25 replies to this topic

[jnspath]

Totally newbie here. Even though S&S has been one of my favorite genres for a long time, I just got into the Conan stories a few months ago. I've read the majority of the Conan stories, though I've missed a few.

And now I have a Conan question I'm hoping someone here could answer.

I'm sure we all know that Howard based Conan's world more or less on ours, with Conan having most of his adventures throughout what we would consider Europe and Asia (including the Indian subcontinent) and a little bit in Africa.

But did he ever set anything in the Americas?

I haven't read all of the Conan stories but I think I've read most of them, and I'm not aware of any set in the Americas (or the Hyborian Age equivalents).

[wulfhere]

Totally newbie here. Even though S&S has been one of my favorite genres for a long time, I just got into the Conan stories a few months ago. I've read the majority of the Conan stories, though I've missed a few.

And now I have a Conan question I'm hoping someone here could answer.

I'm sure we all know that Howard based Conan's world more or less on ours, with Conan having most of his adventures throughout what we would consider Europe and Asia (including the Indian subcontinent) and a little bit in Africa.

But did he ever set anything in the Americas?

I haven't read all of the Conan stories but I think I've read most of them, and I'm not aware of any set in the Americas (or the Hyborian equivalents).

No.

[jnspath]

No.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the quick reply.

[Mitra]

However, REH did write in a letter to a fan that he imagined that Conan finally travelled to new lands in his old age that included the prehistoric Americas (if I recall correctly) from which he may or may not have ever returned.

This was novelized by another author (L. Sprague de Camp I think) as Conan of the Isles.

[PainBrush]

Okay, so do all native American indians have jet-black hair & no whiskers at all because they are all Conans kids , or did ancient northern tribes cross the land-mass from here & help populate Cimmeria & pict'land ? Think Howard never thought of that ?

P.s. The north Europeans aren't the only cultures who got soused on honey beer & berserked in war ,or ate magic mushrooms & other plants , & put on the 'bear-shirts' or the 'wolf-shirts' !!!

Edited by PAINBRUSH, 06 January 2006 - 01:36 AM.

[Kortoso]

Okay, so do all native American indians have jet-black hair & no whiskers at all because they are all Conans kids , or did ancient northern tribes cross the land-mass from here & help populate Cimmeria & pict'land ? Think Howard never thought of that ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just the Apaches and Comanches.

[Hotei]

However, REH did write in a letter to a fan that he imagined that Conan finally travelled to new lands in his old age that included the prehistoric Americas (if I recall correctly) from which he may or may not have ever returned.

This was novelized by another author (L. Sprague de Camp I think) as Conan of the Isles.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, that's right. L. Sprague de Camp included a lot of Ignatius Donnelly Atlantis-mythology, and some science-fictiony-aspects -- crystalline swords, early SCUBA systems. Conan originally ends up in the Antilles, the last remaining population of original Atlanteans, and after defeating the Lovecraftian devil-god they worship, boards a dragon-shaped ship (with side-sails made to look like wings) and sails further west, where he ends up among the proto-Mayans/Aztecs there and is the origin of the god Kukulcan/Quetzalcoatl.

[TroceroQuijas]

And now I have a Conan question I'm hoping someone here could answer.

did he ever set anything in the Americas?

I haven't read all of the Conan stories but I think I've read most of them, and I'm not aware of any set in the Americas (or the Hyborian equivalents).

The Black Stranger
Beyond the Black River
Wolves Beyond the Border
(did I miss any?)

While set in the Hyborian Age, very little about these stories would have to be changed to make them American. The theme is definetly there.
As qouted from the intro to Bison's recent The Black Stranger and other American Tales
" 'The Black Stranger' and 'beyond the Black River' are key text in modern American fantasy because they recreate the literally bewildered colonists mindset.."
"Against a backdrop of a demonically hostile landscape, Howard recreates the worst nightmares of the earliest European invader of North America."

[jnspath]

Hmmm, interesting points.

I've only read a couple of the non-Howard Conan stories. Maybe I'll pick up a few of the others to see what they have to see.

[Rothgar of Nordheim]

Quoting a letter from Howard to one of his many fans:

"(Conan) travled widely, not only before his kingship, but after he was king. He travled in Khita and Hyrkania, and even to the less known regions to the north of the latterand south of the former. He even visited a nameless continent in the western hemisphere, and roamed among the islands ajacent to it. How much of this roaming will get into print, I cannot fortell with any accuracy..."

the entire letter is reprinted in the forward to the volume "Conan"

The answer to how much saw print is none.

