DAGOTHDAGOTH
Real Name: Dagoth
Identity/Class: Demon (Class 2)
Occupation: Agent of Shuma-Gorath
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Aggamon, Kaecilius, Kulthas/Kathulos, Shuma-Gorath, Tiboro, Umar;
the citizens of Kalumesh (former worshippers), unidentified high priestess
Enemies: Blondine, Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange), Henry Gordon, the people of Penmallow (pawns), Peregrine Child, Three Mothers (Crawling, Crown, Wyrd)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: The Dark One, the Sea Demon, Dagoth of the Wicked Ways, Dagoth the Sea Born
Base of Operations: The city of Kalumesh off the coast of Penmallow, Cornwall in England
First Appearance: Marvel Premiere#7 (March, 1973)
Powers/Abilities: Superhuman strength (@ Class 10), ability to breathe underwater (may or may not be able to breathe in air). He could mentally influence anyone descended or reincarnated from the people of Kalumesh. He could use the power of the Starstone (together with the power of Kathulos) to entrance and control an entire town.
Height: Unrevealed (7'; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (270 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Solid yellow with slit black iris
Hair: None
History:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#3 - Demons) - Dagoth is a member of the second class of demons (as per the
OHotMU), who may be fallen or degenerate gods, but date from far
later generations. At some point, under unknown circumstances, he
became a servant of the extra-dimensional demon Shuma-Gorath.
(Marvel Premiere#7 (fb)) - In centuries or millennia past, Dagoth was worshipped as high priest in the city of Kalumesh. The citizens of that city served his every need and performed many bloody sacrifices in his name. Eventually the city was buried beneath the sea by monstrous waves which rose upward and smote the evil city. Dagoth himself was overwhelmed and buried as the city collapsed on him. All who worshipped Dagoth died beneath the smothering waves. The city came to rest at the ocean floor, outside what would be Cornwall, England.
(Marvel Premiere#7 (fb) - BTS) - Dagoth apparently escaped the confines of the city of Kalumesh at some point, and was rumored to have inhabited the depths of the waters outside Penmallow, Cornwall.
(Marvel Premiere#7 (fb) - BTS) - Jedediah Gordon learned of the sunken land of Kalumesh, whose people worshipped Dagoth, from Friedrich von Juntz's book Nameless Cults and became a follower of Dagoth himself.
(Marvel Premiere#7) - Henry
Gordon inherited the manor of Witch House from his uncle Jed and read of the legends
of Dagoth. He somehow attracted the attention of Dagoth, who
apparently entered the manor and left the Starstone to be found
outside of the nearby Tower of Dagoth. This stimulated Gordon's
interest, and he and the house's caretaker, Blondine, used scuba
gear to investigate and locate the sunken city of Kalumesh.
However, they also found Dagoth, who attacked the two. Fortunately, the sorcerer Dr. Strange was flying overhead (on a mission to locate evidence of Shuma-Gorath at Stonehenge) at the time, sensed Dagoth's power, and flew beneath the waves to save them. Strange created of an illusion of himself, which Dagoth attacked and seemingly strangled, but then found himself bound by the Rings of Raggadorr as Strange escaped with Gordon and Blondine.
That night, Dagoth summoned Blondine to activate the Starstone, which sent the people of Penmallow into a trance. Under Dagoth's control, they attempted to enter the city of Kalumesh to become sacrifices to Shuma-Gorath. This involved their walking into the sea, where they would drown beneath its waves in the journey. However, Dr. Strange again sensed the activities and Dagoth, and opposed him, freeing the people from their trance, so they could swim to safety at the surface. Dagoth attacked Strange, who gathered the ambient magic and used it to banish Dagoth to some unnamed dimension, never to return.
(Death of Doctor Strange#4 (fb) - BTS) - Dagoth formed an alliance with Aggamon, Tiboro and Umar to murder Doctor Strange. They convinced Baron Mordro's minion Kaecilius to commit the crime in return for Doctor Strange's hands...
(Death of Doctor Strange#3 (fb) - BTS) - ...because that way Strange's soul would remain on Earth and he couldn't be replaced as Sorcerer Supreme, which would result in the fall of magic barrier around Earth that prevented extradimensional beings from easily invading Earth. Though they knew this would draw the Three Mothers to Earth as well they knew there were enough superhuman beings on the planet to protect them.
(Death of Doctor Strange#1 - BTS, 2) - After the death of Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) the mystic barrier around Earth had fallen and Dagoth raised Kalumesh from the seafloor off the coast of Cornwall, calling upon blood debts from old families that still remembered their allegiances to him.
