Back Soon...

I'm taking a little break from the blog.

I've just finished my first pass through the complete works quoting as I went and found a lot of really cool stuff.

There's a lot left that I'd like to cover and explore here, but I don't want to try do to much to quickly, so I'm going to take a step back, review and then move on again.

I'll be ploughing through it all again in a couple of months and hopefully bringing a little more structure to what's here and really trying to create an online study guide and reference tool for anyone studying the CONAN stories.

Back soon,

Rob

Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Nikonov Aleksandr .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

CONAN helps an alien die

CONAN meets YAG, last of ancient race of aliens while raiding an ancient tower. Yag is a powerful cosmic being who has been enslaved by an evil wizard, Yara, and made to pass on his secrets. As he says, "No more was I a god to kindly jungle folk- I was a slave to a devil in human form."(Page 97)
Yag asks CONAN to kill him and use his blood to release the magic in a mystical gem, so he can be free and his tormentor can be defeated,

"Take your sword, man, and cut out my heart; then squeeze it so that the blood will flow over the red stone. Then go down the stairs and enter the ebony chamber where Yara sits wrapped in lotus-dreams of evil. Speak his name and he will awaken. Then lay this gem before him, and say, "Yag-kosha gives you a last gift and a last enchantment". Then get from the tower quickly; fear not, your way shall be made clear. The life of man is not the life of Yag, nor is human death the death of Yag. Let me be free of this cage of broken blind flesh, and I will once more be Yogah of Yag, morning-crowned  and shining, with wings to fly, and feet to dance, and eyes to see and hands to break"

From "The Tower of the Elephant"
Page 98. "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Memed .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

A young CONAN on his way to steal a jewel.

A young CONAN roams the city streets on his way to raid The Tower of the Elephant after a brawl in a tavern.

The lurid lights and drunken revelry fell away behind the Cimmerian. He had discarded his torn tunic, and walked through the night naked except for a loin-cloth and his high-strapped sandals. He moved with the supple ease of a great tiger, his steely muscles rippling under his brown skin.

From "The Tower of the Elephant"

Page 83. "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Loopydave .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

King CONAN, son of blacksmith

King CONAN has been overcome by sorcery and his army defeated. As his enemies approach his tent, his aides urge him to surrender and save his life.

"But your majesty!" cried the squire in great perturbation. "The battle is lost! It were part of majesty to yield with dignity becoming one of royal blood!"
"I have no royal blood," ground CONAN. "I am a barbarian and the son of a blacksmith."

From "The Hour of the Dragon"
Page 732. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Memed .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

Some are born with the spirit of the storm in their blood

After returning from crucifixion to save the queen from her evil witch/twin sister, CONAN is offered a position as a councilor as well as captain of the royal guard, but he refuses to continue his adventures plundering  as the chief or the Zuagirs.

But not all men seek rest and peace; some are born with the spirit of the storm in their blood, restless harbingers of violence and bloodshed, knowing no other path...

From "A Witch Shall Be Born"
Page 391. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

 Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Liam Sharp .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

You can tell a lot about a girl by the kind of knife she gives you!

After escaping from Xaltotun's dungeon with aid of Zenobia, a girl from the kings seraglio, CONAN stops to admire the knife she left for him to help him escape.

He inspected the weapon the girl had given him, and smiled grimly. Whatever else she might be, she was proven by that dagger to be a person of practical intelligence. It was no slender stiletto, selected because of a jeweled hilt or gold guard, fitted only for dainty murder in milady's boudoir; it was a forthright poniard, a warrior's weapon, broad-bladed, fifteen inches in length, tapering to a diamond-sharp point.

From "The Hour of the Dragon"
Page 606. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

 Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Loopydave .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

Meet CONAN as he climbs up a cliff.

CONAN is trying to discover the whereabouts of an ancient treasure. We are introduced to him as he is scaling a cliff face.

He came of a race of hillmen, accustomed to scaling forbidding crags, and he was a man of unusual strength and agility. His only garment was a pair of red silk breeks, and his sandals were slung to his back, out of the way as were his sword and dagger.
The man was powerfully built and supple as a panther. His skin was bronzed by the sun, his square-cut black mane confined by a silver band about his temples. His iron muscles, quick eyes and sure feet served him well here, for it was a climb to test these qualities to the utmost.

From, "Jewels of Gwahlur"
Page 393 "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Daniel Scott Gabriel Murray .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

Charity begins in Cimmeria

After helping themselves to a meal they find laid out in the ancient city of Xuthal, CONAN and Natala meet some of the residents and explains that they mean no harm to anyone and will soon be on their way, but CONAN assumes that they will want paying for the food,

In my county, no starving man is denied food, but you civilised people must have you recompense- if you are like all I have ever met. We have done no harm and are just leaving.

