Thongor (Earth-616)

Black Hawk Tribe[]

Thongor was the son of the kingly Thumithar and of an (unnamed) mother, and was part of the Black Hawk Tribe of the land of Valkarth,^[11] in the Northern Lands of Lemuria.^[7]

At fifteen, he participated in the final battle of his tribe, against the Snow Bear Tribe, wielding the great broadsword of Thumitar,^[11] Sarkozan, the sword of his fathers.^[13]

Wanderer[]

Cities of the South & Tarakus[]

Thongor was the sole survivor. He found his way across the Mountains of Mommur, Lemuria's spine, and in the cities of the South, he became an assassin, a wanderer, a thief.

He was eventually captured, and made a galley slave on the ships of Shembis. He led a slaves' mutiny, captured the galley, and acquired power and treasures among the pirates of Tarakus. Killing the Pirate-King for unknown reasons, Thongor was forced to flee his horde of rogues.

Thongor felt that fate, destiny, luck,^[11] or "something" drove his life. During that time, he allegedly battled a thousand foes.^[7]

Zangabal[]

At twenty-four, Thongor somehow ended up in Zangabal, where he lived as a thief, but scorned to join the Thieves' Guild. One night, he was attacked by guards, and escaped by reluctantly crawling the wall of the Cut-Purse Kingdom, the Thieves' Guild's sanctuary. Two thieves attacked him to steal his loot, and threw him back into the street. Thongor defeated and evaded the guards.

He hid in a strange building, in which he was approached by Kaman Thuu, a priest of the Seven Gods of Zangabal, who wished to had an heist performed, to steal and return a mirror of black glass,^[11] the Mirror of Zaffar,^[7] owned by the cruel magician Athmar Phong. The Guild did not perform it (it is unclear if Kaman Thuu was declined, or if he even asked them to perform it), as they feared Athmar Phong. Kaman Thuu offered twenty pieces of gold, as well as sanctuary.

Thongor was provided the Shield of Cathloda, a protection amulet absorbing and diverting the attack of most magical forces, and sent towards the house of Athmar Phong through a hidden underground tunnel. Arriving in the house, he searched it, until he came across the Demon of Zangabal, disguised as a seductive young maiden. He tricked Thongor and tore away his amulet, rendering him vulnerable to magic, before reverting to his true form.^[11] Thongor was vastly outpowered, and despite gaining a respite by throwing a candelar to the demon, vulnerable to fire, he was eventually captured.

Imprisoned, he met Ald Thurmis, who had been hired as well to steal the mirror weeks before. Thongor freed himself and Thurmis, and went on the search for the mirror and Thongor's sword. On the way, Thurmis told Thongor of the demon price trapped in he mirror. Passing through breeding vats of abominations, they reached the throne room of the wizard, where the Demon of Zangabal awaited them. Both were outpowered, but Thongor used the retrieved Shield of Cathloda to destroy it. The next instant, Athmar Phong appeared on his throne and cast a ray to hold the trespassers. Unknown to the wizard, Thongor was protected by the talisman, and threw it at the Black Mirror, unleashing Aqquoonkagua, who seized Athmar Phong, and returned to the Ultracosmos.

The two thieves exited, unwilling to plunder the place (save for a few jeweled baubles Thongor took to buy their breakfast. Thongor felt compelled, as if he wasn't his master, to go onward and leave the accursed Zangabal.^[7]

Ald Thurmis and Thongor went together. Thongor led his comrade from one adventure to another.^[13]

Thurdis[]

Thongor became a mercenary in the service of Thurdis, the Dragon City. One night, he played with a Otar Jeled Malkh, a Thurdan nobleman, prince, and captain, and won. The officer refused to pay his wager, considering having been cheated. Thongor was finally forced to slay him. Intending to flee the city, he was knocked out, and imprisoned, to be fed to the Vampire-Flowers. Ald Thurmis reappeared, stole the guard's key, and freed Thongor. The two parted ways, as Ald Thurmis was at home in Thurdis.

