Leng Plateau

This page possibly merges different locations (see notes), and could be split in the future depending on the publication of new material (Discuss).

Leng Plateau / Leng
Name	Leng Plateau / Leng
Aliases	Plateau of Leng, Plains of Leng
Location Details
Reality	Earth-616, Earth-10011, Earth-TRN566
Galaxy	Milky Way
Star System	Sol
Planet	Earth
Continent	Antarctica
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Roy Thomas, Mike Docherty
First	Conan the Savage #3 (September, 1995)
First	Conan the Savage #3 (September, 1995)

Leng was a land in the Frozen Land of the Hyborian Age.

The Mountains of Madness, where the Old Ones built at least some of their cities eons ago, was set within Leng. After the fall of the Old Ones to the Shoggoths, Leng came to be inhabited by albino "snow-skins" humans, and was visited by Conan of Cimmeria and Bêlit, pirate-queen of the Black Coast.

In the Modern Age, the Plateau of Leng persisted in the Antarctic. It was also mentioned in invocations, or while referring to artifacts.

History

Carving in the Mountains of Madness of the Old Ones arriving on Earth

Rise and Fall of the Old Ones

The star-headed Old Ones were a strange elder race that came from the stars, and who settled on Earth.

Carving of the Shoggoths in the Mountains of Madness killing the Old Ones

Served by their slaves, the Shoggoths, huge tentacled lumps or blobs, the Old Ones built a gigantic city in the Mountains of Madness.

Those Old Ones seemingly lost of their skill at the time they built a second city nearby.

Eventually, the Shoggoths killed their masters, and at least one of them remained in the Mountains of Madness, where it ushered the word "tekeli-li" relentlessly.

Hyborian Age / Neolithic

At some point, albino-skinned humans came to live in the land of Leng, sometimes leaving the Mountains of Madness during the warm season. They eventually came to fear the monstrous Shoggoth, which they named after its cry, "Tekeli-li", "the Death that Flows".

The legends about "snow-skins", a "great isle of ice",, the Frozen Land, and the fabled Mountains of Madness eventually spread at least to the Southern Isles.

During the Hyborian Age of Conan, the snow-skins were ruled by the Snow Queen. Her daughter, Ta-No, was born to become queen herself, but ran away, preferring to risk death rather than fulfill the path chosen for her. She was eventually captured by Stygians, taken by Conan, Bêlit and the Black Corsairs, hoping she could lead them to the vast riches of the south and to the fabled Mountains of Madness. Escaping the Silver Isles where Ghomli usurped Bêlit's rule, and with Ghomli on their trail, they headed south, eventually reaching the Frozen Land. From the coast, they walked for days, until they reached Leng, where they were captured by Ta-No's people. Sentenced to death (save for Conan who was to become Ta-No's mate), the party escaped as Ghomli's party and a Shoggoth both arrived. The Snow Queen was killed by one of Ghomli's men, Conan destroyed the Shoggoth and slew Ghomli after he hurled a vengeful Ta-No to her death. Conan, Bêlit and the Black Corsairs then left the place.

During the Neolithic, scrying stones were seemingly used by denizens of the Leng Plateau. At some point, Ulysses Bloodstone somehow came into possession of a set of those scrying stones, which ended up in his curios.

Modern Age

Doctor Strange once summoned the Winds of Watoomb from the "distant plains" of Leng.

Doctor Barrington somehow learned of older forms of science lying at the Plateau of Leng. After being evicted from Orchis and evading her termination, She had Kruger to carry her to Leng, where she intended to master that science before facing their enemies again.

Facts

Geology

Leng was seemingly rich with gems which weren't found in Stygia.

Language

Please consult here the known vocabulary of Leng.

Alternate realities

Cancerverse (Earth-10011)

The Revengers, the agents and worshipers of the Many-Angled Ones and Outer Gods, possessed an item known as the Leng Lens, which Scarlet Witch used to analyse Earth-616's Quasar and track his energy trail, as a way to find the Fault and invade his universe.

Earth-TRN566

From Salem Center, New York, as the N'Garai were awakening the slumbering Dweller-in-Darkness, Erich Zann noted the Hounds of the Tindalos baying in the frozen wastes beyond Leng.

Points of Interest

• Mountains of Madness

Residents

Residents included, at different eras:

• An unnamed tribe of albinos, including Ta-No and her mother the Snow Queen
• Shoggoths
• Old Ones

Notes

• Leng is a fictional cold arid plateau in the Cthulhu Mythos, created by H.P. Lovecraft in "Celephaïs" (written in November, 1920, and first published in The Rainbow, May 1922), and whose location has varied: In Antarctica, in Central Asia, and in the northern Dreamlands. Consequently, that page may merge information on different versions of Leng.
  • As the land of the Mountains of Madness, created by Lovecraft in the novel "At the Mountains of Madness" (1936), it was seemingly inspired by elements of Tsalal, and by the further southern mysterious land depicted by chapters XXI to XXV, at the end of the novel "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym" (1838), by Edgar Allan Poe. Concepts from both of those tales were used for the part 2 and 3 of "The Stalker of the Snows", in Conan the Savage #3 and 4 (October and November, 1995), written by Roy Thomas and Mike Docherty.
  • So far, only the Plateau of Leng in the Antarctic/Frozen Land has been confirmed. Other mentions don't elaborate on which Leng, though a few, such as Erich Zann's mention of the "Hounds of the Tindalos baying in the frozen wastes beyond Leng" in Adventures of the X-Men #4 (July, 1996) or Doctor Strange summoning the Winds of Watoomb from the "distant plains" of Leng in Doctor Strange: Nexus of Nightmares #1 (April 20, 2022) could likely be mentioning the land of Leng set in the Dreamlands.

See Also

• 2 appearance(s) of Leng Plateau
• 4 mention(s) of Leng Plateau
• 1 invocation(s) of Leng Plateau
• 1 image(s) of Leng Plateau
• 4 article(s) related to Leng Plateau

Links and References

• Leng (plateau) at Wikipedia
• Plateau of Leng and Leng (Antarctica) at the H.P. Lovecraft Wiki
• Leng at the H.P.Lovecraft's Dreamlands Wiki