rona-hyborianRONA

Real Name: Rona

Identity/Class: Human warrior;
    Hyborian era;
    presumed citizen of Aesgaard

Occupation: Warrior, mercenary, raider

Group Membership: Leader of a group of mercenaries

Affiliations: Karim, N'Engo, unidentified dark-faced Zingaran

Enemies: Arquel of Argos and the entire village in Asur (whom they slaughtered); "Silver-Robe," numerous unidentified villages whom they also slaughtered/raided.

Known Relatives: Rea (half-sister)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
    formerly mobile;
    apparently born in or otherwise from Aesgaard

First Appearance: Savage Tales I#3/2 "The Crimson Bell" (February, 1974)

Powers/Abilities: Wild and capricious, Rona was an experienced and ruthless warrior and mercenary.

    She typically wore steel and gold breastplate over her tunic and a horned helmet, and she carried a long sword.

    She also sometimes wielded a battleaxe, and she was even willing to fight with a crippled arm.

Height: Unrevealed (Arquel thought them tall, and Rona was was slightly taller than Rea; approximately 5'10")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately )
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde

History:
(Savage Tales I#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - With her younger and shorter half-sister, Rea, Rona led a group of a few hundred mercenaries, although the forceful presence of the Kushite giant N'Engo held their followers to these wild, capricious leaders.

(Savage Tales I#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - Many bands of mercenaries had headed south through Argos as they headed to Shem, but most had crossed the borders east of the Asurian meadows. Rona and Rea, perhaps unaware of the thick jungle that waited beyond, led their group through Asur, slaughtering and raiding at least one village as they passed through.

(Savage Tales I#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - As Rona and Rea led the massacre of Arquel's father's castle in the Argossean region of Asur, the young warrior Arquel, trapped under gate timbers, observed the two tall women with hard faces and cold blue eyes that remained imperturbable, their yellow manes flying below their helmets, red axes in their brown hands.
    Roughly half of the four hundred attacking the castle perished in the process.

    By the time the fires shifted the imprisoning weight of the gate, Arquel could do nothing but escape.

(Savage Tales I#3/2 - BTS) - Familiar with the jungle and appreciating that the mercenaries would follow the river, Arquel cut a straight line that would allow the curve of the river to bring them into his path.

(Savage Tales I#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - Numerous additional members of Rona and Rea's groups fell en route, and their casualties were abandoned on the trail.

(Savage Tales I#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - The mercenaries encountered and slew an old wizard.

(Savage Tales I#3/2 - BTS) - Arquel countered the old wizard, whom he knew only as Silver-Robe, who gave him a crimson bell after he had removed the spear from his body; Arquel subsequently buried the wizard.

    Four days later, having constructed a bow as he traveled and having obtained a sackful of arrows from fallen mercenaries (having either died from previous wounds or from quarrels with other mercenaries). Scaling the trees, Arquel observed the enemy camp, estimated their numbers, and then hid within a tangle of driftwood as he floated down the river to the camp.

(Savage Tales I#3/2) - Within the tattered remains of a pavilion they had sacked, Rona, having stripped off her breastplate, sat on a divan and drank heavily from a tankard of wine, spilling over her chest. She and Rea laughed as Rea placed a variety of headdresses atop the head of her lover, the Kushite giant N'Engo.

    Their revelry was interrupted by a crying sound (presumably the crimson bell) that made their flesh tingle and their breaths falter until it was cut off. After their tent filled with milling warrior questioning what was going on, Rona shouted them down, "Quiet, you scum!" while waving a torch, after which she asked if anyone knew the cause of this, insisting they speak one at a time. A one-eared Hyrkanian told of an apparently winged creature that had alighted atop a tall branch before its screaming slew Karim and caused some of the horses to break through their barricade before the men stopped them.

    Rona doubled the guard and appointed twenty men to search for the lost horses in the morning.

(Savage Tales I#3/2 (fb) - BTS) - From a high branch, Arquel picked off those walking below him and then raised their bodies high into the tree branches to prevent their discovery. He further located and hid the escaped horses up-river.

(Savage Tales I#3/2) - After only six of the men sent after the horses returned, Rona and Rea were certain that they had become prey to some strange jungle creature. They personally led search parties into the wilderness to recover all possible men and horses so that they might push on with their accumulated plunder.

    However, the three parties lost seven more men during this search. The soldiers began to split into factions, half wishing to take their most valued possessions and head north, while the other group supported Rona's original plan: To remain hidden until this part of Shem was empty of marauders and their pursuers, after which they would march northeast to Zamora and then to whatever civilized nation suited their fancy.

    That night, as the matter was unresolved, the men settled in for the night, Rona drank her wine sullenly while Rea paced back and forth. While Rea argued that they depart before the thing fed off them one-by-one, Rona slammed down her flagon, almost splintering the table. Rona proclaimed that she and Rea would move to a new location after which N'Engo could rejoin the squads later, after ensuring that the demon -- if it existed -- did not follow. She further asked if Rea was so enamored of her plaything that she could not let him out of her sight. Rea clarified that they should not risk their best second-in-command, and she asked if Rona had come to act the jealous wench in their old age.

    Eyes blazing, Rona and Rea were about to spring up each other when N'Engo arrived and calmed them, noting that the sound from the night before was not occurring. They all presumably got some rest.

(Savage Tales I#3/2 - BTS) - The next morning, they awakened as flames approached from the east, after which the piercing "demon-voice" sang closer and closer from the west. Panicked horses tore out their rope stockades, dragging poles, lines and men behind them. The horses further trampled men, weapon-stacks and campfires.

    Standing astride a pair of racing horses while wearing a triangular mask and a cloak, with the crimson bell crying, Arquel launched arrow after arrow into fear-paralyzed mercenaries, slaying Rea as well.

(Savage Tales I#3/2) - As Arquel got closer, his true nature was appreciated, and Rona raced out from behind an overturned chariot, sprinting over strewn riches and pools of blood. Although one arm hung loosely at her side, her other arm swung a great battleaxe. Although she screamed the battle-yell of her people, Arquel did not hear it, having packed his ears with mud to protect him from the crimson bell's sound. As Rona slashed at Arquel's legs, the moving horse veered wildly. Her blow was but a thin, shallow line of blood along his calf. The axe sliced through the rope, burying itself near the horse's withers. Rearing, the mount's bloody hooves came crashing down on Rona, presumably killing her.

(Savage Tales I#3/2 - BTS) - Arquel was confronted by and ultimately slew N'Engo. Afterwards, his vengeance fulfilled, Arquel walked into the wilderness.

Comments: Created by Ray Capella.

    Arquel had at least two previously published stories, "Turatal" om Warlocks and Wizards (1970) and "The Lion's Bridge" in The Conan Grimoire.
    The Crimson Bell was the earliest story chronologically and the first Arquel story printed by Marvel.
    I believe the Crimson Bell is reprinted in Savage Tales#12.
    But, I don't know if Arquel appears again in Savage Tales or Savage Sword of Conan, or elsewhere in a Marvel story?

    This was a text story, with occasional images throughout, and only one of Rona and Rea.

    This profile was completed 10/26/2025, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Rona should be distinguished from:


images: (without ads)
Savage Tales I#3/2, story pg. 5, panel 1 (Rona) - tiny image...
Appearances:
Savage Tales I#3/2 "The Crimson Bell" (February, 1974) - Ray Capella (writer), Al Williamson and Frank Brunner (artists)

First posted: 09/28/2026
Last updated: 10/26/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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