The Witches of Shem
Membership: Renrutanit,
Tetra
(Pathir), at least other nine (names unrevealed)
Aliases: The Witches of El
Shah Maddoc;
"Wood-demons" (Conan's name calling)
Purpose: Unrevealed, probably power
Affiliations: The monster
guardian of Maddoc's Reign
Primary enemies: The rulers of El Shah Maddoc
(Maddoc I, Maddoc II), Imhotep the Ravager
of Worlds
Secondary enemies: Conan, Keiv,
visitors of the Dark Forest, the Kothian army (General
Soto);
Base of Operations: The Maddoc's Reign, the tower
of Maddoc, in El Shah Maddoc, Koth;
secret keep in the most obscure and unexplored part
of the Great Forest swamp, Shem;
Hyborian era
Powers/Abilities: Through
magic they could fly, they could sustain other creatures, enabling them
to live without food, water and proper shelter.
Their eldritch powers remain mostly unrevealed.
First Appearance: Conan the Barbarian I#180 (March, 1986)
History:
(Conan the Barbarian I#181 (fb) - BTS) - After Maddoc I
had ruled for about thirty years, he built a tower, as a symbol of his
self -addressed divine power. Afew months later, the witches of El Shah
Maddoc kidnapped the King and imprisoned him in his tower.
For fifteen years, the people spoke of witches and
demons, about the tower of "Maddoc's Reign". Actually, a monster
protected the King's prison, and the ones who tried to discover its
secrets were killed by the guardian beast. The witches' magic kept the
king and the beast alive, both prisoners there. Five years before the
coming of Conan, the King disappeared. No more hints arrived from the
tower.
(Conan the Barbarian I#180 (fb) - BTS) - Meanwhile, the witches
protected cruelly their secret Keep in the Dark Forest. Many unlucky
travelers that crossed the Dark Forest were captured and hanged onto
their Monolith under the hidden swamp. Their dead bodies remained carved
into the big rock for years.
(Conan the Barbarian I#180) - Five years after the King's disappearance,
the witches were still feared, and their Queen Renrutanit was considered
the most powerful and dangerous of all. However, the queen knew they
were on the path of Imhotep the Ravager of Worlds, so Renrutanit deceived
the Kothians, to save the witches.
The witches hid in the swamp of the Great Dark
Forest, where the Kothian Army chased them, and where Imhotep found the
army. The devastation caused by the Ravager of Worlds annihilated the
Forest and the entire army, but the witches survived. Renrutanit's plan
worked, almost, because her place as Queen (and her own head) was taken
by the demon Pathir (in the human body of Tetra).
(Conan the Barbarian I#180 - BTS) - Tetra brought back the witches back
to El Shah Maddoc, to Maddoc's Reign.
(Conan the Barbarian I#181) - From that moment on, Pathir used the
witches to fulfill her vengeance against Conan. The witches obeyed the
new Queen, because she possessed the head of Renrutanit.
In the following days, Tetra visited
the time stream several times to fulfill her plans, but neither the witches
nor Renrutanit were seen again.
When Tetra traveled twenty years
in the past and kidnapped King Maddoc I, she was addressed as a witch
by the Kothians.
Comments: Created by Jim Owsley, John Buscema and Bob Camp.
The Witches of Shem messed with El Shah Maddoc, even if it was a City-State of the Kothian empire. "Witches" should be
taken with a broader meaning, at least in the geographic and cultural
regions between Shem and Koth. Tetra was addressed "witch" by the
Kothians because they saw her flying. Tetra herself addressed Swan the
seer with the term "witch", and Swan did not belong to the Witches of
Shem, nor were her abilities used against men, nor were the origin of her
powers were revealed to be magic.
Profile by Spidermay.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Witches of Shem have no known connection to:
The monster was a magical mutated beast.
Its only task was the defense of Maddoc I's prison in the
Maddoc's Reign tower.
The witches of El Shah Maddoc sustained it with the same magic they used to keep Maddoc I alive without giving him water or food.
It was believed to be a demon by the people of El Shah
Maddoc, mainly due to his growls.
The monster was very aggressive, probably because it was a
predator in nature. Its strength and agility were likely inherent to its
species but they were also derived, to some exent, from the sorcery that
the witches of El Shah Maddoc used to sustain it. In the rare cases it
met an intruder, it assaulted and killed the intruder, eating his or her flesh, sometime
dismembering the body. It had sharp talons, but its killer feats were
likely its fangs.
Height: 7 feet (by approximation)
Weight:
500 lbs (approximately the average weight of a male gorilla; I'd think
probably closer to 800 lbs. due to its broad frame in combinaton with
its height)
History:
In the years of Maddoc I's imprisonment (about 20 years),
the monster inhabited some high floors of Maddoc's Reign, killing at
least seven men who tried to reach the top of the tower.
When the beast spotted Conan, the Cimmerian wasn't aware
of its presence until it assaulted him. The monster grabbed and tangled
with Conan, succeeding in biting him. Despite the wound, the pain, the
grabs and the beast's superior weight, Conan managed to stab the white
haired beast, repeatedly. The monster, bloodied, died from the wounds.
--Conan the Barbarian I#181
images: (without ads)
Conan the Barbarian I#181, pg. 22,
panel 3 (some witches)
Conan the
Barbarian I#181, pg. 22, panel 1 (Maddoc's Reign)
Conan the Barbarian I#181, cover (monster guardian)
Appearances:
Conan the Barbarian I#180 (March, 1986) - Jim Owsley
(writer), John Buscema (penciler), Bob Camp (inker), George Roussos
(colors), Larry Hama (editor)
Conan the Barbarian I#181 (April, 1986) - Jim Owsley (writer), John
Buscema (penciler), Ernie Chan (inker), George
Roussos (colors), Larry Hama (editor)
First Posted: 04/08/2024
Last updated: 04/09/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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