QUEEN TARAMISQUEEN TARAMIS
Real Name: Taramis
Identity/Class: Human, Askhauri (Hyborian Era)
Occupation: Queen
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Acrallidus, Conan of Cimmeria, Krallides, Marcios, Shubal
Enemies: Arkhaurus, Constantius, Khumbanigash, Mishi and her brother, Sergianus, Thaug, Zinn
Known Relatives: Salome (twin sister), Constantius (brother-in-law), Ialamis (mother), some grand-grand-mothers or aunts named Salome, Salome the first one, unnamed ancestor First Queen of Khauran, unidentified ancestor demon
Aliases: Princess Taramis
Base of Operations: Khauran (Hyborian Era)
First Appearance: "A Witch shall be Born," Weird Tales
(December, 1934);
(Marvel) Savage Sword of Conan#5 (April, 1975)
Powers/Abilities: None. She seemed to arouse a strong loyalty in her soldiers.
History:
(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5 (fb)) - Taramis
was born together her twin sister Salome. They were the daughters of the
Queen, ruler of Khauran. But Salome had the
mark of the witch on her skin. So,
Salome was declared dead for the people and also for her sister, who always
believed her dead. Instead Salome was secretly
brought into the desert and abandoned to her
destiny, then saved from a Khitan wizard.
(Savage Sword of Conan#217 (fb) - BTS) - Taramis's father died when she was a child.
(Savage Sword of Conan#217) - The young princess Taramis saw for the first time Conan of Cimmeria, then bodyguard of her mother's cousin Khashtris. She stood witness as Ialamis--as only a woman of royal blood could do--broke the mirror magically holding Conan's soul, and as Conan destroyed the crystal demon that then formed from the mirror fragments.
(Savage Sword of Conan#218/2) - A woman, Mishi and her
brother, was hired by Lord Arkhaurus to assassinate Princess Taramis. Mishi
seduced Conan and--by his recommendation--was made handmaiden to Princess
Taramis, while Khashtris volunteered Conan and Shubal as bodyguards for Taramis.
Conan was bored from standing watch outside Taramis' door as she played and
subsequently napped. Mishi drugged Conan and sent her brother to kill Conan and
then Taramis, but Shubal came by in time to slay the brother and save Conan and
Taramis, while Mishi was slain by agents of Arkhaurus to prevent her from
revealing his involvement; she nonetheless shared the information with Conan
before dying.
With the aid of the Eye of Erlik, Conan and Shubal exposed
Akhaurus and his alliance with Sergianus, a suitor of Queen Ialamis, but Ialamis
then took her own life, unwilling to return to her lonely existence bereft of a
lover. With her dying breath, Ialamis asked her faithful councilor Acrallidus to
council and guide Taramis, and she voiced some hope for Taramis and Acrallidus'
son, Krallides...though she died before she could explain it fully.
Young Taramis was made queen of Khauran while Conan left the
city behind.
(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5 (fb) - BTS) - At least 20 years after her birth, Taramis was the Queen of Khauran. Her Captain of the Guards was Conan the Cimmerian. Taramis trusted Conan, and showed to him the secret passages under the buildings and the city walls. She also trusted Krallides her best counselor.
(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5 (fb)) - An exiled mercenary, Constantius,
allied with Salome
to conquer the throne of Khauran. Constantius
approached Khauran with
his army of Shemite mercenaries, faking heading to Turan. He arranged to speak
to Taramis. He asked for her hand, but she refused. She accepted to let the army
pass through Khauran but she had Constantius
confined in the southern tower, until his troops had passed the borders with
Turan.
That night Salome, impersonating her sister, had the Shemite mercenaries
enter the town. She also freed Constantius
from his prison
(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5) - In the night, Taramis was awoken by Salome. She learnt of her sister's history, after which Salome allowed Constantius to rape her.
(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5 (fb)) - Salome, impersonating Taramis, accepted Constantius' marriage proposal and released the Khauran army. A short battle followed, led by Conan. Conan was captured. Many Khauran soldiers died. Marcios, a young soldier was wounded but fled.
