Conan and Sappho: Robert E. Howard on Lesbians Part 2 by Bobby Derie

 Howard’s “Lesbians”

The first and one of the most brazen of Howard’s “lesbians” is Queen Nakari in “The Moon of Skulls” (WT Jun-Jul 1930):

Nakari halted by the couch, stood looking down upon her captive for a moment, then with an enigmatic smile, bent and shook her. Marylin opened her eyes, sat up, then slipped from her couch and knelt before her savage mistress—an act which caused Kane to curse beneath his breath. The queen laughed and, seating herself upon the couch, motioned the girl to rise, and then put an arm about her waist and drew her upon her lap. Kane watched, puzzled, while Nakari caressed the girl in a lazy, amused manner. This might be affection, but to Kane it seemed more like a sated leopard teasing its victim. There was an air of mockery and studied cruelty about the whole affair.

"You are very soft and pretty, Mara," Nakari murmured lazily, "much prettier than the other girls who serve me.[“] (SK 129)

Later on in the story, Nakari claims: “[...] she shall be punished as I have punished her before—hung up by her wrists, naked, and whipped until she swoons!” (SK 137) Marilyn later confirms: “And in spite of my pleas she took me across her knees and whipped me until I swooned.” (SK 165) In “The Slithering Shadow” (WT Sep 1933, also published as “Xuthal of the Dust”) the Stygian Thalis who has lived in the decadent city of Xuthal and is attracted to Conan, dishes out punishment to her prospective rival Natala:

Seizing her by the hair, Thalis dragged her down the corridor a short distance, to the edge of the circle of light. A metal ring showed in the wall, above the level of a man’s head. From it depended a silken cord. As in a nightmare Natala felt her tunic being stripped from her, and the next instant Thalis had jerked up her wrists and bound them to the ring, where she hung, naked as the day she was born, her feet barely touching the floor. Twisting her head, Natala saw Thalis unhook a jewel-handled whip from where it hung on the wall, near the ring. The lashes consisted of seven round silk ords, harder yet more pliant than leather things.

            With a hiss of vindictive gratification, Thalis drew back her arm, and Natala shrieked as the cords curled across her loins. The tortured girl writhed, twisted and tore agonizedly at the thongs which imprisoned her wrists. She had forgotten the lurking menace her cries might summon, and so apparently had Thalis. Every stroke evoked screams of anguish. The whippings Natala had received in the Shemite slave-markets paled to insignificance before this. She had never guessed the punishing power of hard-woven silk cords. Their caress was more exquisitely painful than any birch twigs or leather thongs. (COC 237)

This scene was depicted on the cover by Brundage, lovingly described by one critic:

[...] a bound woman leans back away from her captor, the retreating body language serving only to emphasize her pointed, bare breasts and her naked legs. Her captor, another woman, wears a kind of skirt, but her torso is almost entirely naked as well. And she holds a whip, which she clearly intends to use on the other woman. (Elliot 57)

Margaret Brundage recalled in a 1973 interview:

We had one issue that sold out! It was the story of a very vicious female, getting a-hold of the heroine and tying her up and beating her. Well, the public apparently thought it was flagellation, and the entire issue sold out. They could have used a couple thousand extra. [...] Having read the story, the thought of flagellation never entered my head. I don’t think it had theirs, either. But it turned out that way. (Korshack & Spurlock 29)

It is worth noting that “The Slithering Shadow” with Brundage’s cover appeared in the September 1933 Weird Tales. One month later would see the debut of Dime Mystery, the first of the “weird menace” or “shudder pulps” which would focus largely on torture, sadism, Grand Guignol-style grue and contes cruels, where stories of women, nude or near-nude, being threatened would be much more common. While there are many proto-weird menace stories in the pulps, “The Slithering Shadow” may have been a marker that there was an audience for this new pulp genre.

Also in 1933, Howard wrote “The Vale of Lost Women,” although it was never published during Howard’s lifetime. (COC 451) The beginning of the story includes an unnamed female character whose actions toward the slave Livia are at best ambiguous:

Conan and Sappho: Robert E. Howard on Lesbians Part 1 by Bobby Derie

In another alteration of the basic captivity theme, Marylin is held not by a dark-skinned man, but by a dark-skinned woman. The sexual threat is not eliminated, however, as Howard implies a sadistic lesbian relationship, something of a recurring theme in his work. (Trout 75)

Cross Plains, Texas

In 1926 Cross Plains, Texas was in an oil boom, and Robert E. Howard was working odd jobs, seven nights a week, with little time to write. His letters to his friend Tevis Clyde Smith are filled with verse, and on occasion, sex. Growing up mainly in a small Texas town, their sexual education would not have been in any way formal. They picked things up through conversation, practical experience, and in many cases reading. These exchanges would have a formative influence on how Howard understood female homosexuality, and how that conception featured in his fiction. Over time, this would form the recurring theme noted by Trout.

Sapphism & Psychology

According to George Sylvester Viereck; “Love in its spiritual aspect he (Swinburne) knows not. His amorous fancy feeds upon the esoteric, things ‘monstrous and fruitless’. The ordinary relation between sexes engages him only when it is sadistic.” And again, quoting Viereck; “Modern science has divested perversion of its evil glamor. Freud has taught us that perversity is an essential phase in the evolution of childhood…occurring at all times in a fairly constant percentage of human beings. Swinburne adds a new complexity. He does not turn toward his own sex. His passion goes out to woman, but he loves woman, not with the passion of a man for a maid, but with the hectic craving of Lesbian woman for her own sex.”

—Robert E. Howard to Tevis Clyde Smith, 23 Jun 1926, CL1.106

Howard quotes from Viereck’s introduction to Algernon Charles Swineburne’s Poems and Ballads, published as Little Blue Book #791. It is the first mention in his letters of lesbians, and part of his earliest discussion of homosexuality and bisexuality in general. In the same letter, Howard relates to Smith:

Thus it would seem that a pervert is a man or woman who gets little or no pleasure out of intercourse, but must seek some other method to stimulate the senses or the imagination. Opium smokers revel in sexual debauches which are purely imaginary but from which they doubtless obtain more pleasure than from actual deeds. The smoking of opium does not produce the effect of seeming intercourse, but vague thoughts, fantasies, float through the being dimly arousing all the hidden lust. A pervert may be born that way, or may be a worn-out libertine who has lost his ordinary lust through indulgence. They are usually more or less bisexual, naturally.

