Billions of years ago, the oldest known sentient beings in existence, the Guardians of the Universe, created an inter-galactic police force to serve and protect the universe, which they mapped out as the 3600 sectors of space. The Guardians recruited only the finest beings from a multitude of planets; only those capable of overcoming great fear.

The Guardians armed this group, known as the Green Lantern Corps, with power rings capable of harnessing the green spectrum of light, the 'emotion' of willpower, which is collected and stored in the Central Power Battery on Oa. A Green Lantern unleashes the power of the ring by channeling their own willpower.

The life of a Lantern is filled with countless tests of strength and will. It has been reported that the average life span of a Green Lantern is four years, three months, one day, thirteen hours, and seven minutes. Despite these grim statistics, the Green Lantern Corps has endured for countless millennia.

Although a Lantern may fall in combat, or by the hazards of space, his power ring will carry on and seek out a worthy successor to carry on the fight. Although many have died, their deeds and their sacrifice are forever remembered.

Those brave souls who gave their lives in the service of the Corps live on in the Crypts of Oa. Under the watchful eye of the Lantern's Crypt Keeper Morro, the Honored Fallen Lanterns are memorialized; their images preserved in perpetual statues of Oan energy. The Fallen Lanterns serve to honor those who came before, and inspire those that now serve.