ZOQQUANOR
Real Name: Zoqquanor
Identity/Class: Human (Phalkarian) magic user (Hyborian Era)
Occupation: Conjurer, necromancer
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Samandra, Shokkoth (bodyguard), Stefanya (servant)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Castle near Sfanol, a small village in the Border Kingdoms
First Appearance: Conan the Barbarian I#46 (January, 1975)
{prima apparizione italiana: Conan e
Ka-Zar#21 Editoriale Corno (23 dicembre 1975)}
Powers/Abilities: Zoqquanor was a powerful conjurer and necromancer. As a conjurer he was able to attract, command and control beings from other planes of reality, as he probably did with Shokkoth. He also could conjure magic forces at his defense, as a force glow, which protected his body from harm, active even when he was not awake, and even capable to not strike an opponent when he did not want to harm him. As a necromancer he could link the life force of two beings, making one of them more difficult to kill and placing the other one in a state of death-like sleep. His magic powers enabled him to perform other less spectacular tasks like finding underground layers of water. He was also skilled in alchemy and brewing potions.
History:
(Conan the Barbarian I#50 (fb) ) - Zoqquanor the conjurer was hired by Samandra to protect and raise an infant girl. The girl was actually Stefanya, heiress of the province of Phalkar.
(Conan the Barbarian I#46 (fb) - BTS) - In order to guearantee her safety, Zoqquanor cast a curse upon Stefanya, linking her life to his own. If he had died, she would have too, but as long as he lived she was protected against physical and magical attacks.
(Conan the Barbarian I#48 (fb) ) - Zoqquanor raised the girl as a slave, but he too care of her instruction and education as a highborn child. In his great hall made of stone he performed his magics, things happened that struck terror in the girl.
(Conan the Barbarian I#46 (fb) - BTS) - The girl grew, Zoqquanor did not teach sorceries to her, but sometimes he used her during his experiments. When other guest mages or men-at-arms came to visit the necromancer, he did not care what they did to her, so Stefanya had to fend for herself.
Zoqquanor knew a race of
goblin-like imps, the Hobgobs, living in some nether hell. They were enemies, but
the little monsters did not dare to attack the magician,
who was too strong for them.
Zoqquanor also helped the people of
Sfanol in drastic times. He fed the village when the caravans
did not pass and also restored the fountain of the village, when it
dried out.
(Conan the Barbarian I#46 (fb) ) - However, the people of the village did not trust Zoqquanor, and one day attacked his house. Zoqquanor had entered a death-like trance, and had placed Shokkoth of the Many Stones in charge of protecting his form. The villagers burnt his house and kidnapped Stefanya, but his body remained intact.
(Conan
the Barbarian I#46) - Stefanya was brought to Sfanol and only Conan
saved the girl, who was supposed to be burned as a witch. Stefanya conviced Conan to follow her, to
see if the conjurer was still alive. Before reaching Zoqquanor Conan had to destroy
Shokkoth, using one of Zoqquanor's potions. Zoqquanor's body was
untouched in a state of unlife and undeath.
(Conan the Barbarian I#47 / Conan the Barbarian I#49 (fb) ) - Conan and Stefanya took Zoqquanor's body with them going North-West toward Alkarion.
(Conan
the Barbarian I#47) - That
same night, during a full moon, Conan and Stefanya stopped in
a dead
town with high columns.
At midnight, Hobgobs, sensing the conjurer's
weakness,
came out from their netherhell, through the depths of the ruins to attack
him. Another of Zoqquanor's
enchantments was triggered.
From his body a silver mist was emitted as defense, but the dwarfish devils
were too many. Conan's savage sword reaped their life, while Stefanya
defended herself as best as she could. By slaying all imps, Conan saved Zoqquanor.
(Conan the Barbarian I#48) - After three days of riding westward, the three met Torkal Moh, baron of Ravengard. The cruel baron had Stefanya captured, Conan tied to the ground at the mercy of rats, and Zoqquanor's body thrown down a gorge.
