Ohris Dehjmal was a sorcerer from the Pre-Cataclysmic Age known over the world for his villainy.
His followers would become regular foes of King Kull of Valusia after he had their master executed.
History
Early years[]
Ohris Dehjmal was a sorcerer known over the world for his villainy.[5] A man of dark invention, he studied and tried to access the resonance power of the elder ones left behind them when they left to a world of their own making at the end of eons of the elder ones, described as "an echo of a death scream".[4]
At his service were his cult[7][8] or disciples,[5] followers,[1] and even hordes.[2] They also called themselves the "sons of Lord Ohris Dejhmal".[3] They were active in Valusia,[2] and even had a sanctuary within the City of Wonders.[5]
Execution[]
As he didn't suffered Ohris Dehjmal's malignancy,[4] King Kull of Valusia had him captured and sentenced him to death, and half of Valusia came to the City of Wonders to witness his beheading. Before losing his head, Ohris threatened Kull, stating that that wouldn't stop him.
To prevent a possible return from Ohris, Kull had his body dismembered and scattered throughout the realm, while his head was kept in the palace under guard.
Two days later, the legionaries who guarded one of Ohris's arm at the Commoria-Valusia frontier were attacked by Ohris' disciples. All parts of him save his head were gathered before the next night, when they attacked the palace dungeon and stole the living talking head. The spell of containment which Ohris had used was wearing off, and so his disciples took him to their sanctuary, where the rest of the body had been gathered. Before they could reassemble him, Kull burst in with Brule (who had found a trail to the sanctuary) and the Red Slayers. All disciples there were slaughtered[5] and his cult subsequently scattered.[7]
The Sea King[]
Kull and Brule sailed for days on the Western Sea, to the deepest part of the sea, where they threw Ohris Dehjmal's boxed head in the waters.[5]
The Chronicles of Magnus Tel Shek and the Book of Ages Past mentions Ohris Dejhmal up to that point.[4]
There, he was found by fishmen inhabiting a city that was ancient before man walked the Earth, who took him as their god (or at least that how Dehjmal presented himself to them). Sensing that Kull was close, on the coastline (inspecting his coastal defenses to be prepared to oppose the Lemurians' raids), he had them to infiltrate the fort maned by Zardis, in order to assassinate Kull. Kull was able to fend the attack. Brule, Alecto soon joined the brawl and slaughtered the assassins, while the fishmen attacked the whole fort. As the assailants were chanting his name, Kull deducted that they were in service of one of his many enemies. Regrouping and leading his forces, Kull was able to push back the fishmen into the sea.
Returning to the city, the beaten fishmen grabbed Ohris' head from the box, stopped obeying and worshiping him, and threw it in the lair of a giant squid.[7] Somehow, the head was returned to the box in the city.[4]
Legacy[]
Ohris Dehjmal's followers kept on trying to avenge him and destroy Kull. One night, they decided to infiltrate the palace and assassinate him. That same night, the followers of the Keeper of the Laws, and worshippers of Kodatha (both having been killed by Kull) also decided to do so. Dehjmal's followers soon stumbled into those of the Keeper of the Laws, and after a bloody skirmish, united. The group was then attacked by the worshippers of Kodatha. Only one of those latter survived the brawl and, heading to Kull's bed, stumbled on a shoe and broke his head on a chest a few feet from Kull, unaware of the events of the night.[1]
It was seemingly considered for a time that his cult was no more,[8] but hordes of Ohris Dehjmal later attacked Kull in the Valusian countryside, wounding him with an arrow, and laying siege to his troop. Leading the Red Slayers, Brule preferred to hold the ground (and guard Kull, whose wound was infected) instead of following Bakas' advice to take the initiative. The next day, Ohris' hordes attacked the camp. As the Red Slayers were weakening against them, Kull emerged from his tent and, sparked by fever, bloodlustly slaughtered the assailants, rallying is troops in doing so.[2] The last of Dehjmal's followers later took camp in the outskirts of Valusia, where they encountered an impostor of Kull, whom they slayed before being themselves slaughtered by the Red Slayers.[3]
At some point, possibly before the Upheaval (as some in the sanctuary stated its foundation predates the cataclysm), the citadel of the sanctuary at Hrishtam was entrusted to conceal the body of Ohris (who lacked the head and left hand). This fact was mentioned in the ancient texts of the Order of Brunes.[4]
Great Cataclysm[]
After the Great Cataclysm, the parts of Ohris Dehjmal were stranded across Hyboria. The fishmen's city and the cask containing the skeleton head ended up in Ophir).[4]
Hyborian Age[]
Circa the Hyborian Age of Conan (circa 10,000 BC), one of the scholars of the sanctuary at Hrishtam was kidnapped while on a pilgrimage. The elders of the citadel traded Ohris' left hand to a sorcerer in Shamiru, in Shem, as part of a ransom. It was then sold to Elophistus from Larsha in Zamora.