(Death of Doctor Strange#3) - Dagoth fell victim to the Three Mothers, who captured him in Kalumesh and then presented him to the Peregrine Child as a meal.
(Death of Doctor Strange#4 (fb)) - Dagoth was devoured by the Peregrine Child.
Comments: Created/Adapted by Gardner Fox
and Craig Russell. Chris Jarocha-Ernst: Markus Raymond: There was also a Dagoth Hill in Kush in R.E.H.'s Conan story The Scarlet Citadel (1933) Snood: mmm..."smote". "Never to return"...unless, of
course, some writer takes interest in him, hint, hint. Parker informed me that Dagoth is likely
derived from or an homage to a character from a H.P. Lovecraft.
Read all about it at dagon.htm. Dagon is a
Philistinian god that was half-man, half-fish. The word Dagon
comes from the Latin/Greel/Hebrew, and literally means fish. Additional Lovecraft and Cthulhu mythos references by Markus Raymond: Even though Blondine sounds to me like a dog's name Lovecraft could've chosen, Lovecraft was a cat owner. Kathulos is another Lovecraft reference, but check his own profile for more on that. Here's my theory: Dagon, the Lovecraftian fish-demon-monster (@ SSoC#176),
was the first to use the name. He was active in the
pre-Cataclysmic era. Enlil, the Mesopotamian God, showed up
during the Hyborian era and usurped his name, establishing
himself as the Hyborian Death God Dagon (@ CtB#59+66), and
drawing off the legend of the fish-demon. Due to the distance and
differences between their worshippers, this didn't have any
effect or any complications for either Dagon until much later.
Over the millennia, Enlil/Dagon continued to spread his
influence, eventually drawing on the followers of the fish-demon.
As has been described in other cases, the progressive loss of
followers weakened the fish-demon. Perhaps a confrontation arose
(with Enlil/Dagon backed by his Mesopotamian kinsman), or perhaps
the fish-demon fled, but at any rate, Enlil/Dagon eventually
usurped the role completely. He eventually allowed his true name
to be known to his Sumerian (and successive) worshippers, but
memories of the fish-demon remained as part of his mythos,
resulting in the Philistinian image o13:49 07.10.2024f him as half-man,
half-fish. 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. Profile by Snood. Update by Markus Raymond (Death of Doctor Strange). Clarifications: The Dark One was just a
title for Dagoth, and has no connection to: He should be distinguished from:
"The Dagoth Hills" was mentioned in Robert E. Howard's The Dwellers Under the Tomb (1967), which seems to be about ghouls of the Lovecraftian type. Dagoth was also featured in the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Conan the Destroyer (1984). The movie's novelization was written by Robert Jordan.
In Conan the Destroyer Dagoth was played by the late Andre the Giant (André Roussimoff).
The sinking of Kalumesh may have coincided with
that of Atlantis, @ 18, 000 BC. Its sinking was described as
cataclysmic, perhaps referring to the Great Cataclysm (the events
of Atlantis' sinking).
--Markus Raymond
Meanwhile, the fish-demon, much reduced in power, went off to
sleep, until the modern era, when he was awakened by his fellow
Old One, Shuma-Gorath, and he resumed activity under the name of
Dagoth. This would fit well with all aspects of the MU,
especially if Kalumesh were a pre-Cataclysmic city.
--There's nothing to back this up, anymore than its one more way
to try to resolve something, that will likely never be resolved
(or even ever be brought up again, in the MU).