From, "The Slithering Shadow"
Page 142 "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

 Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Oscar Ibarra.
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

CONAN in the desert

We meet CONAN on the verge of death in a barren desert,

CONAN the Cimmerian stared out over the aching desolation and involuntarily drew the back of his powerful hand over his blackened lips. He stood like a bronzed image in the sand, apparently impervious to the murderous sun, though his only garment was a silk loin-cloth, girdled by a wide gold-buckled belt from which hung a sabre and a broad bladed poniard. On his clean-cut limbs were evidence of scarcely healed wounds.

From, "The Slithering Shadow"
Page 134 "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

 Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Marc Gosselin.
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

CONAN is against prohibition.

CONAN meets Princess Yasmela because he is roaming the streets after he has left the last wine-shop open.

Ishtar's curse on these on these white-livered reformers who close the grog-house! "Let men sleep rather than guzzle," they say - aye, so they can work and fight better for their masters! Soft-gutted eunuchs, I call them. When I served with the mercenaries of Corinthia we swilled and wenched all night and fought all day- 

 From "Black Colossus"
Page 112. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, DRamphStudio.
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

There was a wolfishness about this warrior...

Princess Yasmela takes CONAN back to ther palace to try and enlist his help. It is said of him that,

There was a wolfishness about this warrior that marked the barbarian. The eyes of no civilized man, however wild or criminal, ever blazed with such fire.

From "Black Colossus"
Page 112. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, James King.
Please check out his Deviantart.com page HERE for more of his work.

Civilised men can't take a crucifying

After defeating and capturing Constantius, the man who earlier crucified him, CONAN returns the favour, confident that he will not survive the ordeal as he did.

"You are more fit to inflict torture than to endure it," said CONAN tranquilly. "I hung there on a cross as you are hanging, and I lived, thanks to circumstances and stamina peculiar to barbarians. But you civilized men are soft; your lives are not nailed to your spines as are ours. Your fortitude consists mainly of inflicting torment, not enduring it. You will be dead before sundown."

From, "A witch Shall Be Born"
Page 391 "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Renk90.
Please check out his Deviantart.com page HERE for more of his work.

CONAN fears nothing of this world

CONAN fears nothing of this world. Despite his skill and intellect the supernatural is a source of fear for our hero.

Foes of flesh and blood he did not fear, however great the odds, but any hint of the supernatural roused all the dim monstrous instincts of fear that are the heritage of the barbarian.

From "Shadows in the Moonlight"
Page 223. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

 Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist,
 Abraão Lucas.
Please check out his Facebook page HERE for more of his work.

CONAN on the importance of the arts.

King CONAN of Aquilonia recognises the value and longevity of art. When an adviser tells him he should hang Rinaldo, an artist whose songs are rowsing the people agianst King CONAN, he replies,

...he's beyond my reach. A great poet is greater than any king. His songs are mightier than my scepter; for he has ripped the heart from my chest when he chose to sing for me. I shall die and be forgotten, but Rinaldo's songs will live for ever.

 From "The Phoenix on the Sword"
Page 28 "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN

 I was quite surprised to read this passage, perhaps unfairly, because CONAN is always described as being intelligent. He sees the futility of trying to censor the arts, but it all get's put in perspective a few page turns later when CONAN kills Renaldo,  albeit reluctantly,

"Rinaldo!" his voice was strident with desperate urgency. "Back!" I would not slay you-"
"Die, tyrant!" screamed the mad minstrel, hurling himself headlong on the king. CONAN delayed the blow he was loth to deliver, until it was too late. Only when he felt the bite of steel in is unprotected side did he strike, in a frenzy of blind desperation.
Ronaldo dropped with his skull shattered...

  From "The Phoenix on the Sword"
Page 38 "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

A vote for CONAN is a vote for low taxes!

After being defeated in a particularly sneaky way underhanded way, CONAN King of Aquilonia is taunted by his captors. He goads his captors by pointing out what a better job he had done looking after things than the hereditary monarch he killed to capture the kingdom had.

The land was torn with wars of the barons, and the people cried out under suppression and taxation. Today no Aquilonian noble dares maltreat the humblest of my subjects, and the taxes of the people are lighter than anywhere else in the world.

From "The Scarlet Citadel"
Page 50. "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

 Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Loopydave .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

Even CONAN can drink too much.

CONAN is betrayed to the authorities who find him laying drunk.

Waking to stupefied but ferocious life when they seized him, he disemboweled the captain, burst through his assailants and would have escaped, but for the liquor that still clouded his senses. Bewildered and half blind, he missed the open door in his headlong flight, and dashed his head against the stone wall so terrifically that he knocked himself senseless.

From "Rogues in the House"
Page 189. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

 Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Loopydave .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

So... Born on a battlefield?

CONAN.

"I was born in the midst of battle," he answered, tearing a chunk of meat from a huge joint with his strong teeth. "The first sound my ears heard was the clang of swords and the yells of slaying..."

From "Black Colossus"
Page 115-6. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Start as you mean to continue I guess.

 Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Liam Sharp .
Please check out his Deviant Art  page HERE for more of his work.