PRYDE FAMILY TREE

Written By: 
Last Updated: 
23rd September 2021
Image Work: 

 

Poland

We know very little of the ancestry of the Pryde family, previously Prydeman, save that they were Ashkenazi Jews of Polish nationality. Of the two family members we do know, sister and brother, Chava and Samuel, Samuel had emigrated before the onset of World War II and was presumably older than his sister Chava. Following the conclusion of the war, Samuel searched for records of Chava's fate but was unable to find any trace of her.

Like so many Polish Jews, Chava came to find herself in the Warsaw Ghetto. The Ghetto housed up between 375,000 to 400,000 Jewish prisoners. Chava also married at some point during the war/occupation and became Chava Rosanoff and a member of the Warsaw Resistance. Chava’s role in the resistance is unclear, however it took incredible bravery to join any resistance against the Nazis, as discovery meant certain death. Ultimately, Chava's bravery did not save her and she was sent to Auschwitz. In Auschwitz, she crossed paths with the teenage Max Eisenhardt, destined to become Magneto, leaving a mark on him to such a degree that he remembered her upon the utterance of her name, despite the decades that had passed. According to the Shulmans, Chava’s friends in the resistance, Chava and her husband both died in Auschwitz. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #199]

Jewish Diaspora

Samuel’s line did continue, however. Like many European immigrants, he “Americanized” his family name, changing it to Pryde from Prydeman. That we are aware of, he had one son, Carmen. [Note: Kitty Pryde mentioned an aunt Nina in Excalibur (1st series) #11 who had imparted on Kitty some culinary skills. It was never specified if she was a maternal or paternal relative.]

Carmen grew up to become a soldier [X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #36)] and later a banker .[Kitty Pryde and Wolverine series] He married a woman named Theresa, who went by the nickname “Terri.” Theresa's specific occupation is unclear but she worked for the south Chicago clinic. [Excalibur (1st series) #78] The couple had one daughter, Katherine/“Kitty” named for Theresa's mother Katherine. The Pryde’s were living in Deerfield, Illinois when their daughter was entering her teens and she started to develop her mutant powers. Following the emergence of her gifts, she was discovered by Charles Xavier and enrolled in the Xavier School of Gifted Youngsters, becoming a mainstay member of the X-Men. [X-Men (1st series) #129-131]

Like many members of the X-Men, Kitty Pryde was shocked when Professor X had the repentant Magneto join the team. She was further surprised that the two had some shared history due to their mutual, familial connection to the World War II. The two went to meeting of holocaust survivors and their family members on Holocaust Memorial Day. Kitty spoke on behalf of her grandfather, Samuel, who had passed the year prior and recounted the story of her Aunt Chava to the assemblage and that her grandfather had never learned her fate. Magneto informed her that he remembered a Chava from Auschwitz and he introduced her to friends of his, the Shulmans, who had been part of the Warsaw Resistance. The couple knew Chava and her husband and they who informed the young Kitty about the tragedy of her Aunt Chava.

The marriage of the Prydes ultimately ended in divorce, with Carmen passing during a genocide himself a few years later. Carmen was one of the few humans living on the mutant island of Genoshan when it was attacked by Sentinels. His reason for being on the island was never clarified. Carmen died trying to help the mutants around him and was killed in the crossfire. When he knew it was the end, he spoke into a security camera telling his daughter “I love you, you make me proud.” Kitty managed to retrieve the footage. [X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #36]

History repeating itself.

In a dystopian future known as “Days of Future Past,” Kitty (now )Kate lived a very similar life to her Great Aunt Chava. Following the assassination of the Senator Robert Kelly by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, a wave of anti-mutant prejudice swept the United States, culminating in the reintroduction of the Sentinel program. The Sentinels eventually took control of the United States and murdered or incarcerated all superhumans they found. Most of Kate's colleagues in the X-Men were killed and she was one of a handful who were captured. At an unspecified point, she and teammate Piotr also married. It's unclear if this was before or after they were both incarcerated. She made reference to them having children together but it was never clarified if these children were carried to term or if she was subjected to forced abortions as a result of her captivity. [Note: In the parallel retelling of Days of Future Past, Years of Future Past, Kate and Piotr had two children a boy named Cameron and girl named Christina “Chrissie.”]

Despite the loss of her own children, Kate formed a maternal bond with Rachel Summers, the orphaned daughter of her former teammates Jean Grey and Scott Summers. Rachel later described Kate as a surrogate mother. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #192] Rachel's temporal abilities ended up being key in an attempt to save the past. Kate met with her former teammate, Wolverine, who had evaded capture and he gave her override for the power dampeners. With their powers returned, the surviving X-Men made their move. Rachel's powers were used to send Kate back in time to the body of her younger self and stop the assassination of Senator Kelly, while the rest of the X-Men would attempt to destroy the prime sentinel, Mastermold. The plan was partly successful, in so far that Kate stopped Kelly's assassination but this merely diverged the timeline into two. When Kate returned, she found out that the other mission had failed and all the other X-Men, excluding Rachel, had perished against the Sentinels, including her husband.[Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #141-142]  [Note: While Kate and Piotr were married and there was a degree of closeness between himself and Rachel (she did stay with him telepathically when he died), he did not appear to occupy a parental role to Rachel as Kate did.]

After the mission to destroy Mastermold had failed, Kate and Rachel were still at large. Rachel attempted to use her abilities to figure out what went wrong and projected herself back in time, an act that attracted the attention of the Phoenix Force. The intensity of touching the Phoenix rendered Rachel unconscious. While Rachel was asleep, the force appeared to Kate, who pleaded with the it to give Rachel a second chance in the past. The force agreed to supercharge Rachel temporal abilities and send her body and soul back in time upon the utterance of the phrase “Dark Phoenix” by Kate. Kate led Rachel on what was effectively a suicide mission to the headquarters of Project Nimrod, a project to build the most advanced sentinel yet. While on site, Kate activated a nuclear bomb and said the words “Dark Phoenix,” sending her “daughter” back to the past. [Excalibur (1st series) #52]

Kate's phasing powers saved her from dying in the explosion but she was captured by the enemy. During an experiment gone awry, she phased with chronal energies and was somehow transformed. Her consciousness was projected back in time to reside in the floating machine, later named Widget. [Excalibur (1st series) #66] As Kate hoped, Rachel had built a life for herself in the past, joining the X-Men and later founding Excalibur alongside Kate's younger self Kitty, the two forming a sisterly bond. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #185, 188, Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn #1] The consciousness of Kate remained dormant in Widget for quite some time but, despite this, she was innately drawn to her younger self and Rachel. Further, as “Widget,” she remained an ally of Excalibur, despite her inability to communicate. As time went on, Widget took on more human like features and started to regain her memories. As her consciousness started to assert control in her body, her primary goal remained to protect Rachel Summers also reasserted itself. Kate now remembering that the villain Ahab was tracking Rachel through time, returned to her timeline with Excalibur in tow. Reunited, Rachel and Kate used a psi-link to reprogram the sentinels of their world to protect all life, finally liberating their world and defeating Ahab.  [Excalibur (1st series) #66-67]

Excalibur returned back to their own timeline but Widget was nowhere to be seen for several years. In her last appearance, she was in the company of two members of Excalibur, Meggan and Captain Britain, but she was lacking her body. She also appeared to have lost her ability to speak again. It's unclear if Kate Pryde is still residing in this floating head. [Uncanny X-Force (1st series) #21-23] Regardless of Kate's own fate, she achieved the goal of any good mother and secured a better world for her daughter.