That is my theory and much of it is probably erroneous. Perversion is a mark of decadence. It flourishes in all fading nations. Men’s virility dwindle and fade; they feel the need of sexual desire, which has always been taught as necessary, but they lack the basic lust. So they turn to more obscene ways. (CL1.104)

Homosexuality began to come to academic attention in the 19th century, with works like Kraft-Ebbing’s Psychopathia Sexualis (1896), Havelock Ellis’ Sexual Inversion (1897), Alfred Eulenberg’s Algolagnia: The Psychology, Neurology and Physiology of Sadistic Love and Masochism (trans. 1934) and psychosexual studies continued in the 20th century by psychologists such as Sigmund Freud and Alfred Adler. Howard’s views in his 1926 letter characterize “perversion” as a deviation from heterosexual practices. Although this leaves open what exactly counts as “perversion,” it explicitly includes homosexual acts. This would have been the common view of most laymen and professionals during the 1920s, as when Freud wrote:

Fan Mail: Bloch vs. Conan by Bobby Derie

Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian wandered into the pages of Weird Tales with “The Phoenix on the Sword” (Dec 1932), and was followed by “The Scarlet Citadel” (Jan 1933), “The Tower of the Elephant” (Mar), “Black Colossus” (Jun), “The Slithering Shadow” (Sep), “The Pool of the Black One” (Oct), "Rogues in the House" (Jan 1934), "Shadows in the Moonlight" (Apr), "Queen of the Black Coast" (May), "The Haunter of the Ring" (Jun), "The Devil in Iron" (Aug), and the serial "The People of the Black Circle" (Sep-Oct-Nov). Much of the response in “The Eyrie,” the letters-column of Weird Tales, was positive...but in the November 1934 issue there was a letter aimed at the popular series character:

A Crack At Conan

Conan is rapidly becoming a stereotyped hero, but I was greatly pleased with Francis Flagg, a real writer, with something to say. I am awfully tired of poor old Conan the Cluck, who for the past fifteen issues has every month slain a new wizard, tackled a new monster, come to a violent sudden end that was averted (incredibly enough!) in just the nick of time, and won a new girlfriend, each of whose penchant for nudism won her a place of honor, either on the cover or on the inner illustration. Such has been Conan’s history, and from the realms of the Kushites to the lands of Aquilonia, from the shores of the Shemites to the palaces of Dyme-Novell-Bolonia, I cry: “Enough of this brute and his iron-thewed sword-thrusts-may he be sent to Valhalla to cut out paper dolls.” I would like to see the above tirade in print—I feel sure that many of your other readers would support me—at least there is good material there for an arguement. [Sharpen your axes, you loyal supporters of the Conan tales, for soon we shall publish a short story by Mr. Bloch, the author of the above letter. It is entitled The Secret in the Tomb.—The Editor.]

Robert Bloch

The writer was Robert Bloch, a teenaged fan who was, by coincidence, just about to make his professional debut in Weird Tales. Bloch had begun corresponding with H. P. Lovecraft in 1933 (LRB 9), and as was quite natural for Lovecraft, he shared his thoughts on Robert E. Howard:

Robert E. Howard is a most unusual character—the son of a physician in the wild & woolly, rip-roaring West Texas country, which is actually much more like the sanguinary West of chap fiction than we commonly realise. Howard is 27, & is probably the greatest living authority on the history & traditions of the Southwest, & the lives of America’s noted outlaws. He is a burly, athletic chap fonder of fighting than of literature, & possessed of the curious belief that primitive barbarism is a more desirable sort of social organisation than civilisation. His letters have a greater literary value than his tales. (LRB 23)

You are also right in assuming that Robert E. Howard has never been to Britain. So far as I know, he has never been east of New Orleans—but his imagination is limitless, & he closely identified himself with his Celtic & Norse ancestors. As for his incessant swordplay—which Clark Ashton Smith calls “monotonous manslaughter”—that is undoubtedly an outgrowth of the same frontier psychology which makes him so fond of barbaric life. It is a part of his personality, & I don’t suppose it could be eradicated without upsetting the whole emotional arrangement which makes him a literary creator. He has a very vivid sense of incredible antiquity, & finely suggests the existence of unhallowed elder worlds & forgotten reaches of time. (LRB 28)

Although Lovecraft credited Smith with describing the Conan tales as “monotonous manslaughter,” the phrase is not apparent in Smith’s published letters and may have arisen from Lovecraft himself. Bloch was generally appreciative of Howard’s fiction, a letter to “The Eyrie” published in the April 1934 issue praised “The Valley of the Worm,” though he derided Conan, writing:

Queen by Fire and Steel and Slaughter: Bêlit’s Hymn By Karen Joan Kohoutek

Robert E. Howard’s short story “Queen of the Black Coast” introduced Conan’s first love, Bêlit, a passionate, ruthless pirate queen full of “the urge of creation and the urge of death” (128). Her name comes from the same storehouse of Canaanite/Assyrian legends that brought deities like Ishtar and Derketo into Howard’s Hyborian Age fiction. In real-life legend, Bêlit belonged to the same pantheon, often associated with Ishtar and Derketo, although it’s hard now to know whether the goddesses were popularly connected at the time of their active worship, or whether the association happened when the sources were later compiled out of varied lore.

            In either case, Howard’s Bêlit namechecks two goddesses with whom her namesake was syncretized (Ishtar and Derketo), and also mentions Bel, who was her counterpart’s father in some legends and her husband in others, saying, “Above all are the gods of the Shemites – Ishtar and Ashtoreth and Derketo and Adonis. Bel, too, is Shemitish…” (Howard 247).

            The following tidbits are taken from The Story of Assyria, by Zénaïde  Ragozin, known to have been one of Howard’s sources:

            “As to the female deity of the Canaanites, ASHTORETH (whom the Greeks have called ASTARTE), she is the ISHTAR and MYLITTA and BÊLIT (“BAALATH,” “Lady,”) of the Assyro-Babylonian cycle of gods, scarcely changed either in name or nature; the goddess both of love and war, of incessant production and laborious motherhood, and of voluptuous, idle enjoyment , the greatest difference being that Ashtoreth is identified with the moon and wears the sign of the crescent, while the Babylonian goddess rules he planet Venus, the Morning and Evening Star of the poets” (107 – 108).

