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This subject contains information from the "Lovecraft Circle" Myth Cycles, and while guided by HPL are not based on his work alone. This subject contains information from the Expanded Cthulhu Mythos, and not based on H.P. Lovecraft's works directly. Klarkash-Ton the Hierophant is a character created by the late American author H. P. Lovecraft as a fictional version of his close friend Clark Ashton Smith.

In Lovecraft's Fiction[]

In "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1931), Henry Akeley (or a Mi-Go posing as him) mentions that the god Tsathoggua is mentioned in the "Commoriom myth-cycle preserved by the Atlantean high-priest Klarkash-Ton." This is an homage to Smith on multiple levels, in that both Tsathoggua and the Hyperborean city of Commoriom were creations of Smith, who also wrote stories set in Poseidonis, depicted as the last remnant of Atlantis.

The name Klarkash-Ton also appears in "The Battle That Ended the Century" (1934), a parody of boxing reporting Lovecraft wrote with R. H. Barlow, set in the then-distant year 2000. It mentions that an account of the titular boxing match was illustrated by the "well-known artist Klarkash-Ton (who esoterically depicted the fighters as boneless fungi)."

In Other Writing[]

In Robert M. Price's short story "The Incubus of Atlantis" (1998), Klarkash-Ton the Heirophant is a high priest of Zhothaqquah in the lost realm of Atlantis. He is engaged by the Philosopher King Pharnabazus to chronicle the history of his land.

Price depicts Klarkash-Ton as the reincarnation of the powerful Hyperborean magician Eibon--another of Smith's creations--his soul saved over and over by his lord Zhothaqquah in order to continue his service.

See Also[]

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