Posted in: DC Universe, TV | Tagged: cw, entertainment, krypton, steve gerber, supergirl, television, Valley of Juru

Supergirl Season 3: What is the Valley of Juru?

Published Tue, 08 May 2018 18:15:54 -0500

If you ask anyone what is Superman's biggest weakness, just about everyone is going to say kryptonite and that would be true for both the Man of Steel and for Supergirl. But a close second is magic. And while the Arrowverse has been diving into the concept of magic over the last couple season, it hasn't really popped up on the more scientific based Supergirl series. Until now. With the introduction of the Worldkillers came the glyph Reign uses which Kara (Melissa Benoist) checked with the hologram of Alura (Erica Durance) and found that it came from the Juru, a group of early Kryptonians that were wiped out of the history books as Krypton grew into the science-based society we see now. The hologram explains that the glyph predates their recorded history and comes from the area of the planet where all life on Krypton started. We find out more on them in ancient passages that Thomas Coville (Chad Lowe) found and spoke of how the Juru created the Worldkillers.

Last night the Juru came up again as Supergirl recognizes the alternate reality that she goes to as the Valley of Juru. It's the same place that Sam (Odette Annable), Julia (Kris Marshall) and Grace (Angela Zhou) go when Reign, Purity and Pestilence take over. Why was this so easy for Kara to recognize?

The comic history of the Valley of Juru is brief. It was created by Steve Gerber and Gene Colan in the pages of Phantom Zone #3 (1982) as a region of Krypton where a group of mystics lives called the Wizards of Juru. These were sorcerer Kryptonians that kept mostly to themselves and were more legend and lore to the rest of the society. Most notable of this group was Thul-Kar, who upon learning of the planets impending doom worked with his fellow wizards to transport himself in the Phantom Zone, making him one of the last sons of Krypton.

Having watched last night's episode I thought that fact Supergirl ended up in that same Valley was coincidental/lazy writing. Why would she go to the exact same place that Sam goes to? But seeing that it's the Valley of Juru and that the Worldkillers were using magic to block out the sun, logic has to go out the window a little and you have to accept the new rules of magic. Problem is that the show didn't do anything to establish the rules of magic yet. Something they will need to establish.

But my biggest question is still the one I asked before. Why could Kara recognize the valley so easily? The Valley of Juru was on the continent of Lurvan, an unexplored area of Krypton. It was also unpenetrable to Kryptonian technology, meaning that most Kryptonians had never seen it other than the Wizards who didn't share much with others. I'd really like the answer to that one. But making Reign Kryptonian and magical does explain why she is so powerful.

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