TOAD GOD
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Class III demon
Occupation: Godlike being
Group Membership: Old Ones
Affiliations: Great Old Ones and the elder gods Cthulhu, Yig, Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Tsathoggua, Yog-sothoth
Enemies: Any who steal the Ruby Toad, Tussmann
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: the
Hoofed Thing, the toad;
Base of Operations: Temple of the Toad, a jungle in Honduras
First Appearance:
(Historical): "The Thing on the Roof", Weird Tales
(1934);
Powers/Abilities: The Toad God was a virtually immortal creature and extremely ancient. It was likely a class III demon but seemed to lack any great intellect although it was quite cunning and able to track the location of the Ruby Toad key across the world. This beast probably possessed Class 10 strength and was highly resistant to injury. The Toad God had two tentacles for arms, a large bulbous body, powerful legs with hoof-like feet, a tail and a set of awkward-looking bat wings that enabled it fly. It is also possible that the Toad God was able to change its shape and form into amphibians or reptiles, and also communicate and control them. The Ruby Toad was a receptacle for the god’s power and it hunted down whoever possessed it.
History:
(Chamber of Chills#3 - BTS) - Very little is known about this great demonic beast or its actual name. The Toad God existed long before the Mayans colonized Central America and a mysterious temple was constructed by a strange race of men who had lived long before the sinking of Atlantis. These people worshiped strange otherworldly gods and constructed their temples throughout the world and hidden in dense jungles, sheer cliffs and subterranean caverns deep inside the Earth. The Toad God had a large basalt temple built in its honor and slept dormant within a crypt deep beneath the base of the structure. This crypt could only be entered via a ruby toad-shaped key that had been placed around the neck of the temple’s last remaining priest to safeguard the slumbering god. The Mayan tribes who later arrived in the area kept their distance from the Temple of the Toad, believing it to be a cursed place.
((Historical) "The Thing on the Roof") - For thousands of years, the Temple of the Toad God lay hidden until an explorer named Von Juntz happened upon the legends while exploring Central America in the 1890s. Much later in life, Von Juntz wrote a bizarre book titled Nameless Cults, detailing the Temple and a great treasure that could be found inside. The Temple of the Toad was explored many times and the expeditions of adventurers failed to find the treasure. This was due to lesser, inferior copies of Von Juntz’s book that were translated incorrectly after his death. Erwin, an Englishman from London, bought an original edition from a dealer in America. A fellow colleague named Tussmann was planning his own expedition to the Temple of the Toad and asked Erwin to assist him translate the book’s contents in hopes of discovering the secrets to finding the treasure.
(Chamber of Chills#3) - Arriving at the Temple, Tussmann along with some Mayan guides entered but were halted by a large sealed door to the crypt with a mummified corpse sitting in a stone throne. The Mayan guides protested about not wishing to be there but Tussmann shrugged off their advice and dismissed them. As the Mayans left, Tussmann, having knowledge about a key around the mummy's neck, took it and used it to open the heavy locked crypt door. While traveling downward with a flashlight in one hand and a pistol in the other, Tussmann was annoyed by a toad hopping slightly ahead of him in the darkness beyond. Eventually, he neared the bottom and discovered a great stone door that opened to his touch. Entering the room beyond, Tussmann to his horror came face-to-face with the unspeakable creature that was the Toad God and fired off a few rounds from his gun before quickly fleeing out of the Temple. Passing by the throne, he vaguely noticed that the mummy was strangely absent and then returned to his estate with only the Ruby Toad key. Erwin came to the estate at Tussmann's desperate request but upon arriving there, Erwin heard an odd sound of hooves off in the distance but dismissed it as being made from an ox somewhere on the estate. Inside the manor, Tussmann revealed that the temple’s treasure was a hoax but he became rattled by noises on the roof. Discussing his findings, Tussmann experiencing a sudden fit of madness, stormed off and locked himself inside his bedchamber. Erwin began reading excerpts from the Black Book and translated a passage that said the Temple's god is the Temple's treasure. Tussmann screamed and Erwin along with a manservant burst into the locked room. To their utter horror, they found Tussmann dead, crushed by a tentacle from an indescribable monster. The creature took flight into the night sky with the Ruby Toad key and returned once again to its lair within the Temple of the Toad. Erwin realized to his astonishment that what he had read was true: the Temple's god is the Temple's treasure!
Comments: Created by Robert E Howard (writer), adapted by Roy Thomas and Frank Brunner (pencils & inks).
Although unclear in the story, the real Toad God was the Ruby Toad as its essence and power came from within. The actual creature shown may only be its form as it would appear in the physical world if it was able to possess a living vessel. The mummified priest also seemed to transform into a small toad as soon as the ruby was removed from around its neck, and skittered and hopped out of Tussmann’s view as he traveled further down into the crypt. It is also possible that once the toad made its trek into the crypt, some mystical force or the Toad God itself took possession of an amphibian and assumed a physical form.
Robert E. Howard also wrote other tales with similar creatures. One was a toad-like thing worshiped by the Little People of Xuthltan that was called the Master of the Monolith in a short story titled “the Black Stone”(Weird Tales, November, 1931) and also involved the 19th Century scholar Von Junzt who wrote of it in his book, Nameless Cults. --In the wild mountains of Eastern Europe stands a black stone monolith, a great relic of an unimaginable past.
They
say foul things of Old Times still lurk
In dark forgotten corners of the world,
And Gates still gape to loose, on certain nights,
Shapes pent in Hell.
