Aphoom-Zhah

Aphoom-Zhah (AKA "The Cold Flame" and "The Lord of the Flame") debuted in Lin Carter's "The Acolyte of the Flame (fiction)" (1985) but was first mentioned in an earlier tale by Carter "The Horror in the Gallery (fiction)" (1976).

In the Mythos

A Thing of Flame: like a gray, wavering sheet of fire is Aphoom Zhah, but as a flame of utter and supra-arctic cold.
— Lin Carter, "The Acolyte of the Flame (fiction)"

Aphoom-Zhah appears as a vast, cold, grey flame that freezes whatever it touches. The being came to Earth from the star Fomalhaut, briefly visiting the planet Yaksh (Neptune) before taking up residence in Mount Yarak, a legendary mountain atop the North Pole, where he is worshiped by the gnophkeh, the Voormi and his own race of minions; the spectral Ylidheem, who worship Aphoom-Zhah as the "Lord of the Pole", his legend is chronicled in the Pnakotic Manuscripts.

When the Elder Gods tried to imprison him beneath the pole, Aphoom-Zhah erupted with such fury that he froze the lands around him, sparking the last ice age. Aphoom-Zhah's excursions into neighboring regions are believed to be responsible for the glaciation that eventually overwhelmed Hyperborea, Zobna, and Lomar.

Heresies and Controversies

• Aphoom-Zhah is possibly connected to Ithaqua, and is the progeny of Cthugha and likely spawned Rlim Shaikorth, Gnoph-Keh, Rhan-Tegoth, and Voorm. (Malleus Monstrorum?)

Cult

• Aphoom-Zah is worshiped by the gnophkeh, the Voormi and the spectral Ylidheem, who worship Aphoom-Zhah as the "Lord of the Pole" in his shrine at Mount Yarak, a legendary mountain atop the North Pole; his legend is chronicled in the Pnakotic Manuscripts.

Associated Mythos Elements

• deities: possibly connected to Ithaqua, and is said to have spawned Rlim Shaikorth, Gnoph-Keh, Rhan-Tegoth, and Voorm
• location: Hyperborea, Zobna, and Lomar laid waste by Aphoom-Zhah, and Mhu Thulan laid waste by his minions under Rlim Shaikorth
• location: Fomalhaut, briefly visited Yaksh (Neptune)
• location: Mount Yarak, a polar mountain
• tome: Pnakotic Manuscripts
• race: Gnophkehs, Voormis and spectral Ylidheem

References

• Aphoom-Zhah, called The Cold Flame, is a Great Old One that debuted in Lin Carter's short story "The Acolyte of the Flame" (1985);although the being was first mentioned in an earlier tale by Carter, "The Horror in the Gallery" (1976). Aphoom-Zhah is also mentioned in Carter's "The Light from the Pole" (1980), a story Carter wrote from an early draft by Clark Ashton Smith. Smith later developed this draft into "The Coming of the White Worm" (1941).

• fiction: Lin Carter's "The Acolyte of the Flame (fiction)" (1985)
• fiction: Lin Carter's "The Horror in the Gallery (fiction)" (1976)
• fiction: Lin Carter's "The Light from the Pole (fiction)" (1980)
• fiction: from an early draft by Clark Ashton Smith, which would later developed into "The Coming of the White Worm (fiction)" (1941)
• sourcebook: Malleus Monstrorum