Difference between revisions of "Thoth Amon"
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==Encyclopedia entry== | ==Encyclopedia entry== | ||
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| − | Men say that he [Thutothmes] has opposed Thoth-Amon, who is master of all priests of Set, and dwells in Luxor, and that Thutothmes seeks hidden power [The | + | Men say that he [Thutothmes] has opposed Thoth-Amon, who is master of all priests of Set, and dwells in Luxor, and that Thutothmes seeks hidden power [The Heart of Ahriman] to overthrow the Great One. |
|[ Conan the Conqueror, by Robert E. Howard ] | |[ Conan the Conqueror, by Robert E. Howard ] | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{nethack-367}} | {{nethack-367}} | ||
Revision as of 01:54, 25 March 2024
@ Thoth Amon 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 22 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 1d6, spell-casting, spell-casting, claw quest-artifact-stealing 1d4 |
| Base level | 16 |
| Base experience | 547 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 10 |
| Alignment | −14 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | Poison, stone |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
Thoth Amon:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line3200 |
Thoth Amon, @, is the Barbarian quest nemesis. He guards the Bell of Opening and the Barbarian's quest artifact, The Heart of Ahriman.
Thoth Amon has a weapon attack, the ability to cast mage monster spells twice during each of his turns, and a 'claw' attack that can steal the quest artifact if you obtained it from him without killing him. He possesses poison resistance and stoning resistance.
Generation
Thoth Amon is generated on the cross-aligned altar in the Monk quest goal level, with The Heart of Ahriman underneath him. He is always generated carrying the Bell of Opening.
Strategy
Though Thoth Amon is a foe capable of casting spells curse items, destroy armor and drain strength at minimum, and is also very likely to generate with the ability to summon nasties, he may be surprisingly easy to defeat for all but the most unprepared of Barbarians. When preparing to take on Thoth Amon, remember that he does not respect Elbereth and tailor your kit accordingly.
Magic resistance blunts the impact of Thoth Amon's spells, and his low 10 MR score renders him vulnerable to magic in turn: a wand of sleep leaves Thoth Amon helpless against a Barbarian's usual powerful melee attacks, a wand of death can kill him outright, and a wand of cancellation can reliably nullify his spellcasting and make him into a pushover.
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History
Thoth Amon first appears with most other quest nemeses in NetHack 3.1.0.
Origin
Thoth-Amon is a recurring character in the Conan the Barbarian stories of Robert E. Howard, making his official debut in one of the original tales, "The Phoenix on the Sword". He is also mentioned by name in another Conan story, "The God in the Bowl", which was not published in Howard's lifetime. Thoth-Amon is a wizard from the lands of Stygia who holds the moniker "Thoth-Amon of the Ring".
In "The Phoenix on the Sword", Thoth-Amon was robbed of his magical ring, the Black Ring of Set, forcing him to flee from Stygia; while disguised as a camel driver, he was waylaid in Koth by the reavers of an outlaw named Ascalante, and survived the slaughter of his caravan by revealing his identity and swearing to serve Ascalante. Ascalante is later recruited along with Thoth-Amon by a quartet of conspirators to aid in the deposing of Conan, who seized the crown of Aquilonia after strangling the tyrannic King Numedides on his throne: the Aquilonians initially welcomed him as a liberator, but soon turned on him due to his foreign blood. The "Rebel Four" intend to assassinate King Conan when he is unprepared and defenseless and put the crown in the hands of someone with royal blood - unbeknownst to them, Ascalante secretly plans to betray his employers and claim the crown, while Thoth-Amon only seeks to recover his lost ring.
Both these elements, along with an omen delivered to Conan in his dream by a long-dead sage named Epemitreus, ultimately thwart the conspiracy: Thoth-Amon murders one of the conspirators and summons a fanged ape-like demon to slay Ascalante, allowing Conan to slay the three remaining members of the Rebel Four. In a moment of mercy, Conan hesitates to kill Rinaldo, whose songs once touched the King's heart, but Rinaldo repays this by stabbing him, and is killed like the rest. Ascalante takes the opportunity to try and finish off Conan, only to be killed by Thoth-Amon's demon, and Conan recovers enough to slay the demon in turn.
Thoth-Amon only crosses paths with Conan in the aforementioned stories: the two never meet face to face, and Conan's involvement in Thoth-Amon's plans are pure happenstance; the hero even unknowingly does the sorcerer a favor by disposing of a rival priest of Set. Even so, later writers would come to depict Thoth-Amon as the Cimmerian's arch-nemesis.
Encyclopedia entry
Men say that he [Thutothmes] has opposed Thoth-Amon, who is master of all priests of Set, and dwells in Luxor, and that Thutothmes seeks hidden power [The Heart of Ahriman] to overthrow the Great One.
