Why Thoth Amon is the Most Powerful Puppet-Master in Remco History
Unmask the Stygian puppet-master. In the short but legendary run of Remco’s 1984 Conan the Barbarian action figure line — a five-figure collection based largely on the Hyborian world of the comics rather than the 1982 Arnold Schwarzenegger film — one villain towers above the rest as the ultimate string-puller.
Thoth Amon, equipped solely with a flowing fabric robe, a mystical serpent staff, and an ornate goblet, is no brute-force warrior like Conan the Warrior or Conan the King. He is not a mindless monster like the Devourer of Souls, nor a mere opportunistic thief. He is the shadowy architect whose dark magic orchestrates wars, topples kings, and corrupts entire nations from the safety of the shadows.
This biographical analysis draws strictly from established facts across Robert E. Howard’s original pulps, the Marvel and Dark Horse comic expansions, and authorized pastiches to explain why, in Remco history, Thoth Amon remains the supreme puppet-master of the toy shelf.
The Remco Context: A Toy Line Where Sorcery Pulls Every String
Remco’s 1984 Conan line consisted of exactly five figures: Conan the Warrior, Conan the King, Thoth Amon, The Devourer of Souls, and a mysterious Jewel Thief (a red translucent skeleton in a cape). The 5½-inch scale was designed for compatibility with contemporary Masters of the Universe-style play, allowing for cross-brand battles. Cardbacks teased unproduced beasts such as a War Dragon and War Stallion, but the core conflict rested on the heroes versus the villains.
Thoth Amon’s package depicted him in a hooded fabric robe with intricate folds, gripping a staff topped with serpentine motifs and holding a goblet—his only accessories. No ring was included, nor additional talismans; just these ritual implements. In play scenarios of Remco history, children instinctively cast him as the unseen force directing battles: whispering commands through the staff, brewing malevolent potions in the goblet, and concealing his schemes beneath the robe. While the Conan figures swung swords in direct combat, Thoth Amon’s presence turned every duel into part of a larger web. This portrayal cements his status as the line’s supreme puppet-master: one figure whose influence could fuel an entire imagined Hyborian war.
Origins in the Heart of Stygia: A Will Forged in Darkness
In established Hyborian history, Thoth-Amon is the greatest of the Stygian sorcerers, a high priest of the serpent god Set whose power is as ancient as it is terrifying. Unlike the warriors who lead through strength, Thoth-Amon’s rise was fueled by an insatiable hunger for occult knowledge and political dominance. Born in the shadow of the black pyramids, he was sent to a seminary for the Priests of Set deep within the marshes of the River Styx.
Marvel’s expanded lore depicts him as a defiant and arrogant acolyte who refused standard instruction, claiming he would eventually dominate his teachers. This iron will and ruthless pragmatism defined his early years. While other students sought piety, Thoth-Amon sought leverage. His initiation into the higher mysteries of the Black Ring was not born of misery, but of a calculated choice to embrace the darkest sorceries of the Hyborian Age. This marked the beginning of his lifelong pattern: eliminating anyone who stood between him and total supremacy, while maintaining the outward appearance of a religious advisor.
The Black Ring of Set: From Acolyte to Arch-Sorcerer
Inside the temples of Set, Thoth-Amon absorbed sacred and forbidden knowledge with terrifying speed. His true ascent began when he recovered the Serpent Ring of Set, a pre-human relic found in a deep, nighted tomb. This talisman—a copper serpent coiled three times with yellow-gemmed eyes—became the engine of his power. It was not a gift from a friend, but a prize claimed through dark destiny.
Upon reclaiming the ring, Thoth-Amon’s sorcery reached cosmic levels, allowing him to summon demons from the “outer dark” and lay sorcerous traps for his rivals. Through calculated diplomacy and the quiet assassination of those within the priesthood, he climbed the temple hierarchy until even the King of Stygia feared to cross him. This phase established the core of his puppet-mastery: operating from within the highest circles of power, turning the very structures of the Stygian government against his enemies while remaining the hidden hand behind the throne.
