Passion Reveals What's Real & The Nature and Reality of Truth - The Socratic Discourse of Robert E. Howard's Queen of the Black Coast - The Ultimate Conan the Philosopher Dialogue
It truly is awesome
The Discourse Along the Black River
One of the greatest of Robert E. Howard’s short stories is the Queen of the Black Coast. In it Conan encounters the first of his great loves (the other two being Valeria and his later Queen Zenobia), with the character of Belit having a front and centre role in it.
But the love story interesting as it is and tragic as it is, is nothing compared to one of the most fascinating and intriguing discussions in the whole of the Hyborian Age and even early Fantasy fiction. As at the beginning of the story there’s an interesting exchange between Belit and Conan, after a brief two year time skip.
This discussion is one in which the two turn their interests towards a discussion of the gods and life and reality. The discourse between the two of them begins as follows when the two are on her ship the Tigress, with Belit asking Conan the following question.
“'Mystery and terror are about us, Conan, and we glide into the realm of horror and death,' she said. 'Are you afraid?'“
The talk about mystery and terror is important to bear in mind not only for the Hyborian Age which seems filled with such things, but also our own time-period and lives. Mysteries, Terrors and Horrors are all about us, this cannot be denied. That said we have a choice between them and to not be afraid.
‘Are you afraid’ is almost uttered as a kind of challenge, to which any man worth his salt will hesitate before he answers. One such as Belit would likely mock and deride any man who answers that yes there are times when we’re afraid.
But the fact of the matter is that the greatest and most important battle out there is to overcome our fears and doubts. The Cimmerian though answers with a simple shrug, which is as good as any answer. One could almost smell the disappointment from her coming off the page as his answer is so non-committal that it pushes her to ask the question again.
“'I am not afraid either,' she said meditatively. 'I was never afraid. I have looked into the naked fangs of Death too often. Conan, do you fear the gods?'“
Conan’s answer when it comes is one that is carefully thought out. He knows this to be a trap, one that she hopes to use against him, as Belit is anything but loyal. While she may love him, it is not an unconditional love at least not yet, to the contrary she’s quite honestly hypergamous.
“'I would not tread on their shadow,' answered the barbarian conservatively. 'Some gods are strong to harm, others, to aid; at least so say their priests. Mitra of the Hyborians must be a strong god, because his people have builded their cities over the world. But even the Hyborians fear Set. And Bel, god of thieves, is a good god. When I was a thief in Zamora I learned of him.'“
This answer is a simple one, it shows the belief system of Conan who is someone who doesn’t neglect the possibility of a whole pantheon of gods. Notably the gods that attracted his attention are Mitra and Bel, the god of the Hyborians and of thieves respectively.
Mitra is apparently a deity who bears a strong resemblance to the Christian God and of course Bel is as mentioned the thief-god who is something of a trickster. We see revealed here the preferences of Conan who is of a mind that noblesse-oblige is a good thing, with the character obviously drawn to Mitra and Bel on account of how they protect their own and because of how the former is someone he perceives to be strong on account of how his people have conquered all before them in the name of Mitra.
“'What of your own gods? I have never heard you call on them.'
'Their chief is Crom. He dwells on a great mountain. What use to call on him? Little he cares if men live or die. Better to be silent than to call his attention to you; he will send you dooms, not fortune! He is grim and loveless, but at birth he breathes power to strive and slay into a man's soul. What else shall men ask of the gods?'“
Here we see Belit ask Conan about his own gods, with Conan mentioning here something interesting about Crom; he is someone who respects only strength and has no use for the weak. Breathing courage at the start of every Cimmerian’s life, so that the Cimmerians believe that they must not give into fear no matter what.
This isn’t to say that they deny that men feel fear, just that they do not believe that they should be ruled by it. The Cimmerians are people who do not believe in repression, they love to live truly and give themselves over to fabulous acts of enthusiasm and deep, dark melancholies that befits their Celtic natures.
The fact of the matter is that so long as we think, we feel and we breathe we know we exist. This is kind of Conan’s philosophy as we shall soon see unveiled, but what is also noteworthy here is that Conan is in part revealing here a part of his own philosophy; that Valour is necessary to truly live.
Pressed into revealing whether he fears the gods he answers quite fully. Once again he refuses to be baited, refuses to show emotions that might be interpreted as weakness and refuses to allow Belit to mislead him. Simply put he’s thinking on a level she can’t, and in a manner totally foreign to her. The reason being that she is yes searching to know whether he feels fear because if so she will have no qualms about betraying him as she’ll deem him unworthy of her.
So that here we see that one thing women like her respect more than anything is Valour. There’s nothing wrong with this on some level as what Belit requires to survive is a man of courage, a man who fears next to nothing and is willing to get his hands dirty. She’s not exactly being cruel to him nor does she exactly wish to be, but rather she’s testing him in a manner mentioned by
on one of his podcasts precisely because she wants to live, thrive and triumph in her ‘field’ (piracy) and she needs Conan to be greater than her, to be ambitious, to be strong and to be unbending.So her testing him is for his own good. Needless to say though he passes with flying colours (hope you like the pun ;)) as he delves deeper into philosophy than any reader newly introduced to Robert E. Howard might otherwise have expected from him.
