Hokas Tokas
| Hokas Tokas | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by DALL-E 2 and Huw Williams | |
| Class | Human |
| Occupation | Resident Wizard |
| Affiliation | Guild of Free Adventurers |
| Appearances |
DharmaQuest Lost Eamon Trek |
| Relatives |
Pokas Tokas (brother) Smokas Tokas (brother) Threndor Tokas (descendant) |
Hokas Tokas is the resident wizard of the Guild of Free Adventurers and one of the regulars of the Main Hall.
Function Within the Guild
Hokas' principal task within the guild is to teach adventurers the four basic magic spells: Blast, Heal, Speed, and Power. This he does for a price, and adventurers lacking sufficient gold must save up from their adventures in The Beginners Cave and elsewhere to learn them all. Hokas is said to be fair, and sticks with everyone until they have successfully learnt their magic. In A Runcible Cargo it is stated that adventurers rent rooms from Hokas Tokas, possibly implying that his post of "resident wizard" is a highly influential one in the Guild hierarchy. Thror's Ring suggests a willingness to capitalize on this influence through commercial endorsements, indicating that Hokas had appeared in commercials for the "Ever-Lite" brand of torches.
In addition to his teaching duties, Hokas has appeared in more Eamon adventures than any of the other Main Hall regulars. He often serves as magical protector, either directly employing adventurers to battle possible magical threats or bring him valuable magical items, or even on some occasions leaving the guild himself to set up base in an area where there is a serious magical danger.
Hokas' powers seem extremely great, and he appears to be able to send objects and people over very large distances at will. It is even possible that part of Hokas' job within the guild is to create stable portals to worlds other than Eamon where adventurers fulfill commissions, such as Middle Earth or our own. This power, however, he also frequently uses on those to whom he wishes to teach a lesson.
When not engaged on magical business, Hokas can be found around the hall drinking Double Dragon Blombs, and has also been known to socialize with adventurers, though due to his short temper this can have unexpected results.
Characteristics and depiction
The Eamon Players Manual by Donald Brown describes Hokas as "gruff but fair," a description which the authors of many adventure authors have taken to heart. Hokas is shown as concerned for the well-being of the world of Eamon, yet also possessing a short temper, an often abrupt mode of speech, and a fondness for alcohol. It is also stated in the Eamon Deluxe Manual that he feels distinctly resentful towards the Mystic, another practitioner of magic in the village near the Main Hall who trains adventurers to perfect their spells.
Ever the teacher, Hokas isn't afraid to "teach a lesson" — usually by transporting the offender to a distant and often dangerous part of Eamon, either to learn a specific lesson or simply to get rid of them. In DharmaQuest, Hokas directly states that it is his "sense of honour and duty" that prevents him from killing people with his magic, despite his fiery temper, so it is also possible that transporting people miles away is Hokas' own way of avoiding doing them actual harm. For whatever reason, however, Hokas' bark does seem worse than his bite and he's never held a grudge.
The introduction to DharmaQuest describes Hokas as having pale violet eyes and a snow-white beard; his graphical depiction in Eamon Deluxe is also bearded and white-haired. Further physical characteristics are also provided in Fiends of Eamon, in which a portrait of (a possibly younger) Hokas describes him as "skinny" and "freckle-faced."
Hokas has at least two brothers: Pokas Tokas, who features in The Wizard of the Spheres, Halls of the Adept, and Fiends of Eamon, and the "laid-back" Smokas Tokas who lives in the city of Vulden. Hokas also has a descendant named Threndor who appears in the distant future of Rhadshur Warrior. Such future descendants suggest that Hokas has children, though they have never featured in an adventure; The Hindenburg Ogre mentions that he does not have a daughter, possibly suggesting he has one or more sons.
Hokas has a sanctum in the city of Lumen (Walled City of Darkness).
Appearances
- The Caverns of Doom sees Hokas offering a reward to an adventurer who can bring him a new computer, though why he wants this machine isn't made clear.
- In Chaosium Caves, Hokas hears of a powerful magical object, The Medallion of the Mind, stolen recently from the King's treasure by a would-be tyrant. Since the medallion has the power to control people's minds, Hokas wants an adventurer to recover it for him, and is offering a reward.
- DharmaQuest sees Hokas take a more personal touch. After a drunken adventurer insults him, Hokas whisks them off to the Land of Dharma where he hopes they will learn kindness and self control, since it is a country where the gods reward such things and punish the opposite.
- When The Wizard of the Spheres captures Hokas's brother Pokas Tokas, he asks many adventurers for assistance, but most refuse because the eponymous wizard is said to be extremely powerful and not open to normal or magical attack. Pokas reappears in The Halls of the Adept and again in Fiends of Eamon.
- Though Hokas himself does not appear in Rhadshur Warrior, his descendent Threndor Tokas — also a wizard — does, having his life orb stolen by several evil mystics from the dark, parallel world of Zagora.
- In the adventure Eamon Trek, Hokas is supposed to have a futurevision machine which shows you the Star Trek world, but also transports the adventurer to that world somehow. Whether Eamon Trek actually takes place or is simply a television program shown by Hokas is not clear.
- Walled City of Darkness sees Hokas dealing with a critical situation in the city of Lumen, where a dark god has replaced the god of light and a champion is needed to win the regalia of a god and defeat him. Hokas calls for an adventurer from the guild, and also remains in the city to offer support and magical assistance, highly necessary since the adventurer is attacked the moment he or she enters the city.
- Lost shows Hokas' more sociable side. After an adventurer gains a straight flush in poker, Hokas — certain that he is being cheated — transports the offender to the Desert of Sands as punishment.
- In Robert Parker's three adventures featuring the Bookworm, Hokas requests an adventurer's assistance to defeat a parasitic and surreal evil that is eating holes in many rare and valuable books. Though the Bookworm is captured and escapes several times, Hokas refuses to take no for an answer and finally the threat is contained.
- In Adventure in Interzone, Hokas Tokas once again gives in to his temper and sends the adventurer off to a wild and dangerous island on a distant planet, this time after someone broke into his room and drank all his imported beer. It is also implied that Hokas has transported many other people and things which irritated him to The Interzone, including an entire shop from modern day America.
- Once again in The Hindenburg Ogre, Hokas transports the adventurer somewhere distant, earth in the 1930s, and also transforms the hapless individual into Dock Hazard, a pulp superhero.
- Most recently, A Runcible Cargo sees Hokas returning to his magic defender roll, where he can be seen battling bandits after the Bandit's Guild make an attack on the Main Hall in an effort to find a mysterious item (the "runcible cargo" itself).
Trivia
- Hokas Tokas also appears as resident wizard in the Guild of Free Rogues in Don Brown's commercial adventure system SwordThrust. While it is possible this could be the same wizard we know from Eamon, that seems unlikely given the history of the character in the Sword thrust manual. The Sword Thrust Hokas was apparently once a magic expert and leading adventurer in the Guild of Free Rogues, but has somewhat lost his touch due to alcoholism. While we know Eamon's Hokas is fond of his ale, he also seems a far more stable figure than this history would suggest, plus it is unlikely he was ever an adventurer, or indeed a rogue.
- Hokas Tokas' name is a pun on the popular magic words "hocus pocus", as is the name of his brother.
- The equivalent of Hokas Tokas in John Nelson's Knight Quest game system is named Abbra Kadabra, "a venerable old wizard" who runs Ye Olde Magicks Shoppe in the town of Diablo.
Gallery
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Hokas's shop (upper left) in the Graphics Master
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The hall as shown in Eamon Deluxe
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