Ahoshta

From WikiNarnia, the Narnian Encyclopedia

Ahoshta Tarkaan was a Calormene Tarkaan (lord) and Grand Vizier. Ahoshta managed to climb the social ladder of Calormen (not an easy task) through (according to Aravis) flattery and evil advice. Of "base birth" (i.e., a commoner), he rose to being a Tarkaan and, being very close to the Tisroc he is appointed Grand Vizier after the death of Axartha Tarkaan, the previous advisor. In The Horse and His Boy, he is seen with the Tisroc in a meeting, where he is portrayed as groveling and sycophantic, bowing completely prostate before the king and accepting kicks in the rump by the uppity Prince Rabadash. Ahoshta was engaged to the Tarkheena Aravis in the manner of arranged marriage, an event which she claims was part of a plot by her wicked stepmother to get rid of her husband's child. Aravis, however, hated Ahoshta, for several reasons: his low birth, his apelike face, and his plotting and trickery. In addition he is about sixty, while she was much younger (while her age is never explicitly stated, she cannot be more than a teenager, if not younger). As a result she flees from Calormen for Narnia, along with Hwin, her mare who is actually a Talking Horse. After she and her friend Lasaraleen see him before the Tisroc the latter tries to point out to Aravis her fiance's importance, but she finds him even less appealing, openly criticizing him for groveling like a slave before seeking revenge by encouraging the Tisroc to plot his son's death.