Nerkash
In Reality Z-25 31-H, Nerkash was a giant snake worshipped as “the Serpent Lord” or the “Serpent God” by the Serpent Cult of Buranda. Controlled by the Serpent Priest using a telepathic tiara, Nerkash was housed within a hollow statue of an even larger snake in the Temple of the Serpent God, and fed human sacrifices by the Priest.
Eventually, the Cult was broken up by Kaza and the Priest, wounded, returned to the hidden Temple to die. However, at that time, neither the authorities nor Kaza himself realised that the Serpent God really existed, albeit as a flesh-and-blood creature rather than a truly supernatural entity. Ten years later, the Serpent Priest's daughter Nerlana recovered the tiara and began to revive the cult. She captured Kaza, and, at the first gathering of her resurrected Cult, summoned Nerkash, hoping to make Kaza the first sacrifice.
On that fateful night, however, George Wimberly shot Nerkash in the eye in an attempt to save Kaza, making the “god” bleed and breaking most cultists' faith on the spot. In the commotion, Nerlana also lost her psychic hold on the snake, who ate her instead of Kaza before falling unconscious. The Commissioner subsequently contacted Vincent, a friend of his in the Royal Herpetological Society, who healed Nerkash, documented him as the first known specimen of a new species, and rehomed him to the London Zoo to great acclaim. (COMIC: The Serpent Sorceress)
Behind the scenes
The giant snake's name has been rendered both “Nerkash” and “Narkesh” at various times, with “Nerkash” being the form originally used in his debut in COMIC: The Serpent Sorceress.
External links
- Narkesh character profile on the 30 Days of Characters 2020 website
