Kindness' Transformative Role & How Conan the Barbarian was Knighted & first became a Man - The Elephant Tower & The Nameless Horror of Yara's Savagery

Special thanks to Astral

The Tower

In the story of the Tower of the Elephant, we see a different side of the character known as Conan the Cimmerian than what most are likely accustomed to. A character who quite honestly is nothing like the popular image.

Now in the story that operates as the first one in the timeline that Robert E. Howard the creator of what later became known as ‘Conan the Barbarian’ we get introduced to a youth with an impulsive streak that would serve him poorly at least initially. Conan as we see him is a youth of 15 years of age, and while there was to be a lot revealed about him in Howard’s letters such as how Conan was born and his first battle.

The thing about the Elephant Tower is that this was the story that is the first really ‘definitive’ story in a lot of ways within the chronological timeline. The tragedy in this story is that Conan enters the tale with the notion that he’ll walk away with a small fortune and achieve glory.

Glory he hardly finds, and wealth he doesn’t claim.

What he walks away with is greater than these things though. He finds the most disgusting villain imaginable and what true Evil is all about. Confronted by wickedness, evil and savagery he will be faced by one who has endured all these things and more and still retained a sense of compassion and pity for others.

In short Yag is noble and pitiable. The trouble is that he’s been hidden from sight and blinded and left in the dark to endure his captor’s torments for far too long.

The Horror

Imagine coming to a new place, be it a country or a planet to share with the inhabitants knowledge, wisdom of the kind they never imagined. Then imagine adopting one of them only for him to later imprison you and torture you, but here’s the kicker; you can’t die.

That’s the fate that meets the tragic Elephant-Man.

He’s someone who had no ill intent towards humanity when he first landed on earth, as his only thought was to make a new home for himself. In time he came to regard the son of Men as children of a sorts, to be doted upon and if not spoiled then at least nurtured.

The fact that one of their number turned upon him and no rescue came is a damning indictment. It is Horror of the worst kind as it involves a lack of sympathy, a lack of all goodness on the part of the sorcerer who captured and imprisoned the Elephant-Man.

The lesson this teaches is that there are Horrors and Evils that Man is capable of that surpasses everyone’s wildest imaginings. But don’t take my word for it, let’s turn to what he has to say for himself.

“'Who is here? Have you come to torture me again, Yara? Will you never be done? Oh, Yag-kosha, is there no end to agony?'
Tears rolled from the sightless eyes, and Conan's gaze strayed to the limbs stretched on the marble couch. And he knew the monster would not rise to attack him. He knew the marks of the rack, and the searing brand of the flame, and tough-souled as he was, he stood aghast at the ruined deformities which his reason told him had once been limbs as comely as his own.”

An ancient of a prior world, one who has had limbs severed so cannot move from where he’s been placed and is reduced to whimpering and begging for mercy and weeping from the pain.

There’s something about this text that’s just heart-rending. It is superbly well-written but it is the next section that always tears my heart out.

The Lesson of Kindness

The lesson here is just that of Kindness but also of the difference between boys and Men as we shall soon see. It is the lesson that Kindness doesn’t unman Men, it elevates them, it is also a transformative act that metamorphoses Conan from the child and into the Hero he was meant to be.

“And suddenly all fear and repulsion went from him, to be replaced by a great pity. What this monster was, Conan could not know, but the evidences of its sufferings were so terrible and pathetic that a strange aching sadness came over the Cimmerian, he knew not why. He only felt that he was looking upon a cosmic tragedy, and he shrank with shame, as if the guilt of a whole race were laid upon him.”

This is one of the most important paragraphs in the history of Conan the Cimmerian. The reason for this is because of how the ache of sadness is what compassion is. It is an emotion intermingled with sadness, it is what Tolkien would have rightly called ‘pity’.

In Tolkien’s works Pity takes front and centre stage in terms of emotions and virtues alongside humility. This sentiment of pity can be seen in how Bilbo spared Gollum, same when Frodo does so, and is why Aragorn forgives Boromir when he lies dying before him.

