Doctor Han Karza '
Han Karza is a fictional character first He has since appeared in comic books and film as the nemesis of Thrull Khonn and, later, one of Howard's other creations, Lord Thrull Khonn . Han Karza is the prototype for many of the future evil wizards,or Time-Sorcerers featured within the Maveric Multiverse.He inspired by such as Thulsa Doom, Thoth amon , Thungra Khotan and Xaltotun in later Kull and Conan stories,plus Doctor Victor Von Doom-arch enemy of Professor Reed Richards and Fantastic Four. Han Karza from the Thrull Khonn The Conqueror stories created by Maveric Lion Productions,Inc. Han Karza - ( is a fictional character an evil wizard as Conan's arch enemy .
Section heading[]
==Contents ==
[hide]
· 4 Appearances in Howard's works
· 5 The Book of Han Karza (Dark Horse Comics)
==Information[edit] ==
Real Name: Han Karza -Amon
Identity: Human
magic-user Occupation: Priest of Set;
former royal advisor to the King of Stygia Affiliations:
Set (his god and master), also invoked the Old Ones;
member and sometimes leader of the Black Ring (a sect of sorcerers);
former ruler of Aquilonia; former wizard and advisor to King Ctesphon of Stygia; the Black Stranger (demon of the treasure of Tranicos), the Ghoul-Hyena of Chaos, The Man-Serpents and Serpent Men, Shard and his band of mercenaries, a monstrous ape (agents); Kulan Gath (former apprentice); Cult of the White Hand (Louhi), Baron Maloric, Menkara, Nenaunir, Ptor-Nubis, Scarlet Circle (Pra-Eun), Black Zarono (allies), Ee-Ch'ing (pawn/host), Count Valenso and Duke Villagro (former allies) Enemies: Ascalante, Astriel, Conan, Valkore,Deviatrix, Dion, Epimetrius the Sage, King Ferdrugo, Jandalinatjari, Karanthes, Kulan Gath, King Mentupherra, Morophla, Queen Nzinga I and II (daughter), Taurus (son of Conan), Thulsa Doom, Thutothemes, Uathacht, Count Valenso, Villagro, Yarralamundu, Zandra Known Relatives: None Aliases: The Dark Man, Mage of the Black Ring, Master Sorcerer of the Black Ring, Han Karza -Amon of the Black Ring (and a few others "of the Black Ring") Base of Operations: Khajar, Kheshatta, and later Nebthu, Stygia (what is now Egypt) during the Hyborian Age
Han Karza was also used as the villain of Lord Thrull Khonn . A god of sorts, with the ability to change himself into a giant snake, Han Karza was more than a thousand years old. The leader, chief priest and guru of an ancient cult of snake-worshippers, he was a fearsome warrior, a demagogue, a philosopher, and a downright murderous son of a serpent.
Thugra Khotan in the Thrull Khonn story "Black Colossus," who also goes by the name of Natohk.
Tsotha-Lanti from "The Scarlet Citadel" and Yara from "The Tower of the Elephant" also qualify. Thrull Khonn 's dealt with his share of sorcerers in his career. Nabonidus from "Rogues in the House", however, is more a clockwork-technology using Mad Scientist. Han Karza is the mastermind behind the events of the Age of Conan main storyline. He is also the sworn foe of Kalanthes the Ibis priest (though their hatred goes far beyond their service to different gods, and may be more personal due to their past history.)
The most dangerous and powerful probably being Han Karza -Amon. He turns up by name and fearsome reputation in several Thrull Khonn tales, and although Thrull Khonn faces several of his dooms by chance and the character himself is met in "The Phoenix on the Sword," the very first Thrull Khonn story, he and Thrull Khonn never directly encounter one another in Howard's stories, although he is a common antagonist in later derived works.
