Real Name: presumably AzothAZOTH
Real Name: presumably Azoth
Identity/Class: God/Demon (pre-Cataclysmic and Hyborian eras)
Occupation: God/Demon of Pain and Hate
Affiliations: possibly the Old Ones;
worshipped by Karanthes (high priest) and
others (including Natari and Strabo);
Enemies: Conan, Ibis, Karanthes, Natari,
Rammon, Rammon,
Shumballa;
the god who tore off his horn
Known Relatives: none
Aliases: the Dreaming God;
possibly Azotharoth or Azathoth
Base of Operations: unnamed extra-dimensional
realm;
Azoth's Peak, Shadizar the Wicked, Zamora (Distant
Past, Hyborian era)
First Appearance: Conan: The Horn of Azoth (1990)
Powers/Abilities: Azoth has
superhuman strength (Class 10) and durability. It uses the large
horn on its head to skewer others and drain their life energies.
It can fly via its wings, and is immune to most forms of injury.
It can only be summoned to Earth via a certain ritual during a celestial
alignment that occurs only once every 1000 years, and its
connection to the Earthly realm can be broken if its horn is
broken.
History:
(Conan: The Horn of Azoth (fb)) - In the distant past, before man
first crawled from the slime, Azoth was a god on Earth. In battle
with another god, Azoth's horn was torn from his brow by another
god. Azoth's body died, petrifying and forming what would become
known as Azoth's peak, in what would become Zamora in the
Hyborian era.
(Conan: The Horn of Azoth (fb)) - As the age of man began, the legend of Azoth was passed down amongst worshippers of the god Ibis. As they could not destroy the Horn of Azoth, they instead imprisoned it within the Crypt of Shadows, which could only be opened with their religious icon, the Eye of Ibis.
(Conan: The Horn of Azoth (fb)) - But Azoth, too, had worshippers amongst humanity. In preparation for a certain day of celestial alignment, these worshippers stock-piled thousands of corpses. From these corpses they created a literal river of blood, which flowed into the center of Azoth's peak, sustaining the demon for a thousand thousand years.
(Conan: The Horn of Azoth) - As the day of
alignment approached, Karanthes, high priest of Azoth, sent his
daughter, Natari, to recruit Conan to obtain the needed
magical items. Under her direction, Conan snuck into the Temple
of Ibis and stole the Eye of Ibis. Using the Eye of Ibis, Natari
retrieved the Horn of Azoth from the Crypt of Shadows. Natari
eventually brought the Horn back to Karanthes in Shadizar.
Karanthes drugged Natari, so that she could fill the role of the
virgin daughter of a priest needed for the ritual and had her
place the Horn on the top of Azoth's Peak at the moment of
alignment, as he performed the remainder of the ritual.
Despite the efforts of Conan and others, Azoth was revived, but his first act was to sacrifice a human on his horn to complete his resurrection. Azoth chose Karanthes, killed him, consumed his life force, and then pulled free from the mountain, slaughtering and draining anyone he could get his hands on. Conan tried to protect the still dazed Natari, but Azoth simply batted him off the edge of the mountain. Azoth then grabbed Natari, but was distracted from her by Shumballa, a warrior of the priests of Ibis. Azoth broke her back, but she occupied enough of his time to allow Conan to climb back to the peak. Conan leapt on Azoth's back and, following the instructions of Rammon, a young priest of Ibis, tore the horn from its head. With that, Azoth fell to the ground and crumbled into dust and bones.
Comments: Created/Adapted by Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, and Mike Docherty.
I'd guess that Azoth's first battle took place over one million years ago, if it truly did occur before the dawn of humanity.
The Conan: Horn of Azoth was initially intended
to be a screenplay back in 1982, and initially had elements of
the demon Dagoth and others in it. It changed names and plots
quite a few times, and you can read all about on the second page
of the Graphic Novel. It was basically the original plot to the
version entitled Conan, King of Thieves.
Dagoth's name even slips into conversation a
few times, but I think it's just a mistake, and is meant to be
Azoth.
The ritual to revive Azoth was described within the Iron-Bound Book of Skelos.
I'm not anything of an authority on the
Lovecraftian characters, but those god/demons, whom we refer to
as the Old Ones in the Marvel Universe, are often seen and
mentioned in the works of Robert E. Howard. Azoth may or may not
be the same character as Azothoroth, who was invoked (along with
Niguraab and Lloigoroth) by the Grim Reaper, in Avengers I#353,
for power to create his Legion of the Unliving. According to Greg O:
Azotharoth aka Azathoth, the Demon Sultan, the
roiling nuclear horror that dwells at the heart universe attended
by formless idiot flute players. Mentioned often but never really
appearing and only one unfinished fragment of Lovecraft's bears
the title "Azathoth".
