Reimos on the throne

REIMOS

Real Name: Reimos

Identity/Class: Human mutate (Hyborian Era) magic user

Occupation: Sorcerer, breeder of demons

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: The sons of Cthulhu, the dark gods of R'lyeh

Enemies: Conan, Lupos Davalte and his crew, Fhrank, Theta

Known Relatives: Bethene (daughter), Lohla (daughter), Rhula (daughter), Theta (daughter), his "sons"

Aliases: King Reimos (self-appointed)

Base of Operations: a jungle south of the river Shikri, about six leagues from its mouth;
    formerly a village near the mouth of the Shikri

First Appearance: Conan the Barbarian I#141 (December, 1982)

Powers/Abilities: Reimos could control hundreds of giant spiders. He knew the ancient language of the dark gods of R'lyeh and how to invoke them.

Reimos, head shot

History:

(Conan the Barbarian I#141 (fb)) - Reimos was a sorcerer and lived in a village near the mouth of the river Shikri with his four daughters, Bethene, Lohla, Rhula and Theta.

    One day, a pirate ship, led by Lupos Davalte, arrived at the village. The pirate noticed some young women, Reimos' daughters. He followed them and had them captured by his men. Reimos, already an old man, ran out of his hut, and, using an unknown language, cast a curse upon Davalte. Then, with an axe, cut off Davalte's left hand. Vengeful, the pirate captain had him get on the ship and tortured for seven days and seven nights before Tetha's eyes. Reimos never screamed. When he spoke, he only shouted again the curse. Near death, Reimos was thrown into the sea.

(Conan the Barbarian I#141 (fb) - BTS) - Reimos was dying, but his hatred, and the incredible pain caused by the torture, drove him to invoke the dark gods of R'lyeh, the sons of Cthulhu. The dark gods listened his prayers, and Reimos paid for their services. His body aged more, he became one of the dark ones and was given a castle in the jungle. There, he commanded a colony of black, giant spiders, that he called the sons of Reimos. In the following months, the spiders captured many men. Their lives were used to invoke thousands of demons, and the spiders spawned.

(Conan the Barbarian I#141 (fb)) - Meanwhile, Lupos Davalte had married Theta, Reimos' youngest daughter.

(Conan the Barbarian I#141 (fb) - BTS) - As months passed, the pirate became obsessed by the curse.

(Conan the Barbarian I#140) - After capturing a barbarian and enslaving him as an oarsman, Davalte and his ship found that they were short of supplies. He ordered to be let off the ship with the slaves so that he could walk through the jungle to find supplies. However, this jungle belonged to Reimos. During the walk, the spiders captured Droga, one of the ship's crew. Shortly after, a group of pirates, including  Davalte, Theta, Fhrank the second-in-chief and Conan the barbarian, was attacked by a dozen giant spiders. 

(Conan the Barbarian I#141) - Almost everybody was killed. Davalte was terrified and fled, but was eventually killed by the spider. Reimos had achieved his revenge.

(Conan the Barbarian I#141 - BTS) - The old sorcerer, having recognized his daughter, ordered to his pets to spare Conan, Theta and Fhrank.

(Conan the Barbarian I#141) - The trio succeeded in arriving at the castle of the mad sorcerer, and, after few explanations, Reimos requested that his daughter stay with him on his throne of silk. Theta judged him insane and Reimos unleashed his dark army against them. Fhrank brought Theta outside while Conan set the enormous webs of the castle on fire. Green flames rose as high as the shrieks of the dying arachnid demons. In seconds, all the castle was aflame with Reimos still inside. The spiders kept on pursuing the trio. Fhrank died, but Conan and Theta managed to escape.

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema (pencils) and Brett Breeding (inks).

Reimos said that human lives were used to invoke thousands of demons. I translate this to mean that human bodies were used to nourish thousands of spiders.

Profile by Spidermay.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Reimos has no known connections to

The demon spiders, the sons of Reimos, have no known connections to
Sons of Reimos

The sons of Reimos / Demons

The sons of Reimos were spiders and were related to some unknown dark gods from R'lyeh. The spiders obeyed Reimos' orders, potentially even over long distances. Reimos ordered them to capture human bodies which were used as cocoons and food. Every cadaver could nourish tens of demons, which grew eating other human bodies. In some cases, a single demon could occupy a single cadaver, coming out from it in its full size and dread.

A giant spider emerges from its host   The demon-spiders were blue-black in color and furry. They had red eyes, spun sticky thick webs from their mouths and emitted some perceptible sounds. They "clicked" when they used their jaws and they shrieked when burning. Their bite was deadly. They injected a poison in a human body which would kill in a few hours. They injected a substance that contained some eggs, which then grew in the human body, eventually killing the human host and delivering more demons. After their birth, they could keep on using their host's body, even having it walk and fight as a live human, although a little slower in movement, but not any weaker. The young demons, whose bodies were as great as a man's fist, didn't spin any webs. The greater demons had a body as big as a human chest and could spin a web from their mouth. Their usual method of attacking a prey was to spin a web on its face, blinding it (probably as some cobras do, spitting their venom). Their skin was not tough and they could be killed by few sword slashes. Their smell was horrible and pungent.

    In the space of a few months, the demons had spawned thousands of individuals. They stored many bodies in the jungle, but the greater part of their victims lay in the caverns under Reimos' castle. The spiders in the lair burned in the fire lit by Conan, but many of the smaller ones animated the bodies of Davalte and his crew and chased Conan, Theta and Fhrank to the ship. There, Conan killed the giant spider which had grown in Fhrank's body and set the whole ship aflame, killing them.

    In the jungle there were other cadavers enveloped by webs hanging from trees, so it is possible that other eggs had yet to hatch.

--Conan the Barbarian I#140 (Conan the Barbarian I#141

images: (without ads)
Conan the Barbarian I#141, p8, pan1 (main image)
Conan the Barbarian I#141, p8, pan3 (head shot)
Conan the Barbarian I#141, p15, pan5 (young demons coming out from a cadaver)
Conan the Barbarian I#141, p18, pan3 (giant spider coming from a cadaver)

Other Appearances: None

Last updated: 09/23/09

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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