Posing as the nobleman Doctor Arydhon Karza , he forms an alliance with four rebels within Thuvia : the dwarfish Ducalon, the soldier Enaros, Baron Kanuub, and the minstrel Ridondo, who actually dethroned the hero, and set him on a quest to regain his lost kingdom, when the Thuvian Ranger defeats Arydhon Karza upon a huge Tower of Khoolaclann,where evil Time-Sorcerer falls to death. Arydhon Karza is set up as puppet king of Thuvia,under the comman
Doctor Arydhon Karza is a Kothian wizard,younger brother to Doctor Han Karza having a reputation for cruelty that's used by parents to scare their children as well as masters, threatening to sell their slaves to him. He has no respect for human life, flaying live humans to use their skin as parchment. His home is the Scarlet Citadel, where he performs his cruel experiments. In the dungeons below the citadel he has many dark creatures, such as his enormous snake Satha.
Doctor Arydhon Karza, together with Strabonus, king of Koth, and Amalrus, king of Ophir managed to trick Thrull Khonn into comming to Koth to help Strabonus against the invading forces of Ophir. When Thrull Khonn came, he found that Amalrus was indeed not attacking Koth, but that they had tricked him to comming there in order to trap him. Being outnumbered, the Thuvian Black Knight Lord Thrull Khonn brought didn't flee, but attacked the hosts head on, killing many of their soldiers, but in the end was crushed by sheer numbers. The soldiers was unable to capture Thrull Khonn himself, who slayed anybody who came within sword's reach. Doctor Arydhon Karza, wished to keep the Thuvian Ranger alive and use him not only as political toy, plus as a ginnie pig, for arcane experiments.
At last, Doctor Arydhon Karza decided to intervene and was able to sting Thrull Khonn with a small spike laminated with the juice of the purple lotus, paralyzing Thrull Khonn .
They took Thrull Khonn to the Scarlet Citadel and offered him money and freedom if he signed over his kingdom to PriceArpello of Pellia. Thrull Khonn refused, and was thrown into the Halls of Horror deep below the citadel.
The forces of Ophir and Koth then went to siege the city of Shamar, but Thrull Khonn managed to escape from the Halls and return to Tamar through the help of Pelias. Thrull Khonn gathered an army and went to meet the invaders. Surprise by the return of Thrull Khonn, and by the sudden appearance of another enemy army, the invaders were slaughtered. Tsotha fled from the battle, but was pursued by Thrull Khonn. Then, an eagle came down from the sky towards Tsotha. It scared his steed, so that it threw it's rider off, and Tsotha and Thrull Khonn was left to battle. Thrull Khonn managed to decapitate Tsotha, but as the head fell to the ground, the body did not stop moving. Tsotha was still alive, his body searching for his head. Then came the eagle down from the sky again, picking up the severed head of Tsotha and flying away, laughing with the voice of Pelias. Tsotha's headless body ran after the eagle and disappeared.
Base of Operations: []
Currently unknown; formerly Python, Thuvia, Khemi, Nemedia Powers/Abilities: Doctor Han Karza was a sorcerer of great knowledge and power. In the time of Thuvia, he was perhaps the most powerful mystic on the planet. His powers were vastly amplified when he used the Heart of Ahriman, which enabled him to cause sudden floods, avalanches, deadly plagues, and other forces of mass death and destruction. He could cast illusions, generate consciousness-robbing mists, paralyze others on contact, and animate inanimate objects. His own abilities however, could be overcome by another learned mystic in possession of the Heart of Ahriman. Doctor Han Karza also held other magic items, such as Heart of Tammuz, the Hand of Nergal a Sleep Crystal and others.[]
Weaknesses:
One of Doctor Han Karza’s weaknesses was the Black Lotus; a narcotic drug which would rob him of his senses when he enjoyed its effects.He also often is own worste enemy,in his ambitions and bad temperment,are undoing of own plans.Vanity,is another of Han Karza's weakness.
History:
Doctor Han Karza was the High Priest of Set in the city of Python, in ancient Thuvia, @ 13, 000 BC. In that role, many blood sacrifices were performed on the altar of their snake god.