That said the notion of pity of this sort has also appeared in stories like those of Ivanhoe where the eponymous hero shows considerable pity towards the peasants and farmers and other Saxon people. It is the virtue that separates Richard I from his wicked younger brother John.

It is also observable in a story like that of Odin and Vathrudnir wherein they have a game of wisdom in which the loser loses his head. At the end Odin refuses to tear off the head of his rival, and prefers to show mercy in what is one of the most moving shows of chivalry in literary history.

It can also be observed in how Achilles moved by Priam’s pleas allows him to reclaim the corpse of Hektor. Though the pity of Achilles has to be counter-balanced by the poor comportment of his son at the end of the war. That aside the pity of the likes of Herakles for his cousin Theseus is also a good mythological example as he discovered Theseus being tormented in Erebus.

The thing about Conan’s sense of aching sorrow for Yag-Kosha is something very mythologically thematic. It is a great scene that sees Conan tell the Elephant-Man in a comforting voice.

“'I am not Yara,' he said. 'I am only a thief. I will not harm you.'“

The response from Yag is as follows:

“'Come near that I may touch you,' the creature faltered, and Conan came near unfearingly, his sword hanging forgotten in his hand. The sensitive trunk came out and groped over his face and shoulders, as a blind man gropes, and its touch was light as a girl's hand.

'You are not of Yara's race of devils,' sighed the creature. 'The clean, lean fierceness of the wastelands marks you. I know your people from of old, whom I knew by another name in the long, long ago when another world lifted its jeweled spires to the stars. There is blood on your fingers.'

'A spider in the chamber above and a lion in the garden,' muttered Conan.

'You have slain a man too, this night,' answered the other. 'And there is death in the tower above. I feel; I know.'

'Aye,' muttered Conan. 'The prince of all thieves lies there dead from the bite of a vermin.'

'So—and so!' The strange inhuman voice rose in a sort of low chant. 'A slaying in the tavern and a slaying on the road—I know; I feel. And the third will make the magic of which not even Yara dreams—oh, magic of deliverance, green gods of Yag!'

Again tears fell as the tortured body was rocked to and fro in the grip of varied emotions. Conan looked on, bewildered.

Then the convulsions ceased; the soft, sightless eyes were turned toward the Cimmerian, the trunk beckoned.

'Oh man, listen,' said the strange being. 'I am foul and monstrous to you, am I not? Nay, do not answer; I know. But you would seem as strange to me, could I see you. There are many worlds besides this earth, and life takes many shapes. I am neither god nor demon, but flesh and blood like yourself, though the substance differ in part, and the form be cast in a different mold.

'I am very old, oh man of the waste countries; long and long ago I came to this planet with others of my world, from the green planet Yag, which circles for ever in the outer fringe of this universe. We swept through space on mighty wings that drove us through the cosmos quicker than light, because we had warred with the kings of Yag and were defeated and outcast. But we could never return, for on earth our wings withered from our shoulders. Here we abode apart from earthly life. We fought the strange and terrible forms of life which then walked the earth, so that we became feared, and were not molested in the dim jungles of the east, where we had our abode.

'We saw men grow from the ape and build the shining cities of Valusia, Kamelia, Commoria and their sisters. We saw them reel before the thrusts of the heathen Atlanteans and Picts and Lemurians. We saw the oceans rise and engulf Atlantis and Lemuria, and the isles of the Picts, and the shining cities of civilization. We saw the survivors of Pictdom and Atlantis build their stone-age empires, and go down to ruin, locked in bloody wars. We saw the Picts sink into abysmal savagery, the Atlanteans into apedom again. We saw new savages drift southward in conquering waves from the Arctic circle to build a new civilization, with new kingdoms called Nemedia, and Koth, and Aquilonia and their sisters. We saw your people rise under a new name from the jungles of the apes that had been Atlanteans. We saw the descendants of the Lemurians who had survived the cataclysm, rise again through savagery and ride westward as Hyrkanians. And we saw this race of devils, survivors of the ancient civilization that was before Atlantis sank, come once more into culture and power—this accursed kingdom of Zamora.

