YAG-KOSHAYAG-KOSHA
Real Name: Yogah of Yag
Identity/Class: Alien (Yag), magic user (Distant Past through Hyborian Era)
Occupation: Former prisoner, god, space voyager, rebel.
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Conan the Barbarian;
formerly Yara,
worshippers in Khitai
Enemies: Yara;
formerly the Kings of Yag
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: The
Tower of the Elephant in Arenjun, Zamora;
formerly Khitai,
formerly the pre-Cataclysmic Era;
Earth in the distant past;
formerly Yag (planet at
the edge of the Universe).
First Appearance: "The Tower of
the Elephant". Originally published: Weird Tales, March 1933;
(adapted by Marvel) Conan the Barbarian I#4 (April, 1971)
{Edizione Italiana: Albi dei Super-Eroi#17 Editoriale Corno}
Powers/Abilities: It is unknown if Yag-Kosha's powers
derived from his alien physiology or from magic learned in some way. He had a
long life measurable in eons. His race could survive in outer space. They could
fly,
more quickly in outer space than within an atmosphere. His powers let him build the Tower of the Elephant
in just one night. He could understand what people-race Conan belonged to only
touching him with his trunk. His psychic powers included telepathy,
clairvoyance, precognition, and postcognition. He knew how to use the Heart of the Elephant,
and he was able to revive into it after being killed.
The Earth's atmosphere had a bad effect on Yag-Kosha's people: they lost their
wings and remained entrapped on the Earth. It is unknown if it had other
negative effects on their physiology or powers.
History:
(Conan the Barbarian I#4 (fb)) - Yag-Kosha's once was Yogah and lived on the
green Yag, a
planet at the edge of the Universe. He and other of his race fought a was
against the Kings of Yag but were defeated. So they had to leave their home
planet and voyaged in the cosmos thanks to their wings. They arrived to the
Earth when still the dinosaurs were and man was still not. Unfortunately, on
the Earth they lost their wings.
(Conan the Barbarian I#4 (fb)) - They first lived in the jungles of the East and had to defend themselves from the wild animals that populated that lands. Then they retired aside and observed man rising from the caverns and his cities' growth, such as Valusia and Commoria and other realms. They also saw the oceans swallowing Atlantis and the survivors building new cities. During these long years the rest of his race died off, until only one of them remained: Yag-Kosha.
(Conan the Barbarian I#4 (fb)) - Yag-Kosha was venerated as a god in the jungles of Khitai. Then Yara arrived, knowing the dark magic arts. First he sat at Yag-Kosha's feet, learning his wisdom and knowledge, but one day, the sorcerer revealed his evil intentions and enslaved Yag-Kosha with his sorcery.
(Conan the Barbarian I#4 (fb) - BTS) - Yara brought Yag-Kosha in Arenjun and obliged Yag-Kosha to create a tower for him. Using his powers Yag-Kosha raised the Tower of the Elephant in just one night, and Yag-Kosha used it as his house.
(Conan the Barbarian I#4 (fb) - BTS) - 300 years passed while Yara continued to learn magic from Yag-Kosha, torturing him with the fire and the wheel. Yag-Kosha was chained in the Tower, blinded and his arms and legs broken.
(Conan the Barbarian I#4) - One night, Conan the
Cimmerian climbed the Tower of the Elephant looking for the Heart of the Elephant,
the most precious gem of all the Yara's treasure, and reached the room where
Yag-Kosha's was imprisoned. There he was moved to pity by Yag-Kosha who told his
history to the barbarian. Yag-Kosha felt the blood on Conan's body and knew of
the two men he had killed, Taurus, on the top of the Tower, and the Kothian in the
tavern. Yag-Kosha said that the third death would achieve the magic of his
liberation. Then the ancient being asked to Conan to free him
using his last spell: of the Blood and the Gem. He asked Conan to kill him and
to take his heart and to squeeze its blood on the purple gem: the Heart of the
Elephant. Reluctantly Conan did so. While he was leaving the room he felt that
in Yag-Kosha's body something was happening, but he had to bring the gem to Yara.
In his Ebony room Conan completed the spell pronouncing the last words.
Yara, stuporous from the yellow lotus effects, awakened from his sleep and grabbed the purple-red gem. Yara 's body started to shrink in size. The sorcerer tried to run away from the Heart, but an invisible magnetic force held him close. Yara turned back and climbed on the top of the Heart and soon started to sink into the Heart of the Elephant. In that wide purple sea, Yag-Kosha arrived flying above Yara, no more crippled, no more blind. The evil sorcerer tried to run away, but Yag-Kosha pursued him like a winged avenger. Then the Heart of the Elephant exploded in thousands of shimmering lights. Conan ran away from the Tower just in time to save himself from the Tower crumbling in the purple sunrise, shimmering in pieces as the Heart did before.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomans, Barry Smith and Sal Buscema. Re-told by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala.
The story was re-told years later in Savage Sword of Conan#24. Roy Thomas decided so because this was his favorite Conan's story and because SSoC#24 had more pages and it could better describe the original Howard's novel. Some particulars were different but the history basically remains the same of CB#4.
Although I love B.W. Smith's art and CB#4 was colored, I still prefer the SSoC#24 B/W version by Buscema/Alcala: a masterpiece!
The Heart of the Elephant was a sphere in CB#4, but was instead was a big jewel in SSoC#24.
Profile by Spidermay
Clarifications:
Yag-Kosha has no known connections to
The Heart of the Elephant has no known connections to
The Heart o the Elephant was a big purple-red globe (or gem) with mystic powers. It is unknown if it was imbued with eldritch powers by Yag-Kosha, by Yara or by someone other.
It is rather sure that Yara used the Heart to transform a Prince into a small black spider. It is also possible that the giant black spider guardian in the room of the treasure at the top of the Tower of the Elephant was another man transformed by Yara using the Heart.
The Heart was considered by Conan and Taurus the most precious thing in the Tower, although the Tower walls were covered by jewels and there was a room full of gold and precious stones.
When Conan began performing the Spell of the Blood and the Gem, he squeezed the blood from Yag-Kosha's heart onto the Heart of the Elephant, and the Gem absorbed it like a sponge. Moments later, Conan watched while the Heart captured Yara's attention, reduced his size and finally absorbed him inside it. At the end of the spell, the Heart became like a purple sea were Yag-Kosha could easily fly to pursue his torturer until the gem exploded in a thousand of shimmering pieces.
--Conan the Barbarian I#4 (Conan the Barbarian I#4, Savage Sword of Conan#24
Images:
Conan the Barbarian I#4, p15, pan1
Conan the Barbarian I#4, p13, pan4/5/6
Conan the Barbarian I#4, p13, pan8
Conan the Barbarian I#4, p17, pan3
Other appearances: Savage Sword of Conan#24 (1977) {Edizione Italiana: Conan La Spada Selvaggia#13 Comic Art (novembre 1987)}
Last updated: 10/16/05
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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