Kent Nelson was born in 1928 to Sven Nelson, a noted archaeologist, and Celestine Babcock Nelson, a spiritual medium. Celestine died under unknown circumstances shortly after Kent's birth, and Kent became a tagalong for his globe-trotting father.
In 1940, Sven and Kent were conducting a dig in the Valley of Ur in Mesopotamia when the younger Nelson stumbled upon an ancient sarcophagus containing the giant body of the mystic, Nabu the Wise. Upon opening the sarcophagus, Kent released poison gas which immediately killed his father.
Nabu, a mystical Lord of Order originally from the planet Cilia, took pity on the boy and used his magic to block the grief from the young boy's mind. Over the intervening months, Nabu schooled the boy in the ways of mysticism, teaching him to cast spells and fly. During this time, Kent aged years instead of weeks and had grown to adulthood by late summer.
Kent had grown fond of Nabu, but the Lord of Order required one last act, his own death. Hesitant, Nabu removed the inhibitions he had placed on his student's grief. Enraged by his father's death, Kent slew the old wizard. His body destroyed, Nabu revealed his true nature: an energy being, a millennia-old Lord of Order. Presenting Kent with two gifts: a helm and an amulet, he was joined with Nabu who used his body as an agent against the Lords of Chaos, becoming Dr. Fate.
If their is one character I love more than the SPectre it is Dr. Fate. Not that knife wielding creative abortion, but the blue and gold Kent Nelson, Hector Hall, or the current mantle holder Kent V. Nelson.