Who Was Mary MacLeod?

 

I am going far a field for this one! I had trouble justifying my recent little post about William ‘Wild Will’ Fitzpatrick as it wasn’t directly related to the MC2 at all, and was just something I wanted to cover to break me out of my writer’s block. Today is a similar post not directly pertaining to the MC2, but I am hoping to build this and the previously mentioned post along with other related posts into a rather large combined entry in the MC2 Family Tree series. Today, we will be looking at the Marvel character Mary MacLeod.

 

Who is Mary MacLeod? Why am I talking about her? What does she have to do with anything? Well, let us start at the beginning…which is also the end. Confused? Let me explain. In 1990 the long-gestating, gorgeously illustrated graphic novel Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth by Charles Vess was released. In its pages Peter and Mary Jane take ‘a sort of second honeymoon’ to Scotland when Mary Jane is bequeathed the estate of her relative, Mrs MacLeod.

 

We learn from a letter written and mailed before Mrs MacLeod’s death that her home county of Ross-Shire (which is a real place by the way) is being bought up by business developers with plans to destroy the area’s natural beauty. Travelling to Scotland to untangle legal matters, Peter and Mary Jane rent a room in the village’s local inn for a week. The publican Alan Sinclair correctly identifies the couple as ‘Mr and Mrs Parker’ and informs Mary Jane he has been expecting ‘the niece of Mary MacLeod’ for some time. While the village is not named, we can use context and geography to identify it.

 

The village is near Duncraig Castle (another real place, though greatly fictionalised here) overlooking Lochalsh or Loch Alsh (that’s ‘Lake’ Alsh for those not in the know, yet again a real place) and thanks to the letter Mary MacLeod wrote to her niece, we even have the postcode ‘IV40’. Putting all this together, it appears the village just might be Kyle of Lochalsh which looks out at Loch Alsh and is located a few minutes’ drive from Duncraig Castle. An essay written by Charles Vess’ which was published alongside the story confirms these very real locations he visited on his many travels to Scotland’s Highlands, with an additional point of interest being that Eilean Donan Castle seems to be the visual inspiration for Duncraig Castle, given it resembles a castle unlike Duncraig. Further, Mr Vess begs forgiveness from the people of the Highlands ‘for stretching and rearranging their landscape and villages to suit the requirements of my story.’ A class act.

 

Let us circle back to Mary MacLeod. As mentioned above the barkeep Alan Sinclair refers to Mary Jane Parker as Mary’s niece, but also says ‘A fine lady was our Mary, she spoke of you manys the time. It’s pleased I am to be meetin’ a relation of herself.’ When Mary Jane and Peter visit the church graveyard, Mary Jane reflects ‘the letters she wrote always made me feel so close. I almost felt as if I knew her.’ In the MacLeod Croft, while looking at Mary’s photos, Mary Jane notes ‘look…her whole life is in these pictures and, oh Peter, here she is at my christening.’ Together, these comments paint a picture of a solitary older woman who cherished her niece or grand-niece as she had no family of her own. While the honorific ‘Mrs’ may indicate MacLeod is Mary’s married name, ‘Mrs’ is also used for older women and those who preference it. If MacLeod were the maiden name, it could be argued that Mary Jane’s mother Madeline was also a MacLeod before marriage which would make Mary Jane’s family heritage almost indisputably Scottish.

 

As I’ve touched upon in my Osborn Family Tree and Osborn Name Origins there are some interesting real-world tidbits we can learn from surnames and their origins. Watson is a common Scottish and English with ancient Anglo-Saxon origins. MacLeod as a surname is of Scottish origin, being an anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic surname MacLeòid meaning ‘son of Leòd’ and derived from Old Norse.

 

Finally, we learn that Mary attended the christening of Mary Jane, presumably an infant at the time, which further defines the family’s religion or cultural practices as some form of Christianity, which fits well with a Scottish background with it is the largest religious denomination in the country.

 

This last point is not factual, but worth meditating on. The story of Spirits of the Earth features three Mary’s: Mary MacLeod who’s correspondence and passing brings Peter and Mary Jane to Scotland where the events unfold, Dark Mairi of the Shore, a mysterious and magical old woman who communes with the fairies and spirits, and Mary Jane Parker who becomes heavily involved in events, even aiding Mairi by adding her own youthful spirit and energy to bring down a cavern at the stories climax. Notably, when glimpsed from afar, Mairi appeared as a youthful redheaded woman with a resemblance to Mary Jane. I wonder if Mary MacLeod had red hair too?

 

Despite not even appearing once, Mary MacLeod provides us a rare glimpse into the broader history, culture, religion, and geography surrounding Mary Jane Watson’s family. It is also nice to know that should the Parker Family ever travel to Scotland, they have a nice little cottage with a sublime view waiting for them. A wholehearted special thanks to both maydaymemer and arias-98105 for their help on this one, it’s greatly appreciated.

 

Until I crack the Watson Family Tree and retire to the Isles, I remain

 

frogoat