(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5 - BTS) - Taramis learned from Salome that Conan had been crucified and that many persons dear to Taramis had been tortured and killed. Taramis was also tortured, physically and mentally. Khumbanigash, general of the mercenaries, also raped her.
(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of
Conan#5 (fb)) - Meanwhile the people of Khauran lived in pain. The Shemite
mercenaries humiliated every woman they desired. The people was heavily
taxed and vexed. Many young Khaurans were sold as slaves to the Turanians. Other
youths fled,
joining to the nomads of the desert. The nomads, stronger than ever, started to
raid some villages.
A revolt arose, led by Marcios, but it failed and he had
to flee and hide.
Astreas, a
historian, wrote about the bad situation to his colleague
Alcemides of Nemedia.
(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5) - A night seven months after Salome's arrival, the Witch showed to her sister the head of Krallides, Taramis' most faithful counselor. Marcios, who had never believed that Salome was Taramis, learned about the real fate of Taramis and organized her liberation.
(A Witch is born; Savage Sword of
Conan#5) - A week later, Conan, survived to the cross and now leader of more
than 11,000 Zuagir warriors, headed to Khauran with his nomads, plus a secret
battalion of 3,000 Khauran Hyborian knights. A battle was fought outside the town. The
Zuagirs and the Khauran defeated the Shemites mercenaries. Before the end of the
battle, Conan and some soldiers used the secret passages under the city walls
and reached the prison where Taramis was kept. But some minutes after, Salome
and Zinn slew all the soldiers but Conan and kidnapped
Taramis with the purpose to give her to Thaug,
a demon. Conan followed the two, Zinn left Taramis to Salome.
The Witch tried to kill Taramis but Marcios arrived from behind and stabbed her with his sword. Taramis was taken outside
the Temple by Conan who had to defend her from the arrows of some Shemites led
by Constantius. Then Salome
appeared, she called Thaug
and died. Conan and his Desert Wolves killed Thaug.
Taramis was the Queen again. She offered to Conan to become Captain again and
also to become her counselor. But Conan preferred to be the leader of the Zuagirs,
then Taramis claimed Marcios new Captain of the Guards.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema (pencils) and "The Tribe" (inkers).
The Savage Sword of Conan#217-218 were
adapted from Andrew J. Offut's "Conan the Mercenary," though I don't have those
to confirm Taramis' appearances were not something that Roy Thomas added in for
fun.
Thanks to David LoTempio for informing us of those appearances.
--Snood.
In the original novel:
Taramis and Salome have black curly hair;
The name of the loyal soldier is Valerius and not Marcios, moreover, Valerius and his men freed Taramis form the prison and were attacked by Salome and an unnamed priest (Zinn, in the comics). Conan gatecrashed in the town only after Valerius had killed Salome and saved Taramis, just in time to have his Desert Wolves kill Thaug;
Ivga is a bit more present than in the comics.
Clarifications:
Taramis has no known connections to
Krallides has no known connections to any other character with a similar name
Krallides was one of the Queen's counselors. He was the son of Acrallidus. He was a normal human, honest and faithful to the throne and probably a sage.
He was considered trustworthy by Taramis, and the people listened his words. After Salome took Taramis identity, Krallides understood that something went wrong, and, after many months of odd behavior of the false Taramis, he started to believe that Taramis wasn't the real one but a false.
Krallides tried to convince the Khauran population that the
Queen was not Taramis but Salome had him captured and beheaded. Then Salome used Krallides' head to torture Taramis.
Khumbanigash gave the head to Marcios,
who was disguised as a deaf-mute and who learned that
both Conan and Krallides were right and started his plans for the liberation of the
Queen.
--A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5
Images:
A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5,
p1, pan1 (Taramis, full body)
A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5,
p1, pan3 (Taramis, head shot)
A Witch is born; Savage Sword of Conan#5,
p28, pan8 (Krallides, head)
Other appearances:
Savage Sword of Conan#217-218 (January-February 1994) - Roy Thomas (writer),
Esteban Maroto (artist), Richard Ashford (editor)
Last updated: 09/07/06
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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