'All this we saw, neither aiding nor hindering the immutable cosmic law, and one by one we died; for we of Yag are not immortal, though our lives are as the lives of planets and constellations. At last I alone was left, dreaming of old times among the ruined temples of jungle-lost Khitai, worshipped as a god by an ancient yellow-skinned race. Then came Yara, versed in dark knowledge handed down through the days of barbarism, since before Atlantis sank.

'First he sat at my feet and learned wisdom. But he was not satisfied with what I taught him, for it was white magic, and he wished evil lore, to enslave kings and glut a fiendish ambition. I would teach him none of the black secrets I had gained, through no wish of mine, through the eons.

'But his wisdom was deeper than I had guessed; with guile gotten among the dusky tombs of dark Stygia, he trapped me into divulging a secret I had not intended to bare; and turning my own power upon me, he enslaved me. Ah, gods of Yag, my cup has been bitter since that hour!

'He brought me up from the lost jungles of Khitai where the gray apes danced to the pipes of the yellow priests, and offerings of fruit and wine heaped my broken altars. No more was I a god to kindly jungle-folk—I was slave to a devil in human form.'

Again tears stole from the unseeing eyes.

'He pent me in this tower which at his command I built for him in a single night. By fire and rack he mastered me, and by strange unearthly tortures you would not understand. In agony I would long ago have taken my own life, if I could. But he kept me alive—mangled, blinded, and broken—to do his foul bidding. And for three hundred years I have done his bidding, from this marble couch, blackening my soul with cosmic sins, and staining my wisdom with crimes, because I had no other choice. Yet not all my ancient secrets has he wrested from me, and my last gift shall be the sorcery of the Blood and the Jewel.

'For I feel the end of time draw near. You are the hand of Fate. I beg of you, take the gem you will find on yonder altar.'

Conan turned to the gold and ivory altar indicated, and took up a great round jewel, clear as crimson crystal; and he knew that this was the Heart of the Elephant.

'Now for the great magic, the mighty magic, such as earth has not seen before, and shall not see again, through a million million of millenniums. By my life-blood I conjure it, by blood born on the green breast of Yag, dreaming far-poised in the great blue vastness of Space.

'Take your sword, man, and cut out my heart; then squeeze it so that the blood will flow over the red stone. Then go you down these 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 you 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.'“

This is the first act of pity, of kindness that has been shown to him. This is the first time we see Conan the Cimmerian filled with pity, with compassion for another.

In the story of Queen of the Black Coast we saw him grapple with Love but also the idea of Reality and the Truth. Whereas here we see him tackle the idea of Pity, and of sorrow for another person. It is handled maturely and skilfully so that one is left aching with the same sort of grief and sadness that Conan himself is consumed by for Yag-Kosha.

And this is honestly the perfect first story of Howard’s many works to get into; why? Because it introduces the characters, fills us with pity for him and for Yag, and is more an emotional and spiritual journey than a physical one. The story within the story so to speak is deeper and more interesting. It is a story that easily blows even the best Kull stories out of the water and shows how far along Howard came regarding his craft.

"Pity is akin to love." is an old proverb I’ve found and it is apt here, as it could be said that Conan came to love Yag in that hour at least. Yag for his people seems to feel a great deal of affection for the Cimmerian he now knows is there to liberate him from his pain and his suffering.

It happens that this is the most robust form of ‘teaching pity’ in short-story format that I’ve ever seen as we see not only one who has suffered worse than any other character in such a format throughout the 20th century.

It also leads quite well into Conan’s next action.