            “The planet Venus appearing in the evening, soon after sunset, and then again in the early morning, just before dawn, it was called Ishtar at night and Bêlit at dawn, as a small tablet expressly informs us; a distinction which, apparently confusing, rather tends to confirm the fundamental identity between the two, -- Ishtar, ‘the goddess,’ and Bêlit, ‘the lady’” (19).

            “In ASCALON, where the goddess was worshipped under the name DERKETO, she was represented under the form of a woman ending, from the hips, in the body of a fish” (111). This is of particular interest to Howard readers, since we know that Bêlit’s “fathers were kings of Askalon!” (Howard 243).

            Ragozin also states, “To the Canaanites, the Sun and Moon – the masculine and feminine principles, as represented by the elements of fire and moisture, the great Father and Mother of beings – were husband and wife. … in Ascalon and the other cities of the Philistine confederation they both assumed the peculiarity noted above, together with other names, and became, she, the fish-goddess Derketo, and he, the fish-god Dagon (from dag, fish, in the Semitic languages)” (114).

            Of course, Derketo is mentioned as a goddess in Howard’s stories; Dagon is well-known, especially from the work of H.P. Lovecraft, but also appearing, connected with Derketo, in Howard’s story “The Servants of Bit-Yakin.”

Weird Talers: Robert E. Howard and Seabury Quinn by Bobby Derie

Weird Tales Oct. 1925

Seabury Grandin Quinn got his start at Weird Tales with “The Phantom Farmhouse” and an article on Bluebeard, the first in a series of “Weird Crimes” in October 1923. The “Weird Crimes” ran through 1924, and in 1925 he began another article series “Servants of Satan,” regarding the Salem Witch Trials. In October 1925, Weird Tales would publish “The Horror on the Links”—the debut for what would become Quinn’s star character, Jules de Grandin. Over a run of 26 years, de Grandin would star in 93 episodes spread over 100 issues (including the six-part serial “The Devil’s Bride” and reprints), and have the cover 35 times; the character and the author were routinely voted favorites in “The Eyrie,” Weird Tales’ readers page.

Also in 1925, a new writer appeared in the Unique Magazine: Robert E.

Weird Tales July 1925

Howard’s “Spear and Fang” appeared in the July issue, which it shared with one of Quinn’s “Servants of Satan” articles; so did “In the Forest of Villefere” which appeared in the August Weird Tales. The two men never met, nor is there any record of their correspondence, yet it was impossible for them not to have noticed and formed an opinion of one another. Quinn, writing from Brooklyn, and Howard, writing from Cross Plains, were from that moment on in constant, if polite competition—for sales, for the cover spot, and for first place among the affections of Weird Tales readers. Yet Quinn would also, in many ways, be a formative influence on Howard. Lovecraft, who was one of the few to correspond with both men, compared them once:

It is, therefore, piquant & enjoyable to exchange ideas with Two-Gun or to read his stories. He is of about the same intelligence as Seabury Quinn—but Yuggoth, what a difference! (LRB 256-257)

Seabury Quinn was born in Washington, D.C. in 1889, attended Washington National University, and had graduated with a degree in law. He practiced law only for a short time, and joined the army for World War I. After his discharge he returned to practicing law and handled a libel case involving mortuary jurisprudence. He won the case, and they took him on as legal advisor—and so he got his start for The Casket, a trade journal for morticians. Quinn was given progressively more work with The Casket until he became its managing editor; and in 1921 Quinn married his first wife, Mary Helen Molster. In January 1925, The Casket merged with the mortuary journal Sunnyside, and Quinn became editor of the combined magazine The Casket & Sunnyside, which job necessitated moving to New York. (Schwartz & Weisinger 1-2, Ruber 336, Ruber & Wyrzos ix)

Seabury Quinn (1889-1969)

By this point Quinn was already writing the serial character Major Sturdevant, who first appeared in Weird Tales’ sister magazine Real Detective Tales in December 1924, and continued to appear in every issue of that pulp (under editor Edwin Baird) through 1926—and writing two series characters simultaneously (Sturdevant and de Grandin) would be a major challenge for any pulpster, much less one with a day job. Sturdevant’s “Washington Nights’ Entertainment” petered out after a “measly” 27 stories. De Grandin would have a much more substantial run, though a much more modest beginning, in Quinn’s own words:

One evening in the spring of 1925, I was in that state that every writer knows and dreads; a story was due my publisher, and there didn’t seem to be a plot in the world. Accordingly, with nothing particular in mind, I picked up my pen and literally making it up as I went along—wrote the first story [...] As with The Horror on the Links, so with all other adventures of de Grandin. (CA 1.xxi)

Quinn may have been fudging a little; the French occult detective with his more incredulous counterpart Dr. Samuel Trowbridge probably owes something to Agatha Christie and her Belgian investigator Hercule Poirot and companion Arthur Hastings, who first appeared in The Murder on the Links (1923), but both were patently working in the same mold as Arthur Conan Doyle’s Watson & Holmes and Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin. Whatever the case, “The Horror on the Links” was quickly followed by “The Tenants of Broussac” (WT Dec 1925) and “The Isle of Missing Ships” (WT Feb 1926)...and a fan letter in “The Eyrie”:

The Thing About Conan Is . . . By Todd B. Vick

What follows below is an extremely condensed version of the article I presented at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference in Seattle, Washington. The entire paper—in much greater detail—will be published in an upcoming edition of The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard Studies. The article is titled "The Mistaken Identity of a Barbarian: Conan, Hero or Anti-Hero?" For this post, I have added a few paragraphs & rearranged a few details. I highly recommend getting a copy of the upcoming Dark Man journal & reading the entire article to get a better understanding & more detailed account of why I think Conan has been mistakenly identified as a hero. 

*******

      “Conan the Cimmerian is the hero of over two dozen stories by Robert Ervin Howard (1906-36).”[1] Thus begins L. Sprague de Camp’s introduction to Conan the Conqueror in 1967 and all subsequent Lancer and Ace editions. There’s no explanation for the claim, it’s just there—in print—for all to see. Of course, de Camp’s not the first to ever call Conan a hero nor is he the last. Many others have called Conan a hero.