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 Witch House has no connection to:
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Blondine is the reincarnation of the High Priestess of Dagoth from the city of Kalumesh. She was Zedediah Gordon's...housekeeper. She attempted to warn Henry Gordon away, but was convinced to help him find the undersea city of Kalumesh. With Dr. Strange's aid, she recalled her previous life in that city. However, this left her prey to Dagoth. She was put under a trance that caused her to help him activate the Starstone to control the entire city of Penmallow. After Dagoth's banishment, she journeyed with Gordon, Strange, and his allies to investigate Witch House, and were caught inside of it. After Dr. Strange destroyed Witch House, she and Henry decided to rebuild a new, normal house for their lives together. --Marvel Premiere#7 (8 |
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Henry Gordon is the
nephew of Jedediah Gordon. He came to Witch House after he
inherited it from his uncle. After traveling there, he learned of
the legends of Dagoth and Kalumesh. He convinced Blondine to lead
him to the sunken ruins of Kalumesh, where they both were
attacked by Dagoth. They were saved by Dr. Strange, but later
fell under Dagoth's spell, which caused them to wander mindlessly
back into the sea, and under its surface. They were again saved
by Dr. Strange, but then were caught in the trap that was Witch
House. After Dr. Strange destroyed Witch House, he and Blondine
decided to rebuild a new, normal house for their lives
together. |
|
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Kalumesh was an ancient city that worshipped Dagoth. It sunk beneath the sea and is underwater off the coast of Penmallow. |
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(Death of Doctor Strange#1 - BTS, 2) - After the death of Doctor Strange, Kalumesh was raised back to the surface seven miles off the coast of Cornwall by Dagoth. (Death of Doctor Strange#3 (fb) - BTS) - The British Navy was ready to go to war with Kalumesh. (Death of Doctor Strange#3) - Kalumesh was attacked and shattered by the Three Mothers, who slew numerous of its inhabitants before capturing Dagoth and presenting him to the Peregrine Child as a meal. (Strange III#1 - BTS) - Some refugees from fallen Kalumesh made it to the Shrouded Bazaar in New York City. (Doctor Strange VI#1 - BTS) - The UK government came to an agreement with Aggamon and deported the Kalumeshis to Aggamon's realm in the Gobi Desert. Doctor Strange and Clea teleported the refugees not yet deported to the Sanctum Sanctorum and then saved the already enslaved refugees from Aggamon's realm as Clea claimed possession of them. Aggamon released the enslaved Kalumeshis, but killed one of them as a lesson to Strange and Clea before they took the rest to the Sanctum Sanctorum. A female consort stayed with Aggamon and was present when he was slain by General Strange. --Marvel Premiere#7 (Marvel Premiere#7, [Death of Doctor Strange#1], Death of Doctor Strange#2-3, [Strange III#1], [Doctor Strange VI#1] |
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The Starstone was sent to Earth by Kathulos, another demon allied
with Dagoth, who also served Shuma-Gorath. When bathed in the
moon (and star) light, Kathulos transmitted power to it. This
enabled Daggoth to entrance the entire town, and nearly sacrifice
them all to Shuma-Gorath. |
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The Witch House was a manor in Penmallow. It was
formerly owned by Zedediah Gordon, and subsequently inherited by
his nephew Henry. The house was cared for by Blondine. Witch
House actually served as a portal/connection to the living world
of Kathulos. It was animated by Kathulos and it collapsed in on
Blondine, Clea, Dr. Strange, Henry Gordon, and Wong. It took all
of Strange's mystic powers to save himself and the others. He was
forced to call upon the powers of the Vishanti to destroy the
house, which was shattered into rubble. |
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images:
Marvel Premiere#7, p8, pan1 (main)
Marvel Premiere#7, p9 (head shot)
Marvel Premiere#7, p6, pan4 (Tower of Dagoth)
Marvel Premiere#7, p14, pan4 (Blondine)
Marvel Premiere#7, p3, pan5 (Henry Gordon)
Marvel Premiere#7, p7, pan4 (Kalumesh, underwater)
Marvel Premiere#7, p13, pan3 (Kalumesh, in the past)
Death of Doctor Strange#2, p2, pan2 (Kalumesh rises again)
Marvel Premiere#7, p17, pan7 (Starstone)
Marvel Premiere#7, p20, pan1 (Witch House)
Marvel Premiere#7, p3, pan9 (Witch House's knocker)
Appearances:
Marvel Premiere#7 (March, 1973) - Gardner Fox (writer), P. Craig Russell (penciler), Mike Esposito (inker), Roy Thomas (editor)
Marvel Premiere#8 (May, 1973) - Gardner Fox (writer), Jim Starlin (penciler), Giacoia, Hunt (inkers), Roy Thomas (editor)
Death of Doctor Strange#1-2 (November-December, 2021) - Jed MacKay (writer), Lee Garbett (artist), Darren Shan (editor)
Death of Doctor Strange#3 (January, 2022) - Jed MacKay (writer), Lee Garbett (artist), Darren Shan (editor)
Strange III#1 (May, 2022) - Jed MacKay (writer), Marcelo Ferreira (pencils), Don Ho with Roberto Poggi (inks), Darren Shan (editor)
Doctor Strange VI#1 (May, 2023) - Jed MacKay (writer), Pasqual Ferry (artist), Darren Shan (editor)
First Posted: 10/12/2001
Last updated: 10/11/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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