King Hiss
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 King Hiss as depicted in the 2002 remake of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe |
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King Hiss [1] is a fictional character in the Masters of the Universe franchise. He is the villainous king of the Snake Men. Although he never appears in the original animated series by Filmation, which had ceased production by the time the figure was released, Hiss makes a belated animated debut in the 2002 relaunch of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by Mike Young Productions, this time as the major villain of the second season. In both incarnations his default appearance is human, but he is capable of shedding his human skin revealing everything from his waist up to be a writhing mass of serpents. Hiss possesses a host of somewhat vague magical powers. The Sorceress of Grayskull once states that Hiss' magic is as ancient and powerful as that of the Elders.
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[edit] 1980s
According to the original toys' minicomics, King Hiss is the ruler of a race of interstellar conquerors. Although his people are a race of humanoid snakes, Hiss for some unexplained reason has the default appearance of a human; a notional disguise to hide his true form, an upper body comprised of five intertwined serpents. Although one head is clearly central and dominant, the 2002 animated series depicts all five heads speaking in unison. Hiss and his Snake Men were fighting a protracted war of conquest on the planet Eternia, when they were eventually overcome by the combined magic powers of the planet's Elders whose magic flung King Hiss and his army into a limbo-like dimension. After millennia of imprisonment, King Hiss and a handfull of his followers were freed by Skeletor, who desired to learn the secrets of the Snake Men. The two villains formed an uneasy alliance to conquer Eternia and destroy its champion He-Man, but both planned to eliminate the other once their mutual enemy was destroyed. The nature and extent of Hiss's powers in the minicomic were never fully expanded upon but was suggested to possess magic that rivaled that of both Skeletor and Hordak. His snake form also possessed a powerful hypnotic ability that was capable of putting even He-Man into a stupor.
[edit] 2002
In the 2002 series, the basic storyline remains the same, with only slight differences. In this continuity, King Hiss is freed from limbo by his right-hand man, General Rattlor, and a descendant of the original Snake Men, Kobra Khan. The two Snake Men free him with the help of Skeletor's second-in-command Evil-Lyn. Skeletor's base, Snake Mountain, is then revealed to had formerly been King Hiss' headquarters, and is later shown to also be the actual petrified body of Serpos, the god of the Snake Men. King Hiss then temporarily takes back Snake Mountain, since it is his rightful throne.
King Hiss is described by the Sorceress as possessing magic as old and powerful as the Elders themselves. When cast, his spells usually appear as snake-shaped tendrils of energy which Hiss can use to grapple, bind, or even pierce his enemies with. His snake form is also capable of delivering venomous bites from each of its five heads. It is shown in a later episode that King Hiss had menaced Eternia even before the Elders came into power, during the time of King Grayskull. His army of Snake Men and the soldiers of Grayskull fought for dominance of the world, until a new force arrived on Eternia to claim it for themselves. The Evil Horde led by Hordak attacked the Snake Men first, removing them as a possible threat, then Hordak set his sights on King Grayskull. Despite losing the battle, King Hiss and his army survived, but then had to contend with the powers of the Elders who had formed after Grayskull's death in battle against Hordak, in which he and the Horde were defeated and trapped in a different limbo.
King Hiss' personality in the 2002 cartoon is evil lawful. Power hungry and ruthless, the cartoon also shows him gleefully eating people alive for pleasure. Kobra Khan describes him as being as generous to his friends as he is ruthless to his enemies. King Hiss is even capable of grudging respect towards some enemies; seen when he compares He-Man to King Grayskull. While shown to be contemptuous towards both the Elders and Cosmic Defenders and the power they wield, King Hiss is also leery and even fearful of Hordak; to the point of taking great personal risk in order to avoid ever having to contend with Hordak and his power again.
Unlike Skeletor, who regularly abuses and humiliates his minions, King Hiss respects his warriors, giving sincere praise and rewards as appropriate. In return, the Snake Men are fiercely loyal to him, ignoring any personal ambitions they might have in order to serve their leader out of fanatic devotion, to the level of being self-sacrificing minions willing to die for him. This is quite the opposite of Skeletor's Evil Warriors. The only fault King Hiss has in this regard is that he practices cronyism; his playing favorites, such as Kobra Khan over General Rattlor, led to much friction among his Snake Men. King Hiss seems completely oblivious of this; of course, it is possible that he intentionally plays one Snake Man against the other to make them compete for his favor.
Also, unlike Skeletor's tendency to come up with all his plans at random, which he immediately puts into motion without much forethought, King Hiss seems to put a lot of time and thought into his plans before he puts them into action; making sure he has had every weak link tied and has handled all details, no matter how small. This is made clear in "Second Skin" when he utilizes the tablet of the "Serpent's Ring", making sure he knows exactly how to use it and the vastness of its power.
Also distinctive is that King Hiss appears to be mildly racist. He sees his Snake Men as a master race, and all other people as food or, at best, slaves. Even non-Snake Men who assist his cause are not above his wrath; he would have eaten Evil-Lyn alive, despite helping to free him from the void, if she had not offered him the power of Castle Grayskull amidst pleas for her life. Even then, he only seems to grant her a brief reprieve. This is quite the opposite of Skeletor, whose minions are very racially diverse and whose hatreds seem reserved for individuals or political groups, rather than any racial groups.
King Hiss is last seen in the last episode of the 2002 He-Man series, beaten and seemingly dead; his four snake-head arms having eaten his primary head after Zodak took control over them. (Although the four remaining heads remained alive and speaking afterward, declaring that there were ways for Hiss to be restored.) If a third season had been produced, it would have been revealed that King Hiss' head would be regenerated and he would have returned as a menance; however, to what extent is now unknown.
His main minions are Kobra Khan, Tung Lashor, Rattlor, Snake Face, and Sssqueeze.[2] Hiss and his Snake Men seem to be referential to Thoth-Amon and the Serpent-Men from Robert E. Howard's, Conan the Barbarian.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ The spelling of the character's name was changed to King Hsss in the 2002 relaunch of the franchise.
- ^ Sometimes called Tanglor.
