#inspired by an old comic where Abin Sur gets the ring from his predecessor Starkaðr in an exact parallel of him and Hal

[incorrect-green-lantern-quotes]

heavy is the hand that wears the ring

"We die so that innocents don't, it's as simple as that. When you put on the ring, the life you lead stops being your own." -Deegan (Green Lantern: Emerald Knights)

There's a heaviness to Green Lantern rings that has nothing to do with the cosmic metals they're forged from, or the incomprehensibly advanced technology packed into them. Some say it's the weight of responsibility, Green Lanterns are charged with protecting the innocent across the universe. And sure, if you're any sort of hero who takes their duty seriously, this is part of it. But it's not the whole.

Every Green Lantern knows that the rings only seek out new wearers when the previous one is no longer fit to serve. A nicer way of saying that they are dead (or are as good as dead to their former comrades, if they've turned oathbreaker). To grow old in the Corps is a privilege, but no Green Lantern ever lives long enough to retire, because the sentients who are chosen to wear the ring are not the kind of people who can ignore the call to arms even when it will kill them.

For some, the ring comes shining from the heavens like a falling star, wiped clean of any trace of its last bearer. They're only told that they were chosen for their ability to overcome great fear and welcomed to the Corps like it's an honor and not a death sentence. Not that it would make a difference. Others take the ring from the broken and bloody fingers of their dying predecessors, and they swear the oath anyway.

(There are many kinds of courage, and the Guardians of the Universe learned long ago that the most useful is the kind that can look death in the eye and keep marching forward.)

There is a heaviness to Green Lantern rings that comes from the countless souls who have died wearing them. It is the weight of lives that will be lost in a cycle as endless as the circle that is the heart of the Corps' symbol. Your predecessor died for you to receive this ring. Before them was someone else. When you die, it will pass on to another. And so forth.

There's blood on your (successor's) ring, and it isn't will be yours.