“Uncertainly Conan approached, and Yag-kosha, or Yogah, as if sensing his uncertainty, indicated where he should strike. Conan set his teeth and drove the sword deep. Blood streamed over the blade and his hand, and the monster started convulsively, then lay back quite still. Sure that life had fled, at least life as he understood it, Conan set to work on his grisly task and quickly brought forth something that he felt must be the strange being's heart, though it differed curiously from any he had ever seen. Holding the pulsing organ over the blazing jewel, he pressed it with both hands, and a rain of blood fell on the stone. To his surprise, it did not run off, but soaked into the gem, as water is absorbed by a sponge.”

Conan must carve out the heart of Yag-Kosha in order to save him from his agony. It is the sort of action that a materialist story could never produce but one transcendental by nature can. Because this action results in Yag coming back from the dead to punish his enemy.

Call it karma, call it providence but it is not only the punishment of Yara that is important but the fact that Conan moves to help slay Yag. He kills him that he might live again so to speak.

This is Conan learning the value of ‘mercy-killing’ as Kull did with the one woman of his tribe in the Exile of Atlantis story. Conan is thus learning in the darkness the value of Chivalry.

What do I mean by Chivalry?

I mean the value of showing mercy of a sorts, justice and also doing right by his fellow ‘Man’ so that in this regard Conan does indeed embody Chivalry. Many of his stories show him to be willing to show mercy, to enact justice against the wicked, and nowhere does he actively wantonly murder people out of hand or rape anyone.

All things considered he’s quite moral in the classical sense. He’s someone who also doesn’t believe in slavery and actively despises it.

Yet where did Conan learn kindness? Where did he learn Chivalry? Why, in the Elephant Tower.

He’s placed in a position to witness an act of wickedness worse than anything he could imagine, and one that is a total contrast to his own nature. Savage, barbaric and Ferocious are all words that have been used to describe Conan the Cimmerian, and here it is that we must point out that these words are not antonyms of Chivalry, Goodness and Heroism.

The Cimmerian demonstrates therefore the value of kindness/pity but also that it must be combined with a masculine vitality so that it becomes Chivalry. He does what most wouldn’t be able to and won’t by ending Yag’s life.

This is an act that merits much more attention and is far deeper than it is presented to be and than most have interpreted it to be. Because to show pity to another is not to undercut oneself but to elevate both. It is important to note that the equal act of compassion is to end Yara’s life.

You see Yara is a monster who incapable of changing, incapable of good so that killing him is sparing future victims from having to undergo similar torments to those inflicted upon Yag-Kosha. Chivalry of this sort is a masculine virtue, one that doesn’t get the sort of credit it ought to.

It is also an interesting philosophical question; is it right to kill someone who is dying and has been tortured and wishes for death or not?

We know what the ancients would have said. Because when Herakles is dying due to the idiocy and selfishness of his wife Deianeira, the decision by Philoktetes is regarded not as a horrible thing but as an act of Chivalry and even heroism. The sons’ of Herakles simply loved their father too much to slay him and arguably it’d be wrong for them to do so as it’d technically be parricide.

Yet Philoktetes does it and is honoured and thanked for it.

So what Howard has done is cast Conan in the role of Philoktetes, casting Yag in the role of Herakles thematically speaking. The comparison could not be clearer and is meant to demonstrate a key difference between boyhood and manhood.

Boys are to be shielded while men do the shielding.

Men are meant to also make the hard choices nobody else wants to make. It is therefore an act that matures Conan from the boy that he was, into the man he was to become later.

It is in short the ‘Crossing of the Threshold’ within the story of Conan as it causes him to traverse and finalize the first step in the journey. He in short has taken his first step into a larger world.

Now we know superheroes would never make the choice. But Conan is no ‘superhero’, he’s a Hero in the purely classical and Chivalric sense of the word. He’s the sort of hero who does what is right and makes the hard choices the sort that Superman, Batman and others can’t make.

He also keeps firmly to a certain code of conduct that few in-universe wholly understand and yet they still love him for it. But the beginning of that journey towards being loved, being revered and also seizing the crown arguably starts with Yag-Kosha and the lesson of true pity.

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