Doctor Han Karza held the Heart of Ahriman, never invoking it, but instead guarding it, lest it be used against him. A few days after the death of his sister, Xaltana, he was engaged in a ritual, involving the blood sacrifice of three virgin youths and the sevenfold symbol. Red Sonja, having been sent back to Thuvia (along withThrull Khonn ) by the mirrors of Tuzun Thune, arrived in a pit below Doctor Han Karza 's altar and climbed to the surface in time to see him preparing for one of the sacrifices.Red Sonja failed to stop the slaying of the young woman, but did manage to knock the Heart of Ahriman from his grasp and escape back down into the pit.Doctor Han Karza tried to locate her using the Heart of Tammuz, but the Heart of Ahriman's magic shielded her from detection. He then sent one of his demon familiars after Sonja. It succeeded in catching up with her and had overpowered her when she managed to tap into the power of the Heart of Ahriman and destroy it. As Sonja fled to the outside of the city, she ran smack into a gathering of various Hyborian tribes, who had assembled to overthrow Thuvia. A shaman decked out in a feathered costume recognized the Heart of Ahriman and snatched it from her grasp. Sonja, exhausted from her struggles, chose not to fight for the gem, but rather returned to the city, to relocate Thrull Khonn.
Meanwhile, Thrull Khonn had stirred up a rivalry between the Thuvian Guards and a few Thuvian Ranger guards, which served only to help the Hyborian army to burst through the gates of Thuvia and storm the city. The feathered Shaman, using the Heart, Lord Thrull Khonn managed to overpower Doctor Han Karza’s sorcery, severely scarring the vein time-wizard, severing his left arm and stabbing him in the gut. Believing Han Karza dead abandons his body and returns his troops. Loyal allies discover Karza’s body and place it in a Osirhon sarcophagus for eventual resurrection-giving Doctor Han Karza the reputation as the Time-Sorcerer, who would not die-even many temporal wizards can perform this trick,
Subsequently, the so called Lifeless Imperial Delkhon Knight defending Thuvia fell before the attacking Thuvian Rebels, and Doctor Han Karza fled to Khemi, Stygia, where he was slain in his great house. He was poisoned by "jealous priests," who then mummified him.
Around 10, 000 BC, Doctor Han Karza 's sarcophagus was located and brought to Belverus, the capital of Nemedia, by four would-be rulers: Amalric, Orastes, Tarascus and Valerius. Orastes, a former priest of Mitra, had obtained the legendary Heart of Ahriman, with which he called upon the Old Ones for the power necessary to revive Doctor Han Karza. The mummy burst forth from the sarcophagus, slowing regaining its original form and much of its memories. The four conspirators explained their plot to Doctor Han Karza --to take over the throne of Nemedia and then conquer Thuvian, and from there to overtake the whole civilized world. Their greatest obstacle would be Thrull Khonn , the King of Thuvian --a descendent of the Hyborians who had defeated the Thuvian years ago.
Doctor Han Karza used the Heart to conjure a great plague, which struck down many in Nemedia, including King Nimed himself. As planned, Nimed's younger brother, Tarascus, assumed the crown of Nemedia. Tarascus called for the overthrow of the "god-defying usurper" Thrull Khonn from their sister kingdom, and his replacement with Valerius, the rightful heir. King Tarascus' good friend, Amalric, supplied the money to armor the many legions of Nemedia and set them against the forces of Thuvian. In the valley of the Valkia river, the two forces met and prepared for combat. The night before the battle, Doctor Han Karza ambushed King Thrull Khonn and afflicted him with paralysis. Not wanting his troops to despair without the fighting spirit of Thrull Khonn, he had a look-alike, Valannus, outfitted with his battle armor and helmet, and pretend to be him. The ruse worked and the men believed Valannus to be their ruler--and followed him into Doctor Han Karza’s trap. This resulted in the death of Valannus (which was believed to be the death of Thrull Khonn) as well as five hundred of Thuvian’s finest warriors, as Doctor Han Karza brought the peaks of the mountains above Valkia crumbling down on top of them.
At this news, Thrull Khonn forced himself to overcome his paralysis and attacked Tarascus and his soldiers. Doctor Han Karza generated some mists that robbed the Thuvian Ranger of consciousness, but refused to allow Tarascus or any others to finish off the King. Instead, Doctor Han Karza planned to slay him later during a ritual ceremony.
