Vandal Savage is born in 1227 in Eastern Europe, allegedly the son of a far traveling Mongol marauder and a local Old Prussian tribewoman. He grows up under the threat of war, fighting fiercely against the Teutonic Knights for the survival of his people. He eventually partakes in the Pit of the Untitled, giving himself immortality in a bid to save his people. However, the Old Prussians are still utterly destroyed by the Knights, resulting in Savage assimilating into the new Christian culture and hiding his abilities.

He would go on to be involved in many unsavory things as while his body did not decay with age, his morality did. Still Savage desired death many at times, and made multiple attempts at procuring a successor - Vlad the Impaler, Blackbeard, Napoleon, and Jack the Ripper being among them. He was also an integral part to the German Imperial Court following the rise of Otto Von Bismarck, all the while running his own demented murder schemes on the side.

Savage would eventually find a successor, and none too soon as he was assassinated by a group of British commandos during a raid on his castle in World War I shortly after bestowing his access to the Pit of the Untitled to Ra's al Ghul who would go on to name it the Lazarus Pit.