Edgar Ende, Die Brennende Fahne, 1934, oil on canvas, private collection
Aim (aka Aym or Haborym) is a Great Duke of Hell, very strong, and rules over twenty-six legions of demons. He sets cities, castles and great places on fire, makes men witty in all ways, and gives true answers concerning private matters.
He is depicted as a man (handsome to some sources), but with three heads, one of a serpent, the second of a man (to some authors with two stars on his forehead), and the third of a cat to most authors, although some say of a calf, riding a viper, and carrying in his hand a lit firebrand with which he sets the requested things on fire.
The Bard by Benjamin West, 1778. From the Tate:
Thomas Gray’s poem ‘The Bard’, published in 1757, was based on the now-discredited tradition that Edward I ordered the massacre of the Welsh bards; Gray describes how the sole surviving bard stood on Snowdon and cursed king Edward before throwing himself into the Conway river beneath. It is one of the earliest literary treatments of passionate and heroic action in a wild natural setting which link the sublime with the Romantic movement. It inspired many artists, including Benjamin West, de Loutherbourg, Blake, Fuseli, Turner, and John Martin. Here, the bard holds a harp, associated with the bardic tradition and a symbol of Wales.
