"winged horror"

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Degenerated member of an unidentified elder race (Distant Past to Hyborian Era )

Occupation: Guardian of the land around the river Zarkheba

Group Membership: Former member of unidentified race (see comments)

Affiliations: Controlled the were-hyenas

Enemies: Bêlit and her crew, Conan;
    anyone who entered the region around the Zarkheba river

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "devil-ape," "winged-ape"
    it was described once as "the necromancer," but that was just descriptive, and not intended as an alias...at least I don't think so

Base of Operations: The land around the river Zarkheba

First Appearance: "Queen of the Black Coast" from Weird Tales (May, 1934);
    (Marvel) Conan the Barbarian I#100 (July, 1979)

Powers/Abilities: The ape-bat thing had superhuman strength (enhanced human) and could fly (perhaps 25mph?). It could cast certain spells (transforming men into animals under his control), and it had a lifespan of millions of years.

Height: Perhaps 7' tall (15' wingspan)
Weight: Perhaps 900 lbs.
Eyes: Red
Hair: Dark (black or dark purple/blue)

History:
(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb)) <Before man's primal ancestors had risen from the slime of the primordial seas> - A race of semi-humanoid winged people built a city on the banks of a wide river, flowing through an illimitable plain. Winged and of heroic proportions, they resembled man only as man in his highest form resembles the great apes.; though mortal, their lifespans were enormous.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb)) - Eventually the great river and its shore-region altered due to violent Earthly upheavals, with the plains turning into swamps that stank with reptilian life. Where fertile meadows once rolled, forests reared up, growing into dank jungles, and volcanoes emerged. As earthquakes shattered the city's highest towers, the river ran get black for days with some lethal substance spewed up from the subterranean depths. Many died who drank it. Those who survived began to slowly change: winged gods became pinioned demons, with all that remained of their ancestor's knowledge distorted into ghastly paths. Their race died fast by cannibalism and by horrible blood feuds until only one shape, an abhorrent perversion of nature, remained in the ruins of their city.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb)) - Sometime later, 50 warriors out of prehistoric Stygia arrived in the valley of the river that would become known as Zarkheba, defeated by and fleeing from a stronger tribe. When they slept beneath the full moon, the ancient race's sole survivor, the "winged horror" crept from the shadows and performed a mystic rite over each sleeper. When dawn arrived, the men had become great spotted hyenas, howling at the sky while the winged horror squatted at their center.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb)) - When a tribe of black men (Kushites?) rowed up the river, they soon fled or else died screaming, torn apart by the were-hyenas as the winged horror watched from above, sweeping across the full moon's light.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb) - BTS) <Shortly before Conan the Barbarian I#58> - Pursued by the Tigress, pirate ship of Bêlit, a Stygian galley fled up the Zarkheba river. Bêlit directed her crew to wait at the river's mouth, and 4 days later the galley did come floating back out, its decks deserted and blood-stained. Only one man remained on board, and he died while ranting mad gibberish.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100) - Sometime later, Bêlit returned with her powerful lover Conan, and she led the Tigress' crew up the Zarkheba, determined to gain the treasure she believed was within the city therein, of which legends had spoken. That night, Bêlit told Conan that even were she still in death, if he were fighting for his life, she would come back across the abyss to aid him. As they explored, they glimpsed from a distance the silhouette of the winged horror, either perched atop a tower or flying above them.
    Soon, Bêlit was affected by the dark magic that pervaded the region, and she became greedier and more mercilessly, deliberately sacrificing members of her loyal crew to obtain the treasures she wanted from beneath an ancient sacrificial altar. While she did so, however, the winged horror invaded the Tigress and shattered all of their water casks before fleeing. Knowing they could not drink the river's poison waters, Conan led a party out to find an alternate water source. Drugged into unconscious, Conan dreamed of the winged horror's origins and past history, and then of the fate of his crew..."

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb)) - The winged horror led the were-hyenas to descend upon the crew of the Tigress, slaughtering all of them, save M'Gora, who was rendered mad. Only 20 of the were-hyenas survived the battle.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb) - BTS) - The winged horror slew Bêlit , leaving her naked corpse suspended from the Tigress' mast, suspended by the blood-red gems of one of the necklaces she had stolen from beneath the altar. The rest of the wealth she had stolen was knocked overboard, into the Zarkheba's lethal waters.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100) - Conan encountered and was forced to slay the attacking M'Gora, then found the Tigress' crew's corpses. Ultimately he found Bêlit  as well, and he retrieved her corpse, wrapping it in her scarlet cloak.
    As the moon arose, the were-hyenas attacked Conan, who slew every last one of them with arrow, sword, or the strength of his own arms (hurling it against a stone column), though he received a serious bite wound to his right wrist.
    Conan barely had seconds to recover from that fight when he sensed the winged horror flying above, as he reached for his sword, the pyramid shuddered and an immense stone column fell towards him. Conan rushed to safety but ended up trapped with a piece of the column pinning his legs to the ground, and his sword just out of reach. The winged horror then alighted a short distance away and began to approach Conan, who struggled fiercely to free himself. Conan's efforts seemed that they would not succeed before the winged horror could reach and slay him, but then Bêlit appeared, her spirit fulfilling her vow to Conan to fight for him even after death. She stabbed the creature and fought it off for seconds, precious seconds that allowed Conan to free himself from the column and reach his sword. As Conan rose to his feet, the winged horror attacked anew, but Conan fiercely swung his sword, cleaving straight through the monster's mid-section. It fell to the ground and stared at Conan with hatred for several moments before the creature stiffened in death, marking the extinction of the oldest race in the world.
    The dead were-hyenas having reverted back to men, they began crumbling into dust. Conan placed Bêlit amidst her accumulated riches upon a pyre on the Tigress, then set the ship aflame and pushed it out into the sea.

