Customer Reviews

Conan Series II Figure: Xaltotun

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The Conan Series II Figures, McFarlane Toys consist entirely of characters from Robert E. Howard's only Conan novel "Hour of the Dragon" (a.k.a. "Conan the Conqueror" for those of us who read the Lancer paperbacks with the Frank Frazetta covers that we ran to once Marvel's "Conan the Barbarian" comic book reintroduced the character to a new generation of fans). The story is of Conan when he is the middle-aged king of the ancient kingdom of Aquilonia who has to fight a final battle against Xaltotun, a resurrected sorcerer. Armies are not going to win this one and Conan has to find the fabled Heart of Ahriman to defeat his enemy. Along the way he will meet a slave girl in Nemedia that he will make queen of Aquilonia.

This 6" figure is of Xaltotun the Undead (the short and sweet way of saying he is resurrected), who is brought back by the the conspirators Orastes, Amalric, Valerius, and Tarascus using the power of the magical gem called the Heart of Ahriman. The skeletal sorcerer comes with scepter and a book of evil spells, along with a base to stand on as he comes right for you. Obviously the figure looks like something out of an ancient Egyptian nightmare, but, of course, in the Hyborian world created by Howard he is a Stygian. As the end result of a long line of necormancers, Xaltotun represents evil incaranate in the novel, so it is probably a good thing that he is not aware that he has been raised from the dead. This is a pretty creepy looking raised from the dead Stygian necormancer.

Series II includes the King Conan of Aquilonia on his throne, which comes in a big square package as opposed to the blister packs like the Battle Conan figure. The rest of Series II consists of Pallantides of the Black Dragon, Conan's field commander in full battle armor; Zenobia, the beautiful harem girl; and the Haunter of the Pit (which links up with the Battle Conan to make the Series II diorama).

The Hour of the Dragon was Robert E. Howard's full-length Conan novel and one of his best stories in my opinion. Conan has become King of Aquilonia, usurping the throne from the tyrannical and crazed King Namedides by strangling him on the throne. Now the righful heir Valerius, a defrocked Priest, and other conspirators plot to take back the throne and to this end use an artifact called the heart of Ahriman to bring the Necromancer named Xaltotun back to life after 3,000 years. Xaltotun was a High Priest of Set in Acheron in what is now Stygia in the present day Hyborian world and is first seen in his tomb has a mummy as slowly his dusty limbs renew with the vigor of life.

In the actual story, Xaltotun was full restored. In Howard's own words, "For as they watched, an awful transmutation became apparent. The withered shape in the sarcophagus was expanding, was growing, lengthening. The bandages burst and fell into brown dust. The shiveled limbs swelled, straightened. Their dusky hue began to fade." From this we gather that he really didn't appear as a mummy after being brought back to life, but what the heck, it sure makes the figure look much cooler. Very nice figure. Great display piece.