- "My father told me that someday I'd understand. That my actions have consequences. I guess this is what he meant. "
- — Jor-El Relic
Jor-El's and Zor-El's father was a Kryptonian and member of the House of El.
Early life[]
Apparently, Jor-El had a strained relationship with his father, as it was strongly implied by him, when he commented to Louise McCallum that he wasn't a "model son."
In 1961, as a young man around the age of 26, Jor-El was sent to Smallville by his father as a Kryptonian rite of passage. During his trip to Earth, Jor-El interfaced with a memory pendant, implanting inside it his own memories that he was supposed to give to his father after he returned to Krypton but it had too many bad memories attached to it. Because of that, before he left Earth, Jor-El decided to use the Key to open a small compartment in the cave wall, hiding the memory pendant so that his father would never learn of his human experiences.
It is implied he passed down the scientist council ring to Jor-El, as per tradition, who in turn passed it down to Clark.
He possibly died along with the rest of the population of Krypton, when the planet was destroyed.
Appearances[]
- Season Two: Redux (referenced only), Rosetta (referenced only)
- Season Three: Relic (Mentioned only)
- Season Nine: Kandor (Mentioned only)
- Smallville: The Visual Guide
Notes[]
- He was mentioned several times by his oldest son in Season Three's episode, Relic, but without indicating a name.
- Clark never met his grandfather because he was transported to Earth before Krypton's destruction, but he met his adoptive grandfather, William Clark, in Redux.
- It was implied that the father of Jor-El's father sent him to Earth, just as Jor-El's father sent Jor-El, as a rite of passage.
In the Comics[]
Seyg El as he appears in the comics.
During the Silver Age, Jor-El's father was named also Jor-El. In the post-Crisis comics continuity, Jor-El's father is named Seyg-El. In Kevin J. Anderson's novel The Last Days of Krypton, Jor-El's father is named Yar-El.
Seyg-El's name is a derivation of Siegel, the surname of Superman co-creator, Jerry Siegel.
Seyg-El was a noble Lord of the House of El, one of the most respected families on all of the planet, Krypton. The Master of the Gestation Chambers selected Seyg-El from the Register of Citizens to mate with a woman of compatible genetic lineage. Together they sired a son whom Seyg-El named, Jor-El. Seyg-El's relationship with Jor-El lacked any true familial passion, and he regarded his son as an embarrassing maverick - ignorant of proper Kryptonian traditions.
By the time Jor-El was fifteen-years-old, a respected man named Zon-Em died of a wave of deadly radiation and his chosen mate, Lara, was left without a suitable partner to whom she could father a child. The Master of the Gestation Chamber selected Jor-El's name from the Register of Citizens and approached Seyg-El with the proposition. Seyg-El realized that his son had not yet participated in the Kryptonian rite of passage into adulthood, but felt it prudent to inform him of the great opportunity the Lords had bestowed upon him. Jor-El was indeed honored for the chance to continue the family line, but brought his father great embarrassment when he requested to actually meet the woman with whom he would procreate. Seyg-El considered such an appeal extremely unorthodox by the sterile traditions of Kryptonian culture, and subsequently flew into a rage. However, the Master of the Gestation Chambers granted the request, and Jor-El soon married the young librarian, Lara.
Years later, Seyg-El died during Krypton's destruction.
In light of the many revisions attributed to Superman's origin as a result of the Superman: Birthright limited series, this character is no longer considered part of modern continuity.