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Thoth-Amon


Thoth-Amon (also spelled Thoth-amon) is a fictional character created by Robert E. Howard. He is an evil wizard in The Phoenix on the Sword, the first of the Conan the Cimmerian stories. He is often used as Conan's arch enemy in derivative works but the two characters never met in any of Howard's original stories.

Howard most likely derived the character's name from the Egyptian deities Thoth and Amon. Thoth-Amon was the foremost sorcerer of the Stygian culture, which Howard set up as the ancestors of the ancient Egyptian civilization. Thoth-Amon was a worshipper of a god he referred to as Father Set. While this must derive from the Egyptian deity Set, Howard transforms him into a serpent god. There is some intimation that Father Set may be one of the Great Old Ones that H. P. Lovecraft created. Howard and Lovecraft were friends and correspondents who often drew inspiration from each other's work.

In his first, and only, appearance, Howard describes Thoth as "a somber giant, whose dusky skin revealed his Stygian blood."

The character is one of Howard's most memorable villains and has been used by other authors, notably L. Sprague de Camp. Thoth-Amon was a recurring villain in Marvel Comics' various Conan titles. Several of the sorcerer's accoutrements, The Scroll of Thoth and The Serpent Ring of Set, have also shown up in other stories by Richard Tierney and others. Though the villain in the film Conan the Barbarian is named Thulsa Doom, after an evil wizard in Howard's Kull stories, he more closely resembled Thoth-Amon.


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