Comments: Created by Robert E. Howard.
    Adapted by Roy Thomas, John Buscema, & Ernie Chan.

    Before man's primal ancestors had risen from the slime of the primordial seas...that's really long ago...the first life forms are said to have left the sea and to have dwelt on the land somewhere between 400 to 470 million years ago. These were generally arthropods and insects.

    The upheavals that reshaped their land and led to the elder race's descent could have been the Great Cataclysm (circa 18,000 BC), or it could have been something much earlier.

    For this creature, I like the name Orrorekirsim. Orrore is Italian for horror (according to Babelfish), the kir is for bat, and sim is for ape.
How about Camazotz as a name? That was the bat-god in Aztec/Mayan myth. You could spell it Kamasotz.
I knew it wouldn't fit chronologically, but with several other similarly titled gods, you could blame it on that whole "stealing-worshippers-thing." Not that Camazotz was actually worshipped. I think he was just more of a protector of the underworld  
--Will U

    And I think I'd call the race the Biancalans (merging the Italian words for white & wing...according to Babelfish).

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The winged horror has KNOWN connections to:

Were-hyenas have no known connections to:

the ancient race

 

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb)) <Before man's primal ancestors had risen from the slime of the primordial seas> - A race of semi-humanoid winged people built a city on the banks of a wide river, flowing through an illimitable plain. Winged and of heroic proportions, they resembled man only as man in his highest form resembles the great apes.; though mortal, their lifespans were enormous.

 

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb)) - Eventually the great river and its shore-region altered due to violent Earthly upheavals, with the plains turning into swamps that stank with reptilian life. Where fertile meadows once rolled, forests reared up, growing into dank jungles, and volcanoes emerged. As earthquakes shattered the city's highest towers, the river ran get black for days with some lethal substance spewed up from the subterranean depths. Many died who drank it. Those who survived began to slowly change: winged gods became pinioned demons, with all that remained of their ancestor's knowledge distorted into ghastly paths. Their race died fast by cannibalism and by horrible blood feuds until only one shape, an abhorrent perversion of nature, remained in the ruins of their city.

 

 

 

were-hyenas

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb)) - Fifty warriors out of prehistoric Stygia arrived in the valley of the river that would become known as Zarkheba, defeated by and fleeing from a stronger tribe. When they slept beneath the full moon, the ancient race's sole survivor, the "winged horror" crept from the shadows and performed a mystic rite over each sleeper. When dawn arrived, the men had become great spotted hyenas, howling at the sky while the winged horror squatted at their center.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb)) - When a tribe of black men (Kushites?) rowed up the river, they soon fled or else died screaming, torn apart by the were-hyenas as the winged horror watched from above, sweeping across the full moon's light.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb) - BTS) <Shortly before Conan the Barbarian I#58> - Pursued by the Tigress, pirate ship of Bêlit, a Stygian galley fled up the Zarkheba river. Bêlit directed her crew to wait at the river's mouth, and 4 days later the galley did come floating back out, its decks deserted and blood-stained. Only one man remained on board, and he died while ranting mad gibberish.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100) - Sometime later, Bêlit returned with her powerful lover Conan, and she led the Tigress' crew up the Zarkheba, determined to gain the treasure she believed was within the city therein, of which legends had spoken.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100 (fb)) - The winged horror led the were-hyenas to descend upon the crew of the Tigress, slaughtering all of them, save M'Gora, who was rendered mad. Only 20 of the were-hyenas survived the battle.

(Conan the Barbarian I#100) - Conan encountered and was forced to slay the attacking M'Gora, then found the Tigress' crew's corpses.
    As the moon arose, the were-hyenas attacked Conan, who slew every last one of them with arrow, sword, or the strength of his own arms (hurling it against a stone column), though he received a serious bite wound to his right wrist.
    Following the winged horror's death, Conan noticed that the dead were-hyenas having reverted back to men, they began crumbling into dust. Conan placed Bêlit amidst her accumulated riches upon a pyre on the Tigress, then set the ship aflame and pushed it out into the sea.

images: (without ads)
Conan the Barbarian I#100, p13, panel 2 (elder race)
        p14, panel 3 (elder race degenerating)
        p22, panel 3 (hyenas)
        p28, panel 2 (winged horror)

Appearances:
Conan the Barbarian I#100 (July, 1979) - Roy Thomas (writer/editor), John Buscema (penciler), Ernie Chan (inker)

First Posted: 03/27/2008
Last updated: 03/29/2008

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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