Ethan Black

Ethan Black is the soul of San Francisco, which gives him a set of amazing abilities and also restricts him in ways most other entities are not. He is a mystical anthropomorphication called a citysoul: he is the city and the city is him. He reflects the city to a great degree; this is why a few people such as Nightcry pay attention to him and keep his existance a secret, because a radical change in Ethan’s attitude or health usually indicates a major, city-wide emergency. It’s unclear exactly how much free will or independent thought Ethan actually has, as ‘he’ and the city influence each other.

He cannot leave the city limits for long without the city suffering to some degree. Previously it was thought that this or major injury was the only way for him to adversely affect the city, but in Issue #5, the Golden Gate Guardians found out that a sufficiently distracting influence can also have that effect, by taking Ethan’s attention away from the city.