Thongor headed to the stables, intending to steal one of the Sark's great dragonlike Zamphs. Detected, he was forced to flee, and stole the Sark's new flyer, where he found a bow of the strange Blue Nomads of the Far Western Plains. He flew from the city, setting the path towards Kathool.

Chush[]

During his sleep, the flyer changed paths, and brought him above the jungles of Chush, and was attacked by a Grakk. During the fight, the Grakk received two arrows in the throat and settled on the floater, causing it to slowly go below, while Thongor was knocked out while falling from the floater, remaining held by a harness. When he was close enough from the ground, a Dwak, a jungle-dragon of the Lost Ages headed towards him.^[13] Another account, by Thongor himself, stated the two arrows had been shot by some unknown archer. As Thongor awoke and regained the ship, the first Graak fell, but another had joined in the meantime, and attacked, causing him to finally fall, his Thurdan rope finally breaking, and to be knocked out as he hit the ground.
That event was recounted in Thongor's Saga, stave IV.

As he regained consciousness, he was attacked by Sliths, vampire plants. He fought his way out, only to drop in a quicksand-like slime, which he evaded as well, but fell unconscious from the accumulated strain. He awoke once more as a Dwark was upon him. Trying to evade him, he was once more attacked by a Slith who weakened him using its noxious powder. Powerless against the Dwark, he was saved by Sharajsha of Zaar who offered him hospitality in his dwelling in the foothills of the Mountains of Mommur, and soon informed him he was looking for a warrior.^[10]

The quest for the Star Sword[]

At Sharajsha's home, Thongor was suspicious of the wizard, but was finally told of the goal of Sharajsha, who had seen the end of the world, and Thongor's death, and showed him using his magical mirror.^[10] To explain the full story and threat, Sharajsha used his mirror to show him the ancient days of elder Hyperborea], and the rule of the Dragon Kings, cruel kings and necromancers living in monolithic cities of black stone where they studied and practiced sorcery. Then, in response to that evil, the creation by the Nineteen Gods created the First Men, starting with Phonath the Firstborn, then Evalla, as his mate. Men built Nemedis, their first city, and fought the Dragon Kings for the control of Lemuria, starting the Thousand Year War. Men hid behind their walled cities of Nemedis, Althaar, Yb, Yaodar..., until Father Gorm appeared to Lord Thungarth, bestowed him the Star Sword. At the next battle, Thungarth was killed and the Star Sword destroyed, but not before shattering the Dragon Kings. This revealed, Sharajsha uncovered he wished to create a new Star Sword, by using the Star Stone out of which the Star Sword was forged.^[14]

Tsargol[]

The Stone was to stolen from the Scarlet Tower of Tsargol. Sharajsha warned him that it was guarded by something imping of necromancy, possibly the Slorgs, or Serpent-Women. The wizard then wished to recover the floater, revealing Phal Thurid of Thurdis had made it built to conquer the world. After two days of work, the floater was recovered. The gravity-repellant Urlium hull was undamaged, and Sharajsha was able to repair the floater. It was rechristened "Nemedis", and Thongor and Sharajsha left the wizard's dwelling.

Entering the Scarlet Tower, Thongor stumbled unto the Slorgs. He managed to reach the Star Stone while hacking into the Slorgs, but was subdued and dragged before Drugunda Thal, the Sark of Tsargol, and Yelim Pelorvis, the Archduid. Thongor tried to attack the sark but was knocked out and imprisoned, along with Karm Karvus, the otar commanding the palace guard when Thongor made his move, though his imprisonment was mostly based on the sark's hatred towards Karm Karvus, a prince and eligible sark of Tsargol.

