The Gods
of Mars is a 1918 Edgar Rice
Burroughs science fiction novel, the second
of his famous Barsoom series. It was
first published in All-Story as a
five-part serial in the issues for
January-May 1913. It was later published as
a complete novel by A. C. McClurg in
September, 1918.
Throughout his
novels, Burroughs uses the classic device of
a fictional Foreword or Preface that
suggests that the contents of the following
story reflect true events.
Plot summary
After his advent, a boat of Green Martians arrive on the River Iss, and is ambushed by the previously unknown Plant Men. Carter comes to their aid. The lone survivor is his good friend Tars Tarkas, the Jeddak of Thark, who has taken the pilgrimage to the Valley Dor to find Carter.
Carter and
Tarkas discover that the Therns, rulers of
Valley Dor, a white-skinned race of
self-proclaimed gods, have for eons deceived
the Barsoomians of the outer world by
disseminating the myth that the pilgrimage
to the Valley Dor is a journey to paradise.
Most, however, are killed by the beasts of
Valley, the survivors enslaved by Therns.
Carter and
Tarkas rescue Thuvia, a slave girl, and
attempt to escape, capitalizing on the
confusion caused by an attack by the Black
Pirates of Barsoom upon the Therns. They are
separated during the attack: Tarkas and
Thuvia hijack a Black Pirate flier, Carter
fights his way aboard another, killing all
but one of the Pirates, and rescuing a
captive Thern princess.
Carter, talking
with the captured Pirate Xodar, discovers
that the Black Pirates, or "First Born,"
also think of themselves as gods, and prey
upon the Therns as the Therns prey upon
others. He also discovers that the captive
Thern is Phaidor, daughter of the "Holy
Hekkador" (high priest) of the Therns.
When their flier
is recaptured by the First Born, they are
taken to their land, built around the
underground sea of Omean, below the lost sea
of Korus and the Valley Dor. Both are
located at the South Pole of Barsoom.
Carter is taken
before Issus, the goddess of Barsoom. Issus
in an ancient, evil woman who has
manipulated her own people and the rest of
Barsoom into maintaining an hierarchy with
the First Born on top. Issus dictates the
policies of the Therns through secret
communications with them. The Therns,
thinking they are receiving the divine
communications, do not realize that they are
being duped by their enemies.
Issus takes
Phaidor into her service as a handmaiden for
one Martian year. Carter is imprisoned, with
Xodar as his slave as punishment for being
defeated by Carter. However, Carter treats
him with honor, winning a friend. In prison,
they meet a young Red Martian captive from
Carter’s home country of Helium. Soon
thereafter, Carter and the youth are taken
to the monthly games of Issus.
In the games,
the handmaidens of a year before are
sacrificed, and Carter discovers that their
bodies will be eaten by Issus and her
nobles. Carter leads a revolt of the
prisoners, killing many of the First Born.
Carter and the youth almost kill Issus
before the First Born suppress the revolt.
Carter and the youth escape via underground
tunnels, and give themselves up to guards
unacquainted with the revolt to be returned
to their prison island. Upon hearing the
story of the revolt, Xodar is able to reject
the notion of Issus’ divinity.
Carter, Xodar
and the youth hijack a flier and escape.
Soon after, Carter discovers that the youth
is his son, Carthoris. The flier is damaged
and must be abandoned in unknown territory.
They encounter Thuvia, who escaped with Tars
Tarkas, who describes the capture of Tarkas
by the green warriors of Warhoons. Carter
goes alone to rescue Tarkas, but is
discovered. After being chased, some mounts
collapse, and Thuvia is sent on alone
mounted while the men stay for a last stand
against the Warhoons. They are rescued by
the timely appearance of the Heliumetic
navy. However, they never find Thuvia.
Commanding one
of the warships is Carter’s old friend,
Kantos Kan. But the fleet is commanded by
Zat Arras, the Jed of the hostile client
state of Zodanga. Carter is suspected of
returning from Valley Dor, which is
punishable by death. ardos Mors, the Jeddak
of Helium, and Mors Kajak, the Jed of Hastor
(the grandfather and father, respectively,
of Dejah Thoris, and thus Carter’s in-laws)
are absent from Helium, having led fleets in
search of Carter, now years overdue.
Finally, Carter discovers that Dejah Thoris
is missing, believed to have taken the
pilgrimage to the Valley Dor to find him.
Upon returning
to Helium, Carter is tried for heresy by a
rigged jury of hostile Zodangans, led by Zat
Arras, but the people Helium will not stand
for it. To avoid civil war, Carter's
judgment is deferred for a year. Sola, the
daughter of Tars Tarkas, arrives. She had
taken the pilgrimage with Dejah Thoris; both
had been captured by the Black Pirates but
Sola had escaped.
Carter realizes
that Dejah Thoris will be selected as a
handmaiden of Issus, and thus will have only
a year to live. He and his comrades begin a
campaign to take a fleet to the land of the
First Born to rescue her. They uncover
evidence that Thern spies are monitoring
them, and then Carter is kidnapped by the
Zodangans. Carter refuses Zat Arras’ offer
of freedom in exchange for endorsing Zat
Arras as Jeddak of all Helium, and is
imprisoned. After half a year in a dungeon,
Carter wins his freedom through a ruse, and
the mission to the land of the First Born is
launched, with secretly raised troop levies,
ships, and many troops from their Green
Martian ally, Tars Tarkas.
Upon approaching
the South Pole, a Thern fleet challenges
Carter’s fleet, and behind Carter’s fleet a
fleet led by the Zodangan, Zat Arras
arrives. Finally, a fleet of First Born
arrives leaving the rescue mission for Dejah
Thoris in jeopardy. Carter encourages the
Therns and First Born, hereditary enemies,
to engage in combat and the Heliumetic crews
of the Zodangan fleet mutiny in support of
Carter. Carter takes his remaining fleet
with Tharkian troops to the underground sea
of Omean, to attack the First Born and
rescue his princess.
The combined
Heliumites and Tharks surprise the First
Born and soundly defeat them. Issus is
revealed as fraud before her nobles, who
lynch her. Carter is too late to save Dejah
Thoris. The fiendishly clever Issus locked
Dejah Thoris, Thuvia, and Phaidor, each of
whom loves John Carter, in a room of the
Temple of the Sun. Each room of this
revolving temple opens only once a year, and
they are imprisoned with insufficient food
to last the year.
Carter is able
to talk to Dejah Thoris through the doorway
bars, and slip them sufficient food
supplements to last them the year, but the
room cannot be opened. Just before the room
is closed, Phaidor proclaims that if Carter
will not love her, he will not be allowed to
love another. She strikes at Dejah Thoris
with a dagger, and the last thing Carter
sees through the narrow crack is Thuvia
lunging in front of the dagger. He hears a
scream, but the door is closed, and he is
unable to see who was struck by the dagger.
The story is carried on in the third book of
Burroughs’ Martian series, The Warlord of
Mars.
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