YOG

Real Name: Yog

Identity/Class: God (Hyborian Era)

Occupation: God

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Darfar, desert demons of Shem, Minions, unidentified priestess, Zuagirs, many worshippers

Enemies: Mitra, Conan

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Lord of the Empty Abodes

Base of Operations: Unrevealed

First Appearance: Savage Sword of Conan I#14 (only named);
Savage Sword of Conan I#188/2 (August, 1991) (idol form)

Powers/Abilities : Unknown. As a god, his powers were surely vast.

History:

(Savage Sword of Conan I#188/2 (fb) - BTS) - Yog the demon-god of evil, had an eternal enemy: Mitra.

Yog's worshippers built a crypt and a giant statue depicting him, with jewels as eyes, creating a center of power. During the Hyborian Era, that ancient temple got lost and was located underground, near the eastern border of Aquilona.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#14 (fb) - BTS) - Some years before Conan's reign in Aquilonia, Yog was worshipped as king of demons by Zuagir. He was also worshipped by the Darfar, and was believed to have ruled the desert demons of Shem.

(Savage Sword of Conan I#188/2) - The stars aligned in the proper way. An astrologer called Galdek prophetized a war involving Yog.
After having waited for the proper alignment of the constellation of Yog, a priestess made her way to the crypt and called upon the power of Yog. Conan's interference was brief and Yog granted her all the power she needed to become the destructor of Mitra's followers. The priestess became a giant, taller than mountains. Wielding the Wand of Watoomb, she started gathering an apocalyptic storm. But also Mitra intervened. He convinced Conan to become his avatar, sending him to chase the emissary of the Evil. In the skies above the Aquilonian border the titanic struggle went on. Both the minions of Yog and the angels of Mitra stood still, watching from their planes of existence. But when a wind covered Yog's constellation with clouds, the priestess lost her resolution and Conan struck, killing her.

The stars in the sky resembling Yog's face bursted for the last time, then fell to Earth in plumes of fire. The corridor between man and god was closed.

Comments: Name created by Robert E. Howard;
first used in Marvel Universe by Roy Thomas;
graphically created by Sandy Plunkett (layouts) and Dave Cockrum (finished art).

The eastern border of Aquilonia is supposed to become Palestine in the modern era? I don't think so. Palestine should correspond to the desertic regions near Zamboula.

Profile by Spidermay.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Yog has no known connections to

• Yogah, of the Hyborian era, AKA Yag-Koska , @ Tower of the Elephant; Conan the Barbarian I#4
• Yog-Sokot, demon invoked by Grim Reaper and Lilith; he swore to this demon to repay Lloigoroth for his power @ Avengers I#352
• Yog Sotath , demon, AKA Sodatha, @ Savage Sword of Conan#152
• Yog-Sothoth, Old Ones?, one of the Fiends of the Dark invoked by Costranno who gave him his ring, @ Savage Sword of Conan I#1
• any other demon-god.

Galdek has no known connections to any other character with a similar name.

The Priestess

A determined woman and Yog worshipper with mystic knowledge about the proper constellations to wait for, the right spells to use for summoning Yog's power and the use of such a powerful talisman as the Wand of Watoomb.

The Priestess, an Aquilonian, faked some documents and pretended to have noble origins to be put in charge of a military patrol as Captain. She used her beauty to dupe the soldiers, and used them to explore the region around the lost crypt.

She had found the Idol of Yog, but the evening before the right star alignment, she spotted a barbarian near the border of the chasm leading down the crypt. She played her part and led the man, Conan, to the camp, enlisting him.
That night in her tent, Galdek, her astrologer, spoke about "the great change" and "the fall".
A short time later, the Priestess went to the crypt, where, using the Wand of Watoomb, she started the ritual to fill the gap between the world of mortals and gods. Conan interrupted her, but only momentarily. Growing in the power of Yog, the priestess became a giant, aetheric keeper of destruction. Higher than the highest mountains, she walked on the Aquilonian land, filled with Mitra worshippers. She started gathering a destructive storm with flashes of lightning, but again had to confront Conan, now transformed into Mitra's Avatar. She got the upper hand, but when a wind covered the constellation of Yog with clouds she was distracted and dropped the Wand. Conan grabbed it and killed Yog's Avatar with one brutal blow.
The struggle was finished but the war wasn't. The Priestess' blood flowed down mountains. Through the ages, the ways it dug in the ground would become rivers, her bones would become hills, her spirit would permeate the land. And the land would be cursed by her malignacy and always be theater of bloody wars: Palestine.

--Savage Sword of Conan I#188/2

Galdek

Galdek, an old man, was an astrologer.
He used tarot-like cards to foresee the future. His readings were very near to the truth because he had spoken about a "mighty fall", an "irrevocable change" and a war involving Yog. The Captain had interpreted those words as the fall of Mitra and the rule of Yog.

--Savage Sword of Conan I#188/2

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Savage Sword of Conan I#188/2, p9, pan2 (Yog's stone idol)