The Frost Giant's Daughter
Illustrated by Frank Frazetta

      Through the years, and in the various media through which Conan has been presented, the character has been widely known as a barbarian hero. In fact, this description has been used so frequently over the last sixty or more years that Conan is almost universally considered a hero without question or further thought. However, closer examination of Howard’s most popular character raises several questions. Does Conan exhibit traditional heroic qualities that are demonstrated by other heroes from literature? And, what exactly is a hero? Is Conan something other than a hero?

     In the mid-20th century (1949), Joseph Campbell developed what is known as the monomyth.[2] Campbell examined mythology, folk-tales, and fairy-tales, as they had been handed down either orally or in written form for the last two-thousand or so years. Joseph Campbell’s research took an in-depth look into not only the hero’s journey, but the specific personality traits of heroes. According to Campbell's research, a hero undergoes trials and tests to emerge a better person. And a hero typically places others above his or her self.

      Additionally, a hero rarely ever acts independently and will always welcome reliable help. A hero is also typically not at odds with the law, and is usually merciful and not vengeful or wrathful. The hero also typically shares the spoils of his or her adventure with society (civilization).

   

Les Liaisons Dangereuse

According to early 20th century literary scholar Sean O’Faolain’s work titled The Vanishing Hero, the first European novel to be without a social hero[3] is Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ Les Liaisons Dangereuse, published in 1782. From 1782—with the publication of Les Liaisons Dangereuse—to the 1920s a type of ambivalence crept into fiction. Writers began to question social structures and the behavior of humans in their work. This also led to a change in the interest of not only the writer but the reader as well. They were both becoming “enormously interested in the emotional “tug-of-war between the ‘soul’ and ‘imperfection’” (xv).

     The previous formula in literature had been the struggle between the hero (the protagonist) and the villain (the antagonist). “The Hero, and his opposite number, the Villain, represented in the traditional novel conflicts which they more or less clearly defined” (xiii). The ambivalence that slowly crept into works of fiction began to divide “admiration and sympathy, virtue and pleasure” (xv). The hero and the villain slowly began to change sides, but no one at this stage in the history of fiction was willing to admit it.[4]

   

Conan the Cimmerian
Illustrated by Frank Frazetta

The interesting aspects of this gradual shift in literature reside in the writers’ angst against social norms, social contracts, social conventions that have, as they believed, been blindly accepted. This caused a shift in the perspective of the protagonist who is “about to discover that his opposite number is not the Villain but himself imbued by new and disturbing forms of discontent” (xx). The ideals in fiction shift from social-centric heroes who sacrifice themselves for the good of mankind and the well-being of others, to the anti-hero who acts according to his or her needs, to rise above social conventions which they deem are wrought with problems, thus needing to be exposed and/or changed. And thus, the anti-hero is created.

     The literary hero follows a specific pattern in a given story: a call to a type of supernatural adventure, facing trails in this adventure to emerge as a better person, and then returning home. All this is in service of the hero’s homeland and people. Thus, the hero gives his or her life to something bigger than self. While the details vary from story to story, these essentials are always present. Additionally, a hero rarely ever acts independently and will always welcome reliable help. A hero is also typically not at odds with the law, and is usually merciful and not vengeful or wrathful. The hero also typically shares the spoils of his or her adventure with society (civilization).

   

Conan the Cimmerian
Illustrated by Frank Frazetta

While the anti-hero developed in literature as the new protagonist, an attitude of discontent progressively surfaced. Viewing society as a type of enemy—or at least something untrustworthy—the anti-hero trusts only him or herself. The anti-hero typically acts independently according to his or her own needs. Frequently, the anti-hero sees civilization and the social code as either hypocritical or in need of change, and finds no satisfaction in the social structures or patterns of society. Deprived of social sanctions and definitions, the anti-hero creates his/her own order or law of life. So how does Conan stack up? Is he a hero or an anti-hero?

     After Howard created Conan, he declared—in a letter to Clark Ashton Smith—that the character was an amalgamation of “the dominant characteristics of various prizefighters, gunmen, bootleggers, oil field bullies, and honest workmen” (Howard 367-68) that he had encountered. Conan certainly reflected this diverse set of influences. In his career, Conan was a thief, a pirate, wanderer, and sometimes a mercenary. He also decries civilization and its weak men by demonstrating a strong angst about civilization.

     Howard often uses Conan as an indictment against civilization. This use reflects an ongoing debate Howard was having with fellow pulp writer H.P. Lovecraft. The debate, amongst the many other topics they discussed, dealt with the issue of barbarism and civilization; the merits and woes of each. Several ideas from this debate made its way on the printed page in the Conan stories. Howard frequently pits his barbarian against civilized men in the various Conan stories. And, of course, the civilized men pale in comparison. This is because they're described as soft and weak. Conan as a barbarian, will always be superior, civilization will always pale in comparison to Barbarism. Ironically, Howard uses a civilized character to say as much in "Beyond the Black River":

"'Barbarism is the natural state of mankind,’ the borderer said, still staring somberly at the Cimmerian. ‘Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph.'" (Howard 100) 

Additionally, a mere cursory reading of the Conan stories demonstrates that Conan is also an existentialist nihilist, a loner with no real attachment to anyone, and a character who maintains ulterior motives when he shows “loyalty” to any other character.[5] These actions are not the actions of a hero, but of a different kind of protagonist—an anti-hero. In the 1930s anti-hero protagonists were not near as pervasive as they are today. Moreover, the kind of protagonist (anti-hero) that Howard created Conan to be[6] was one that was 40 years ahead of its time.

It should also be noted that the term anti-hero does not mean against the hero. To eliminate any confusion, the anti-hero is always the protagonist in the narrative (story) who combats a real enemy (antagonist). Therefore, the anti-hero is not the antagonist of a given story/narrative. Way too many people have fallen prey to this confusion. In the end, Conan does not follow the typical heroic pattern or have the standard heroic characteristics. Rather, Conan’s autonomous behavior, nihilistic philosophy about life and strong discontent with civilization make him an anti-hero. But despite these glaring facts, Conan has been mistakenly identified as a hero for the last seventy to eighty years. With the evidence presented above, my hope is that we can put to rest the faulty idea that Conan is a hero and finally recognize his true role as an anti-hero.