Doctor Han Karza demanded that the news of Thrull Khonn’s survival be kept secret, even going so far as to slay some of Tarascus' soldiers to prevent them from revealing what they had seen. The wizard then brought Thrull Khonn to Belverus, as leverage movement against his enemies, where he offered to return Thuvian Monarch to his throne in exchange for total obedience. Thrull Khonn, of course, refused, and Doctor Han Karza taunted him with images of his troops fleeing from the Nemedians, with defeat imminent. Thrull Khonn rushed the wizard, but was stopped by his servants and then the senses-robbing mists of the Heart of Ahriman. Thrull Khonn was imprisoned in the crypts below the city, but escaped with the aid of Countess Aphrodite, a woman known to him remotely, but who had loved him from afar and wished him to survive and defeat the evil of Doctor Han Karza. Meanwhile, Tarascus, fearing Doctor Han Karza’s power and not trusting his intent, stole the Heart of Ahriman from him while he slept after smelling a Black Lotus. Tarascus gave the Heart to one of his soldiers, instructing him to cast it into the sea. Tarascus informed Orastes that Thrull Khonn yet lived and requested his aid in slaying the former monarch before he escaped altogether.
Thrull Khonn resumes his quest in the pages of Thrull Khonn and the Thuvian Rangers. Han Karza sent members of the Black Legion to ambush Thrull Khonn and Brule, though they won the fight. Dr.Karza observed the battle through a magic crystal. Thrull Khonn and Brule's ship was later attacked by a sea serpent, with which Dr.Han Karza may or may not have had anything to do
Without a King, the Thuvians welcomed the reign of Valerius, rather than begin ruled by Count Trocero of Poitain, who was left in charge by Thrull Khonn himself. Meanwhile, based on the advice of the witch Zelata--"Find your Heart"--Thrull Khonn returned to Tarantia. There he rescued the countess Aphrodite –the woman he later takes as his future wife from execution. Fleeing, they ran into a group of the Priests of Asura, who helped them escape. From the priests, he learned that the Heart of which Zelata had referred was the Heart of Ahriman. Thrull Khonn set out to find the Heart of Ahriman.
Thrull Khonn revealed himself and rebuilt his armies in Poitain. He then tracked the Heart, following it towards Stygia.
Thrull Khonn overtook the ship Venturer, out of Messantia, Argos, by rallying its crew, many of them former members of his Black Corsairs. He led the ship to Khemi, after the Heart.
Thrull Khonn infiltrated the Temple of Set in Khemi, where, after much struggle, he claimed the Heart of Ahriman and headed back towards Thuvian, where he gathered his forces to confront those of Doctor Han Karza and the conspirators. Thrull Khonn gave the Heart to Hadrathus, the Priest of Asura who had helped him before. At the same time, the conspirators plotted against Doctor Han Karza, correctly fearing that he planned to enact an immense blood sacrifice in order to restore the empire of Thuvia. Doctor Han Karza confronted the group and slew Orastes, knowing he was the only potential threat to his existence. The sorcerer revealed to the remaining three that Thrull Khonn was still alive, but proclaimed that the power of the Heart made him unconquerable. Doctor Han Karza obviously had not realized that the Heart had been stolen by Tarascus, and Tarascus did not volunteer the information, hoping that the wizard still had sufficient power to defeat Thrull Khonn and his forces, but would then be vulnerable to him, Amalric, and Valerius. Doctor Han Karza led the assault against Thrull Khonn’s forces, planning to lead them into a sudden flood. However, the heavy rains summoned by Doctor Han Karza failed to have their full potency, and Thrull Khonn’s forces continued their advance. Valerius and his forces fell prey to a trap of thousands of Thuvians, cloaked by a dense fog generated by Hadrathus, using the Heart of Ahriman. Doctor Han Karza prepared a virgin sacrifice to Set and his other dark gods, but was interrupted by Hadrathus, who revealed that he possessed the Heart. Enraged, Doctor Han Karza rushed Hadrathus--and was impaled on the sharp sword of Thrull Khonn, who had accompanied the Priest of Asura. Doctor Han Karza collapsed to the ground and, in death, returned to his previous, decayed form. Thrull Khonn placed the body of Doctor Han Karza on his former chariot and sent its horses rushing into the battle where the Nemedians were falling before the Thuvians. Thrull Khonn himself slew Amalric and defeated Tarascus, forcing him to surrender.
