Tanatah (Character)

Tanatah is one the main characters of the Incal saga, and was initially presented as one of the main antagonists. She lived in the Interior Sun, in the vast world of the Center of the Planet, and was the priestess and Guardian of the Black Incal, while her sister, Animah, was the Guardian of the White Incal.

After Animah had the opportunity to leave the Interior Sun Tanatah grew jealous of her sister, and stole the Black Incal, escaping to the surface. While she initially tried to amass power as the Queen of Amok, and went after the other Incal, she eventually came to help John in his quest against the Darkness.

She made her first appearance in the first issue of The Incal, The Black Incal.

Early life
Animah was fathered by the Arhats (which in turn were created by Orh). She lived far below the Acid Lake, in the vast world of the Center of the Planet, beyond the Great Glass Caverns and Pyramid Island, in the heart of the Interior Sun, guarding the Incal with her sister, Animah.

Escape from the Interior Sun
At one point the Incal entrusted Animah with engendering the perfect androgyne, Solune, to save the universe, while Tanatah had to stay behind to ensure that no covetous being invaded the temple, and thus remain a virgin. This angered Tanatah, who tried to stop Animah from leaving, hitting one of the crystals in the Forest of Crystals so that both would fall sleep. However, the Arhats eventually woke up the two sisters.

Tanatah, still jealous of her sister stole the Black Incal and escaped to the surface. She tied to join forces with the Techn- technos but in turn the Technopope and his underlings betrayed her and throwed her into the Acid Lake, whoever since her body was merelly an illusion of her conscience, the acid couldn't dissolve her. He was eventually saved by the City Shaft's outcasts, who asked her to become their queen, forming a secret society -the Amok- under her command.

As the Queen of Amok
As the Queen of Amok, she was involved in multiple criminal activites, but her main objective was to get the White Incal. In order to do so, he forced the Metabaron to find and bring John DiFool -who at the time was in possession of the White Incal- to her, using the Metabaron's son, which she had kidnapped, as blackmail. While the Amok, among other factions, launched an attack against the Floating Palace, The Metabaron managed to bring John to her. Realizing that Solune's power could eventually get in her way she decided to kill both Solune and the Metabaron. However, Solune, the Metabaron and John defeated Tanatah's underlings. Upon knowing that the revolution agains the Floating Palace had failed and the Necrodroid was coming after the Incal, she decide to switch sides, and guided John, Deepo, Solune and The Metabaron to the Center of the Planet.

Reuniting the two Incals
Tanatah broke her vertebra while descending to the Center of the Plante, but her sister, Animah, and John helped to cure her injury with the power of the Incal. Escaping form the Necrodroid, who was also after the Incal, Animah guided the rest of the crew to the Interior Sun. At the door of the Interior Sun, each of the characters made peace with each other in order to open the door. Tanatah made peaces with Animah, choosing peace over an alliance with darkness, realizing that her quest for power had brought only strife to the surface.

After going through the Forest of Singing Crystals, they reached the Doorway of Transfiguration. The Incals were reunited, and Solune became the consciousness of a starship that had the abilities of the Incal and was shaped in the form of the two merged pyramids.

As part of the Seven Companions
After The Seven unsuccessfully attempted to destroy a Shadow Egg with the Incal Ship, they headed to Aquaend, where they met with the Emperoress and decided to launch a war campaign against Technogea with the help of the Bergs. In order to get the help from the Bergs John participated and won the Five Thousand Year Nuptial Games, coming into an alliance with the Protoqueen.

After John reunited with the rest of the group he embraced and kissed Animah enthusiastically, which made the Protoqueen grow jealous, disintegrating John on the spot. Only the power of love could gather and bind John's scattered atoms, so Tanatah and the Metabaron resucitated John by creating a male-female vortex. With the help from the bergs The Seven managed to neutralize the Shadow Egg and disband the Technos, but the Emperoress was infected by the tenebrae virus.

Final fight agaisnt the Darkness
To destroy the Darkness once and for all, The Seven decided to destroy the Techno-centreur, a being that was totally devoted to the Darkness, and which was hidden in the War Star. The Seven managed to destroy the main processor of the War Star, and Solune won the battle against the Techno-centeur but in the process the barrier of the Light was broken. After the darkened Emperoress was also defeated, Solune was named the new Emperoress. Solune claimed that humanity had to enter a state of deep slumber called the Theta Dream to avoid falling under the influence of the Darkness.

The Seven went back to the Portal of Transfiguration, so that the united Incal could prepare to absorb the Theta Dream energy generated by the entire human race in the two galaxies. The Seven entered the Theta dream itself, and they were transported to null-time and null-space to confront the Darkness.

In the first circle of the Theta Dream, The Seven started hallucinating nightmares concocted by the Darkness to feed on their inner terror (Tanatah's nightmare involved turning evil again), but they eventually realized that the nightmares were only a part of themselves that they were afraid to face. In the second circle The Darkness attacked the Incal itself, so the Incal demanded the energy of all Seven Companions to survive. They all gave their energies, with the exception of John, who wanted to remain himself.

Etymology
Tanatah is an allusion to Thanatos, the personification of death in Greek mythology.

Amok, as in "running amok", is used to refer to the behavior of someone who, in the grip of strong emotion, obtains a weapon and begins attacking people indiscriminately, often with multiple fatalities.