The Throne of Shadows: Installing a Puppet King and Corrupting Stygia
Having secured absolute influence within the priesthood, Thoth-Amon turned his gaze to the Stygian throne. In both the comics and the original Howard lore, he systematically consolidated power until the royal line was under his thumb. He became the primary advisor to King Cstephon, the monarch of Stygia, and took the name by which he is now feared across the Hyborian Age. With the king under his sway, Thoth-Amon transformed the nation into a shadow-empire.
He plunged Stygia into strategic wars with neighboring kingdoms, deliberately weakening the realm to make the citizenry more dependent on the cult of Set for “protection.” He effectively destroyed the king’s autonomy through sorcery, rendering Cstephon a hollow figurehead. When the priests of Ibis—including the legendary Kalanthes—attempted to resist his dark ascent, Thoth-Amon crushed the opposition with ruthless efficiency. He officially outlawed the worship of Ibis and delivered Stygia entirely into Set’s coils. These events demonstrate his mastery: he never needed to wear the crown himself to rule an entire nation as his instrument.
Indoctrination: The Gory Foundations of Set’s Cult
From his earliest years in Stygia’s priestly caste, Thoth-Amon was steeped in the “terrible ways” of the serpent god. In the temples of Khemi, he assisted at the black pyramids where sacrifices formed the bedrock of Stygian religion. These rites involved human lives exchanged for divine favor, often through ritual strangulation or live offerings to the “Sons of Set”—massive sacred serpents housed within the temple vaults.
His induction into the inner circle of the Black Ring deepened this connection. He learned the mazes of an occult hierarchy that instilled absolute loyalty to the serpent god while teaching the mechanics of blood magic. Thoth-Amon’s later claim in The Phoenix on the Sword—”I did dark and terrible magic with the Serpent Ring of Set”—confirms that his power is rooted in these ancient, ritualistic foundations first encountered in the Stygian shadows.
The Black Ring Ritual: Resurrection and Binding Allegiance
The pivotal source of Thoth-Amon’s power is the Serpent Ring of Set, a talisman of yellow-gemmed serpentine eyes. According to Howard’s lore, this artifact is more than a tool; it is a life-source. Without the ring, Thoth-Amon’s sorcery is significantly diminished, leaving him “as vulnerable as any other man.” The ring binds the wearer to the outer-dark forces of Set, granting a level of mastery that few other sorcerers can comprehend.
In his role as royal advisor, he used the ring’s presence to topple rivals and maintain psychic domination over King Cstephon. The ring’s influence allowed him to transform personal ambition into a national theocracy. It served as both his shield and his weapon, ensuring that his position behind the throne remained unchallenged by both men and monsters.
The Blood Summoning Ritual: The Ring’s Demonic Invocation
The most fully described ritual in Conan canon appears in The Phoenix on the Sword. After reclaiming the ring, Thoth-Amon performs a direct summoning to eliminate his enemies. This rite requires fresh human blood to be rubbed over the serpent’s yellow-gem eyes. The incantation is chillingly precise:
“Blind your eyes, mystic serpent… Blind your eyes to the moonlight and open them on darker gulfs! What do you see, oh serpent of Set? Whom do you call from the gulfs of the Night? Whose shadow falls on the waning Light? Call him to me, oh serpent of Set!”
Upon completion, a monstrous entity—often described as a baboon-like horror—coalesces from the shadows to do the sorcerer’s bidding. This ritual requires a fresh sacrifice, physical contact with the ring, and the precise spoken invocation to bridge the gap between our world and the “darker gulfs.”
Command Over Set’s Beasts: Swarms, Serpents, and Corruption
Beyond the ring, Thoth-Amon commands the natural world as an extension of Set’s will. He utilizes snakes and insects as long-distance messengers and spies, possessing them to communicate across the Hyborian kingdoms. In more gruesome accounts, he has been known to infect victims with venom that spawns “children of Set” directly from their own bodies—a horrific form of biological sorcery.
