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The Biography of Conan the Barbarian: Time to Thank the Editors and
the Pasticheurs?

Conference Paper · August 2007

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 Introduction
75th anniversary of the Creation of Conan the
Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard in 2007

Goals:
Provide a review of Howard’s life and his
Conan.
Review the publishing history of Conan and
development of the Conan pastiches.
Comments on the pastiches and Conan’s
“biography”.
 Biography of Robert E. Howard

Born in 1906 in Peaster,

Texas
Moved to Cross Plains,
Texas in 1919
Began writing as a teen-
ager.
Biography of Robert E. Howard, cont.
Finished high school in
Brownwood in 1923
Tried business school at
Howard Payne Business
School in Brownwood
First sale “Spear and Fang”
in 1924 to Weird Tales.
Drops out of business
school in 1925.
Biography of Robert E. Howard, cont.

1927 Kull series written. 6

stories written; only 2
published in his lifetime.
“Red Shadows” first
Solomon Kane story
written at this time.
1928 takes up boxing as a
hobby. Works into his
writing. 1929 sees the
Sailor Steve Costigan
boxing stories in Fight
Stories. Kid Allison stories
appear in 1931.
Biography of Robert E. Howard, cont.

Oriental Stories launched in

1931. Howard starts
writing Crusader and
other historicals.
1932 sees the start of
Howard writing his
Conan series.
Biography of Robert E. Howard, cont.

“By This Axe I Rule!” a

Kull story, converted to
the first Conan story
“Phoenix on a Sword.”
9 Conan stories written in
1932; other 8 written
between 1933 between
1935.
Biography of Robert E. Howard, cont.

Demise of Conan—
-Mother’s failing health
-Owed money by
Farnsworth Wright
-Tired with Conan?

1933 sees Howard writing

Westerns. Breckenridge
Elkins, a humorous
character.
Biography of Robert E. Howard, cont.

• June 1936—Howard
commits suicide
Trigger was the decline
of his mother’s health.
She went into a coma.
Other woes: Weird Tales
owed him money;
girlfriend troubles;
maligned in Cross Plains.
Howard’s Conan
Set in the Hyborian Age.
Thousands of years
before our own world.
Imaginary kingdoms
ranging in socio-
economic complexity
from the Neolithic to the
Early Renaissance.
Drew on the archaeology
and history popularly
published between 1900
and the 1930s.
Hyborian World map
Hyborian World map, cont.
• Conan stories fit a variety of genres and contain
a variety of themes.
• Writing Conan—
It may sound fantastic to link the term “realism” with Conan;
but as a matter of fact—his supernatural adventures aside—he is
the most realistic character I ever evolved. He is simply a
combination of a number of men I have known, and I think
that’s why he seemed to step full-grown into my consciousness
when I wrote the first yarn of the series. Some mechanism in my
sub-consciousness took the dominant characteristics of various
prize-fighters, gunmen, bootleggers, oil field bullies, gamblers
and honest workmen I have come in contact with, and
combining them all, produced the amalgamation I call Conan the
Cimmerian. (REH to CAS)
Earlier he had told Clark Ashton Smith :
…I have sometimes wondered if it were possible that
unrecognized forces of the past or present—or even the
future—work through the thoughts and actions of living men.
This occurred to me when I was writing the first stories of the
Conan series especially. I know that for months I had been
absolutely barren of ideas, completely unable to work up
anything sellable. The the man Conan seemed suddenly to grow
up in my mind without much labor on my part and immediately
a stream of stories flowed off my pen—or rather, off my
typewriter—almost without effort on my part. […] The
character took complete possession of my mind …as if the man
himself had been standing at my shoulder directing my efforts…

Howard did have to do re-writes; 3-4 before sending to

Weird Tales.
17 Conan stories written by
Howard and published in
his lifetime. First 9
written by the end of
1932.
Rest written between 1933
through 1935.
Written in non-linear/non-
chronological order.
Ranges in age from 17 to
45.
Conan Timeline (Howard stories only)
Title Written Published Conan’s Age
Black Colossus 1932 1933 20-25

The Frost Giant’s Daughter 1932 1934/1976 ~17

God in the Bowl 1932 1975 17-20

Phoenix on the Sword 1932 1932 40-45

Pool of the Black One 1932 1933 30-35

Scarlet Citadel 1932 1933 40-45

Slithering Shadow 1932 1933 25?

Tower of the Elephant 1932 1933 17-20

Devil in Iron 1932?/1933? 1934 25-30

Queen of the Black Coast 1932?/1933? 1934 20-25

Conan Timeline, cont. (Howard stories only)
Title Written Published Conan’s Age
Rogues in the House 1933 1934 20-25

Vale of Lost Women 1933 1967 25-35

Beyond the Black River 1934 1935 35-40

The Black Stranger 1934 1953/1987 35-40

Hour of the Dragon 1934 1935 40-45

Jewels of Gwahlur 1934 1935 35-40

People of the Black Circle 1934 1934 25-30

Shadows in Zamboula 1934 1935 25-30

A Witch Shall Be Born 1934 1935 25-30

Red Nails 1935 1936 35-40

On why Howard wrote the series this way,
Howard explained it to Miller:
As for Conan’s eventual fate—frankly I can’t
predict it. In writing these yarns I’ve always felt
less as creating them than as if I were simply
chronicling his adventures as he told them to me.
That’s why they skip about so much, without
following a regular order. The average
adventurer, telling tales of a wild life at random,
seldom follows any ordered plan, but narrates
episodes widely separated by space and year, as
they occur to him.
Recycling of unsold stories…
• Conan’s character and
biography revealed in
the stories. Revealed
throughout the series.
Consistent.

