John the Conqueror, also known as High John the Conqueror, John de Conquer, and many other folk variants, is a folk hero from African-American folklore. He is associated with a certain root, the John the Conquer root, or John the Conqueroo, to which magical powers are ascribed in American folklore, especially among the hoodoo tradition of folk magic. The root and its magical uses are mentioned in a number of blues lyrics. Regardless of which name is used, in all of these contexts "conqueror" is invariably pronounced "conker".