In the Remco toy line, these practices are reflected in the character’s staff and goblet. The staff serves as the focus for summoning swarms, while the goblet represents the elixirs used in his biological corruption. These are not mere weapons; they are the ritual tools of a man who controls the forces of nature and the occult with cold, calculated restraint.
The Philosophy of the Puppet-Master: Power Over Piety
Across every ritual, one truth remains: Thoth-Amon is a pragmatist. While he claims to worship Set, his primary interest is his own power. The serpent god is his tool, the Black Ring is his key, and the kingdom of Stygia is his laboratory. He releases ancient Acheronian evils only when they serve his purpose and preserves his position through a mixture of ritual blood magic and realpolitik.
In the Remco 1984 toy line’s depiction—the robe for concealment, the staff for command, and the goblet for ritual—these canonical methods find their physical shorthand. The accessories imply the ceremonies that turn the world of Conan into Thoth-Amon’s personal chessboard. He reigns supreme not because of his physical strength, but because he has the will to make the entire Hyborian world dance on strings only he can see.
Tools of Ritual: Robe, Staff, and Goblet as Symbols of Hidden Power
In Remco’s faithful depiction, Thoth Amon carries no extraneous weapons—only the hooded fabric robe that cloaks his form and conceals his movements, the staff that channels commands to serpents and insects, and the goblet from which he drinks the elixirs that fuel his rituals. These three accessories perfectly embody his canonical methods. The robe allows him to move as a shadow among allies and enemies alike. The staff summons beasts and projects his influence across vast distances. The goblet facilitates the potions and blood rites that sustain his influence and bind lesser minds to his service.
While broader lore records the Serpent Ring of Set as the foundational talisman that serves as his ultimate power source, Remco’s toy line focuses strictly on these ritual implements. This underscores a key character trait: true power lies not just in a single object, but in the calculated use of ceremony, concealment, and command.
In toy battles, the staff points at foes, the goblet is raised in incantation, and the robe billows as he vanishes into the periphery—the perfect visual shorthand for a puppet-master who never needs to strike a physical blow.
Schemes Across the Hyborian Age: Indirect Control in Howard’s Tales
Robert E. Howard introduced Thoth-Amon in two brief but defining references that established his “shadow” status. In The God in the Bowl, his name is invoked as a distant, terrifying threat from the south. In the very first published Conan story, The Phoenix on the Sword, a weakened Thoth-Amon—temporarily robbed of his ring—is shown as a man who lacks the physical strength to slay a sleeping foe, illustrating how entirely his power is rooted in sorcerous preparation and positioning.
In Howard’s only Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon, Conan unwittingly aids the sorcerer by eliminating a rival priest of Set, Thutothmes, who threatened Thoth-Amon’s supremacy in Stygia. Even in these sparse appearances, the pattern is clear: Thoth-Amon rarely confronts Conan directly. Instead, his machinations ripple outward, shaping the fate of kingdoms without his physical presence.
Later authorized pastiches and literary expansions further solidified this role. In tales such as The Treasure of Tranicos, Conan the Buccaneer, Witch of the Mists, Black Sphinx of Nebthu, and Shadows in the Skull, Thoth-Amon repeatedly appears as the hidden hand orchestrating plots or attempting to reclaim artifacts of the Elder Earth. Each story reinforces the same truth: his wars are never fought with armies he leads personally, but with corrupted allies, summoned monsters, and manipulated kings.
Marvel and Dark Horse Eras: Lifelong Arch-Nemesis and Expanded Puppetry
Marvel Comics elevated Thoth-Amon to the status of Conan’s lifelong opponent, famously giving him a striking ram-horn headdress in the early Barry Windsor-Smith designs. This visual choice was meant to distinguish him from other sorcerers while preserving the robed, menacing silhouette that Remco would later capture. Across dozens of issues, he schemes from the safety of Stygia, sending serpents, insects, and possessed agents to harass the barbarian.