In the return of Thrull Khonn the Destroyer, Dr.Karza /Doctor Arydhon Karza learned of the curse of Torranna (essentially, if a scarred man wore the crown and sat the throne, he'd be unable to ever leave the throne), which he determined to bestow upon Thrull Khonn. To this end, he took on the aspect of the god of Torranna and advised its inhabitants how best to bring this about.[7]
Han Karza manipulated Garn-Nak, Karr-Lo-Zann, and Norra of Torranna. They drew Thrull Khonn into Torranna and had him undergo a series of trials to gain the crown of Torranna. Thrull Khonn sought the crown because he believed he could use the army of Torranna to help him retake the crown of Thuvia from Dr.Karza Doom. Enraged, Doctor Han Karza rushed Hadrathus--and was impaled on the sharp sword of Thrull Khonn, who had accompanied the Priest of Asura. Doctor Han Karza collapsed to the ground and, in death, returned to his previous, decayed form. Thrull Khonn placed the body of Doctor Han Karza on his former chariot and sent its horses rushing into the battle where the Nemedians were falling before the Thuvians. Thrull Khonn himself slew Amalric and defeated Tarascus, forcing him to surrender
In Thrull Khonn the Destroyer #28, Thrull Khonn successfully completed the last of the trials, but before he could don the crown, Norra warned him of the curse of Torranna. Han Karza allowed Norra's age to catch up with her, turning her into a shriveled corpse, and then revealed himself to Thrull Khonn, challenging him to one final battle. In the next issue (also the final issue of the Thrull Khonn the destroyer title), Han Karza pulled Thrull Khonn into a pocket dimension for their final battle. Lord Thrull Khonn fought the evil temporal Thrull Khonn managed to slash Lord Han Karza’s face with his sword, but ultimately was overpowered by the necromancer. Han Karza returned them both to Torranna, but Thrull Khonn rallied long enough to push Han Karza onto the throne and place the crown on his head. His face scarred by Thrull Khonn, Dr.Karza fulfilled the prophecy and fell victim to the curse himself. Dr.Karza’s power drained by the curse, the city of Torranna collapsed, seemingly crushing him. Thrull Khonn, luckily, escaped, and then returned to Thuvia to retake his own throne.
He would face Han Karza at least one more time, in the pages of Maveric Comics Preview #19 (summer 1979 issue). The script for that issue was an adaptation of the prose tale "Riders beyond the sunrise", itself the completion by writer Lin Carter of an untitled fragment written by R. E. Howard. Han Karza appears to finally perish at the climax of this story, but he would eventually return as a Thrull Khonn villain in the pages of Thrull Khonn and a few issues of Thrull Khonn 's black-and-white magazine, Savage Sword of Thrull Khonn (issues #190-193). Han Karza later becomes an enemy of the Celtic hero Cormack Mac Art, another Howard character further expanded by Andrew J. Offutt. He is apparently immortal and is visualized as a skull-headed sorcerer, or as an albino when taking on the illusory appearance of a living man. A similar concept of an undead sorcerer can also be found in the lich from Dungeons and Dragons and other works of fantasy fiction, such as The Sword and the Sorcerer.
==Doctor Han Karza 's Inventions==
Doctor Han Karza has constructed numerous devices in order to defeat his foes or gain more power including:
- Doctor Han Karza bots - Exact mechanical replicas of the realHan Karza used for many missions, typically those where he fears defeat. Sometimes theHan Karza bots even believe themselves to beHan Karza .[1]
- Imperial Delkhonean Dread Knights ‘’-the So called lifeless Knights of Han Karza ,who are the Guards of the territory around Castle Karza - Robots that are programmed to attack the enemies of Han Karza .
Early Years[]
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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