THAK

Real Name: Thak

Identity/Class: Intelligent ape-like creature (Hyborian era)

Occupation: Pet, servant

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Formerly Nabonidus the Red Priest

Enemies: Conan, Joka, Murilo, Nabonidus the Red Priest

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: House of the Red Priest, located near the Maze in the slum district of Corinthia

First Appearance: (historical) "Rogues in the House"  by Robert E. Howard (1934);
    (in a Marvel comic)  Conan the Barbarian I#11 (August, 1971)

Powers/Abilities: Thak is a large intelligent ape-like creature with incredible strength.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 6'8")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 500-600 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

History: (Conan the Barbarian I#11) - Thak was abducted from a mountain-dwelling race as a cub by the evil Nabonidus, also known as the Red Priest. Nabonidus thought of turning him into his most trusted servant. Thak, however, had intelligence and ambitions of his own and he began to mimic the things Nabonidus did. Some time later, a nobleman from Corinthia named Murilo struck a deal with the barbarian Conan to help Conan escape jail and execution in exchange for killing Nabonidus and, after a spy sent by Murilo met his death when he was discovered by Nabonidus, Murilo opted to do the deed of killing Nabonidus himself, unaware that Conan had managed to escape jail on his own and decided to honor his deal with Murilo.

    Murilo soon arrived at the residence of Nabonidus and while working through a labyrinth of passages in Nabonidus' fortress home, he found the body of a servant of the Red Priest named Joka, his neck snapped. He continued into a throne room and when he thought he had found the evil Priest, he quickly realized the figure was instead a huge beast resembling an incredible large ape with yellow fangs and dark brown fur covering its body, dressed in fancy red clothing and a headdress. Murilo thought the monstrous beast was Nabonidus himself with the power to shape shift before passing out and later awakening in the tunnels beneath the residence, where he bumped into Conan. After each of the men explained their stories, they decided that they would work together to complete the task of killing Nabonidus and not long after, the warriors discovered another body lying on the ground, that of the unconscious Nabonidus. They revived the Red Priest, who claimed only that his captured pet, Thak, had injured him. Knowing that Thak could no longer be trusted and likely wanted him dead, Nabonidus made a deal in which he would lead Conan and Murilo out of the booby-trapped home in return for protection from them, as they might never escape if they killed him. The group soon discovered that the route was blocked and that they would have to encounter Thak. Nabonidus showed them an intricate setup of mirrors that would allow the group to see Thak from afar and they watched as the beast began to pet another captured animal prize belonging to the Priest: a black leopard. However, Thak put his hand too close to the leopard's face and the animal lashed out at Thak, causing an intense battle between the two. Although not an easy task, Thak managed to kill the black leopard.

    Nabonidus, Conan and Murilo soon navigated the passages of Nabonidus' home until they managed to enter the room nearest to Thak. They then devised a plan to stop the now-rampaging beast, in which Murilo would act as bait while Conan attacked Thak from behind. Left with no choice, the trio attempted the plan and after great difficulty, Conan found himself close to defeat by Thak but Murilo was able to land a helping blow that distracted Thak just enough for Conan to finally stab Thak again, killing the great beast.

(Conan the Barbarian I#33 - BTS) - While discussing with a fellow thief named Bourtai how he was fed up with wizards and towers, the barbarian Conan recalled the wizard Nabonidus and how he had slaughtered Thak.

(Savage Tales I#4 - BTS) - Conan recalled his past leaving home and the horrors and near-death experiences he had encountered since then, including his battle with Thak.

(Conan the Barbarian I#119 - BTS) - Conan met a strange wizard named Ravenna and entered a room where he faced strange, magically conjured illusions of his greatest foes, including Thak.

(Conan the Barbarian I#123 - BTS) - Conan met his old ally Murilo, now heavier and balding, and he reminded Murilo of his better days when they fought Thak together.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#190 - BTS) - Conan told stories of his past exploits, including his past battle with Thak, to a sea captain after dueling with his daughter.

(Conan the Barbarian III#9 - BTS) - Conan found himself in a cave after an avalanche and encountered illusory forms, seemingly created by an enemy known as the White Witch (Lady Liv), of all of the most dangerous monsters he had met. The illusory Thak was the first to attack Conan but the barbarian bit into his shoulder and neck area before the Witch told him to stop.

(Epic Illustrated I#34 / 12 - BTS) - In 1936 A.D., following his mother's death, depressed and then-suicidal writer Robert E. Howard recalled a memory of his past literary successes adapting (see comments) the stories of the Hyborian era barbarian Conan, one of which was the story of Conan's encounter with Thak.

Comments: Created by Robert E. Howard. Adapted into Marvel Comics by Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith and Sal Buscema.