[1] Howard, Robert E., and De Camp L. Sprague. Introduction. Conan The Conqueror. Twelfth ed. New York: Ace, 1986. 8. Print.
[2] Joseph Campbell. The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Third ed. Novato, California: New World Library, 2008. Print..
[3] A social hero is a hero for society or for the people. This is equivalent to the previous classic heroes who experienced/endured their adventures for the people or for society.
[4] It should be pointed out that the roles of the characters do not change in literature, the protagonist (who was typically the hero) remains the protagonist and the villain continues as antagonist. The shift is a subtle one in literature where the protagonist begins to feel or act like the antagonist through a demonstration of discontent with society or himself. Even so, the antagonist is still present in the story, thus contrasting the two. Attitudes simply change within the thinking and actions of the protagonist.
[5] See my upcoming article in The Dark Man Journal for detailed examples from Howard’s Conan stories that support these claims.
[6] I do not think Robert E. Howard set out to intentionally create Conan to be a hero or an anti-hero. Conan is simply of reflection of Howard's experiences with various kinds of people in his life and a multifarious mixture of his opinions and philosophies. When applied to a character in a narrative, the end result is a protagonist who is an anti-hero.

Works Consulted for this Research:

Anderson, Jennifer Joline. The Antihero. Minneapolis, MN: Essential Library, an Imprint of Abdo, 2016. Print.

Brombert, Victor. In Praise of Antiheroes: Figures and Themes in Modern European Literature, 1830-1980. Chicago, IL: U of Chicago, 1999. Print.

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Third ed. Novato, California: New World Library, 2008. Print.

Campbell, Joseph, and Bill D. Moyers. The Power of Myth. Ed. Betty Sue Flowers. New York: MJF, 1988. Print.

Howard, Robert E. The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard Volume Three: 1933-1936. Ed. Rob Roehm. Plano, TX: Robert E. Howard Foundation, 2007. Print.

_____. The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian. New York, NY: Del Rey/Ballantine, 2003. Print.

_____. The Bloody Crown of Conan. New York, NY: Del Rey/Ballantine, 2004. Print.

_____. The Conquering Sword of Conan. New York, NY: Del Rey/Ballantine, 2005. Print.

Lovecraft, H. P., and Robert E. Howard. A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard 1930-1932. Ed. S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz, and Rusty Burke. New York, NY: Hippocampus, 2011. Print.

_____. A Means to Freedom: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard 1933-1936. Ed. S. T. Joshi, David E. Schultz, and Rusty Burke. New York, NY: Hippocampus, 2011. Print.

Lubin, Harold, ed. Heroes and Anti-heroes. San Francisco: Chandler Pub., 1968. Print.

O'Faoláin, Seán. The Vanishing Hero; Studies in Novelists of the Twenties. Second Printing ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1957. Print.

Raglan. The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth, and Drama. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2003. Print.

Rollin, Roger B. Hero/Anti-Hero. New York: Webster Division, McGraw-Hill, 1973. Print.

Simmons, David. The Anti-hero in the American Novel: From Joseph Heller to Kurt Vonnegut. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.

Stendhal. The Red and the Black. Trans. Charles Tergie. Franklin Center, PA: Franklin Library, 1981. Print.

Robert E. Howard's Conan Roleplaying Game by Chris Birch, Modiphius

"Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars..."




ROBERT E. HOWARD’S CONAN: ADVENTURES IN AN AGE UNDREAMED OF is a brand new roleplaying game based on the incredible character of Conan and of the Hyborian age.

...all under the watchful eye of world-renowned Conan experts and scholars including Jeffrey Shanks, Patrice Louinet and Mark Finn, working together to bring you the most authentic Conan roleplaying experience yet, focusing exclusively on Robert E. Howard’s original stories.


The project has a solid line-up of stretch goals. Each level of participation offers excellent rewards. This is hands down the ultimate Conan RPG game currently available, so don't miss it. You can go directly to the Kickstarter campaign here.

A Hat Tip to Ken Kelly

Trumpets of War by
Robert Adams

Sword Woman

 Today is artist Ken Kelly's birthday. If you've ever read a Conan book, a Conan Pastiche, bought a Kiss album, a fantasy novel, fantasy magazines, or even browse the internet looking at artists renditions of Conan the Cimmerian, then I promise you have run into Ken Kelly's artwork.

Ken Kelly has some of the most recognized fantasy artwork in the industry. His artwork is on the cover of some of the most widely recognized Conan pastiches and original Robert E. Howard Conan stories/books published.

Ken Kelly was born in New London, Connecticut on this day in 1946. According to the bio on Kelly's website . . .

Quest for the
White Witch

Kelly  "started drawing at the fragile age of two and has not stopped since.   It is said that children learn to express themselves through art.   Well then, Ken must have been quite a revealing youngster, for nothing in the house was safe from his artistic expressions, from the smallest piece of paper that he would squeeze a tiny doodle on, to the very large drawing board known as the living room wall! In the fourth grade, at the age of nine, Ken was introduced to art teacher Mrs. Valerious (hmm… that name is strangely close to Valeria – Conan’s pirate companion in Red Nails).  This was the beginning of a relationship that would last for the next nine years. Mrs. Valerious gave Ken the direction he needed.   She showed Ken how to develop and put to use his natural talent.   She taught him the principles of art. Unlike most art teachers that would push their students to go on to art school, Mrs. Valerious had quite the opposite approach. She convinced Ken’s parents not to put him through art school after high school. She claimed that it would ruin his natural and unique style. . . .

. . . In 1968, he decided to go to the studio of Frank Frazetta and show him some of his own drawings.   Frazetta liked what he saw and encouraged Ken to pursue a career in commercial art. At the same time, he also invited Ken to study under him. Ken eagerly accepted Frank’s offer. Under the guidance of Frazetta, Ken was able to fine-tune his skill even further. Frazetta stressed how important it was to put feeling into creating a painting and to let the action on the canvas come from the imagination. Ken took those words to heart and has lived by them ever since. Later that same year, Ken received his first professional assignment. Before he turned the painting in, he took it to Frazetta to get his approval.


