Zarquon is an ancient prophet who is the focus of a religion, one whose believers await the Second Coming of Zarquon. So highly regarded is he that his name is often used as a sort of swear phrase among people in the galaxy, often in the shortened form of 'Zark'.
History[]
Zarquon's only appearance was in The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe. Zarquon appeared seconds before the end of the universe, thus carrying out the Second Coming of Zarquon. At Milliways, he remarked that there had been many complications and things popping up at the last second, but that he had finally come. At that moment, the universe ended, and Zarquon faded away in disappointment.
He also appears however in the ending of the Quintessential Phase of the radio series. Zarquon, again, arrives but this time on time and arrives in time as he says "To say a few words on my own behalf." However before he can Wowbagger arrives and informs him he is the last on his list of people to insult and proceeds to call him a "tiresome goggle eyed pillock" at which point Zarquon proceeds to return the insult and take away Wowbagger's immortality.
Presumably Wowbagger experienced difficulty finding Zarquon, as he should not have been last on the alphabetical list.
"Holy Zarquon!" is about as close as Zaphod gets to a blasphemy, perhaps because he is personally acquainted with so many gods, and doesn't wish to invoke them.
Appearances[]
Zarquon appears in:
- The novel The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
- The fifth episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy television series.
- Fit the Fifth of the radio series.
His name is used as a curse in:
- The sixth episode of the TV series, by Ford Prefect.