Shevatas is a literary character created by Robert E. Howard in Black Colossus, a story published in the June 1933 edition of Weird Tales.
Biographical sketch
Shevatas was a Zamoran thief who sought to steal the treasure of Thugra Khotan’s tomb in Kuthchemes. He successfully negotiated several obstacles, but met his end in the central treasure chamber.
Physical appearance
His description in Black Colossus is as follows:
- "...wiry and lithe, as became a master-thief of Zamora. His small round head was shaven, his only garment a loin-cloth of scarlet silk. Like all his race, he was very dark, his narrow vulture-like face set off by his keen black eyes. His long, slender and tapering fingers were quick and nervous as the wings of a moth. From a gold-scaled girdle hung a short, narrow, jewel-hilted sword in a sheath of ornamented leather. Shevatas handled the weapon with apparently exaggerated care..."
Traits and skills
Shevatas is a thief of great skill, described variously as a "master-thief" and "thief among thieves", achieving such renown that songs and myths were written about him for a millenia after his death.