Well, Frazetta did not think that the woman in the painting had a terrified enough expression on her face, so he painted over her old face, with a new one of his own, which he felt worked better. Now it was ready to be turned in. That painting was done for Warren’s Vampirella Magazine and is titled, “The Lurking Terror”. "

Robert E. Howard's Hour of the Dragon wrap around cover

Kelly's work has also appeared on the cover of various fantasy novels (e.g. Robert Adam's, John Norman's, Tanith Lee's work, etc.), and most recently he did the artwork for one of Ace Frehley's last album releases. Over the past 40 years, Kelly's work has appeared on several rock albums (e.g. Kiss' Destroyer & Love Gun albums, Manowar's The Lord of Steel album, etc.). Today marks Kelly's 69th birthday. Happy birthday, Ken Kelly.

Ken Kelly's wrap around book art for
Robert E. Howard's Sword of Shahrazar

The LP Cover of Kiss' Love Gun

King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon (A Brief Review)

Conan is no stranger to comic books. In fact, beginning in 1970 Conan made his first comic book appearance with Marvel—Conan the Barbarian. Four years later Curtis Magazines, an imprint of Marvel, launched The Savage Sword of Conan. From that time forth one company or the other has released some type of Conan comic book and this trend has lasted to today. Having read a number of these, I can safely say that while some were good only in that they managed to capture the essence of Robert E. Howard's character, certainly most did not properly adapt Howard's original stories. And for me, this became so frustrating that I all but gave up on reading "adaptations" in the comic book arena of Howard's characters/stories. That is until Tim Truman and Dark Horse saved the day.

The latest series of Conan comic books from Dark Horse is a light in an otherwise dark world of REH comic book adaptations. The series I'm referring to is titled King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon. The series began its run in May 2013 and still continues to this day. The first six parts are actually called The Hour of the Dragon and the last six parts are called The Conqueror under the main title of King Conan. All twelve parts adapt Robert E. Howard's novel titled The Hour of the Dragon. Before the comic book was released I heard that Timothy Truman was writing it. This excited me for two reasons. First, back in April of 2013 REH Days announced that Timothy Truman would be the guest of honor for that year's panel discussions.

I knew about Truman from previous works going all the way back to Grim Jack, a character he co-created with John Ostrander. Second, I heard that Truman was going to adapt Howard's story as closely as he possibly could in comic book form. At first I was skeptical. I had heard previous claims about various series regarding REH's characters and had usually ended up being disappointed. But, because I had already purchased my REH Days ticket, was bound for Cross Plains, TX in June of that year, and this series would be released just prior to that (in May 2013), I figured it would be discussed at one of the panels. So why not buy the first issue and give it whirl? Besides, it would only drain my pocket of a measly $3.50.

Now, I must reveal that when I buy a series of comic books I usually read only the first issue and if I deem it "good enough" I'll buy the subsequent issues and then read them altogether. I only do this with series I know have a limited number of issues. Additionally, being a long time REH fan, I was very familiar with The Hour of the Dragon. So, I bought the first issue and read it. I was stunned at just how close it followed Howard's original work. Moreover, at REH Days Timothy Truman declared that the series would stay as close to the original work as he could get it. Rumor confirmed. I've been buying every issue since and just finished reading the first six parts of this twelve part run. What follows is a brief review of the first six issues. To prepare for this review I re-read Robert E. Howard's work The Hour of the Dragon and used it to compare and contrast this comic book series.

With regard to the first six comic books in this series, here is how they are divided from Howard's original work:

• #1 (Part 1 of 6) covers most of the first three chapters of the book
• #2 (Part 2 of 6) covers the latter middle of chapter 3 to the latter middle of chapter 5
• #3 (Part 3 of 6) covers the latter middle of chapter 5 to the end of chapter 6
• #4 (Part 4 of 6) covers chapter 7 to the end of chapter 8
• #5 (Part 5 of 6) covers chapter 9 to the end of chapter 10
• #6 (Part 6 of 6) covers chapter 11 to the end of chapter 12

WARNING: Spoiler Alert—if you read past this point and have not read the comic books or Robert E. Howard's The Hour of the Dragon and do not want anything spoiled, then stop reading here and go read the comic books and/or Howard's story first. Everyone else let's continue.

King Conan: The Hour of the Dragon (Part 1 of 6) opens with something that is not included in Howard's original work; namely a much older King Conan, torch in hand, standing before Zenobia's tomb. He's in a kind of nostalgic state about his former bride until Pramis, a scribe, enters the room and startles Conan. When I initially read this I was a bit disappointed. This preface really deviated from Howard's work. My heart sank, but I forced myself to read on. What Truman did here was preface Howard's work with a narrative that sets up the story. In the long run, I think it works itself fairly well into the story. After much consideration I could only think of one pitfall with this kind of preface. It somewhat takes away the mystery and suspense about Conan in the story. Granted, if you're a seasoned REH reader then you've probably read all of the Conan stories. However, for those who have not read Howard or his Conan stories the possibility that Conan might die in one is quite real. Conan is confronted throughout Howard's stories with some heinous and deadly situations. Beginning a narrative with Conan telling a scribe the story certainly eliminates the possibility that Conan might die, somewhat removing the suspenseful nature of various confrontations and battles. And yet, this is my biggest complaint about the entire series so far and in certain parts of the comic books it works well with Howard's descriptive narrative from the original work.

From this preface Truman launches into the story Howard wrote. In a tomb in Nemedia, Orastes, who is a former priest of Mitra, along with Amalric, Tarascus who is the younger brother of the king of Nemedia, and Valerius, the former king of Aquilonia, use the Heart of Ahriman to awaken an ancient Sorcerer and High Priest of Set named Xaltotun. I was quite surprised when I compared Truman's adaptation with Howard's work. To a large degree Truman uses the dialogue directly from Howard's work. Plus, Tomas Giorello's artwork is phenomenal. He does an amazing job of capturing the details of not only the characters but of Truman's/Howard's narrative throughout the first six issues. Giorello's artwork definitely helps bring each scene to life, often exactly as I imagined it when I read Howard's original story.

