KALLIGOR
Real Name: Kalligor
Identity/Class: Normal human, later mutate (Hyborian Era)
Occupation: Nobleman
Group Membership: Court of Poitain
Affiliations: Baron, squire (all unnamed), Valannus (loose)
Enemies: Hydragon
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Hydragon
Base of Operations: Aquilonia and the Bossonian Marches
First Appearance: Conan I#12/2 (December, 1971)
Powers/Abilities: Kalligor was aggressive and devious, and sought power, ready to kill to achieve this. He was a skilled swordsman and horseback rider. His later transformation into the Hydragon changed him drastically (see details in the Hydragon sub-profile).
History:
(Conan I#12/2 (fb) - BTS) - Kalligor, ambitious and eager to improve his standing in the baron's court, loosed the cinch straps of his opponent, Valannus, in the upcoming tournament to ensure an easier victory. He hoped to woo and marry the baron's daughter and eliminate his ruler's son.
(Conan I#12/2) - Kalligor jousted with Valannus, knocking him off his horse. He then severely chided his squire for being too slow with fresh garments. Later that night at the baron's dinner, there came word that the hydragon was loose near the frontier. The baron commented that the legend held that only a lone warrior could defeat the beast and many dinner guests came forward as volunteers. Instead the baron asked Kalligor but he politely declined. He then let the baron's son insist on tackling the creature.
The next day, after Kalligor had secretly made a sacrifice to the god Asura, word spread that the baron's son had disappeared in his quest. Kalligor quickly rode to the baron and offered to go after the monster. The baron offered half his barony and his daughter's hand in marriage if he succeeded, then to become his sole heir. Kalligor soon rode westward over the border when he suddenly encountered the fierce hydragon. Keeping away from its claws, Kalligor threw his poisoned sword into the beast's mouth and killed it. He then looked aghast as the hydragon transformed back into the baron's son. Kalligor bemoaned that could take no trophy of the creature to prove its destruction without also revealing that he had killed the baron's son. However, the corpse's blood on his hand touched his brow and so he unwittingly continued the curse, finally understanding as he changed into the hydragon himself.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas (writer) and Gil Kane (artist).
This story began with a panel of Roy Thomas and Gil Kane introducing "Tales of the Hyborian Age".
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Kalligor has no known connections to:
The hydragon was a resilient but ferocious reptile with a mound of snakes on its head and lived around the western Aquilonian border. It had a fearsome reputation for slaying entire villages and many who sought to destroy it. Legend held that it could only be defeated by a lone warrior but that its blood was cursed. Unknown to perhaps all was that the curse of the hydragon was that any who killed the hydragon would themselves become it after coming in contact with its blood. The transformation into the hydragon seemed to alter the human mind as well, turning the creature's killer into the same ferocious beast. It was likely born from an actual mystical curse.
At one point, the Poitaini baron's son went to slay the beast but was transformed. Later, Kalligor went off to kill the creature but was likewise turned into the creature after touching the blood of the slain man before him.
--Conan I#12/2
images:
(without ads)
Conan I#12/2, p2, pan? (on horseback)
Appearances:
Conan I#12/2 (December, 1971) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gil Kane
(pencils & inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Last updated: 04/30/09
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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