Both were sent into the arena, where they had to protect a sacrifice-girl from a Zemadar, a giant rare lizard. The pair of warriors were able to slay the beast and, when the sark ordered his guards to kill them, Thongor threw his sword at him, killing him.^[14] Yelim Pelorvis immediately claimed the title of sark and ordered the guards to end Thongor and Karm Karvus. They held their ground, protecting the girl, and finally, Sharajsha came using the Nemedis, set a cover of shadows, and helped the three escape. Saved aboard the Nemedis, the girl kissed Thongor. Sharajsha then revealed the second step of their quest: The Star Stone was to dipped in the Eternal Fire, which was present only in the crypts below the altar of Yamath, the firegod, in Patanga.

On their way, they flew over Ptarth, and landed Kora near her village, before continuing towards Patanga.^[15]

Patanga[]

The crew came above the Fire Temple, and Thongor and Sharajsha descended and set course to the Eternal Fire.^[15] ...^[15]

Legacy[]

Thongor's adventures were recounted in Thongor's Saga.^[10]

Religion[]

Thongor often invoked the name of Father Gorm/Gorm the Father of Stars,^{[11][7][13][10]} but also the Seven Gods of Zangabal,^[13][10] and the Nineteen Gods on occasion.^[13][10]

Thongor proved to be a skilled fighter, mostly using the broadsword Sarkozan with a single hand while practicing hand-to-hand combat with the other (he used the broadsword with two hands back in his youth).^[11]

Thongor was accounted to be the best sword-thrower of the Black Hawk Tribe.^[14]

Formerly:

• Thurdan rope.^[10]
• Shield of Cathloda^[7]

• Sarkozan, the sword of his fathers,^[13] allegedly god-forged.^[10]
• Bow of the strange Blue Nomads of the Far Western Plains.^[13]

• The Nemedis, a Urlium-powered floater.^[14]

• Thongor was created by Lin Carter in the Ace paperback book The Wizard of Lemuria (1965).^[1]
  • He was first adapted in Marvel Comics in "Thongor! Warrior of Lost Lemuria!" (Creatures on the Loose #22 to 23; March and May, 1973), based on the story Thieves of Zangabal (1969), or rather its first part.^[1]
    • Though the story isn't the earliest chronological tale, it was chosen because it introduced Thongor's partner Ald Thurmis, who was to appear in a next ish issue.^[1]
    • "Thieves of Zangabal" appeared in a Lancer paperback, The Mighty Barbarians which coincidentally featured a cover by Jim Steranko, who also penciled the cover of Creatures on the Loose #22.^[1]
• Thongor was inspired and similar in many ways to Conan the Barbarian and King Kull:
  • Conan and Thongor have their origin battle set at fifteen years old.^[11]
  • All are barbarians who have practiced many occupations, including thief, assassin, slave, and pirate.^[11]
  • All more or less distrust wizards and priests.^[11]
  • Thongor frequently invoked the name of a deity, Gorm (which was believed by some readers to be an alternate spelling of Crom), while Conan invoked Crom and Mitra, and Kull Valka.^[16]
    • Thongor even once invoke Crom in Creatures on the Loose #26, presumably an error.
    • Furthermore, like Conan, Thongor progressively invoked the names of deities he heard in the course of his adventures, such as the Seven Gods of Zangabal^[13][10] and the Nineteen Gods.^[13][10]
• After the end of the end of the adaptation of The Wizard of Lemuria and of the Marvel series of Thongor's adventures, in Creatures on the Loose #29 (May, 1974) it was stated that Marvel would be taking a break to look at sales figures and the strip itself to see the pros and cons of the run, to determine if the series should be reinstated or not. The readers were urged to write to give their opinion, and if they wanted to see more tales of Thongor, in a coloc comics format or in black-and-white magazines, etc.^[17]
  • In the introduction header to the article "Chronicles of the Sword: An Informal History of Sword-And-Sorcery, by Lin Carter" in Savage Sword of Conan #2 (October, 1974), it was stated that more of Thongor's adventures would be adapted soon,^[6] but none have been published so far.