(Conan the Barbarian I#51 - BTS) - Vultures took on Zoqquanor's body, but his silver glowspell protected him, killing the buzzards.
(Conan the Barbarian I#51) - Conan and Stefanya returned to the area near Ravengard days later, tracked down by Unos, a demon who wanted Stefanya's throne. Unos, knowing that he could not kill Stefanya while she was protected by the conjurer's curse, attacked the defeneseless Zoqquanor. He struck the wizard with his crimson burning gaze, Zoqquanor died, but before Stefanya die as well, Conan killed the demon. Using Merdoramon's protective amulet, Conan restored Stefanya's health.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas (writer), John Bscema
(pencils), Joe Sinnot
(inks), Petra Goldberg (colors).
Freely adapted from the novel Kothar and the Conjurer's Curse
by Gardner J. Fox.
Stefanya believed that Zoqquanor had bond his life to her's in order to prevent her from killing him. Instead of a curse, it was a protective spell, a spell that Unos understood, and that protected Stefanya from being killed by a simple blade. Furtherly, to kill her, Unos directed his beaming deadly scarlet gaze on Zoqquanor and not directly on Stefanya, implying that she also was invulnerable to such an attack.
The yellow creatures that attacked Zoqquanor were called goblins on the
cover, then dwarves, hobgobs, devils and imps in the issue. Their
correct classification remains a mistery (Lets go with Hobgobs as it is the most unique--Markus Raymond). Other yellow devils appeared
in Conan the
Barbarian I#50, they were drawn differently, but they were as gibbering
as the ones of the dead town, and came from a deep pit leading to an
unnamed hell. I didn't read the original novel by Fox but a connection may exists between them. In the case they were the same race of demons, this could mean that Unos, or Elviriom and Thalkalides, were connected more directly to Zoqquanor, and also that the first time of their appearance was orchestrated by the wizards or Unos.
Both the races of yellow humanoids could be Moloids,
transformed by magic or a different evolution.
Profile by Spidermay.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Zoqquanor has no known connections to
any other character with a similar name.
They were bloated, taloned, dwarfish yellow creatures also called goblins, dwarves or imps.
The Hobgobs come from some netherhell and were enemies of Zoqquanor. They did not seem to speak, but shrieked, chittered and jumped when fighting. If wounded they did not bleed, but were easily killed by steel.
The yellow monsters had a quarrel in the past with Zoqquanor and wanted to take advantage of his weakened status. His silver mist wasn't able to hold them back. They were unfortunate because Conan was present and went berserk, killing them all.
--Conan the Barbarian I#47
images:
(without ads)
Conan the Barbarian I#48, p7, pan1 (main image)
Conan the Barbarian I#50, p9, pan6 (head shot)
Conan the Barbarian I#47, p7, pan1 (Zoqquanor surrounded by Hobgobs)
Appearances:
Conan the Barbarian I#46
(January, 1975) - Roy Thomas
(writer), John Buscema (pencils), Joe Sinnot
(inks), Petra Goldberg (colors)
Conan the Barbarian I#47 (February, 1975)
- Roy Thomas (writer/editor), John Buscema (pencils), Dan Adkins
(inks), Glynis Wein (colors)
Conan the Barbarian
I#48 (March, 1975)
- Roy Thomas (writer/editor), John Buscema (pencils), Dick Giordano / Dan
Adkins
(inks), Glynis Wein (colors)
Conan the Barbarian I#49 (April, 1975)
- Roy Thomas
(writer/editor), John Buscema (pencils), Dick Giordano (inks), Glynis
Wein (colors)
Conan the Barbarian I#50 (May, 1975)
- Roy Thomas
(writer/editor), John Buscema (pencils), Dick Giordano (inks), Janice
Cohen (colors)
Conan the Barbarian I#51 (June, 1975)
- Roy Thomas
(writer/editor), John Buscema (pencils), Dick Giordano (inks), Glynis
Oliver / Len Wein (colors)
Last updated: 12/25/10
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