Garnok comes from a race of conquerors. They worship only gods of war and death and conquest is life to them.

Garnok crash landed on a planet where he was greeted by the peaceful Elowan. They believed him to be an incarnation of one of their gods and worshiped him, building him an enormous shrine. He grew bored of this eventually and had them all commit suicide by eating the petals of the Vijing plant, which was poison to them.

When the Silver Surfer arrived there to see the peaceful people he had come to enjoy he discovered what happened. He demanded justice and proposed to battle Garnok, who was anxious to oblige.

Garnok, equipped in his full battle gear was able to absorb the Surfer's energy and redirect it at him with the use of his special battle shield. But the amount of energy it could absorb was limited and the Surfer destroyed him with an incredible blast. Even then, Garnok was calm and ready for death.

But Garnok appeared to not be truly dead. He has appeared as a ghost to the Surfer, claiming that he will forever remind him of his past horrors.

He brought the Surfer to a place of death, a type of nether realm, where billions of those the Surfer had brought death upon as Galactus' herald awaited their own justice. The first trip to this place caught the Surfer completely off guard, unaware of the guilt he should possess because Galactus had turned that part of his mind off. He realized his hands were covered in blood and almost could not bear the guilt. It seems Garnok just wished to give him a taste of what was in store for him and realeased him.

Garnok brought the Surfer back to this place a second time, while the Surfer was carrying a virus that causes hallucinations. At first he thought this was not real, but Garnok assured him that it was. He was again attacked by those who he brought death upon. He escaped to a cave and met Captain Marvel, who offered to distract the hordes of being for Surfer to be able to meet their leader. He met the leader, which turned out to be the dark side of himself. In the end he merged with his evil side.

Garnok then revealed to the Surfer that he had made his choice to combine himself with the half of himself that tried to conquer him. The other half he left behind was represented by Captain Marvel, the side that tried to guide him. The choice was permanent, and it seemed that Garnok was trying to help the Surfer, telling him he must make the most of the choice he had made. He allowed the Surfer to leave this realm once more.