The Phoenix on the Sword (1932)
Xuthal of the Dusk (1933)
The Scarlet Citadel (1933)
The Pool of the Black One (1933)
The Tower of the Elephant (1933)
Black Colossus (1933)
A Witch Shall be Born (1934)
The People of the Black Circle (1934)
Iron Shadows on the Moon (1934)
The Frost Giant’s Daughter (1934)*
Rogues in the House (1934)
Queen of the Black Coast (1934)
The Hour of the Dragon (1935)
Jewels of Gwalhur (1935)
Beyond the Black River (1935)
Shadows in Zamboula (1935)
Red Nails (1936)
The People of the Black Circle (1934) features Conan in
mid-career, entangling himself in geopolitics circa the Hyborian age, millennia
before our own. The novel appeared in
three parts from the September through the November 1934 issues of Weird Tales. Parts of the tale appeared alongside Clark
Ashton Smith’s The Seven Geases and
H.P. Lovecraft’s The Music of Erich Zann. The version I have is in a representative
collection published in 2011 called simply Conan
the Barbarian.
The
novel is set in the region of “Afghulistan”
where powerful kingdoms attempt to extend their influence by building shaky
alliances with various barbarian tribes.
When this fails, the less scrupulous seek the aid of the malevolent
Black Seers of Yimsha, who operate from their frightful citadel high in the
Himelian Mountains. The People of the Black Circle opens with the assassination of the
Vendhyan king. His sister, the imperious
Devi Yasmina, suspects that the murder is the work of “sorcery—black, ghastly
magic”, and vows revenge.
Meanwhile,
Conan is negotiating with a provincial governor for the release of some of his
men, recently captured by the Vendhyans.
Rather than accept gold as a ransom for his men, the governor, speaking
for the Devi Yasmina, wants Conan to vanquish the Black Seers instead. However, Yasmina makes an untimely and unwise
appearance in the governor’s office.
Conan, quick witted, sees an opportunity. He kidnaps the Devi and rides off with her, in
effect developing an even better counter offer for the release of his men.
The rest
of the story is a series of misadventures, culminating in an assault on the
evil sorcerers’ stronghold. Along the
way there are altercations with an overly ambitious wizard, a treacherous femme
fatale, vengeful tribesman, and a conquering army. In Conan’s time, black magic makes just as
powerful a weapon as sword, knife and battle axe—“special effects” appear in
rapid succession near the climax of the tale.
The
relationship between Conan and Yasmina prefigures that of Han Solo and Princess
Leia, especially in the original Star
Wars (1977). The dynamic
relationship between an uncultured but noble brute and a refined woman of means
is an archetype that appears in many adventure stories. Compared to the other powerful male characters
in the story, Conan is a perfect gentleman—except for the kidnapping. (He is a barbarian, after all.) Initially repulsed by Conan’s rough ways,
Yasmina soon becomes impressed with the strength, prowess and courage of her
captor.
However,
it is interesting given the timeframe in which the novel was produced that Yasmina
and Conan never consummate their relationship, though they come close. Both have career plans that will interfere
with any long term commitments. Near the end of the story Yasmina has donned
her royal apparel again and is leading an army of fighters herself. The two are depicted as equals, whose paths
have crossed in a violent, magic ridden world.
The People of the Black Circle is simply an entertaining
adventure story, and does not aspire to be much more. However, it contains a number of elements
that are interesting in the context of horror entertainment, both in Howard’s
time and ours. The attack on the sorcerers’
mountain stronghold, and the gruesome weird magic used to defend it, may remind
some readers of various survival horror video games, for example Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness. One can imagine
a number of scenes in this story being readily converted to this format.
Howard’s
preoccupation with snakes and serpentine imagery—his recurring symbol of
devolution and primordial evil—is conspicuous near the end of the story. There are also a number of peculiar occult
ideas. Near the beginning of The People of the Black Circle, Howard expounds
on the mechanism by which the doomed king was assassinated: when the stars are properly aligned,
sorcerers can remove the soul of an individual using a “point of contact”,
which can be any material remnant of the person’s physical body.
Rather
than using the essential Saltes to conjure an already departed soul, as
Borellus recommends, this necromancy—biomancy?—separates the soul from a still
living body. One implication is that Yasmina’s
royal family must continuously incinerate “all nail-trimmings, hair and waste
products” for security purposes. In her
brother’s case, a sorcerer uses a lock of hair the king had unwisely given to
an ex-lover as a memento. It would be
interesting to know Howard’s source for this notion, if he did not invent it
himself.
The People of the Black Circle has been a favorite of Conan fans
for many years. Jeffrey Blair Latta,
over at the webzine Pulp and Dagger Fiction (http://www.pulpanddagger.com/conan/people.html)
praised the tale for its multiple plot threads and complex villains—he especially
liked Khemsa, the reckless and presumptuous novice sorcerer—as well as the “beautiful
and gutsy damsel”.
P.J. Thorndyke also
sees the Devi Yasmina as an interesting, more nuanced character, falling somewhere
between the stereotypical “bratty spoilt princess” and “tough-as-nails warrior woman”. Thorndyke writes fantasy and adventure
fiction inspired by authors like Robert E. Howard. (https://pjthorndyke.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/greatest-ever-pulp-stories-4-the-people-of-the-black-circle/)
********************
*I am
grateful to Steve Dilks for this clarification: “The Frost Giant’s Daughter”
was not actually published as a Conan story during Howard’s lifetime. Following its rejection by Farnsworth Wright
at Weird Tales, the author changed
the title to “Gods of the North” and renamed his protagonist “Amra of Akbitana”. The story was published in The Fantasy Fan in 1934, though it was
written sometime around 1932.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your interest in The R'lyeh Tribune! Comments and suggestions are always welcome.