Barzai
Barzai the Wise is the scholar of divine lore who climbs Hatheg-Kla with Atal in The Other Gods. His accurate knowledge of the earth gods encourages an inaccurate belief that he can safely overrule their restrictions. His disappearance becomes a cautionary precedent cited during Randolph Carter’s later search for Kadath.
4 min read · 633 words
Learning and standing in Ulthar
Barzai knows the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan and the Pnakotic Manuscripts associated with Lomar. His familiarity with divine movements and secrets earns him a reputation as almost a god himself.
The Other Gods says that he advised Ulthar’s burgesses when they established the prohibition on killing cats. This is additional information supplied by the later story: The Cats of Ulthar does not name him in its account of the debate.
He also teaches Atal about the movements of black cats on St. John’s Eve. The tale alludes to that knowledge without spelling out the journey. Barzai’s scholarship extends beyond the single expedition, but its full curriculum is not preserved.
Confidence shaped by rank and expertise
His father was a landgrave who lived in an old castle. The narrator contrasts this background with Atal’s origins as an innkeeper’s son and presents Barzai as contemptuous of the fears of ordinary villagers.
His central ambition is to see the faces of the gods of earth. He believes his secret knowledge will shield him from their anger. The mistake is therefore a claim about what knowledge permits, rather than a failure to believe in the gods or a wish to prove that they do not exist.
His competence makes the error persuasive. He seems to know where and when the gods will return, and he has studied records of earlier climbers. The story does not portray him as a charlatan fabricating an expedition for personal profit.
Sources: [1]
The ascent of Hatheg-Kla
Barzai ignores warnings in Hatheg and leads Atal across the desert. They reach the mountain after thirteen days and spend three more climbing through dangerous rock, snow and thinning air. After four clear nights, clouds gather on the fifth, when the moon is full.
He recognizes the conditions he has been waiting for and resumes the ascent. His energy appears extraordinary for an old man, while Atal falls behind. Beyond an overhanging cliff, Barzai becomes a disembodied voice to his companion and to the reader.
He first declares that he hears the gods and that they fear his approach. He interprets the disappearance of obstacles as proof of his superior wisdom. The narrative will reverse that interpretation as the same upward movement becomes an inescapable pull.
Sources: [1]
The discovery of the protectors
An eclipse occurs that his books have not predicted. Barzai’s delight turns to fear as the earth gods’ apparent alarm becomes laughter. He then recognizes the presence of the Other Gods, guardians of the weaker divinities he had intended to confront.
His final cries warn Atal not to look and urge him to retreat. He describes a terrifying upward fall, but the narrative supplies neither a visible body nor an anatomical account of the beings before him.
That last warning complicates his arrogance. At the point of defeat he tries to spare his disciple the same sight. The effort does not save him, but it helps shape the surviving account of his failure.
Sources: [1]
Disappearance and later memory
Searchers find an enormous carved symbol on the summit but no trace of Barzai himself. Atal refuses to pray for his soul’s repose. The text leaves his ultimate condition undisclosed, so a definite death scene, place of imprisonment or subsequent transformation should not be invented.
In The Dream-Quest, Atal summarizes the event as Barzai being drawn screaming into the sky. He warns that approaching Kadath, the gods’ actual stronghold, would be worse than climbing a known mountain they merely visit.
Barzai thus survives in the later story as a limit case for scholarship: extensive and partly successful research does not guarantee mastery over the forces it reveals.
References
- The Other Gods — Unspeakable Tales ebook
The fictional narrative is evidence for what the story says, not proof of events in the real world.
- The Cats of Ulthar — Unspeakable Tales ebook
The fictional narrative is evidence for what the story says, not proof of events in the real world.
- The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath — original text
The fictional narrative is evidence for what the story says, not proof of events in the real world.
At a glance
The Other Gods
Ulthar
Atal
Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan; Pnakotic Manuscripts
To see the gods of earth
Disappears on Hatheg-Kla; never recovered