Dark Horse Comics eventually returned him to a more traditional, Egyptian-inspired Stygian look, again emphasizing political intrigue and long-range sorcery over direct physical combat. In both continuities, he is shown binding the ancient evils of the lost empire of Acheron and releasing demonic forces into the Hyborian Age—always stepping back at the last moment to let others bear the cost. These comic expansions directly informed the character’s legacy as a strategist who engineers continent-spanning conflicts from within his temple or ruined sanctum. While the Devourer of Souls and Jewel Thief figures in the Remco line represent direct, physical threats, Thoth-Amon alone represents the mastermind whose every move turns other characters into pawns.
Command Over Beasts and Minds: The Sorcerous Arsenal
Thoth-Amon’s primary arsenal is his command over the natural and supernatural worlds. He controls snakes and insects with ritual precision, using swarms as long-distance messengers or spies to communicate across the kingdoms. His sorcery grants him unnatural longevity and the ability to corrupt minds, frame innocents, and topple regimes without ever drawing a blade.
All of this is channeled in the Remco figure through the staff (for summoning and focus) and the goblet (for ritual elixirs). He is a master strategist who attacks through his enemies’ weaknesses rather than meeting their strengths. Even in the expanded lore regarding the portals to Acheron, he is depicted as a figure who releases horrors into the world but maintains the discipline to retreat and preserve his own position when the tide turns. This calculated restraint is the hallmark of the puppet-master: maximum effect achieved with minimum exposure.
Why Thoth Amon Outranks Every Other Remco Villain
When you compare the Remco roster, the hierarchy of power becomes clear. Conan the Warrior and Conan the King are heroic fighters who meet threats head-on with steel. The Devourer of Souls is a monstrous brute designed for raw, physical power clashes. The Jewel Thief—a striking red translucent skeleton—is an opportunistic scavenger.
Only Thoth Amon possesses the intellect and sorcery to turn the entire line into his personal chessboard. In any play scenario of Remco history, he is the only figure capable of corrupting the Jewel Thief into a spy, sending the Devourer as an unwitting enforcer, or forcing the two Conans into political wars that serve his hidden agenda.
His fabric robe conceals his movements, his serpent staff directs his summons, and his goblet facilitates the rituals that bind lesser wills to his service. No other figure in the five-piece collection can claim to have fueled “Conan’s greatest wars” through indirect manipulation. In the toy line’s brief history—a line that never received the beasts or expansions it teased—Thoth Amon alone provides the narrative depth that turns simple plastic battles into epic, continent-spanning intrigue.
Enduring Shadow: Thoth Amon’s Place in Hyborian and Remco Lore
Across the original Howard tales, authorized pastiches by authors like de Camp, Carter, Jordan, and Roberts, and the sprawling Marvel and Dark Horse comic runs, Thoth-Amon never seeks the direct spotlight. He installs puppet kings, engineers strategic wars, corrupts ancient religions, and releases primeval evils—always retreating into the shadows once the pieces are in motion.
In Remco’s 1984 interpretation, the fabric robe, serpent staff, and ritual goblet crystallize this philosophy in plastic form. Collectors and fans who owned the figure understood instinctively: here was the villain who won by making everyone else fight his battles. Even today, decades after the line’s quiet disappearance from retail shelves, Thoth-Amon remains the most powerful puppet-master in Remco history because his influence extends far beyond a single toy shelf. He is the reason Conan’s adventures feel epic—the unseen hand that turns personal duels into wars that shake the foundations of the Hyborian Age.
Thoth-Amon’s robe still billows in the imagination, his staff still points across imagined battlefields, and his goblet still holds the dark wine of conquest. In the complete record of his existence—from an ambitious acolyte in the temples of Set to the advisor of broken kings and the eternal schemer of the Black Ring—one fact stands irrefutable: he never needed to swing a sword or wear a crown to dominate his era. He only needed the ritual tools Remco provided and the cold will to make the entire world dance on strings only he could see. That is why, in the history of one small 1984 toy line and the vast legend it represented, Thoth-Amon reigns supreme as the most powerful puppet-master of all.
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