Hither Comes Conan (Part Two)
King Conan's Last Great Adventure
In 1936 Robert E. Howard would finish his rewrite and revision of The Scarlet Citadel to create the only Conan novel: The Hour of the Dragon. This would be serialized in the pages of Weird Tales before it, under “Conan the Conqueror”, would be released as a stand-alone book in 1950.
The span between 1932 and 1936 is not long. Only one story—Red Nails—would be published after this, by which point Howard had killed himself. These were:
"The Tower of the Elephant" (novelette; vol. 21, #3, March 1933)
"Black Colossus" (novelette; vol. 21, #6, June 1933)
"The Slithering Shadow" (novelette; vol. 22, #3, September 1933, alternate title "Xuthal of the Dusk")
"The Pool of the Black One" (novelette; vol. 22, #4, October 1933)
"Rogues in the House" (novelette; vol. 23, #1, January 1934)
"Iron Shadows in the Moon" (novelette; vol. 23, #4, April 1934, published as "Shadows in the Moonlight")
"Queen of the Black Coast" (novelette; vol. 23, #5, May 1934)
"The Devil in Iron" (novelette; vol. 24, #2, August 1934)
"The People of the Black Circle" (novella; vol. 24, #3–5, September–November 1934)
"A Witch Shall Be Born" (novelette; vol. 24, #6, December 1934)
"Jewels of Gwahlur" (novelette; vol. 25, #3, March 1935, author's original title "The Servants of Bit-Yakin")
"Beyond the Black River" (novella; vol. 25, #5–6, May–June 1935)
"Shadows in Zamboula" (novelette; vol. 26, #5, November 1935, author's original title "The Man-Eaters of Zamboula")
All of these, and those published posthumously, are in the three omnibus volumes I mentioned previously in the Introduction article.
Four years doesn’t seem like a lot of time, until you consider that this was the days of the Pulps and writing for them—if you got in with an editor—could (and for a few, did) mean earning a serious income. The cost was that it was a job like any other, so Howard treated it like one; he wasn’t an Artiste- he became a master Craftsman.
Put in that kind of work, seriously striving to improve, on a daily basis takes a man from incompetence to mastery fast and Howard had achieved it by 1936; his sales, as befits his medium, proves it- he was making the sort of money that got people to stop telling you to get a real job.
He had, by then, developed professional relationships with others in his profession; the correspondence with H.P. Lovecraft is well known, and that is not the only ties he’d made by then. These ties, directly and otherwise, contributed to his development as a wordsmith with an eye towards marketing; how he wrote his Westerns, his Boxing Tales, and his Fantastic Adventures differently because each acquired different audiences, and he tweaked his approach within a category depending on who the protagonist was- compare Conan stories to Kull or Bran Mac Morn to see it for yourself.
Yet all this time, while he’d written novelettes and novellas, not once before Hour had he written a novel. This, in truth, is Howard’s final achievement. All that he put into writing about Conan or the Hyborean Age would be put into this masterwork.
The Great American Fantasy Novel
The Hour of the Dragon is one of those stories where Conan is the hero, but the powers pushing the plot are those of the supernatural and the fools who think they can use them as tools to discard. This puts Conan on the backfoot, as he’s most in danger against Things That Should Not Be, but he wins by keeping his wits and endures until he’s able to outmaneuver his foes and put them to the sword.
Someone should have looked into the last time someone tried to double-cross a sorcerer, but then Hour wouldn’t have a plot.
In this case, we have the sorcerer Xaltotun revived from the dead by ambitious nobles opposed to King Conan’s rule of Aquilonia. We have swords, sorcery, treachery, armies on the march, monsters most foul, and a Western-style “ride off into the sunset” ending where Conan leaves to claim his queen, and implied to found his own dynasty.
'It is the map of a world I do not know,' said Xaltotun softly, but Orastes did not miss the lurid fire of hate that flickered in his dark eyes.
'It is a map you shall help us change,' answered Orastes. 'It is our desire first to set Tarascus on the throne of Nemedia. We wish to accomplish this without strife, and in such a way that no suspicion will rest on Tarascus. We do not wish the land to be torn by civil wars, but to reserve all our power for the conquest of Aquilonia.
And, as in Phoenix, the intervention of friendly sorcerers aiding Conan and his allies is what allows Conan to not only survive but to outwit, outlast, and overcome both the sorcerer Xaltotun and the mastermind behind the attempt to coup him off the throne of Aquilonia.