• Examples—
“Tower of the
Elephant”
“Beyond the Black
River”
Conan’s Character
• Not chivalrous, but
his own code of
honor
• Does his duty or job
hired for
• Pragmatic
• Seizes opportunities,
doesn’t fulfill a
destiny
 Conan after Howard
• 1946 Skull-face and Others
• 1950s Gnome Press editions. De camp enters
the scene. Edits.
• 1959-1963 Copyrights expire on Weird Tales
Conan stories.
• 1966 Lancer paperback series with Frazetta
covers.
• 1970 comic book rights sold to Marvel Comics
• 1977 Conan Properties,
Inc. formed.
• Movie rights sold to
Milius.
• 1980s sees Ace picking
up the lancer series, and
the pastiche boom
begins. Robert Jordan,
Roland Green, John
Maddox Roberts and
others…
“The Black Stranger” edits and changes
• De Camp writes—
My changes in the story were mainly to tie it in with the
rest of the Conan saga and eliminate inconsistencies
therewith. Thus I made the menace in the cave,
originally a mere lethal gas, into a demon. I converted
the anonymous ‘black sorcerer’ of the original into
Thoth-Amon. At the end, instead of having Conan, as
in the original, wander off to resume a piratical life, I
had him enlisted by the rebel Aquilonians to lead them
against Numedides. For Conan to have gone back to
the Main, as he spoke of doing in the original, would
have introduced impossible chronological problems …
“The Black Stranger” cont.
• Title changed.
• Thoth-Amon instead of demon.
• Writing changes. Example.
 Title Author(s)
Conan of Venarium Harry Turtledove
(Conan is 15)
“Legions of the Dead” L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter

“The Thing in the Crypt” L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter

Conan the Defiant Steve Perry

“The Tower of the Elephant” Robert E. Howard

Conan and the Sorcerer Andrew J. Offut

Conan and the Mercenary Andrew J. Offut

Conan: The Sword of Skelos Andrew J. Offut

Conan the Destroyer Robert Jordan

 Title Author(s)
Conan the Magnificent Robert Jordan

Conan the Invincible Robert Jordan

"The Hall of the Dead" Robert E. Howard and De Camp

Conan the Fearless Steve Perry

“The God in the Bowl" Robert E. Howard

(Conan is 17-20)
Conan the Warlord Leonard Carpenter

"Rogues in the House" Robert E. Howard

(Conan is 20-25)
Conan the Victorious Robert Jordan

(We’ll stop here …) Essentially 1 story/novel per year of

life…
Problems with the pastiches and re-writes
1) De Camp in particular saw
REH’s heroes all the same.
And the problem is they
aren’t. For example, Kull is
much more philosophical
than Conan. Breckinridge
Elkins is a comical character.
Conan is neither one of
these.
Later pastiche writers often
see Conan as Milius’
Conan—a monosyllabic,
muscled individual devoid of
most any intellect. A
character driven by simple
revenge.
2) DeCamp had a low opinion
of Howard’s writing. He
wrote: “Howard’s work
suffered from careless
haste. His barbarian
heroes are overgrown
juvenile delinquents; his
settings are a riot of
anachronisms; and his
plots overwork the long
arm of coincidence.” His
naming conventions were
considered “naïve.”
3) John D. Clark, who wrote the
introduction to the first Gnome
Press volume of Conan stories,
saw the stories as simple
entertainment with no
philosophical meanings. De
Camp agreed with him. As
noted above, this is not the case
for all the stories—unfortunately
many of the pastiche writers
have taken this view too. The
result is that many pastiche
novels are just stitched together
sword-fights and bar room
brawls, with Conan’s sole
purpose of rescuing a maiden in
distress
5) Many of the pastiche
writers don’t understand
that there is no battle of
good versus evil in the
way Howard constructed
the series. Thoth-Amon
is not a re-occurring
villain. He appeared in
one Howard story, and
there is an oblique
reference to him in a
second. It needs to be
remembered in the
Howard stories that
Conan acts in his best
interest; whether his
actions are good or bad,
depends on how you are
situated in relation to him.
5) For whatever reason,
many pastiche writers
stick in a damsel-in-
distress when female
characters are in their
novels. The problem with
this, is that it is not typical
Howard. Valeria and Belit
are just two cases where
Howard has strong female
characters who are major
figures in the story.
6) No predestination in
Howard, but often occurs
in the pastiche stories.
Towards the end of the
REH stories, Conan
jokingly makes the
reference to being king
one day. In the pastiches,
this is often a certain thing.
Conclusions
1) While the pastiche writers
may have extended Conan’s
career for readers, they
have muddied his character.
Depending on your view,
you can either thank them
or berate them.
2) Karl Wagner quote.

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