Truman certainly stays quite true to Howard's original work with only a few slight deviations. For instance, in the original story when Zenobia frees Conan of his bondage from Xaltotun, she explains to Conan she must depart from him for a short time. No reason is given. However, before she departs she gives Conan specific instructions about where they are to meet again and a warning to be careful as he treads down a certain path to his destination out of the prison cells. In Truman's account she stays by Conan's side throughout this scene and even helps him to battle the haunter of the pits. Even so, this is a small deviation and works well in the comic book because first, it maintains the spirit of Howard's character and does not alter the story to such a degree as to render it unrecognizable. Second, it works well to strengthen Conan and Zenobia's relationship because they are working together to fight off a creature and Zenobia's concerns for Conan's well being is highlighted. It keeps the spirit of Howard in his character Zenobia in so far as Truman displays her to be a strong female. This is also something Howard's Conan would certainly admire.

Another minor deviation (which is really more of a summation to make it fit into comic book panels) occurs from the 4th comic book with Zeleta's visions. Zeleta is a witch whom Conan saves from several Nemedian soldiers. Conan kills the soldiers and the witch helps Conan by providing him important information via various visions to aid him in his quest to restore his kingdom. While the visions from the comic books are not identical with the books, they do follow the basic gist of what Howard wrote. The visions from the comic book detail the past, Conan losing his crown and the people in despair in the Capital city of Tarantia. The book, of course, gives greater detail and mentions names within this first vision, and Conan thinks the witch is toying with his mind. The second vision in the comic book is simply a brief summary of the second vision from Howard's story, once again I'm assuming this is done to fit it into the panels of the comic book. It shows Valerius being crowned king and those who fell out of favor with Conan celebrating his coronation. Something Conan already had knowledge about from earlier in the story. The third and last vision is also a summation of Howard's story. This vision is of an ancient time. It shows the body of Xaltotun in a sarcophagus and the Heart of Ahriman upon an alter. Conan does not yet understand the meaning of the stone, but he certainly recognizes it. These visions leave both the witch and Conan confused. The witch suggests they sleep and perhaps the answers will arise in their dreams. In Howard's original story, only Conan is completely confused, the witch has a better understanding of the visions but that understanding is not complete. She recommends they rest and perhaps a full understanding will come to her in her dreams. However, before they sleep she mentions that in the morning she may have the answer to this "mystery." The mystery lies in a remark she made earlier (in the comic book and Howard's original story), "I fear the heart is gone from your kingdom."

The one thing I was most pleased about in Truman's adaptation was his inclusion and emphasis on Zeleta's "mystery" about the heart of Conan's kingdom. This idea is revealed in the comic books pretty much the same as it is in Howard's original work. Howard was certainly connecting the Heart of Ahriman and Conan's kingdom in an obvious way—the one was used to take away the other—but also subtly adding the element of Conan's feelings for Zenobia. Howard does not bring out the Zenobia element until the end of his story when after defeating Tarascus, Conan requests Zenobia from Tarascus' seraglio because Conan will make her his queen.

Truman cleverly incorporates Conan's feelings and the love aspect of Zeleta's mystery via the narrative between Conan and the scribe Pramis. This is emphasized on the last page of the 6th issue in the comic book. While narrating the story for Pramis, Conan questions Zeleta's true meaning behind her statement. The panels actually read as follows: "Find the heart of your kingdom . . . that's what the old witch Zeleta had told me . . . but was the Jewel of Ahriman the heart she truly meant?" The next panel shows an image of Zenobia in the background, Conan in the foreground. It is at this point in the comic book Conan truly understand Zeleta's mystery and rushes forward to claim his destiny. None of this is in Howard's original work. However, I thought this was extremely well done and really appreciated Truman's interpretive license here. What this tells me is that Truman truly knows Howard's work inside and out, and is actually providing a small amount of commentary based on this understanding. Other than what I mentioned above there is no other noticeable deviation from Howard's original work.

While The Hour of the Dragon is not one of my favorite Conan stories, Truman and Giorello have certainly elevated my appreciation for it. And I thought they brought it to life quite meaningfully for both unseasoned and seasoned REH readers. But unlike so many who have taken Howard's characters and placed them in new stories, Truman has genuinely adapted Robert E. Howard's work as it ought to be adapted. In my estimation this is the best comic book adaptation of a Conan story, and I am very much looking forward to the next six comic books in the series.

If you have not purchased the first six comic books in this series then run, not walk, to your local comic book store and buy them. Also, the first comic book titled King Conan: The Conqueror (Part 1 of 6) was released a week or so ago. So the second 6 issues are now in full swing. As mentioned earlier, King Conan: The Conqueror make up the last 6 parts of Howard's novel The Hour of the Dragon. I highly recommend this series.

An Odd Encounter

I had what I would consider an odd encounter with another Robert E. Howard fan today. I took my typical Wednesday trip to the comic book store to buy two comics - East of West issue #9 and Conan and the People of the Black Circle #4.

When I took the two books to the counter, the guy at the register asked me if I was enjoying the Conan series. I told him I had not had time to read them yet, but was not holding my breath. He gave me a strange look and asked if I was a Howard fan. I nodded and asked, "You?" He said, "Yes, huge fan."

Huge fan, I thought to myself. Hmm. He told me he liked this series but was waiting to read Howard's story The Hour of the Dragon before reading Tim Truman's comic book series titled the same. I told him that was a good idea (even though Truman does his best to stick with Howard's storyline), but make sure you read the story from the Del Rey book. He nodded and said, "The Del Rey's are the original manuscripts, right?"

I told him they were, and that those were the best editions to buy. He then asked me if I had ever been to Howard Day's in Cross Plains. I told him I had gone the last two years and intended to go again this year. He said he had friends who attended a lot, rattled off a couple of names I had never heard (which doesn't mean anything) and then told me he was from Brownwood. I explained I was from Abilene.Small world.

This led to a discussion about the Howard home and he detailed his story about seeing it for the first time. I told him the first time I saw Howard's home someone was living in it. I don't think he understood the time frame or weight of that claim. During this brief conversation, he brought up the new Conan movie (now in pre-production) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I cringed inside and did not voice an opinion, until he said he really enjoyed the first two Conan movies with Arnold. I shook my head and told him I did not care for them. He told me he thought the wizard in the first film made the movie great, then preceded to quote a line the wizard has said from the film. I tried to explain to him that I thought those movies were good Sword & Sorcery films for their day, but they were certainly not REH's true character. I told him I thought L.Sprague de Camp was too heavy an influence on the filmmakers. That comment was pejorative, I'm just not certain he understood that.

