Kantos Kan

Kantos Kan is a lieutenant in the navy of Helium and a determined ally of John Carter. His story links Dejah Thoris’s capture to the widening conflict between Helium and Zodanga: after surviving a disastrous naval campaign, he searches for the princess, is imprisoned by the Warhoons, and later works with Carter in Zodanga. His loyalty is not merely a matter of military duty; when he learns that Carter loves Dejah Thoris, he pledges to oppose the marriage imposed on her and to act for Helium, the princess, and his friend.

Identity and Background

Kantos Kan is a padwar, or lieutenant, in Helium’s navy and a member of the expedition that fell into Thark hands when Dejah Thoris was captured. In the aftermath of the defeat, the surviving vessels were badly damaged and only partially crewed. His own ship made its way slowly toward Helium, but near Zodanga it came under attack from a large force of war vessels. The other ships were destroyed or captured; Kantos Kan’s vessel escaped after being pursued for days, slipping away during a moonless night.

The survivors’ return underscored the scale of the disaster. About thirty days after Dejah Thoris’s capture, Kantos Kan’s ship reached Helium with roughly ten survivors from an original crew of seven hundred officers and men. Helium sent out seven fleets of one hundred warships each to seek the princess, while two thousand smaller craft remained continuously engaged in the search. The fleets struck two Green Martian communities, but found no trace of Dejah Thoris. Kantos Kan’s personal search thus takes place within a vast military effort that has already brought destruction without achieving its purpose.

Imprisonment and the Warhoon Search

Kantos Kan was assigned to a small, one-man flier and discovered by the Warhoons while exploring their city. He landed at its boundary and went on foot into the buildings around the plaza, searching their quarters and dungeons for two days and nights. Having satisfied himself that Dejah Thoris was not being held there, he was captured as he tried to leave. His daring expedition ended not in discovery but in captivity, and his willingness to search alone wins Carter’s respect.

A short time later, Kantos Kan was brought into the dungeon where Carter was imprisoned. Carter greeted him in the dark with the Martian word of greeting, and Kantos Kan answered by asking who had spoken. Carter identified himself as a friend of the red men of Helium. Once the guards had gone, Carter related his own experiences, withholding only his love for Dejah Thoris. Kantos Kan was heartened by the news and believed the princess and Sola could have reached safety. He knew the terrain around the Warhoons’ route south and reasoned that they had entered the hills within five miles of a major waterway.

The two prisoners became close during their confinement. Their captivity ended when they were taken to the Warhoon games, held in a vast, uneven amphitheater excavated below ground. The assembled crowd numbered twenty thousand. Stone from the ruined city had been piled around the arena to keep prisoners and animals from reaching the audience, while cages at either end held those awaiting their turn. Carter and Kantos Kan were confined together in one cage, among wild creatures, Green Martian warriors, and captives from other hordes. The scene puts their friendship in a setting where both men are exposed to danger and treated as part of a public spectacle.

Reunion in Zodanga

After escaping the Warhoons, Carter eventually reached Zodanga. While crossing its central plaza, a square mile bordered by palaces and public buildings, he recognized Kantos Kan approaching from an avenue and called out to him. Kantos Kan wheeled and raised his sword before recognizing Carter. Carter’s extraordinary leap gave him away: Kantos Kan laughed that no one else on Barsoom could bounce in such a fashion, then asked how he had arrived and whether he could change color like a Darseen.

The reunion quickly disclosed how precarious Kantos Kan’s own position had become. He had been in Zodanga for three days, secretly serving the interests of Tardos Mors, the Jeddak of Helium, while trying to discover where Dejah Thoris was imprisoned. The Zodangans did not know his identity or city; if they had, he believed he would have been killed. His plan was to join the Zodangan navy as an air scout, win the confidence of Sab Than, who commanded that division, and use the position to find the princess. Carter’s arrival transformed the search from a solitary undertaking into a partnership.

Kantos Kan explained the political obstacle as well as the immediate danger. Sab Than had Dejah Thoris hidden in the city and had fallen in love with her. His father, Than Kosis, had made her voluntary marriage to Sab Than the price of peace between Zodanga and Helium. Tardos Mors refused the demand, declaring that he would rather face the destruction of Helium than join his house to that of Than Kosis. The refusal strengthened his standing among his people, but it left Dejah Thoris’s location and safety an urgent concern for Kantos Kan and Carter.

Loyalty to Carter and Dejah Thoris

Kantos Kan’s alliance with Carter becomes personal when he learns that Carter loves Dejah Thoris and that she knows of his love, but rejects him because she is promised to Sab Than. Kantos Kan immediately rises, places a hand on Carter’s shoulder, and raises his sword. He tells Carter that, if the choice had been his, he could not have chosen a more fitting mate for the first princess of Barsoom. He pledges that Sab Than will be killed by his sword, acting for Helium, Dejah Thoris, and Carter, and says that he will try to reach Sab Than’s quarters that very night.

The pledge binds three loyalties together without confusing them. Kantos Kan acts for Helium, whose ruler has refused the marriage bargain; for Dejah Thoris, whose choice is central to that refusal; and for Carter, whose love he has just learned about. His support is practical as well as emotional: he intends to take a direct risk in the palace despite the strong guards and the patrols in the sky. The evidence establishes his resolve and intended action, rather than making him the agent of the subsequent killing.

Capture and Rescue

During the fighting in the palace, Sab Than lies dead beside Than Kosis, and Carter’s first concern afterward is Kantos Kan. Leaving Dejah Thoris in Tars Tarkas’s care, Carter takes twelve warriors and searches the dungeons beneath the palace. The jailers have left to join the battle, so the rescuers can move through the prison without opposition. Carter calls Kantos Kan’s name in each corridor and compartment until he hears a faint response and finds him helpless in a dark recess.

Kantos Kan is glad to see Carter and wants to understand the battle, whose distant echoes had reached his cell. He explains that an air patrol captured him before he could reach the palace’s high tower; he had never seen Sab Than. The bars and chains cannot be cut away, so Carter searches the bodies above for keys, following Kantos Kan’s suggestion. Their reunion therefore turns again on mutual reliance: Kantos Kan supplies the practical solution to his confinement, while Carter undertakes the search that can put it into effect.

Loyalty as a Recurring Motif

Kantos Kan’s courage belongs to a wider pattern of loyalty in Carter’s account. In the Warhoon prison, he searches for Dejah Thoris alone; in Zodanga, he risks exposure to learn her whereabouts; after learning of Carter’s love, he offers his sword in support; and when imprisoned again, he contributes to the plan for his release. His friendship with Carter is forged through danger and sustained by shared objectives, but Kantos Kan retains his own judgment and initiative rather than serving merely as a companion.

The novel also gives animal loyalty a recurring place beside human fellowship. Carter’s account describes Woola’s guarding and rescue of him, the beast’s faithful pursuit through the waste, and Carter’s decision to treat his thoats with kindness. These episodes are not Kantos Kan’s actions, but they establish a broader contrast in the narrative between loyalty expressed through care and the political or military systems that repeatedly put lives at risk. Kantos Kan’s alliance with Carter belongs to that human register: a freely given commitment, expressed in action, that persists through separation, captivity, and renewed danger.