| “ | Conan, the mightiest warrior ever. His quest, to undo the spell of living stone cast upon his family, by driving the evil Serpent-men back into another dimension, and vanquishing their leader, the cruel wizard Wrath-Amon! | „ |
| ~ The Conan the Adventurer series introduction song establishes Wrath-Amon as the antagonist. |
Wrath-Amon is the main antagonist of the 90's cartoon Conan the Adventurer. Once a simple gila monster, Wrath-Amon is now a powerful dark-wizard, the leader of a mighty empire and commander of the Serpent Men. He is also, the chief servant of the Dark God Set, who grants Wrath-Amon, much of his power.
Banished to the void millennia ago, Set now seeks to return to the mortal plain. He therefore tasked Wrath-Amon to build a set of pyramids topped with magical rings made from mystical star metal (the metal of meteorites), which would allow him to escape from his prison. At the start of his mission, however, Wrath-Amon earned the wrath of the series protagonist, Conan, when he turned the Barbarian's family into a set of living statues, after Conan's father refused to aid him. Ever since that day, Conan has opposed Wrath-Amon and his plans to help Set. The Barbarian will go to any lengths, not only to rescue his family but to prevent Wrath-Amon from handing the world to Set, who would surely destroy it.
Wrath-Amon was voiced by Scott McNeil.
Appearance[]
Wrath-Amon has three main forms: his original gila monster form, his Serpent Man form and his humanoid form.
In his original form, Wrath-Amon was a brown/green spotted gila monster. He had sharp claws, pointed teeth and a large crest on the top of his head. His tongue was usually sticking out.
Following his transformation, Wrath-Amon looked like a typical Serpent Man. He was tall, bipedal, thick-chested and muscular. A tail protruded from the base of his spine, his fingers and toes ended in sharp claws and his head was serpentine in appearance. His body was covered in thick green scales, except for his chest which, like his eyes, were yellow. His attire during this stage, consisted of little more than a simple brown loin-cloth.
After becoming the master of the black ring, Set granted Wrath-Amon his main form. Unlike the rest of the Serpent Men, who were capable of fully disguising themselves as human, Wrath-Amon's new shape was a combination both serpent and human. He was mostly humanoid, although the claws on his fingers, slitted yellow eyes and the sharp teeth in his mouth, showed everybody that he was not truly human.
Wrath-Amon's main attire was a set of green scaled armour. His boots, gauntlets and chest plate had serpent like scales and markings, whereas his horned helmet looked like a gila monster head. It is heavily implied that this armour was made from his own flesh. As a symbol of his authority, Wrath-Amon also wore a red cape. Wrath-Amon is rarely seen without this armour, which, like the black rings keeps him largely safe from his enemies.
Personality[]
Wrath-Amon is very cruel and manipulative. He is a sadistic and power-hungry wizard who takes delight in making others suffer by his own hand. He is liable to suffer from vicious mood swings and often screams out loud when his plans go wrong. Even though he is unhelpful towards anyone, his fear of Set and his power could keep him loyal and subservient to the Serpent God. He also shows intolerance of failure, whether from his own henchmen or anyone else who served him in some way, and never bluffs when he makes threats.
History[]
Wrath-Amon was the leader of the Snake Cult, which consisted of Serpent Men, humanoid snakes who served the evil detity named Set. Wrath-Amon was originally a giant gila monster who was turned into a serpent man by his predecessor, Ram-Amon, as a more competant servent. So not surprisingly, Wrath-Amon turned on Ram-Amon, stole Ram-Amon's black ring of power and took over the Snake Cult, proving to be twice as evil as his "father".
Wrath-Amon made his presence known to Conan when he turned Conan's parents and grandfather to stone, and the two became bitter and aggressive enemies, with the young warrior vowing to defeat Wrath-Amon and break the spell. Wrath-Amon's goals in the series were to destroy Conan and his team, gather their star metal weapons, and use them to free Set from the Abyss; ironically, star metal was also a threat to the Snake Cult, as it could not only disrupt the spell that gave them human form, but it could also send them back to the Abyss. Wrath-Amon accomplishes his goals in the three part series finale, but was defeated when Conan destroys the black ring, freeing his parents, and reverting Wrath-Amon to his original form. He is presumed killed offscreen by Ram-Amon for his treachery against him.
Trivia[]
- Wrath-Amon is an original character created exclusively for the Conan the Adventurer tv series. Although Set and the Serpent Men do exist in the original Conan the Barbarian stories, Wrath-Amon appears to be a combination of two of the comic's main antagonists: Thulsa Doom (a dark wizard) and Thoth-Amon (a servant of Set and the arch-enemy of Conan).
- Although never confirmed, it is implied that Wrath-Amon's armour was made from his own flesh. It appears that when Set "upgraded" him, the Serpent-God forced Wrath-Amon to moult, shedding his old skin and creating a new one for him. This would explain why Wrath-Amon was able to take his armour off in "Dregs-Amon the Great".
- In a very unusual case for a 90's cartoon, Wrath-Amon was a largely successful villain. Although he was eventually defeated, the evil-wizard did, on a number of occasions, manage to outwit or outright beat the heroes. He even achieved his goal and released his master Set from the Abyss, although the Snake-God was eventually banished back to the void following Wrath-Amon's own defeat.
- His most successful act as a villain, outside of releasing his master, however, occurred in the episode "Once & Future Conan". In this story, Wrath-Amon actually succeeded in killing Conan. Without the Barbarian around to foil his plans, the Dark Wizard and his Serpent Men, despite the best efforts of Conan's allies, ultimately freed Set, plunging the world into darkness and despair. This victory was only undone, when the heroes as a last desperate resort, used time-travel to save Conan's life. This undid the time line and forced Wrath-Amon to take the long path to success.
- Wrath-Amon is very similar to Sauron, the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings franchise.
- Both are extremely powerful magic users, who seek to conquer their respective worlds and command vast legions of warriors.
- Each of them has seduced or forced humans, a species they intend to enslave, and other magic users into serving them.
- Although they are their respective franchise's main antagonists, Sauron and Wrath-Amon are actually subservient to God-tier villains, Morgoth and Set respectively.
- Sauron and Wrath-Amon largely drew their powers from a pair magical rings: the One Ring and the Black Ring respectively. If separated from these magical artifacts, the antagonists became weaker and vulnerable. When the rings were ultimately destroyed, the villains lost their power for good, although in Wrath-Amon's case, he had been reverted back to a gila monster, prior to the Black Rings destruction.
- Wrath-Amon is also similar to Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter franchise.
- Both are remorseless psychopaths, who are considered to be the most powerful and evil dark wizards ever to have lived within their respective universes.
- They each underwent a sinister transformation which left them as humanoid creatures with distinctive snake like features.
- Both have ties to giant serpents whose purpose is to destroy. In Wrath-Amon's case, he is the servant of the Snake-God, Set. Voldemort meanwhile, is not only a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, whose symbol is a serpent, he also commanded The Monster of Slytherin, i.e. a giant basilisk, who terrorised Hogwarts Castle.