestro, defeated and worried, lays on his new bed. He slowly drifts to sleep. Flashback.

Sinestro plays with his 10 year old daughter, Soranik, in the family garden. Arin Sur watches the two play, smiling. Suddenly, he hears a loud explosion in the streets.

Soranik

Daddy? What’s happening?

Sinestro

Go inside, sweetheart, daddy will take care of it. Arin, take her inside, don’t come out.

Arin takes the kid inside and closes the door, while Arin watches through the blinds. Sinestro slips on his ring and simply walks into the street, not far from the garden. Korugarian rebels and militia are fighting each other, enraged Sinestro joins in. He crushes both the rebels and the militia, throwing cars, poles, sharp objects with his ring. One rebel remains when he is done.

Rebel

P..please.. please

Sinestro

You dare take your war into my backyard? Frighten my daughter? And yet you plead?

Sinestro impales him with a metal pole

Sinestro

Your plea has fallen on deaf ears.

Sinestro tales the ring off and walks back home, and his daughter runs out the house.

Soranik

Daddy! Daddy!

She hugs Sinestro

Sinestro

It’s okay darling! Daddy has taken care of everything.

Arin looks at Sinestro, worried.

Sinestro is woken up by the sound of banging on his metal door

Guard

Wake up and get to work!

Sinestro slowly gets up and opens the door, following the guard out, meeting Drak and the Weaponer

Sinestro

Is there nothing to eat in this place?

The Weaponer

Of course there is.

The Weaponer throws a stale piece of bread at him

The Weaponer

Don’t ever say I didn’t spoil you. Now come with me, I have to show you something

They enter a welding room, with machines pouring molten metal into ring like frames

Priestess Drak

This is where we had attempted to recreate the Lantern rings, only based on fear. We used forge with metal and dip it into the yellow impurity, alas it never worked.

The Weaponer

We gave up on the project long ago when it seemed futile.

Sinestro

And you want me to somehow make it work?

The Weaponer

I take it you were smart where you came from. Get to work.

The Weaponer and Drak leave the room, Sinestro stares at the empty room. He notices a bucket, a cloak, grabs both and heads out. Hidden, he heads for the yellow impurity when nobody's looking, and fills the bucket with the energy. Suddenly, he is caught by

Priestess Drak

And what do you think you’re doing?

Sinestro

..What you all haven’t been doing all along. You can’t simply dip the metal into the impurity and pray for an outcome, you must forge the stuff out of fear.

Priestess Drak

Do you know how dangerous that is? Our entire planet relies on that battery

Sinestro

Listen to me, if you want this to work, you will allow me to pass.

Drak mulls it over, and lets Sinestro go

Priestess Drak

Make it quick.

Sinestro gets back in the welding room, and pours the hot yellow sludge into a funnel, which pours into a ring mold until it fills. He closes the funnel valve, and begins the process of making it a solid. He brings a crude yellow mold out of the machine with tongs, and hammers it to perfection, sweating with hard work.

Flashback to Sinestro and Arin arguing in their home, with a slightly older, scared Soranik upstairs.

Arin Sur

I can’t keep sitting back and watching my husband terrorize these citizens!

Sinestro

Terrorize? Our neighbours haven’t felt safer! I’m a hero to them!

Arin Sur

Through what means? Murder?

Sinestro

I am no killer, Arin, this is mere self-defense! If it weren’t for me, this neighbourhood would’ve been trampled through by warring factions years ago!

Arin Sur

Is that what you tell yourself? Is that how you go to sleep? Do none of those souls even touch your conscience?

(Sinestro is silent)

Arin Sur

Thaal, please. Give back the ring, we can start over. We can be a family again.

Sinestro contemplates this for a second.

Sinestro

No. I can not allow my home to be destroyed. If the survival of my people equates to the loss of my marriage, then so be it.

Arin Sur

I was afraid you’d say that. Soranik! It’s time.

Soranik comes downstairs fully dressed with a packed bag.

Sinestro

What is this? Soranik? Why are you-

Soranik

Mommy told me to pack my things because we might have to go.

Arin Sur

I’m sorry it’s come to this Thaal, but as long as you are this sector's “protector”, you will never see me or your daughter again.

The mother and daughter walk past Sinestro, and head for the open door.

Sinestro

Wait, no, you can’t just. I can’t let you leave.

Sinestro forms a green construct door, preventing them from leaving.

Sinestro

Either of you.

Arin Sur

Thaal..

Sinestro

I am sorry Arin. I can not lose my entire family, I will not allow it as long as I possess the power.

Arin Sur

So what would you prefer? We become slaves to your fantasy land? Pawns in your heroic conquest? You’ve already lost your family.

Sinestro, tears in his eyes, looks down to his daughter.

Sinestro

Soranik, don’t lie to daddy. Is this what you want?

Tears in her eyes, Soranik nods.

Sinestro

Is this what you truly want? You really never want to see me again? Ever?

With even more tears, Soranik nods again. Sinestro realizes the futility of the moment, and releases the door, watching his family leave without a goodbye. As he shuts the door, he picks up Soranik’s tear stained teddy bear left on the ground. He stares at it.

In real time, Sinestro uses precise technology to wire the ring with fear energy, and finally engraves the symbol he’s seen many times on the wall markings. He puts on the ring and finally transforms into a Yellow Lantern. The Weaponer walks through the door with Drak.

The Weaponer

What is it you think you’re doing?

Sinestro

Wielding the yellow light of my creation..

The Weaponer

You mean my creation slave, give me the ring.

Sinestro

This.. This is the most power I’ve felt since being a Lantern. You know very well I was the strongest Lantern.

The Weaponer

Drak! KILL HIM

Drak raises her weapon at Sinestro

Sinestro

Priestess Drak, I am no coward, yet you are the only being on this planet who has instilled fear into me. True fear. You are worthy of my Sinestro Corps, join me and rebuild Qward.

Priestess Drak

I have been loyal to the Weaponers since I was a child, I will not be so easily swayed.

Sinestro

Years of loyalty, yet you have never been back to the normal matter universe, have you? I give you the opportunity to spread terror EVERYWHERE, not just this puny sector.

While Drak mulls over the decision, the Weaponer attempts to shoot Drak in the head, sensing her coming betrayal. Sinestro blocks this off with a yellow construct of Sinestro’s own body, and forms a bubble around the Weaponer’s head.

Sinestro

If the decision was not already easy enough, I will make it easier yet.

Sinestro rips the Weaponer of his oxygen supply, effectively killing him.

Sinestro

Have you made up your mind?

Drak kneels before the floating Sinestro.

Sinestro

A wise decision. Now, I would like to know my 2nd in command’s full name before we liberate Qward.

Priestess Drak

Lyssa, Sinestro. Lyssa Drak.

Sinestro

A lovely name, I’m sure. Let’s go spread the news, there’s a new Corps to rule the galaxy.

Sinestro and Drak leave the room together.

Episode End.