By Crom, It’s Cimmerian September: Arthurian Elements In the Conan Canon – Part II
It’s installment three of Cimmerian September, and I’m going back to Spring of 2018 for today’s post. But it’s not a reprint (Hey: I think people should read last week’s essay on “Rogues in the House”!
I took a fantasy template developed by John Teehan, citing Arthurian elements to be found in almost any fantasy work. Well, at least one element can be, anyways. I applied the principles to the first four Conan stories: “Phoenix on the Sword,” “Frost Giant’s Daughter,” “The God in the Bowl,” and “The Tower of the Elephant.” You can click on this link to see that three of the four scored pretty low.
Well, we’re gonna look at the next three Conan stories: “The Scarlet Citadel,” Queen of the Black Coast,” Black Colossus,” and Iron Shadows in the Moon.”
So, let’s see how the stories shape up.
John Teehan, in The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy: Volume One, challenges the reader to think of their favorite contemporary fantasy novels. And we’re talking Tolkien-onwards here, not just the past few years. Then he gives a list and says it would be difficult to think of a book that didn’t have any of the five themes on the list. He is making the point that the Arthurian legend, largely brought to popular culture by Thomas Malory, was an interweaving of those five themes. High fantasy epics like David Eddings’ Belgariad still follow this path.
I immediately thought about Robert E. Howard’s Conan tales and how they didn’t really emulate this pattern. Or so it seemed to me. My friend Deuce Richardson immediately pointed out two stories that did significantly incorporate these elements. So, I decided to start at the beginning and take a good look at “The Phoenix on the Sword”: then, do a less detailed survey of the following stories.
This time around, we’ll give “The Scarlet Citadel extra attention, then move on to the other two.
So, here we go!
Characteristic One – Commoner who is Really a King
This one is always going to be a zero. I think of Shea Ohmsford, who is a descendant of Jerle Shannara (Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara) or Belgarion in Eddings’ previously mentioned Belgariad saga). They have the lineage of kings (or great sorcerers) in their blood. And they rise up to perform great deeds or rule kingdoms.
Conan was born on a battlefield in the barbarian lands. He is a Cimmerian and presumably he was born there, though it’s possible it could have been during a raid into Vanaheim or Asgard: though I think that unlikely. It’s generally accepted that his father was a blacksmith – though that’s an after-Howard addition. Regarding his right to rule, as Conan says in “The Scarlet Citadel:”
“You sit on satin and guzzle wine the people sweat for, and talk of divine rights and sovereignty – ha! I climbed out of the abyss of naked barbarism to the throne and in that climb I spilt my blood as freely as I spilt that of others. If either of us has the right to rule men, by Crom, it is I!”
That’s the definition of a self-made king right there. Kull was another barbarian who took the throne with a sword.
Characteristic Two – Old Wizard Guides the Hero
The old standby. Merlin, Gandalf, Allanon, Belgarath: the wise mentor with magical abilities is a standard archetype. Of course, sometimes, the wizard is the hero, such as Pug in Raymond Feist’s Riftwar Saga, Pug in Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea Trilogy (of four books…) and Terry Pratchett’s Rincewind (I use the terms ‘hero’ and ‘wizzurd’ loosely in this instance). But this is step four of Joseph Campbell’s famous hero cycle: Supernatural Aid. In the Arthurian case, it’s in the form of a white-bearded, elderly wizard. You can see where Tolkien got the image from. With Saruman, he even did it twice!
Regarding the mighty-thewed barbarian, now we see something. Conan distrusts and dislikes wizardry (usually referred to as sorcery in the Conan Canon) and his general approach to it is to apply cold steel (in the form of a sword) and repeat. But he does receive assistance from a couple of wizards across the twenty-one stories which Howard wrote.
Our first story last time (“Phoenix on the Sword”) featured a wizardy priest imbuing Conan’s sword with magical power.
And once again, Conan receives magical aid. The mighty sorcerer, Pelias, is the rival of Conan’s enemy, Tsotha-lanti. Conan frees him from a Lovecraftian creature. Pelias literally scares off a giant serpent that likely would have killed Conan. And then he commands the dead guard to get up and unlock the door so they can escape the dungeon. THEN he summons some flying alien creature to whisk Conan off to take his vengeance. And as you know, Pelias ‘helps’ one more time at the story’s conclusion. This story sure met this characteristic with flying colors.
Characteristic Three – Enchanted Sword or other Artefact of Great Magic
Of course, the Arthurian legends include Excalibur, the famed ‘Sword in the stone.’ In other versions, it is actually given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake. Arthur returns Excalibur to the Lady in some, though not all, versions. It’s certainly the best-known ending.
Michael Moorcock’s Elric wields Stormbringer. The soul-stealing sword is likely the most famous blade in sword and sorcery fiction. Corum, another aspect of the Eternal Champion, bore The Sword of the Dawn.
Fritz Lieber’s brawny barbarian, Fafhrd, had a magic sword named Graywand. Though he lost it more than once and it was replaced with another sword that became Graywand. It seemed more like a generic name that was applied to his current weapon.
