A Stygian sorceror who reigned in Kuthchemes three thousand years earlier, but the city was sacked by “gray-eyed, tawny-haired barbarians in wolfskins and scale-mail”, who would eventually found the kingdom of Koth further north. However, Khotan swallowed “a strange terrible poison”, after which he was locked into a tomb by his masked priests, who died in its defence. The barbarians could not break in, so they destroyed the rest of the city and rode off. He is awakened many centuries later by the thief Shevatas, who is slain by Khotan, and prepares to unleash his wrath over the barbarians' descendants.