[Taranaich]

"(Conan) travled widely, not only before his kingship, but after he was king. He travled in Khita and Hyrkania, and even to the less known regions to the north of the latterand south of the former. He even visited a nameless continent in the western hemisphere, and roamed among the islands ajacent to it. How much of this roaming will get into print, I cannot fortell with any accuracy..."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What islands would they be? The Caribbean? Or the northerly ones up near Canada?

[TroceroQuijas]

"There are many things concerning Conan's life of which I am not certain myself."
REH in a letter to P.S. Miller March 10, 1936

[deuce]

But did he ever set anything in the Americas?

I haven't read all of the Conan stories but I think I've read most of them, and I'm not aware of any set in the Americas (or their Hyborian equivalents).

Actually, judging from the "weeks" spent at sea, Conan was probably in the Caribbean (at least the Antilles) when he visited the "Isle of the Black Ones". Also, Marchers of Valhalla is set on the Texan Gulf Coast. That tale probably takes place about 300-500yrs before Conan.

[Fernando]

Marchers of Valhalla is set on the Texan Gulf Coast. That tale probably takes place about 300-500yrs before Conan.

Hi, deuce!

Although I believe "Marchers..." hapenned before the date you gave, I agree with you. I also believe the Hialmar's death was before the Conan's Age - and not after, as Dale Rippke believes. In fact, Robert E. Howard never specified when happened that tale, so that our opinion seems as correct as Rippke's one.

Regards.

[deuce]

Marchers of Valhalla is set on the Texan Gulf Coast. That tale probably takes place about 300-500yrs before Conan.

Hi, deuce!

Although I believe "Marchers..." hapenned before the date you gave, I agree with you. I also believe the Hialmar's death was before the Conan's Age - and not after, as Dale Rippke believes. In fact, Robert E. Howard never specified when happened that tale, so that our opinion seems as correct as Rippke's one.

Regards.

Hey Fernando! The reason I place "Marchers" that early is because Hialmar/Allison says that the Aesir still worked bronze in his day. Conan's Nordheimers appear to have iron technology.

[Fernando]

Hey Fernando! The reason I place "Marchers" that early is because Hialmar/Allison says that the Aesir still worked bronze in his day. Conan's Nordheimers appear to have iron technology.

But in The Valley of the Worm the Aesirs also uses bronze, and learn to forge iron with Picts. It means that VotW happened 500-600 years after Conan - shortly before the Ice age's beginning. So, the tale "Marchers" - that doesn't shows Picts forging iron - can be placed either before or after Conan's lifetime. And it seems - based upon these tales - that Conan's Nordheimers used iron as well as bronze and copper.

Edited by Fernando, 09 December 2007 - 12:53 AM.

[Kortoso]

So should we consider Valley of the Worm and Marchers of Valhalla to be part of the Hyborian canon?

[Red_Slayer]

I was wondering if there is any mention of what is going on in the Americas during the Hyborian Age. I just imagine wayward ships or pirates sailing for months only to discover another mysterious continent, perhaps with isolated groups of people. Of course they would be nothing like the decadent civilizations of the Thurian continent but archaeology shows us that men have been wandering around in the Americas by at least 15,000 BC. There are artifacts dating to that age and earlier scattered around both North and South America. This is around the same time that the Hyborian Kingdoms would have been around. I know in Conan of the Isles he travels to the Antilles and what not, I know the people there use glass swords and all kinds of DeCampish nonsense, which I believe is entirely un-Howard or at best ridiculous. I also always imagined that the Isle of the Black Ones is somewhere off the Coast of the Americas, however that may just be me.

I have lived in the southwest for many years and am also an archaeologist. The Desert scenery is just so dramatic I can't but help imagine a troop of lost Argossean sailors trekking through unknown lands, perhaps Zingaran pirates in what would become the Caribbean or even a Khitan merchant ship far off course. Plus the cultures and mythologies surrounding the North and South American peoples just beg to be "Hyboianized" for the lack of a better term. It is fairly obvious the sear faring kingdoms had the abilities and desire to see the world. Are there any thoughts or theories regarding this subject.

Sorry if there is another topic on this, I did a search and found nothing.

[Tex]

Unless one of the higher-ups has something I've forgotten, all REH said about it was in his March 10, 1936 letter to P. Schuyler Miller...

"He (Conan) even visited a nameless continent in the western hemisphere, and roamed among the islands adjacent to it. How much of this roaming will get into print, I cannot foretell with any accuracy."

And that's all he wrote.

Tex
(all else is pastiche)

[elegos7]

I was wondering if there is any mention of what is going on in the Americas during the Hyborian Age.

I would advise you to read Marchers of Valhalla. It probably takes place at the end of the Hyborian Age (after the Age of Conan), in the Gulf of Mexico.