CLARIFICATIONS:
I don't THINK Karanthes in this story is connected to:
Strabo has no known connection to:
Crypt of Shadows
A chamber in the Kezankian Forest which
contained a statue which held within it the Horn of Azoth. The
Eye of Ibis, when set into the orbit of the statue, would cause
the statue to open its mouth, and yield the Horn of Azoth.
Conan was knocked out and left behind here, and when he awoke, he narrowly escaped from some monstrous creature that reached for him (possibly the statue come to life).
--Conan: The Horn of Azoth
Eye of Ibis
A magical item held by the Priests of Ibis, apparently imbued with power from the god Ibis. It served as the key to unlock the statue which held the Horn of Azoth
--Conan: The Horn of Azoth
Horn of
Azoth
The Horn of the god Azoth, broken from his brow eons in the past. As it was indestructible, the followers of the God Ibis had it imprisoned within the Crypt of Shadows, a chamber which could only be opened by their own icon, the Eye of Ibis. The Horn, in the correct celestial alignment, proved capable of reviving Azoth himself.
--Conan: The Horn of Azoth
A sorcerer of Shadizar the Wicked and the father of Natari, he served as the High Priest of Azoth and maintained the River of Blood to feed the Sleeping God. He used and was willing to sacrifice his own daughter to awaken Azoth, and he apparently killed his own wife by tearing Natari from her mother's belly rather than allowing a natural birth, in accordance with the rituals. He thought he would become emissary to Azoth, but instead became his first victim.
He had access to one of the Iron-Bound Books of Skelos, and could performed a number of rituals, including using a water spirit to transport his daughter back to Shadizar from a great distance away.
--Conan: The Horn of Azoth
A minor sorceress and daughter of Karanthes, she followed his instructions and commissioned Conan to steal Eye of Ibis and Horn of Azoth. She was saddened being forced to betray Conan and by his apparent death, and she believed Azoth to be a benevolent god. After she obtained the Horn, Karanthes magically summoned her back to Azoth's Peak, drugged her, and used in the ritual awaken azoth, with her serving the role of the virgin daughter of a priest.
She was
saved from Azoth by Conan,
and left in the care of the young Rammon by him.
--Conan: The Horn of Azoth
High Priest of Ibis, he was training his young son, Rammon, in the ways of magic when he discovered Conan stealing the Eye of Ibis. He summoned his guards, but was killed by Conan in the process of escaping.
--Conan: The Horn of Azoth
Son of Rammon, he saw Conan kill his father. After Shumballa had led a troop of guards after Conan, Rammon escaped from Amboola, who was to watch over him, and set out to gain vengeance on the barbarian thief.
After multiple failed attempts on his life, he grudgingly agreed to a truce in order to stop Azoth. After Azoth's death, he pulled his dagger to go after Conan again, but finally accepted that Conan had just been a pawn of Karanthes, and decided not to kill him. Conan had Rammon stay with Natari to protect her now that her father was dead.
Rammon could magically animate his dagger, controlling its flight in mid-air. He had some other limited magical knowledge.
--Conan: The Horn of Azoth
A native of Koth and the Captain of Rammon's guard, she led a pack of warriors in pursuit of Conan after he had slain Rammon and stolen the Eye of Ibis. She had another warrior, Amboola, stay behind to watch over Rammon, but Rammon escaped and went after Conan on his own. She and her warriors caught up to Conan just after Karanthes had transported Natari and the Horn back to Azoth's Peak. She ordered her warriors to slay Conan, but Rammon stopped them as they needed him to enter Haspera's Temple inside Azoth's Peak. Entering the Temple, the last of her warriors, Dahomi, was killed setting off a trap in the Temple, but his sacrifice allowed the others to pass through safely.
Once on the peak, she confronted Azoth himself, hurling a spear into his chest, but the demon grabbed her with a single hand and broke her back over his own chest. However, her sacrifice bought Conan the time he needed to climb back to the top of the peak and attack Azoth anew.
--Conan: The Horn of Azoth
A warrior, eunuch, and servant of Natari, he followed instructions and smashed Conan over the head with a rock after he had obtained the Horn of Azoth for Natari. However, Conan recovered and slew Strabo after tracking them down.
--Conan: The Horn of Azoth
Azoth's foe
A god from before the age of man, he battled Azoth in the distant past and tore the horn from his head, banishing him from Earth. He had blond hair and a human form.
--Conan: The Horn of Azoth
Last updated: 05/19/03
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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