Thoth-Amon was a Stygian wizard of great power and a long-time enemy of Conan during the Hyborian Age.
History
Early years[]
Thoth-Amon was born in Stygia, many years before the Age of Conan (circa 10,000 BC) than it is natural for a man to have lived.
In his youth, Thoth-Amon was sent to the seminary as an acolyte, deep within the marshes of the River Styx. There, he quickly proved himself to the Priests of Set as the worst student they had ever seen, refusing instruction from anyone and claiming he would dominate them all someday. His arrogance and defiance grew in spite of his punishments. Consequently, they punished all the other acolytes except for Thoth-Amon, causing the priests to discipline him themselves. While being tied and hang upside-down and whipped by his acolytes using snakes, Thoth-Amon prayed for the first time in his life, to Set, the God of Serpents. Afterwards, Thoth-Amon became a model student, dominating many or all fields.
When came the night of the Final Trial, in which the acolytes are tasked to bring a sacrifice to demonstrate their commitment to Set, Thoth-Amon bound with snakes the door of a temple where acolytes and priests were gathered, trapping them inside, before setting the temple ablaze with lava tar, presenting his own offering to the serpent god, and ordaining himself as a priest of Set, with his god's blessing. Set appeared before Thoth-Amon in the form of a large serpent, and instructed him to recover the Serpent Ring, which was buried in a hidden tomb since the dawn of man.
Many years later, and after "paying a dreadful price", Thoth-Amon finally claimed the Serpent Ring of Set. With its power, he became feared by both king and commoner alike.[5]
"Countless centuries" (according to Morophla), or decades (according to Uathacht, possibly a lie) before the Age of Conan, Thoth-Amon came to power and drove Uathacht and Morophla out of Stygia, cursing them into apparent vampires,[2] or rather Darkhold-created vampiric precursors.[6][7]
More than a century before the Age of Conan, while Kulan Gath was away in the north, plotting with and against Queen Vammatar, Thoth-Amon usurped his primacy among the sorcerers of Stygia.[8]
Hyborian Age of Conan[]
By the Age of Conan, circa 10,000 BC, Thoth-Amon was the most feared of the Stygian wizards, and commanded the spawn of Set, including the Man-Serpent.
He was rivaled from outside by Kulan-Gath, who sought to rule the world,[9] from the Inner Circle by the sorcerers Uathacht and Morophla who aimed to rule over Stygia,[2] but also from within the ranks of the Black Ring, where some members disdained his dominance,[10] including Thutothemes.[11] Other sorcerers, such as Kulan Gath,[9] Uathacht, and Morophla, feared that Thoth-Amon could send spies or assassins after them.[2]
Thoth-Amon had a bowl containing the Man-Serpent[12] Sschaarronn[13] anonymously carried to Hanumar to slay Karanthes, priest of Ibis, but the Man-Serpent was destroyed in Numalia by Conan, who had been sent to steal the contents of the bowl, believed to be a treasure.[12]
The Serpent Ring was eventually stolen from Thoth-Amon by a Shemitish thief.[5] After losing his Serpent Ring, Thoth-Amon came into the services of Ascalante, a nobleman of Aquilonia and member of the Rebel Four, a group planning a coup against King Conan. He rediscovered the Ring in the possession of Dion, also a member of the Rebel Four. Thoth-Amon killed Dion, taking back his ring, and summoned the Ape-beast Sandal to kill Conan.[14]
After the assassination attempt by the Rebel Four, King Conan figured the mastermind to be Dion, who never showed up for the assassination. He led a group of soldiers to Dion's palace and walked into another trap/spell set by Thoth-Amon. Thoth himself was there in spirit only, having already started his journey to find and kill Ascalante's friend, to prevent him from revealing Thoth's whereabouts to his enemies in Stygia. Thoth-Amon had designed the trap to kill Ascalante, should he escape the monster ape, but he was only too happy to allow it to take out Conan. Conan used up the last of Epimetrius' energy in his sword breaking out of Thoth-Amon's trap.[15]
Verify/complete: Thoth-Amon was killed by Prince Conn of Aquilonia, son of Conan. His body crumpled to dust shortly after his death.[16] However, the Serpent Ring proved able to summon back Thoth-Amon's spirit and create a new body for him.[17] The sorcerer went on to make several more appearances and was killed again in Conan the King #55 (November, 1989).
