Saint Walker is an instance of the Blue Lantern Corps character archetype.

Saint Walker and a few other Blue Lanterns were briefly shown in a double page spread in Green Lantern (vol. 4) #25 (vol. 4) #25 (Jan 2008), but the character didn’t appear properly until almost a year later in Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns #1 (Dec 2008). He proved to be an instant success with the fans and and pros alike. JLA writer James Robinson told Newsarama that

I actually wanted to obtain that character [Walker] from Day 1 for the JLA, but I had to wait until it worked with the overall Green Lantern continuity. Geoff was very keen also that I use the character, so it was just a matter of waiting until the right time. When I first saw him, I immediately liked Walker and I saw him as a potential sort of – I don’t know, an alien figure, in the way it would fit my team, in the way that J’onn J’onzz would fit the Big 7. But we had to wait for the right time, coordinating it with Brightest Day and everything else the character was doing with the Green Lantern titles.

See the Blue Lantern archetype for more background.

The Blue Lantern Corps

The Guardians of the Universe had guided the Green Lantern Corps for aeons, but over time they became obsessed with the prophecy of the Blackest Night and with repressing all emotion with their Corps. The secret lovers Ganthet and Sayd disagreed with their brothers and sisters and took individual names in contravention of Guardian tradition. The pair were banished from the Guardian Council, but Ganthet refused to leave his favourite Green Lanterns (Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner) unprepared. He revealed to them the secrets of the “emotional spectrum” and how a Corps would arise to champion each colour. Those Corps would meet in a “War of Light” which would herald the coming “Blackest Night.” Sayd and Ganthet then departed for the sacred garden world of Odym and forged the first ring of a new corps. They creation was a blue power ring driven by hope, the first “weapon” for their new Blue Lantern Corps (“Sinestro Corps War”, Green Lantern (vol. 4) #21-25 (Sept 2007-Jan 2008)).

Bro’dee Walker

The planet of Astonia was dying as its sun died. Society was collapsing and riots were common place, but Bro’dee Walker continued to preach the scriptures to the congregation at the Temple (even if that congregation numbered no more than his own family). Bro’dee was convinced that his god would sent a messiah to lead their people to salvation for it was written in his sacred texts that “As death lights up the sky and seas boil, there will be a messiah who will save us from ourselves, who will be found on the very top of Mount Helious by the believer.” Bro’dee and his family set off on the dangerous trek to the summit of Mount Helious to meet the Messiah. Even after his father fell to his death, his daughter and wife were swept away, and his beloved son ate poisoned fruit Bro’dee still continued towards the summit. Yet he found that the mountain peak was bare save for a large standing stone. Walker yelled into the clouds “Show me the Messiah, Damn You! SHOW ME!”

It then started raining and Bro’dee Walker turned to see his own face reflected back at him in the wet surface of the standing stone. Bro’dee finally understood that he had to become his own messiah and walked back to the rioting crowds he had once turned his back upon. He started talking to them and first one person, then another and another stopped to listen to him preach that “Live life every day as it were the first and the last for they are both a celebration. And where you face the end, face it together.” It was then that a miracle came to Astonia. A brilliant blue ring plunged through Astonia’s dying red-sun turning it young and blue again. The ring continued down to the surface of his world and circled through the crowd until it announced “Bro’dee Walker of Astonia. You have the ability to instil great hope.” Blue light surged around him and Bro’dee Walker became Saint Walker of the Blue Lantern Corps (Blackest Night Tales of the Corps #1 (Sept 2009)).

War of Light/Blackest Night

Walker came to the Blue Lantern homeworld of Odym which circles the North Star. It was is there that Ganthet and Sayd built their Central Blue Lantern Battery. It was then his responsibility to select the first Blue Lantern from Space Sector 2. Walker chose the elephant like Brother Warth who came to Odym for three-days of consultations with Ganthet and Sayd before taking up his ring. Ganthet had sensed the rise of Atrocitus’s Red Lanterns and their intention to murder Sinestro, leader of the yellow Sinestro Corps. He believed that Sinestro was vital to defeating the evil contained within the Blackest Night prophecy and dispatched Saint Walker to save him – the Oan Guardians had sentenced Sinestro to death for making war against them and had arranged for his public execution on Korugar (his home world).

Saint Walker found the Green Lanterns escorting Sinestro being ambushed by detachments of Red Lanterns (looking to kill Sinestro) and Sinestro Corps members (looking to free Sinestro). Green Lantern Hal Jordan and his allies were caught in the middle and Jordan had became partially infected by Red Lantern blood rage. Saint Walker used his blue ring to save Jordan and told him that be believed Ganthet wanted Jordan to lead the new Blue Lanterns Corps. However, Hal told him that “I won’t abandon my Corps for another.” Nevertheless, they worked together to free Sinestro from the Red Lantern homeworld of Ysmault. While there Hal Jordan’s was completely over come by the Red Lantern blood and the only way Walker could save him was by placing his own Blue Lantern ring on Hal’s hand. Its azure hope energy purged the red rage from Jordan’s body (“Rage of the Red Lanterns”, Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns #1 (Dec 2008), Green Lantern (vol. 4) 36-38 (March 2009).

