Primeiro de tudo, então todos nós usamos a mesma edição, vamos pegar o texto e a cronologia propostos por Roy Glashan.
Primeira menção
A primeira menção de seu nome vem em Colosso Negro, História #8 da cronologia interna, publicada em maio de 1933:
"Let Bel wither my arm! I speak truth! By Derketo, Conan, I am a prince of liars, but I do not lie to an old comrade.Calibre Text-Mark 55,2 / 87
Descrição de seu culto
Xuthal do Crepúsculo, também conhecido como A Sombra Deslizante foi publicado em setembro de 1933 como a história de 11th Conan. No capítulo 1, este parágrafo aparece:
"[...] I have been, and am, the only thing for which a man of them will forgo his lotus-dreams for a space."
She laughed wickedly, flashing her audacious eyes meaningly at Conan
"Of course the women are jealous of me," she continued tranquilly. "They are handsome enough in their yellow-skinned way, but they are dreamy and uncertain as the men, and these latter like me not only for my beauty, but for my reality. I am no dream! Though I have dreamed the dreams of the lotus, I am a normal woman, with earthly emotions and desires. With such these moon-eyed yellow women can not compare.Calibre Text-Mark 36,7 / 76
That is why it would be better for you to cut that girl's throat with your saber, before the men of Xuthal waken and catch her. They will put her through paces she never dreamed of! She is too soft to endure what I have thrived on. I am a daughter of Luxur, and before I had known fifteen summers I had been led through the temples of Derketo, the dusky goddess, and had been initiated into the mysteries. Not that my first years in Xuthal were years of unmodified pleasure! The people of Xuthal have forgotten more than the priestesses of Derketo ever dreamed. They live only for sensual joys. Dreaming or waking, their lives are filled with exotic ecstasies, beyond the ken of ordinary men.
"Damned degenerates!" growled Conan.Calibre Text-Mark 37,6 / 76
[...]
For answer Thalis leaned herself against him, slipping one white arm about his bronzed shoulders. Her sleek naked flank pressed against his thigh and the perfume of her foamy hair was in his nostrils.
"Why dare the desert?" she whispered urgently. "Stay here! I will teach you the ways of Xuthal. I will protect you. I will love you! You are a real man: I am sick of these moon-calves who sigh and dream and wake, and dream again. I am hungry for the hard, clean passion of a man from the earth. The blaze of your dynamic eyes makes my heart pound in my bosom, and the touch of your iron-thewed arm maddens me.Calibre Text-Mark 40,2 / 76
Esta é a descrição maior e mais detalhada que obtemos sobre o Culto de Derketo, principalmente através do relato, comportamento e aparência de sua sacerdotisa: ela tem um sacerdócio decadente de mulheres, elas promulgam êxtases exóticos, além do conhecimento dos homens comuns, que provavelmente é um eufemismo para práticas sexuais ou sensuais fora do que é considerado a norma no mundo de Conan, e ela é a grande sedutora, mais poderosa que a atração de Lótus Negro.
Menções adicionais
Derketo é apenas mencionado em Rainha da Costa Negra, a história da 9th Conan, publicada em maio de 1934:
'But the gods are real,' she said, pursuing her own line of thought. 'And above all are the gods of the Shemites—Ishtar and Ashtoreth and Derketo and Adonis.Calibre Text-Mark 30,1 / 86
Derketa em Shem
Outra menção do que pode ser um erro de ortografia ou variação de Derketo (está escrito Derketa) aparece Unhas vermelhas, número 21, publicado em julho de 1936:
"If we ate that we wouldn't need the bite of a dragon," he grunted. "That's what the black people of Kush call the Apples of Derketa. Derketa is the Queen of the Dead. Drink a little of that juice, or spill it on your flesh, and you'd be dead before you could tumble to the foot of this crag."Calibre Text-Mark 23,7 / 180
[...]
Moving down to the edge of the leaves, he reached the spear up and carefully thrust the blade through one of the Apples of Derketa, drawing aside to avoid the darkly purple drops that dripped from the pierced fruit. Presently he withdrew the blade and showed her the blue steel stained a dull purplish crimson.Calibre Text-Mark 27,8 / 180
[...]
"If your ancestors had thought to dip their spears in the poisonous juice of Derketa's Apples," quoth Conan, with his mouth full, "and jab them in the eyes or mouth or somewhere like that, they'd have seen that dragons are no more immortal than any other chunk of beef. The carcass lies at the edge of the trees, just within the forest. If you don't believe me, go and look for yourself."Calibre Text-Mark 90 / 180
Use mais tarde
Depois de Howard, Derketo foi usado em Age of Conan, que tem fortes laços com Aventuras de Conan em uma era não sonhada (aka Conan RPG) e alguns para Conan Exiles. Todos eles baseiam sua representação de Derketo principalmente em Xuthal do Crepúsculo, também conhecido como A Sombra Deslizante e empate em Derketa de Unhas vermelhas como um culto variante shemita à mesma deusa / demônio.
obrigado
ao Valorum por me lançar o link fandom-wiki do Age of Conan.