This fact means the injection of forces for Good in Conantics stories must be Carter's idea - an idea he repeats with de Camp in Conan of the Isles, featuring another Good vs. He answered "no" in a letter dated February 2, 1974. I asked Glenn Lord if Howard, in his outline of "The Hand of Nergal", included the golden god-defender of the Heart of Tammuz. A gigantic golden god representing the Heart of Tammuz battles a gigantic tenebrous god representing the Hand of Nergal.
In "The Hand of Nergal," Carter presents the most simple religious conflict possible - Good versus Evil.
I'll let the relevant part of the essay speak for itself:Ĭarter's use of religion in the imitations is one of the major differences between Conantics and Conan, and one of the major flaws in an imitation of Howard. Howard, to fill in gaps in the Saga, and/or to make quick money from the Conan name. The term "Conantics" refers to the Conan of the so-called pastiches, the Conan stories written in imitation of Robert E. Conantics", written by Don Herron and published first in 1976. Now, what does this have to do with the gods? I've found much to support my view in an essay, " Conan vs. Conan generally keeps his word when he has sworn something, but one suspects that he usually rescues the fair maiden of the story because he desires her physically, and he kills warriors, sorcerers and monsters without remorse if and because they stand in the way of his personal goals (fame, wealth and power).
While it's certainly true that Conan is a "hero" who battles and defeats "bad guys", one cannot easily label Howard's Conan a sterotypical "good guy". This article attempts to look into this aspect of Howard's writing, and its implications for fantasy roleplaying.Īs I've explained in the article about alignment, I feel that Howard's stories contain little of that stereotypical good-versus-evil conflict, so common in high fantasy RPGs. Indeed, the list carries the title "Gods & demons of the Hyborian Age", and the majority of the listed beings are of the demonic, dark and sacrifice-craving kind. Looking at the list of Hyborian gods, one notices that there are very few deities that seem benevolent or "good" (in the traditional fantasy roleplaying sense of the word). When I was a thief in Zamora I learned of him.'" - Robert E. Mitra of the Hyborians must be a strong god, because his people have built their cities over the world. 'Some gods are strong to harm, others, to aid at least, so say their priests. 'I would not tread on their shadow', answered the barbarian conservatively. Conantics", written by Don Herron, first published in 1976.
Contributed by: Thulsa ( ), inspired by the essay, "Conan vs.
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