ARAK
Real Name: Presumably Arak
Identity/Class: Goblin (dawn of "Age of Legend"; see comments) magic user
Occupation: Tyrant
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: His magical creations
Enemies: An alliance of diverse heroes made up of: Pit Tippit, Princess Lissal, Trolkin, Vandal the Barbarian
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: An unknown ancient land (see comments)
First Appearance: Tower of Shadows#7/3 (September, 1970)
Powers/Abilities: Arak possessed various magical abilities and could fly. He could view events from afar in a magical mirror. With a gesture, he could turn others to stone statues. His spell was eventually reflected back upon him, which transformed him to stone and he was shattered.
Arak also employed his magical creations to guard his castle stronghold.
History: (Tower of Shadows#7/3 (fb) - BTS) - Arak arrived at the castle of Princess Lissal and began to work his magic, transforming her people into stone statues, driving the princess from her home. The princess and her men fled into the safety of the forests below.
(Tower of Shadows#7/3) - On a mountaintop, in the shadow of the great castle, Vandal the Barbarian, Pit Tippit, and Trolkin were battling a horde of beast-men, when the savage subhumans would pursue the three champions no farther because of the evil they sensed -- Arak!
As the three heroes descended into the forests of the valley, they came upon some "statues" of warriors. Pit climbed a tree and saw two warriors quickly running in their direction. They then met a lone girl hiding in a giant hollow tree. As the three followed the girl into the tree, the warriors emerged from the forest just as Arak came swooping down from the skies and turned them into stone.
The girl introduced herself to the heroes as Princess Lissal, said that the two warriors were the last of her people, and told them her tale of Arak -- of how he turned all her people to stone and of how he deposed her from her throne. Vandal volunteered his services to Lissal and it was decided that the four would split up into two groups to attack the castle at its two points of entry...but unbeknownst to the group, they were magically being watched by Arak from afar.
When Vandal and Trolkin emerged from the tree, they met up with Arak's first creation -- a mass of living tissue! As Vandal battled the creature, he told Trolkin to head for the castle...but just then, a huge bird swooped down and seized Trolkin!
Meanwhile, Lissal and Pit took a subterranean route to the castle, where they encountered Arak's spider creature! Outrunning the monster, the two made their way through the tunnel and to the stairs that led up into the castle. As they climbed the stairs, they ran into...Arak! The evil goblin then turned Pit and Lissal into statues!
Pausing to gloat over his victory, Arak then jumped out of the castle's tower and took to the skies. He flew to Vandal, who was still battling the flesh-mass! With a magical gesture, Arak turned Vandal to stone!
All hope seemed lost for our heroes! But as the huge bird carried Trolkin away, the transformed dwarf stabbed his captor with his dagger! The bird dropped Trolkin, who survived the fall and made his way into the castle.
As Arak flew back to his fortress, he spotted Trolkin in the tower and tried to use his petrifying powers against him...but his spell backfired upon him because of the dwarf's own curse, turning Arak into stone instead! Arak then plunged from the sky and shattered into a thousand pieces on the earth below!
With Arak's death, his spells were undone and his victims were returned to normal, and a great celebration was held throughout the freed kingdom!
Comments: Created by Wally Wood.
This story -- "Of Swords and Sorcery!" -- was an early attempt (much like Starr the Slayer) by Marvel to enter the sword-and-sorcery genre, but unlike Conan the Barbarian (which preceded it by a couple of months), it seemed to be more influenced by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (who obviously inspired Trolkin's name).
This story was said to take place at the dawn of the "Age of Legend," so no definite time-period was assigned to it -- possibly sometime before the Great Cataclysm?
It is also unknown geographically where on Earth (or even if on Earth) this story takes place -- maybe it took place in some magical realm (Weirdworld?).
I listed Arak as a goblin, but as Lissal herself said of Arak, "I don't know who -- or WHAT -- he is!" -- so it is possible that Arak is something else entirely -- I just thought his face reminded me of the Green Goblin's...sa-aa-ay, ya don't suppose maybe Arak could've been behind the scenes influencing Norman Osborn years ago?...Nah! Who'd ever believe something like that?!
Profile by John Kaminski
CLARIFICATIONS:
Arak has no known connections to:
Vandal the Barbarian has no known connection to:
Pit Tippit has no known connection to:
An alliance of heroes (see individual sub-profiles)
A diverse group made up of (from left to right): Pit Tippit, Vandal the Barbarian, Princess Lissal, and Trolkin. They went on to battle the menace of Arak.
--Tower of Shadows#7/3
Pit Tippit was an elf armed with a bow and arrows, and a sword.
Armed with a spear and dagger, Trolkin was once a dwarf who made the mistake of laughing at a wizard and was cursed with a reptilian appearance. When Arak tried to turn Trolkin into stone, Arak's own spell was reflected back upon him because he couldn't cast a spell on top of a spell -- the wizard's curse -- and Arak himself was turned to stone.
--Tower of Shadows#7/3
She was driven from her castle when Arak arrived and began turning her people to stone. She later formed an alliance with Vandal, Pit, and Trolkin, and the four went on to battle Arak's evil.
--Tower of Shadows#7/3
Three monstrous creatures created by Arak's magic to stop the heroic challengers. They included:
1. A mass of living tissue that seemed to be formed from the fused bodies of fifty men (it had one hundred arms), which Vandal fought.
2. A huge bird, which snatched up Trolkin and carried him off until he stabbed it with his dagger, forcing it to drop him.
3. A large spider-like creature, which guarded the tunnel beneath the castle. It pursued Pit Tippit and Princess Lissal until they outran it.
--Tower of Shadows#7/3
images: (without ads)
Tower of Shadows#7, p19, pan1 (main image)
First Posted: 10/09/2006
Last updated:
05/12/2012
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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