By handing his ring to Hal Jordan Saint Walker had saved his life, but they were then unable to remove the ring from Jordan’s hand. The Oan Guardians questioned Jordan’s possession of the blue ring, but their inquiry was diverted by the reappearance of the Orange Lantern (Larfleeze) in the Vegan star system. The blue ring kept interfering with Hal’s green ring until he allowed himself to feel hope and it accepted him. It then expelled all its energy and then flew off to find a new Blue Lantern candidate. During their encounter Larfleeze had became obsessed with possessing a Blue Ring and the Oan Guardians bought peace with him by betraying the location of Odym to him. Saint Walker had returned to Odym to receive a new ring and was helping to induct Sister Sercy into the Blue Lantern Corps when Larfleeze’s Orange Lanterns descended upon Odym and attempted to steal the Central Blue Lantern Battery (“Agent Orange”, Green Lantern (vol. 4) #39-42 (Apri-Aug 2009)).

As the battle between the Orange and Blue Lanterns raged the yellow Sinestro Corps were battling the purple Star Sapphires and the Red Lanterns were battling the Green Lanterns. This was the War of Light that was foretold to precede the Blackest Night. The various Corps were so wrapped up by their own battles that they didn’t notice the rise of the Nekron’s undead Black Lanterns until they were ambushed. Only on Odym, a world that had never known death, did the Black Lantern rings hold back. Indigo-1 of the Indigo Tribe made contract with Hal Jordan and they began to collect representatives from each of the other Corps – Sinestro of the Sinestro Corps, Carol Ferris of the Star Sapphires, Atrocitus of the Red Lanterns, and then Saint Walker as a representative of the Blue Lanterns. Together they discovered that the Black Lanterns could only be destroyed by combining the light from two different Corps. The cost of Larfleeze’s cooperation was for Sayd to pledge her never-ending servitude to him (Green Lantern (vol. 4) #45-48 (Oct 2009-Jan 2010)).

Saint Walker and this group of “New Guardians” followed Nekron’s trail to Earth where they found themselves amid millions of Black Lanterns raised from the dead of Coast City. In order to boost their own numbers Ganthet resigned his Guardianship of the Blue Lanterns and took up a Green Lantern ring. He also triggered the New Guardians rings to divide and seek out temporary deputies. Walker’s ring was the first to find a deputy in Barry Allen (the Flash) and transformed him into the first Blue Lantern of Space Sector 2814. They helped protect the Entity (the embodiment of life) from Nekron’s attack and through its power defeated the Black Lanterns. However the Blue Lanterns were left without their original Guardians – Ganthet had stood down and Sayd was shackled to Larfleeze’s bargain (Blackest Night #5-8 (Jan-May 2010)).

The New Guardians agreed to a truce between their factions, but their lives still remained intertwined with each other and with the Earth. Saint Walker remained behind on Earth to help the Flash rebury the dead. The Flash, now no longer with a Blue Lantern ring of his own, restored the graves that been desecrated by the Black Rings as Walker followed him with a prayer of hope said over each grave. The last body to be returned to the ground was Victor Szaz, the original Question, who was turned to his grave in Nanda Parbat with Rene Montoya (this successor as the Question) in attendance (Green Lantern (vol. 4) #53, 56 (June, Sept 2010)).

Adara, the Entity of Hope

Krona, the Guardian’s first exile, had returned from nothingness and had begun collecting the Entities – the totem parasite/creatures which directly embody each Corps – and his targets include Adara, the Hope Entity. The New Guardians became aware of the threat to the Entities through the White Lantern which the Life Entity had left behind, but they were unaware of Krona’s involvement. They knew that the Entities were on Earth and began a search for them. Saint Walker in particular considered Earth to be blessed because of Adara’s presence (Green Lantern (vol. 4) #53-56 (June-Sept 2010)).

In Livonia, Michigan the worried parents of missing fourteen-year old Nicole Morrison prayed for her safe return. She was being held by a child kidnapper, but her declaration of forgiveness drew Adara to her. It bonded with Nicole and freed her from her imprisonment. Saint Walker, Hal Jordan, and Larfleeze found her on a roof-top watching a crowd who had gathering below. She retained her own name and wanted to give hope to the people below. However, they were interrupted by the arrival of the Flash, then of the Indigo tribe, and then by Krona himself. He ripped the Entities, including Adara, from their hosts and overwhelmed Walker and the New Guardians. The Blue Lantern helped the civilians to safety while Hal Jordan battled Krona, but he was too powerful and escaped with the entities.

Flash and the Justice League were concerned about the New Guardian’s activities, but Hal preferred to keep the hunt for Krona contained to the representatives of the Lantern Corps. Walker and the New Guardians followed Krona’s trail to the dead world of Ryut, but it was a trap and all save Hal Jordan were sucked into the pages of the Book of the Black – the secret record of the Guardian’s early history. Saint Walker and others became phantoms with its pages while their power rings dropped to the floor. On Oa Krona bound the stolen Entities to his fellow Guardians and initiated a civil war within the Green Lantern Corps between those he controlled through their rings and the human Lanterns, Ganthet, and Kilowog who were somehow immune to his power (Green Lantern (vol. 4) #58-64 (Nov 2010-May 2011)).

A Blue Lantern’s ring is superficially like that of a Green Lantern. It provides interstellar flight, communication, and basic protection, but the constructs it manifests are driven by a target’s hopes and soothe rather than attack. For example when Saint Walker purged the Red Lantern rage out of John Stewart his construct took for form of John’s late wife. The ring is a facilitator for others and not so much a weapon itself. They have a symbiotic relationship with a Green Lantern ring for when “hope” and “willpower” are combined that can achieve more that either alone. This includes the near miraculous ability to regenerate, to “de-age” dying stars turning them young and blue again. A Blue Lantern in proximity to a Green Lantern will re-charge the other’s ring. Whilst a Blue Lantern will have a negative affect on a Sinestro Corp’s ring as “hope” overcomes “fear” (Blackest Night Tales of the Corps #1 (Sept 2009)).