The Tower of the Elephant
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The original short story was written by Robert E. Howard and first appeared in a 1933 issue of Weird Tales magazine.
"The Tower of the Elephant" is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine circa March 1933. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan infiltrating a perilous city spire to steal a fabled gem from an evil sorcerer named Yara. The story was republished in the collections The Coming of Conan (Gnome Press, 1953) and Conan (Lancer Books, 1967). It has most recently been republished in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle (Gollancz, 2000) and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933) (Del Rey, 2003). Due to its unique insights into the Hyborian world and atypical science fiction elements, the story is considered a classic of Conan lore and is often cited by Howard scholars as one of his best tales.[1]
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[edit] Plot Overview
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
| “ | "Torches flared murkily on the revels in the Maul, where the thieves of the east held carnival by night. In the Maul they could carouse and roar as they liked, for honest people shunned the quarters, and watchmen, well paid with stained coins, did not interfere with their sport..." | ” |
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— Robert E. Howard, "The Tower of the Elephant"
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In Arenjun, the Zamorian "city of thieves," a young Conan the Cimmerian is drinking in a rowdy tavern when he overhears a fat Kothic rogue describing a fabulous jewel called "the Heart of the Elephant." The jewel is kept in an eponymous tower by an evil sorcerer named Yara.
When Conan presses the rogue for more information, insults are traded and a fight ensues. As the two fight, a candle is knocked over by bewildered onlookers. In the resulting confusion, Conan murders the Kothian and escapes into the darkness of the city.
After this tavern brawl, the Cimmerian sets out to steal the aforementioned jewel and encounters along the way Taurus of Nemedia, known as "the Prince of Thieves," who has similar designs. The two thieves agree to work together and, after battling lions in the tower gardens, scale the fabled spire. Upon reaching the top, Taurus is bitten by a gigantic spider that Conan in turn slays in a frenzied battle.
Undaunted, Conan continues on into the eldritch tower and discovers a strange "trans-cosmic being" having a human body yet with the oversized head of an elephant, possibly inspired by Great Old One Chaugnar Faugn. The creature, Yag-kosha, is a blind, tortured prisoner of the sorcerer Yara.
Yag-kosha relates to Conan the pre-cataclysmic saga of his alien people, their arrival on Earth and his own existence.
At Yag-kosha's behest, Conan slays the elephant-being in a mercy killing and, extracting "the Heart of the Elephant" from the corpse, uses the supernatural powers of the jewel to dispatch the evil Yara.
[edit] Miscellaneous
There is also a modular adventure based on this tale for Conan: The Role Playing Game.
The Tower of the Elephant has been adapted into comic form three times: twice by Marvel (see Conan (comics)), and once by Dark Horse (see Conan (Dark Horse comic)).
The first adaption by Marvel appeared in Conan the Barbarian #4. The story was adapted by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith and Sal Buscema.
The second adaption by Marvel appeared in the Savage Sword of Conan #24 and was again written by Roy Thomas, but now drawn by John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala.
The newest adaptation, in Dark Horse's Conan (Dark Horse comic) issues 20-2, was written by Kurt Busiek and illustrated by Cary Nord, Dave Stewart and Mike Kaluta. Two of these have recently appeared in collections released by Dark Horse: the Conan the Barbarian adaptation in The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The Tower of the Elephant and other stories, and the Dark Horse adaptation in Conan Volume 3: The Tower of the Elephant and other stories.
[edit] Cthulhu Mythos
Many of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories were attempts at writing stories in H.P. Lovecraft's unique horror style. Howard eventually assimilated the artistic influence of Lovecraft, and was able to include Lovecraftian elements in his Conan stories without aping his Providence colleague. The Lovecraftian monster in "The Phoenix on the Sword" is a perfect example, as is the fact that the published version's discreet reference to the "Nameless Old Ones" replaced the first draft's "Cthulhu, Tsathoggua, Yog-Sothoth, and the Nameless Old Ones."[2]
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- Conan wiki • The Tower of the Elephant • Synopsis, characters, locations, and publishing history
- Conan the Barbarian at AmratheLion.com
- Conan.com: The Official Website
