ZARATHONZARATHON
Real Name: Zarathon Vosburg
Identity/Class: Human;
16th
century
Occupation: Prince, vampire-hunter;
possibly king
Group Membership: Royal family of unidentified realm presumably in Eastern Europe (see comments)
Affiliations: Sareena, unidentified horsekeeper of the Broken Mast tavern, unidentified steed
Enemies: Nostranda
and the vampiresses of the House
of Denied Pleasure, the "giant"/dwarf
guard of the House of Denied Pleasure
Known Relatives: Jarand Vosburg (father, deceased)
Aliases: "Traveler" (from Sareena; see
comments)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
last seen in the seaside town Krindrel,
presumably Eastern Europe
First Appearance: Vampire Tales I#10 (April, 1975)
Powers/Abilities:
Zarathon was sufficiently strong and skilled to scale a rock/mortar
wall. He was an experienced equestrian, and he rode an unidentified
horse. 
He could hurl wooden stakes with great accuracy and with sufficient force to penetrate bone (or perhaps slide between ribs). He could heft a large wooden post onto his shoulders and throw that with sufficient force to penetrate the whole way through the chest of an apparently superhumanly-sized vampire-demon-sorceress-type.
Zarathon had knowledge of vampiric weaknesses, and he wore a cross and carried multiple wooden stakes (at least on his mission into the House of Denied Pleasure) in a bandoleer-like strap on his torso.
Driven by a desire to save or avenge his father, he was willing to breach an unknown mansion and face whatever supernatural or other defenses lay within.
His experiences with the dark forces within the House, as well as the death of his father, appear to have addled his mind, although he may have recovered with time.
Zarathon was described -- prior to
reaching the House of Denied Pleasure -- as "Sullen
and
dour of face and mien. Not a particularly large man, indeed little
more than a youth...but grimly determined, and sufficiently prepared
to obtain the answers he seeks..."
Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'9" - 5'11"; he was not shown next to anyone of known
height, but he appeared to be a little taller than average, although
16th century people were perhaps an inch or two shorter on average
than modern people)
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 175 lbs.)
Eyes: Unrevealed (black and white story)
Hair: Apparently brown or black
History:
(Vampire
Tales I#10 (fb) - BTS / Vampires: The
Marvel Undead: Vampires Unabridged
Appendix) - Circa the 16th century, Jarand
Vosburg, king of the unidentified land presumably including Krindrel (see comments), was driven by lust to
enter the House of Denied Pleasure, where he was imprisoned and slowly
drained of blood by the vampiresses who dwelled there.
(Vampire Tales I#10 - BTS) - Suspecting his father's fate (see comments), Jarand's son, Zarathon, sought out the House.
Traveling to the Broken Mast tavern., Zarathon questioned the horsekeeper (he tied customer's horses to the rail while they went inside) about the House, and the man warned Zarathon that a giant guarded the pleasure mansion's bowels. The man further advised him to seek further information from Sareena, the barmaid, as she spoke to everyone "who had ever set foot to heaving plank."
Sareena warned Zarathon that once he entered the House he would never emerge, as the house held more than denied delights: It held death by pleasure so intense it sucked a man dry, and no one had ever returned.
Questioning whether these people had been unable to
return or rather that, in the midst of such glorious pleasure, they felt
no compulsion to depart, Zarathon resolved that he would have to find out
for himself, and Sareena bade him goodbye. 
Zarathon then traveled via horseback to the House, scaled its wall, and entered a window. Within he found a pair of beautiful women who offered him unheard of pleasures before attempting to mesmerize him.
Resisting their gazes, Zarathon pulled aside his coat, allowing his cross to fall into view. As the vampiresses turned away from the cross, he hurled a stake into the one's back, destroying her, at which point the House, pained by this loss, shuddered.
Although stunned and pitched to the violently bucking floor, Zarathon reached forward and grabbed the ankle of the longer-haired vampiress as she attempted to flee, knocking her to the ground, after which he staked her as well, and the House trembled in rage.
Following a dank hall to another chamber, Zarathon encountered an unidentified man who had five vampiresses sucking blood from every accessible vein.
Outraged, Zarathon hurled a stake and destroyed one of the vampiresses, but as the house shuddered, Zarathon realized he had to flee from their numbers.
Reaching a narrow corridor, he dropped his cross, preventing the vampiresses from passing it and following him.
The vampiresses raged in frustration, and as Zarathon
descended down the stairs into the mansion's depths, they dropped their
completely drained victim down in front of him. 
Wary of the giant of whom he had been warned, Zarathon was pleased to instead find a 4' tall man, whom he ambushed and slew with another stake.
Taking the guard's keys, Zarathon opened the door and found his dying father, who warned him of the House's sorcerous properties and warned him to depart.
Jarand apparently perished just as another trio of vampires entered the cell, hoping his young and strong form would allow them to replenish the house.