Thor, most famous as a Marvel comic book and movie character, is one of the primary gods in Norse mythology. He wields Mjolnir, the powerful hammer that smites enemies and then returns when thrown.
Durendal was Roland’s sword in the stories of Charlemagne. That saga, known as The Matter of France, is an epic in the tradition of the Arthurian legends.
There are magic weapons spread throughout J.R.R. Tolkien’s tales of Middle Earth: Glamdring, Orcrist, Sting, Anglachel, Narsil. And the elven lord Gil-Galad had a mighty spear, Aiglos.
But magic weapons are almost non-existent in the Hyborian Age. It’s nothing like a Dungeons and Dragons adventure. Our momentum stops here. Tsotha uses explosive globes as weapons against Conan, but that’s it. And Conan himself doesn’t use a magical item or device of any kind. This one ain’t happenin’.
Characteristic Four – A Quest for a Relic, Sometimes a Vessel, With Powers on a God-Like Scale
Starting with Arthur, it’s all about the Holy Grail; the cup of Christ.
Moorcock’s Eternal Champion, Dorian Hawkmoon, seeks the Runestaff.
Tolkien’s hobbits actually begin with The One Ring in their possession and the quest is to destroy it.
This motif is noticeably absent in the Conan Canon, with the notable exception of the lone novel, The Hour of the Dragon. It does appear in some of the pastiches written by other authors, but Howard himself did not build his stories around the object quest.
The Hour of the Dragon is made up parts from a couple different short stories; ala Raymond Chandler. While there is much of “The Scarlet Citadel” in the novel, The Heart is not in the short story. Conan wants his crown back, and that is his mission. Kill the evil wizard and resume his kingship. There is no relic, or powerful item, involved on either side of the contest.
Characteristic Five – Diverse companions
I’m not quite sure what to make of this one. I think it primarily refers to the idea of a party of adventurers traveling together. The fellowship of the Ring is certainly what most comes to mind. The Knights of the Round Table were Arthur’s posse and went in search of the Grail.
There are a lot of characters in Conan’s adventures, but not the typical ‘party.’ He leads military and mercenary units and has commanders below him. He’s a pirate captain. There’s almost always a beautiful female of some type, whether co-adventurer or damsel in distress. And it’s not uncommon for him to have another fighter-type comrade (sometimes compelled by circumstances), whether in “Beyond the Black River” or “The Halls of the Dead.”
He does have Pelias on his side in the dungeon, though it’s a short trip out. And the wizard shows up to finish off the story, so he is definitely an able ally. Count Trocero was holding the city for Conan in his absence, though it seems a stretch to call him a companion. Nobody else would fit in this category. So, he has one – and definitely diverse – but that’s it.
So, a quick scorecard for the first story:
1/5 – “The Scarlet Citadel”
No – Commoner Who is Really a King (this will never happen)
Yes – Old Wizard Guides the Hero
No – Enchanted Sword or other Artefact of Great Magic
No – A Quest for a Relic, Sometimes a Vessel, With Powers on a God-Like Scale
No – Diverse companions (not a total 0, though)
1 out of 5. I’m reluctant to add a full half-point for Pelias in the final category. Pelias NAILS the ‘Old Wizard Guide’ characteristic, though, so that one is really strong. Not much else from the Arthurian story, though.
Let’s take a look at the next couple of stories, and see how they fare:
1/5 – “Queen of the Black Coast”
No – Commoner Who is Really a King
Yes– Old Wizard Guides the Hero
No – Enchanted Sword or other Artefact of Great Magic
No – A Quest for a Relic, Sometimes a Vessel, With Powers on a God-Like Scale
No – Diverse companions
This popular tale sees Conan fleeing the law and jumping aboard a ship. He joins forces with the fierce she-pirate, Belit; becoming lovers. They venture up a poisonous river, searching for a famed treasure. They find epic trouble.
The ‘Old Wizard’ category is really a ‘Sorta.’ Belit’s mentor is an old shaman named N’Yaga, and he joins the adventuring party, but he doesn’t guide, like Belgarath, or Gandalf. Conan does venture forth with Belit, N’Yaga, and some followers from the crew. I don’t think that’s really ‘diverse companions,’ though.
So…
I was gonna go on to “Black Colossus,” but we’ll stop here. I think it’s safe to say that this template fits better with epic – or high – fantasy, than it does for sword and sorcery. In fact, I’m thinking of revising it to fit the latter. ‘
An evil monster’ seems like a reasonable category. Maybe something about ‘wandering hero’ to replace ‘Commoner who is Really a King. Conan is never gonna be a Commoner who is a king. He rarely has a wizard guide. Not a lot of enchanted swords or artefacts. And he isn’t a ‘travel in a party’ guy. Though he was a leader of various forces. I think we’ve explored this avenue as it is, enough.
Since I’m more of an epic fantasy guy, maybe I’ll apply it to a few of my favorite series’ in that genre.
Prior Cimmerian September
By Crom: Marvel, Roy Thomas, and The Barbarian Life
By Crom: Roy Thomas and “Out of the Deep”
Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.
His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, and founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).
He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’
He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.
He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.
You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.