Ascalante

For other characters named Ascalante, see Ascalante (disambiguation).

Ascalante was a former count of Aquilonia whose lands were forfeited. He became an outlaw, and led a band that raided the caravans in the deserts surrounding Aquilonia. During one such raid, he took the powerful sorcerer Thoth-amon (temporarily stripped of his powers) as a slave, and continued to blackmail him into servitude. Ascalante revealed the powerless sorcerer's identity to his enemies.

He appears in "The Phoenix on the Sword", where he is a central figure in a plot against the newly crowned king, Conan. He was approached by Dion, Volmana, Gromel, and Rinaldo months prior to the events of the story, when this so-called "Rebel Four" sought him out in the deserts to organize their scheme to assassinate Conan and declare Dion the new king. Unbeknownst to his co-conspirators, Ascalante secretly planned to turn against his partners after the coup, and declare himself the new king. After meeting with his fellow schemers for the last time before the plot springs into motion, Ascalante dispatches Thoth-amon to watch over Dion, whom Ascalante believes may inadvertently foil the plot at the last minute.

When the time comes to launch the coup, Ascalante leads the assassins through the halls of Conan's palace, confronting the king in his bedchamber. Over the course of the fighting, Ascalante issues commands to his men, engaging Conan at the end of the fight, when the king is badly wounded and surrounded. However, at that moment, a creature summoned by Thoth-amon charges into the chamber and pins Ascalante to the ground. Ascalante comes face-to-face with the beast and is filled with horror at the monster's demonic face, before being torn into by the creature's fangs.

Ascalante is described as tall and lean, and has an egotistical and cynical personality. He is highly confident in his own abilities, and treats others as his lessers. He physically abuses his slave, Thoth-amon, and views his fellow conspirators as nothing more than his own tools.