Ten years later, the ruins of the fishmen's city were discovered by an excavation led by Quintus, a Aquilonian nobleman from Lor and would-be-scholar. As soon as his workers found the cask containing Dehjmal's skull, Quintus was as bewitched and headed towards Belverus and its library in Nemedia. After acquiring a fine set of Kothian armor, Quintus then slaughtered his way in the sanctuary at Hrishtam to acquired Ohris' body. On site, Quintus achieved the rite to resurrect Ohris, still incomplete, lacking his left hand. They headed to and razed Shamiru, Shem, to retrieve the hand, only to find out it had been sold to Elophistus from Larsha, Zamora. Ohris and Quintus approached the Prince of Larsha for his permission to seek Elophistus, a criminal in Larsha. As Quintus' soldiers and Ohris forced their way into the lair of Elophistus and his thieves, with great casualties on both sides, Elophistus was told by Ohris the object of this slaughter, and consequently threw the hand into the fire, preventing Ohris from ever being whole. Enraged, Ohris slew Elophistus and Quintus, then turned on Quintus' men. Conan and Elophistus' thieves tried to defeat him as well but only Conan survived, saved by an adventuress who decapitated Ohris before uttering her last breath. Conan then fled the scene, as the fire was catching up and devouring Ohris' head, who frantically asked to know Conan's name.[4]Attributes
Powers
Ohris Dehjmal was a sorcerer[5] and a necromancer.[4]
Through his magic, he was able to survive his beheading, existing as a living severed head after having used a spell of containment (which was wearing off in the third day after his beheading,[5] although it seemed to have lasted for a long period afterwards).[7]Paraphernalia
Equipment
Notes
- As a sorcerer from pre-Cataclysmic times, seeking the power of the Elder Ones (a stand-in or a somewhat similar kind of beings than the Great Old Ones), defying death itself, being served by fish-men worshiping Dagon, Ohris Dehjmal is seemingly inspired by sorcerers of the Cthulhu Mythos and its adjacent cycles.
- Ohris' last name was spelled "Dehjhal" and "Dehjmahl" in his introduction story " Pieces of Horror" in Savage Sword of Conan #121 (February, 1986), but was consistently named "Dehjmal" in later stories.[1][2][3][4] thought the Kull Comics Chronology by Fred Blosser in Conan Saga #97 (April, 1995) reprised the first spelling, "Ohris Dehjhal".[6]
See Also
- 3 appearance(s) of Ohris Dehjmal (Earth-616)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Ohris Dehjmal (Earth-616)
- 4 mention(s) of Ohris Dehjmal (Earth-616)
- 1 image(s) of Ohris Dehjmal (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Savage Sword of Conan #135 ; Fool's Night
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Savage Sword of Conan #165 ; Siege
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Savage Sword of Conan #182 ; The Man Who Would Be King
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 Savage Sword of Conan #186 ; Horror Out Of Time
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Savage Sword of Conan #121 ; Pieces of Horror
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Conan Saga #97 ; The Kull Comics Chronology by Fred Blosser: Enemies From the Shadows
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Savage Sword of Conan #132 ; The Sea King
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Savage Sword of Conan #140 ; Nightmare