Zarathon held them back with his cross, but then a fourth vampiress entered, and she hurled the stake she had claimed from the guard's back at his hand, causing him to drop the cross.
While another vampiress joined the conflict, Zarathon used his last two stakes to slay a pair of the hellions; the House began to crumble as he grappled with the second, and after her demise, beams began crashing to the floor, incapacitating another vampiress and causing further loosening and falling of mortar, with the walls buckling and heaving.
Finally Zarathon reached a torch and set the remaining vampiresses aflame (there were three shown aflame, but perhaps the one struck by the beam revived, as she hadn't been impaled), the floor split open with a roar, and the stench of brimstone billowed from the yawning abyss, followed by the effulgence of madness, and something far more...
The House's creator, Nostrandra then emerged, floating in the mist and advising Zarathon that she would not permit his destruction of her house. After revealing the House's true nature and purpose (as a gateway to a Hell-realm through which dark forces could reach and rule the Earth, feeding on the purity of its life-blood), she instructed Zarathon that she would not allow him to crush the rule of Hell on Earth before it began.
Driven by his father's memory, Zarathon nonetheless hurled a broken wooden beam into Nostranda's chest, impaling and apparently destroying her.
(Vampire Tales I#10) - With Nostranda's apparent destruction, the
crumbling House collapsed into the abyss, after which the ground sealed
over it. Zarathon escaped the crumbling house.
As Zarathon returned to the Broken Mast tavern, he apparently did not respond to the horsekeeper as he noted that Zarathon must have chosen to forego his night at the House of Denied Delights.
Entering the tavern, he called to Sareena, "Come,
wench....Sit and have a drink...with your king."
Spilling his drink, he laughed wtih the croak of a man
who bordered on madness...
Comments: Created by Doug Moench, Mike Vosburg, and Howard Nostrand.
Jarand and Zarathon Vosburg's last names was first revealed in the Vampires Appendix section of Vampires: The Marvel Undead, specifically the Unabridged Appendix. This was an obvious homage to penciler Mike Vosburg. Nostranda's name was revealed in the same entry, obviously an homage to inker Howard Nostrand. That same source confirmed the time period of the story to be the 16th century.
While Zarathon did not seem to have knowledge of the House of Denied Pleasure's nature while talking to Sareena and than man who directed him to her, he obviously strongly suspected the presence of vampires (or at least the supernatural), as he came armed with a cross, as well as numerous wooden stakes.
Not that it matters at all, but while the dialog seems to indicate that Zarathon entered the tavern and immediately asked Sareena to sit and drink with him, the art shows a finished plate and an overturned chalice (or something), presumably indicating he called to her upon entering, was seated, ate his meal, and drank himself into a sorry state...so maybe he wasn't completely maddened by the experience but rather was just traumatized over it. Maybe he got over things and went on to become a good and wise king of...wherever he would have been king of...
King of what and where?
We don't know anything about the king of the land of
which Jarand was king, nor do we know how far/long he traveled to get to
the House, which was adjacent to the seaside town of Krindel. Sareena did
not recognize Zarathon, despite his being prince under Jarand. However,
with no social media, television, or printing press, it is quite likely
most people would have never seen their king (although he could have been
on coins or in portraits that may have traveled the land), let alone his
son.
Regardless, with Jarand's passing, Zarathon would have
become king...assuming he retained his sanity.
Krindrel
sounds German (as does Jarand), while Zarathon looks like a fancy
Solomon Kane, who is English, but spent time in Germany. However, it is
unrevealed of what land Jarand was king.
From what I can find, Jarand is of Germanic origin
and is found mostly in the Nordic countries, particularly Norway.
And while we're on the subject of naming characters
after comics creators, Vosburg and Nostrand are both Dutch and Moench is
also Germanic
--David Zuckerman
The
outfits are very in the style of the Hammer Horror movies,
specifically the ones set somewhere undefined in Europe circa the
1600/1700s.
Those tended to be vaguely "somewhere in Europe,
slightly to the eastern side." Per this map of Europe in 1700, I'd say
no further west than the Holy Roman Empire boundaries, no further east
than the edge of Russia, no further south than the upper edge of the
Ottoman Empire.
And given we're told Krindrel is a seaside town,
the regions I've just marked in purple would seem the best options.
--Loki
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Zarathon should be distinguished from:
Appearances:
Vampire Tales I#10/2 (April, 1975) - "House of
Pleasure, House of Pain" - Doug Moench (writer),
Mike Vosburg (penciler), Howard Nostrand (inker), David Kraft
(assistant editor), Don McGregor (associate editor), Len Wein
(consulting editor), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Vampires: The Marvel Undead (December, 2011) - Jeff
Christiansen, Mike O'Sullivan, and Stuart Vandal (head
writers/coordinators); Markus Raymond & Mike Fichera (assistant
coordinators); Ronald Byrd (writer)
First posted: 09/25/2026
Last updated: 10/23/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099
Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you
should check out the real thing!
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Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!