--From "The Black Stone"
Heket (Hauket), an early
Egyptian goddess
of childbirth, had an animal avatar of a frog.
--William Uchtman
Profile by AvatarWarlord72.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
The Toad God has no known connections to:
The Temple of the Toad God was built in present-day Honduras by Lumerian or Atlantean peoples long before the great Cataclysm that sank their civilizations into the ocean. The Mayans believed it to be a cursed place and did their best to avoid it. This large basalt temple was carved out of a cliff deep in an unexplored jungle location and the outside was carved with a single entrance with a huge grinning toad face as if to warn others to stay away. Inside the temple were huge antechambers filled with intricate carvings and a central room that held the mummified corpse of the Temple’s last priest that sat in a stone throne, staring and watching from the darkness. Around the mummified neck, the ancient priest wore a large ruby jeweled key that would open the crypt located below the temple. Deep underground the crypt lay the sleeping Toad God.
--Chamber of Chills#3 (The Thing on the Roof (historical)
The Ruby Toad was made from a single carved ruby and was placed on the ancient priest during mummification in order to safeguard it so no one could enter the crypt of the Toad God. This magical relic possessed the soul and power belonging to the slumbering god and once removed from the Temple, the god would rise up and seek retribution on the thief and return it back to its lair. The Toad God was so in tune with the relic that it was able to track it down no matter where in the world it may lay. Once the Ruby Toad was removed from the neck of the mummified priest, magical energies transformed it into a toad which, unknown to Tussmann, traveled ahead of him down the passage to the crypt to awaken the god that lay beyond. Any other powers or abilities it may possess remain unknown.
--Chamber of Chills#3 (The Thing on the Roof (historical)
Tussmann, a wealthy socialite and amateur explorer, read an inferior copy of the Black Book and became captivated by a lost treasure within an ancient temple in Guatemala. Traveling there, he came across the Temple of the Toad but was unable to penetrate the crypt and returned home after an accidental discharge of his pistol injured his foot. Months later, he contacted Erwin, an Englishman whom he had formerly tried to discredit. Tussmann promised to retract his statements if Erwin helped find an original copy of The Nameless Cults and discern its secrets. The book revealed that a special ruby key could open the otherwise impenetrable crypt. Traveling back to the Temple of the Toad, Tussmann and a contingent of Mayan guides made their way inside. Although the Mayan guides vehemently protested about going any further, he dismissed them and finding the Ruby Toad, proceeded on his own. Using the key, he made his way through the locked crypt door, downward, deeper and deeper into the bowels of the ancient structure. He was annoyed to find a toad hopping a little ahead of him, just out of view past the darkness beyond. Finally making his way to the bottom, he came across another door that easily opened. Upon entry and much to his horror, he was confronted by a massive toad-like monstrosity and shot at it with his pistol. Tussmann ran away in fear out of the Temple with the Ruby Toad in hand. Months later, he returned home to his estate and contacted Erwin to meet him there to talk about his experience. Tussmann was a little rattled as he heard strange noises from somewhere on his roof. He later told Erwin that the fabled treasure was nothing but a hoax and the only treasure he could bring back was the Ruby Toad. Madness overtook him and he stormed off to his bedchamber and locked himself inside, not willing to discuss anything else except to say that he was keeping the Ruby Toad for himself. Hours later, he was attacked and savagely killed by the Toad God; his screams were answered by Erwin and a servant who bust open the door to see the monster fly away, leaving behind Tussmann's corpse.
--Chamber of Chills#3 (The Thing on the Roof (historical)
Erwin was a Londoner who was an expert in ancient history and obscure texts. Three years before, Tussmann tried to discredit his book, Evidences of Nahua Culture in Yucatan, which was the result of years of careful research. He was surprised to hear from Tussmann, who promised to retract his venomous statements if he could help him find a copy of the Black Book and help translate information about the Temple of the Toad and how to penetrate its secrets. Erwin hesitantly agreed and was able to locate and buy an original edition of the old tome. After careful research, he discovered a means to open the portal to the Temple’s crypt with the use of a Ruby Toad key, which adorned a mummy within one of the building's vast chambers. Using this information, Tussmann set out to conquer the crypt in order to find its legendary lost treasure. Upon his return, Tussmann contacted Erwin and request he meet him at his estate. Once there, Erwin distantly heard the trampling of great hoofed feet but shrugged it off as an ox. Entering Tussmann’s home, Erwin found his colleague pacing in his study lost in thought. After learning that Tussmann had returned with only the Ruby Toad and no other treasure, he was astonished to hear that his colleague passed the story off as just a hoax. He watched as Tussmann snatched the ruby, storming off and locking himself in his room. He later read the Black Book and came across a vague reference that the Temple's god is the Temple's treasure. Hearing a blood curdling scream from Tussmann's room, he rushed upstairs with a servant and smashed their way inside. Standing frozen is sheer horror, Erwin found the dead crushed body of Tussmann lying on the floor and a monstrous tentacled winged beast above him. Watching helplessly, he saw the great beast gather up the Ruby Toad in one of its tentacles and take flight into the darkness beyond.
--Chamber of Chills#3 (The Thing on the Roof (historical)
images:
(without ads)
Chamber of Chills#3, p8, pan1 (Toad God)
Appearances:
“The Thing on the Roof”, Weird Tales (1934) -
Robert E. Howard (author)
Chamber of Chills#3 (March, 1973) - adapted by Roy Thomas and Frank
Brunner (pencils & inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Last updated: 25/10/07
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