He told me he was introduced to Conan through de Camp's Conan series. I told him I was too. However, I then preceded to explain how I realized that de Camp did a wonderful job introducing reader's to Conan but a terrible job introducing readers to Conan's creator. He gave me an odd look (I think he was attempting to process what I sad), then he piped up and said, "de Camp's introductions in those books were wonderful." He then made the most ignorant anachronistic statement I have ever heard, "Howard even gave his approval of those introductions by de Camp."

I was so taken aback by the comment it tied me up for a few seconds in stunned silence. "That would be impossible," I replied, "since Howard had died decades before de Camp ever wrote those introductions." The guy's face went pale green. To avoid any further embarrassment I said, "The problem I have with de Camp's introductions is their futile attempt to psychoanalyze Howard. I have a real problem with those introductions in that they gave the reader the wrong impression of just who Howard actually was." He looked a little winded at this point but I continued. "I honestly think de Camp did far more damage to Robert E. Howard than he ever did to Howard's characters, though he certainly did not help there much either, unless you consider the amount of people who came to Howard's characters, especially Conan, through that de Camp series." I continued, "Outside of this, I really don't think de Camp was amicable to Howard's real history. However, I am glad you are aware of the Del Rey books - read those introductions and stories and you'll get the real Robert E. Howard, history and works." He nodded.

Now while I think this guy truly is a fan of Howard and his character Conan, it does pain me to see a fan that misinformed. I told him he ought to go to Howard Days and hear for himself a few purist Howard scholars and fans. However, I'm afraid by the look on his face after our discussion, Howard days might short circuit him. I'm rather mild compared to some of the other Howard fans and some of the Howard scholars out there.

His Character Precedes Him

I was visiting my local Lone Star Comic Book shop today, picking up the zero issues of my favorite DC New 52 hero comic books. While waiting to check out there was a guy at the opposite register checking out at the same time. The cashier and this guy struck up a conversation about Conan comic books. My ears perked when I heard the name Conan. The cashier and the customer began comparing notes about what they enjoyed about the character Conan and the various line of Conan comic books.

They began chatting about the recent line of Conan the Barbarian comics published by Dark Horse (Wood, Harren & Stewart). Nearly in unison they launched into a formal laud of the series. I cringed inside because personally I'm not fond of it. I think the artist (Becky Cloonan) ruined the character by making him look like something from a Manga book. After a few seconds the customer mentioned the name, Robert E. Howard. He declared that he had been looking for a particular work since the early 90s, unfortunately I did not hear the name of the work. At this point the cashier at the register where I was checking out told me my total and I handed him my payment. I had every intent of asking the other customer a few questions about his interest in Conan and Robert E. Howard, but by the time I paid for my items and looked up, he was gone. So I simply left the store thinking about the situation.

This circumstance is not new to me. I'm used to the fact that a single character of one of my favorite writers precedes his own reputation. REH is not the only author who suffers from this. He joins the ranks of several greats such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (e.g. Sherlock Holmes) and Edgar Rice Burroughs (e.g. Tarzan). This being the case, I'm used to people knowing who Conan is but not really knowing about other REH characters. Now, I'm not saying this particular customer fell into that category of knowledge, but hearing his discussion made me think about the character Conan in the larger scope of culture.

In my experience, many Conan fans know that Robert E. Howard is Conan's creator, but few know that Conan was merely one small character in Howard's repertoire. Howard's other characters always pale by comparison. There have also been times when I have asked various Conan fans if they were aware that Howard wrote westerns, or ghost stories, etc. This is usually followed by stunned disbelief. It's this stunned disbelief that has constantly reminded me that Conan's reputation will probably always precede Robert E. Howard's. I have to admit that it was via REH's character Conan that I was introduced to the writer behind the character.

Because of this phenomenon Conan is a bittersweet character for me. While I like Conan, he is certainly not my favorite Howard character. But, his cultural popularity is overwhelming with three movies, tons of comic books, several television shows, action figures, video games, and loads of books. And even though much of what I listed above has in various ways distorted Howard's most popular character, the phenomenon of this character remains.

Personally, I've come to view Conan as Howard's "gateway" character. It is through Conan that perhaps someone who would otherwise not know about REH can be introduced. But, it is also necessary to take that introduction a step further. To me it's a given that if someone enjoys Conan they will more than likely enjoy a few of Howard's other characters. Also, the fact that Conan is so popular at least keeps REH's name in the general public, such as the discussion I heard today at Lone Star Comics. But this does have a downside—as I mentioned above, Conan is bittersweet for me. In my experience, Conan has also caused people to develop a stereotypical view about Howard's writing based on this one character. I've heard many tell me that REH only writes stuff like Conan, wild barbaric characters who do nothing but womanize and destroy. Granted this is not even a good description of Conan, but as mentioned earlier, larger culture is being fed a particular character through various media. Sadly, Howard has written so much more than Conan, but due to current cultural manifestations of this one character, all of REH's writings tend to get lumped into this genre. Another reason why I attempt to spread the word about the genuine diversity of Howard's work.

Mentioning Howard's westerns, ghost stories, boxing stories, and even his poetry is something I always try to do. It was the very thing I wanted to do while at Lone Star Comics this morning. I'm always glad to hear people discuss Conan, but I'm always happier if I know they understand that there is way more to REH than this one character. Had I had the opportunity to discuss Conan and REH with the guy at the comic shop this morning, I wanted to ask him if he'd heard of other REH characters. Additionally, anytime I run across someone who enjoys Conan in light of cultural experiences such as the movies or comics, I invariably tell them about Paul M. Sammon's book.

When Sammon's book was published in 2007 I was beside myself. Here was a book that took the cultural phenomenon of Howard's character and placed him in a correct light. Moreover, Sammon gave his reader a proper history of Howard and how Conan has been viewed and "used" culturally over the past five or so decades. This was a godsend for me and my encounters with culturally minded Conan fans. And, to this day I always recommend this book.

Given the fact that Conan will always be in the spotlight amongst all of REH's characters, my lesson from this is to merely use that to introduce the real Robert E. Howard and other Howard characters. As I have said a million times, Howard's writing is so much more than merely one character.