But the biggest difference? The end. Conan does not merely survive, he wins.
The Cimmerian placed a mail-shod foot on his enemy's breast, and lifted his sword. His helmet was gone; he shook back his black mane and his blue eyes blazed with their old fire.
'Do you yield?'
'Will you give me quarter?' demanded the Nemedian.
'Aye. Better than you'd have given me, you dog. Life for you and all your men who throw down their arms. Though I ought to split your head for an infernal thief,' the Cimmerian added.
Tarascus twisted his neck and glared over the plain. The remnants of the Nemedian host were flying across the stone bridge with swarms of victorious Aquilonians at their heels, smiting with fury of glutted vengeance. Bossonians and Gundermen were swarming through the camp of their enemies, tearing the tents to pieces in search of plunder, seizing prisoners, ripping open the baggage and upsetting the wagons.
Tarascus cursed fervently, and then shrugged his shoulders, as well as he could, under the circumstances.
'Very well. I have no choice. What are your demands?'
'Surrender to me all your present holdings in Aquilonia. Order your garrisons to march out of the castles and towns they hold, without their arms, and get your infernal armies out of Aquilonia as quickly as possible. In addition you shall return all Aquilonians sold as slaves, and pay an indemnity to be designated later, when the damage your occupation of the country has caused has been properly estimated. You will remain as hostage until these terms have been carried out.'
'Very well,' surrendered Tarascus. 'I will surrender all the castles and towns now held by my garrisons without resistance, and all the other things shall be done. What ransom for my body?'
That’s why this novel is also known as “Conan the Conqueror”, as this decisive win marks the beginning of his conquests as King of Aquilonia by first seizing back by force what was stolen from him and then moving on to the domain that moved against him and his throne.
It also notes the shift in how Howard saw his most famous son by the end of his time writing Conan’s tales. In the beginning, he was a warrior who seize an opportunity as he reached just past the peak of his prowess to turn all his toil into a settlement worthy of his kind’s heroes. But now, with Hour, that’s changed. Conan may yet be a man in his 40s, but that just turned him from a warrior and warlord into an empire-builder. Conan cannot do greater deeds of might alone, or even with a small band, but only with what a crown can accomplish, and as Hour concludes we see that a dynasty of his own is now on the table.
Tarascus spoke.
'You have not yet named my ransom.'
Conan laughed and slapped his sword home in its scabbard. He flexed his mighty arms, and ran his blood-stained fingers through his thick black locks, as if feeling there his re-won crown.
'There is a girl in your seraglio named Zenobia.'
'Why, yes, so there is.'
'Very well.' The king smiled as at an exceedingly pleasant memory. 'She shall be your ransom, and naught else. I will come to Belverus for her as I promised. She was a slave in Nemedia, but I will make her queen of Aquilonia!'
She’s no Belit—and if you don’t know why, read Queen of the Black Coast—or even Valeria (Red Nails), but she is the right woman to be Conan’s queen- his own Deijah Thoris.1 One can imagine a timeline where Howard explores this future, as Burroughs did more than once in his various series, and doesn’t shy away from the complexity of being born and raised the son of a barbarian in a civilized court.2
Compared to the literary obesity post-1980, this is a slim volume. Like Princess and Patrol, it too is a tightly-written, fast-paced, and meaning-dense manuscript that too many dismiss as being bad work when it is obvious that it is not.3
I have put the audiobook I found on YouTube up front for your convenience, and there is a Project Gutenberg entry for this novel also, so you can read along. Read Conan. Read Howard. This man is a treasure whose work left such an impact that to this day writers, directors, artists, and musicians are in conversation with him- for and against. Don’t think so? Let me show you just a few examples.
I won’t mention more Metal bands than Manowar as then you’d be looking as video or audio links for days. Sabaton, Powerwolf, and many more are all Heirs of Howard as they keep the spirit—and the conversation—alive by their own works.
You want “Barbarism vs. Civilization” carried forward? There it is, and it was great.
Yes, there is more out there. Written, drawn, filmed, sung. Once you see it, you won’t unsee it. Some argue with Howard, like Moorcock did, and some (as above) agree in whole or in part, but to say that Howard left no mark is to lie- not when Conan is yet the archetype for a particular form of character whose applicability transcends the fantastic world invented for him.
See how Howard wrote her, and how artists depicted her, and you see why.
You want a writing prompt? There you go.