AA-THAK
Real Name: Aa-Thak
Identity/Class: Magic user; Pict (Pre-Cataclysmic Era)
Occupation: King-Wizard
Group Membership: Clan of the Sungara
Affiliations: Jaggta-Noga, Nial
Enemies: Brule and the clan of the Borni, Gonar, Kull, other enemy clans and tribes, Atlanteans
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations:
First Appearance: Savage Sword of Conan#55/2 (August, 1980)
Powers/Abilities: Aa-Thak had his charms, most of them remained unseen. Surely could he cast spells pronouncing words of power, for example, to paralyze a man, or to summon a demon like Jaggta-Noga. He used a great ebon staff carved with glyphs of a magical language.
History: (Savage Sword of Conan#197/2) - Aa-Thak was a
sorcerer who aspired to become the most powerful shaman of the Pict clans.
During a conclave where Nial, Over-King, and the Pict tribes of Tathel were present
Aa-Thak challenged Gonar, an influent shaman. Their magic fight was interrupted
by the news of a raid from the Atlanteans and the warriors run to stop their
enemies. A second bunch of Atlanteans attacked the village to kidnap Dinaldo, a Valusian
emissary, and Aa-Thak summoned Jaggta-Noga, demon-lord of the Lost Land. The
demon slew almost all the Atlanteans.
Gonar's powers had let him learn that one of the Atlanteans (Kull)
would be an important man for the future of Picts and Valusians so he intervened. With
his staff, wounded Aa-Thak, then banished the Demon back to his dark realm.right before killing
Kull.
(Savage Sword of Conan#55/2 (fb) - BTS) - Aa-Thak recovered.
(Savage Sword of Conan#55/2 (fb)) - Aa-Thak became the most powerful sorcerer among the wizards of the Pict clan of the Sungara.
A valley used for hunting became contended territory among the Sungara tribe and the Borni tribe. Nial of the Tatheli, war-chief of all the tribes, didn't take any decision about the contest, and eventually a war among the enemy clans arose.
Aa-Thak decided to use his black sorcery to stop and defeat the Borni clan at the valley entrance.
Alone, Aa-Thak waited for the enemies. A single Pict, a youth named Brule appeared before of him. Aa-Thak spelled a single word of power and casted a paralyzing enchantement over his enemy. The Pict warrior was numbed, his feet were frozen, but the sorcerous blast was weakened by his cold iron sword. Aa-Thak kept on sending forth his sorcery but the Borni was not paralyzed. Swinging his blade, he cut Aa-Thak's staff in two, then sunk the blade in Aa-Thak's chest, killing him.
The Sungara were negatively conditioned by the their King-Wizard's death and lost the battle and the valley.
Comments: Original story by Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter. Adapted to comics by: Roy Thomas (writer), Alfredo Alcala (art).
For those times and scale of values, it was unbelievable that a single warrior could survive in a fight one-to-one against a King-Wizard. After this exploit, Brule gained the title of Spear-Slayer.
Did Howard want to explain the origin of the belief that cold iron was a good defense or offense against magic?
In SSoC#197 the skull-caped shaman was never named, but I'm quite sure he was Aa-Thak. The skull-cap, the feathers, the disks-belt and so on could be a cerimonial dress common for many shamans. On Gonar's spear, the shaman's blood could mean he had been killed but it wasn't shown so it is possible that Aa-Thak was only wounded by Gonar.
Profile by Spidermay.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Aa-Thak has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
Savage Sword of Conan#55/2, p8, pan1 (Aa-Thak, full body)
Savage Sword of Conan#55/2, p7, pan3 (Aa-Thak, head shot)
Appearances:
Savage Sword of Conan#55 (August, 1980) - Roy Thomas (writer/editor), Alfredo Alcala (artist)
Savage Sword of Conan#197/2 (May, 1992) - Roy Thomas
(writer), E. R. Cruz (pencils and inks), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
First Posted: 05/21/2008
Last updated: 05/07/2008
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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