Thoth-Amon eventually recovered the Serpent Ring. While recounting his ordeal in a tavern, he was mocked by the patrons, until he unleashed the power of the Ring and slaughtered everyone in the establishment.[5]Attributes
Powers
Thoth-Amon was known to be the most powerful sorcerer of the Hyborian Age, by Kulan Gath's own admittance.[18] However, his powers waxed and waned from near-limitless power[citation needed] to simple tricks.[citation needed]
Advanced longevity: Thoth-Amon lived unnaturally long.[5]Abilities
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Weapons
The Black Ring - a ring in the form of a serpent by which Thoth-Amon seemed to derive some of his eldritch powers.[citation needed]
He could use the Serpent Ring to summon serpent-shafted weapons (such as a snake used as throwing dagger, or an axe whose blade was set on a shaft made of intertwined serpents).Notes
- Thoth-Amon was created by Robert E. Howard for Conan's debut story "The Phoenix on the Sword" (1932). In this story, Conan and Thoth-Amon happen to have enemies in common. Thoth-Amon's plot to eliminate his enemies ends up almost killing Conan as well. The two characters did not meet in person, and were mostly unaware of each other's existence. Howard included plots and mentions of Thoth-Amon in several other Conan stories, but the sorcerer and Conan never met in person in his works. However, the pastiche writers, who continued writing Conan stories following Howard's death, felt that Thoth-Amon was the closest thing to an archenemy Conan ever had. They greatly expanded Thoth-Amon's role in their stories, and the Marvel Comics writers mostly followed their example. The Earth-616 versions of the two characters had a long-running series of hostile encounters, starting with Conan in his early 20s and ending with a middle-aged Conan who has a grown-up son.
- While Conan ages several decades following his initial encounter with Thoth-Amon, the Stygian sorcerer does not appear to age at all. The Stygian princess Neftha, a recurring character later reigning as "King" Ctesphon III, recalls in Conan the Barbarian #89 (August, 1978) an encounter with an adult Thoth-Amon from her early childhood. Neftha is supposed to be of a similar age to Conan himself at this point, and the implication is that Thoth-Amon is considerably older than both of them. In King Conan (Vol. 2) #6 (July 6, 2022), his youth is stated to occurs "more years ago than should be natural for any man to have lived". There are various hints in other stories that Thoth-Amon is using his magical powers to extend his life, and that he might have been over a century old by the time he met Conan.
- Thoth-Amon was originally killed by Prince Conn of Aquilonia, son of Conan, in King Conan #4 (December, 1980). His body crumpled to dust shortly after his death. However, as seen in a flashback in Conan the King #27 (March, 1985), the Serpent Ring proved able to summon back Thoth-Amon's spirit and create a new body for him. The sorcerer went on to make several more appearances and was killed again in Conan the King #55 (November, 1989).
- In Marvel Two-In-One #66 (August, 1980), Hugh Jones summons forth mystical constructs of everyone who wore the Serpent Crown and the Cobra Crown before him. Among the other constructs is a version of Thoth-Amon, though it's unclear if this is a mere image of him or a cameo appearance of his spirit. This is the only appearance of Thoth-Amon in the modern Marvel Universe.
Trivia
- Stygia was created by Robert E. Howard as the Hyborian Age counterpart and predecessor to ancient Egypt, and the Stygian gods and characters in Conan stories are often named after the Egyptian pantheon of Earth-1218. In Thoth-Amon's case, he is named after the gods Thoth and Amon.
See Also
- 37 appearance(s) of Thoth-Amon (Earth-616)
- 1 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Thoth-Amon (Earth-616)
- 4 minor appearance(s) of Thoth-Amon (Earth-616)
- 29 mention(s) of Thoth-Amon (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Thoth-Amon (Earth-616)
- 1 invocation(s) of Thoth-Amon (Earth-616)
- 10 image(s) of Thoth-Amon (Earth-616)
- 3 item(s) used/owned by Thoth-Amon (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 King Conan (Vol. 2) #6
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Conan the Barbarian #43
- ↑ Savage Sword of Conan #191
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Conan the Barbarian #52
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 King Conan (Vol. 2) #5
- ↑ Marvel Zombies: The Book of Angels, Demons & Various Monstrosities #1 ; Vampires' profile
- ↑ Vampires: The Marvel Undead #1 ; Varnae's profile
- ↑ Conan the Barbarian #258
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Conan the Barbarian #14
- ↑ Savage Sword of Conan #206
- ↑ Savage Sword of Conan #10 ; Conan the Conqueror: The Sacred Son of Set
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Conan the Barbarian #7
- ↑ Savage Sword of Conan #191 ; Jade Coils in Black Khemi - Skull on the Seas Part II
- ↑ Conan the Barbarian Annual #2
- ↑ Savage Sword of Conan #227
- ↑ King Conan #4
- ↑ Conan the King #27
- ↑ Conan the Barbarian #15
- ↑ King Conan (Vol. 2) #1–6