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Some TMNT stuff really isn't for little kids. |
Old Man River was the guardian and watcher over the Connecticut River. Although he appeared initially to be a kindly, wizened spirit, he was in actuality the de facto antagonist for the entirety of The River trilogy.
History[]
The being known in modern day as Old Man River is in actuality a member of a human-like civilization that existed during the times of the dinosaurs. Their technological advances led them to use their gifts foolishly, and they killed themselves off. The survivors swore off technology and found that rivers were a source of power, and so they, as the Old Man himself put it "transcended the flesh" and merged with the rivers themselves. Each of the world's waterways now harbors one of these survivors.
When the Turtles first set foot in the Connecticut River, the Old Man sensed them in his waters, the first mutants he's ever encountered in his long age. Intrigued by them, he wished to experiment and learn more. He sent a leech to siphon their mutagenic blood, which latched onto Raphael several times and drained him enough to revert his mutation, while at the same time mutating the leech into a being now going by Bloodsucker. Down to the River
Following along the river to track Bloodsucker and hopeful to restore Raphael to his mutated self, the Turtles encounter an Algonquin named Abanak in Booders Falls. After helping him take down the polluting industrialist Samuel Booder VI, Abanak tells the Turtles that he knows of an old spirit of the river who may be able to help them restore Raphael. All the while, Splinter had been meditating, and he had made a mental link with the Old Man. River Hymn
Abanak guides the gang to the river's source in Vermont, and take a canoe upriver. As they approach the Old Man's Wisdom Stone, fish swarm the canoe and tip the riders out, but the fish catch them and elevate them to the stone. Abanak chalks this up as the Old Man being "playful." As the Old Man materializes into his human-like form, Splinter suddenly senses a trap. The Old Man shows the Turtles a vision of his origin and explains that he won't help Raphael, since the entire ordeal was his doing to begin with. The Turtles go to attack, but the Old Man exerts his will over them.
Abanak begins to question his master, saying the Turtles are good. Old Man River says he won't actually even need the Turtles anymore, as once Bloodsucker drains the remaining three, he'll have more than enough mutagen to experiment with. Raph bites the Old Man's finger off, who then tosses him down. As the giant leech feeds on the other Turtles, Raph swims over and bites him, too. Bloodsucker tosses the four of them off the waterfall.
Angered that despite his age and power, the Old Man is still just as petty and self-serving as the humans that have wrecked the environment, Abanak picks up Leonardo's katana and charges at his now-former master. Old Man River blasts Abanak away with a massive beam, but Abanak's attempt at an attack lets Old Man River's mental trap on Splinter slack just long enough for the rat to retaliate. Splinter focuses all of his willpower into a massive mental fist, punching the Old Man so hard that he is unable to control the free-flowing atoms that allow him to keep his form.
The Old Man becomes increasingly less so, and as he regresses rapidly in age, he begs for Abanak to help him, revealing that the Algonquin possesses powers similar to his, but he never revealed it in fear that he'd usurp him. It is too late for the former Old Man River, though, as he de-ages to a baby and drops into the river. Meanwhile, as the Turtles battle Bloodsucker, Raphael bites enough of the leech to drain the mutagenic blood back out of him, restoring him to his former glory and returning the leech back into a small pest.
Their battles won and their quests over, Abanak succeeds Old Man River as the river's guardian, and bids his friends farewell, controlling the fish to send them back on their way. The embryonic former river guardian floats through the water, only to be swallowed by the leech. Old Man River