    The Epic Illustrated I#34 story about the tragic death of Robert E. Howard was written much as it occurred in real life with Howard committing suicide following the death of his mother. Therefore, it was written as Robert E. Howard thinking back on his various creations including Conan, Thak and others, which he did create in real life. However, as the story was published in a Marvel comic and likely occurs on Earth-616, where Conan and Thak were real beings that existed in Earth's Hyborian era, that would mean that the Robert E. Howard of Earth-616 adapted the real life stories of those characters into fictionalized literature within Earth-616 instead of truly creating the characters, as he had in real life (or Earth-1218 for those keeping up). Of course, Robert E. Howard-616 would not have been alive to witness or get first-hand experience on Hyborian era events so it's very possible he glimpsed true events from the past in his dreams and created the fictionalized version of those stories from his own mind, much in the way that some Marvel characters have glimpsed other realities or future events in dreams. --Proto-Man

    A "Thak" is invoked by an alien race in Epic Illustrated I#2-3 & #5 but any connection to the Hyborian era Earthly Thak of this profile is unclear, if any. --Proto-Man
    After further research, I found conflicting information about the Thak in the earlier issues of Epic Illustrated. The one in issue #34 (listed above) is definitely the beast from the "Rogues in the House" story but in the earlier issues (of Epic Illustrated), the Thak invoked is (seemingly) different despite the race being ape-like. The race of people who invoked his name were on another planet called Almuric, which sealed it for me as not the same Thak. Howard and thus Thomas would reuse names like Thak or Koth in the fast paced pulp era of writing.
    Valid point, as how would a race from another planet even be aware of a Hyborian era ape-like creature on Earth and somehow manage to associate it as some sort of deity on their own planet? Even if they had somehow viewed Earth in the Hyborian era and witnessed Thak there, why would they have started worshiping/invoking a creature that they clearly knew had nothing to do with their own planet? --Proto-Man

Profile by Nemedian Chronicler.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Thak should be distinguished from:

• KORATH THE PURSUER (Korath-Thak) - Kree scientist, member of Starforce--Quasar I#32
  
• THAD - brother of Jeff, idolized the Falcon, turned against Falcon after Jeff was killed by Iron Trinity--Marvel Super-Heroes III#2
• THAKORR - Atlantean, grandfather of Namor--Motion Picture Funnies Weekly I#1
• THAKOS - Atlantean warlord, Council of Warlords--Fantastic Four I Annual#1
• other "Thak" characters, groups, items, races or events
  

black leopard

The black leopard was a semi-tamed cat owned by Nabonidus. The cat, along with Thak, was part of a collection of rare animals. Thak, who liked to imitate his master, had attempted to pet the leopard but he put his hand to close to the fangs of the black leopard, thus agitating the large cat, who then attacked Thak. A struggle ensued between the two beasts and Thak went completely savage, becoming the victor by killing the black leopard.

Joka

Nabonidus the Red Priest

Nabonidus, known as the Red Priest due to his signature red clothing, was more of a political head than an actual priest in the city-state of Corinthia, asserting his influence and will through violence including murder. At one point, he abducted the cub of a mountain-dwelling ape-like race that he named Thak and sought to utilize as a servant. In more recent, Nabonidus had the nobleman Murilo's ear cut off for spying. When thieves later stole from him, Nabonidus called over a city guard and admonished him for having allowed the thieves to steal from him. He demanded death to the perpetrators, threatening that the guard would lose his own head if he did not comply. Unaware that Murilo had struck a deal in jail with the barbarian Conan to help Conan escape jail in exchange for Conan helping Murilo kill Nabonidus, Nabonidus was eventually assaulted by the intelligent Thak and left unconscious in the labyrinths beneath his home, where he was later found by Murilo and Conan, who had arrived at Nabonidus home to kill him. Conan and Murilo agreed to protect Nabonidus' life in exchange for him showing them the way out of the labyrinths but Nabonidus soon realized that they must defeat Thak in order to leave his home, as his keys were taken by Thak. The trio succeeded but Conan and Murilo were immediately after betrayed by Nabonidus, who trapped the duo behind a wall of fire generated from a trap Nabonidus had rigged in his floor. Conan threw his sword, seemingly killing the Red Priest before he and Murilo escaped the home. Conan did not soon forget his encounter with Thak and Nabonidus, recalling it even many years later.

Nabonidus was not a user of magic like many of Conan's enemies and he instead used science. His control methods were evil and deceptive and absolutely could not be trusted.

Appearances:
Conan the Barbarian I#10 (August, 1971) - Roy Thomas (writer), Barry Smith (pencils), Sal Buscema (embellishes), Stan Lee (editor)
Conan the Barbarian I#33 (December, 1973) - Roy Thomas (writer, editor), John Buscema (pencils), Ernie Chua (inks)
Savage Tales I#4 (May, 1974) - "Night of the Dark God" story - Roy Thomas (writer, editor), Gil Kane, Neal Adams, "Diverse Hands" (art)
Conan the Barbarian I#123 (June, 1981) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Bob McLeod (embellishes, letters), Louise Jones (editor)
Epic Illustrated I#34 (February, 1986) - "Death of a Legend" story - Roy Thomas (writer), S. Plunkett (art), Stan Lee (editor, publisher)
Savage Sword of Conan I#190 (October, 1991) - "Skull on the Seas, Part One" story - Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Conan the Barbarian III#9 (November, 2019) - "The Life & Death of Conan, Part Nine: The God Below" story - Jason Aaron (writer), Mahmud Asrar (art), Mark Basso (editor)

First posted: 09/02/2026
Last updated: 05/12/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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