Dinkan Shaman

The Dinkan Shaman is a fictional mystic featured in comic books published by DC Comics. He is associated with the Constantine line of comic titles and first appeared in Hellblazer #1 in January, 1988.

Biography
The Dinkan Shaman was an elderly man from the Sudan. He was well versed in the occult and lived in a small hut in a barren desert village. The Shaman was skilled in the Pentecost effect, which is speaking in tongues. He could mentally translate other languages that he perceives into thoughts that he understood, even though he was not schooled in other languages. The shaman's power was bound to the earth, and to the land in which he lived.

The shaman encountered a young starving boy whose soul had become the housing for a hunger spirit known as Mnemoth. Mnemoth fed upon the starving pain of those who surrounded him, growing stronger as they in turn grew weaker. The shaman etched the Power Patterns of Binding upon the boy's face, hoping that this would be enough to contain Mnemoth's influence. Shortly thereafter, the boy was sold into slavery and ended up in Tangier.

British mage John Constantine visited the Dinkan Shaman to learn more about Mnemoth, the boy and the magic used to bind the evil spirit. The shaman and Constantine shared a vision together by imbibing a specific type of root. In the vision, the shaman and Constantine literally exchanged eyes so to better understood the thoughts of the other. Through this, John learned the Power Patterns of Binding spell.

Abilities

 * Mysticism: The Dinkan Shaman appears to have strong knowledge in the occult insofar as it relates to earth magic, and spiritualism. The extent to the man's knowledge in these regards is unknown. It is fair to assume that he is learned in the ways of African folklore and ancient mythology, though this has never been overtly presented.
 * Shamanism: Through the use of ritualism and the consumption of a special root, the Dinkan Shaman can achieve an altered state of consciousness in order to perceive and interact with the spirit world and channel such transcendental energies into the real world.
 * Multilingualism: Referred to as the Pentecost Effect, the Dinkan Shaman can mentally translate other languages so that he can understand them even though he has never learned the language. Conversely, he can also broadcast his own words into a language that the one he is speaking to can understand.
 * Ritualism: The Dinkan Shaman is knowledgeable of certain mystic rituals, the methods through which to conduct them, and the tools required to bring about the desired effect.
 * Power Patterns of Binding: The Dinkan Shaman knows the art of binding a spirit to a vessel through the use of etching archaic patterns upon a body and conducting a ritual.

Notes & Trivia



 * The Dinkan Shaman was never given a proper name.


 * Dinka are a community, composed of many ethnic groups, inhabiting the East and West Banks of River Nile, from Mangalla to Renk, regions of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile and Abyei Area of the Angok Dinka in South Khordofan of Sudan

Appearances

 * Hellblazer, Volume 1
 * Hellblazer #1