Coann’s reply though is one of the most fascinating ever offered in any Fantasy story ever written.
“He shrugged his shoulders. 'I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.'“
This is a fantastic speech that does much to world-build but does show one thing; Conan has a burning desire to live.
And also that he has listened to mystics, to priests, to teachers all talk of what is reality and what is Truth. He has an abiding interest in these things as do we all, and yet he conveys here his own philosophy, his own perspective on what’s true and what isn’t. His view on what is real is based on the fact that he burns with passion, he loves, he hates, he feels terror and bravery, and intoxication of sorts whenever he enters battle. He lives, he burns, he loves, he slays and is content.
Contentedness assures him that he is alive, and that the world isn’t some illusion. In a strange way whenever he enters battle or is with a woman or has food on hand, he is reassured that the world is real and that there is no need for concern on this front.
This is similar to a speech that Zenobia utters in Hour of the Dragon, when she finds Conan imprisoned in the bowels of the palace of King Tarascus in Nemedia.
"I am only a girl of the king's seraglio," she said, with a certain humility. "He has never glanced at me, and probably never will. I am less than one of the dogs that gnaw the bones in his banquet hall. "But I am no painted toy; I am of flesh and blood. I breathe, hate, fear, rejoice and love. And I have loved you, King Conan, ever since I saw you riding at the head of your knights along the streets of Belverus when you visited King Nimed, years ago. My heart tugged at its strings to leap from my bosom and fall in the dust of the street under your horse's hoofs."
Truth after a fashion…
How does this tie together?
Simple dear Readers; what Conan refers to here, if in somewhat subtle manner is a kind of philosophical notion that Descartes as we all know formulated as ‘I think therefore I am’ and that Conan kind of sums up with; ‘I burn with passion, therefore I am.’ It is a point that
makes in one of his videos; ‘Conan the Philosopher?’ or some such title, a fantastic if short video analysing the nature of Conan and questioning whether he’s really all that stupid. M. Settercase’s point is that contrary to popular belief Conan’s actually quite intelligent and a fairly philosophical character.This quote by Conan that if life is an illusion than he is an illusion means that if all life is one big lie, then so is he. And this is something that is often lost on a lot of people; Truth isn’t something that doesn’t exist. It isn’t something that one can hide for as it is an objective force within this universe. There’s also no multiplicity to it, as pointed out by Musashi in his brilliant Go Rin No Sho;
“Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is. And you must bend to its power or live a lie.”
If all of Life is an Illusion than that is the Truth, and we must bend to it or be broken by it. But we know for a fact that there is Truth, as it can be observed in Nature and in certain concrete facts. Such as how you are reading this on a screen that was built by humans, and that was designed by men. There is also the fact that we live in houses, we know this to be objectively true, just as we also know that people are born, they live and they die.
It is in Nature as pointed out by Conan that we may find concrete facts, in the sensations it provides and also in full bellies, instincts, with simple pleasures, thoughts of divers kinds that we might evidence for Reality.
Truth and Reality are intermingled and inseparable it must be said. It is something that must felt. It cannot easily be explained in words. Passion and Truth are rarely ever thought of as being similar or at all connected, however what Howard is doing here is suggesting that there is a connection.
The idea is that so long as you feel strongly about something, so long as you know what you feel, what you think you exist. And as surely as your soul and heart exists so too does the Truth.
And if we apply here the maxim of Miyamoto Musashi, we can say that one must bend towards Truth. To bend towards Truth in this context does not mean to give into every vice, but to instead not repress one’s own nature. We must simply recognize that we are creatures that feel Passion, and that this is part of our existence that we must recognize it and not try to hide it from ourselves.
Far better is it to do as Conan does and recognize and try to understand it. To better understand one’s nature one must accept the bad and the good, and not hide it from oneself. You can hide it from others but to do so to yourself can only evoke cognitive dissonance and otherwise damage your own psyche.
This is why as Musashi points out, we should not live a Lie. It only harms us, the Lie or lies that we tell ourselves are the Illusions we cast on ourselves. This has to be recognized as words do have power, they are awe-inspiring things. They are things that could tear apart a human being if one thinks about it.
With one word a ruler might execute a man, he might undo years of work and he might well destroy his nation or that of another. A woman might break her family simply by uttering a few accusations against her husband, a man might well dishonour his wife and shatter her heart with a few words of his own.
Words are mighty things that have untold power or so believed the ancients, this is why they poured so much effort and focus upon subjects like Grammar which were believed to be powerful things indeed.
And yet the Illusion cannot last forever. Truth as it is said always finds a way. It is a force of Nature itself, and is undeniable. Eventually people always give into it, and always give way to it. Conan’s explanation that we can discern it in our natural desires, wants and natures is important.
Because it can certainly be found somewhere beneath us. At times it surges forth when we’re pushed against the wall and have to recognize some uncomfortable detail or notion, or at other times it can be found simply by a simple internal examination.
The fact is that Facts don’t care about our Feelings. But that Feelings are a different thing from Passion. Passion is about the core of our being, what resonates with it, and what drives us. Feelings in turn are passing things, like joy, sadness and basic, petty wants. They are wants that are momentary and are fragile as glass.
Whereas Passions as pointed out by Conan are those things that validate our existence or show there to be an external reality outside of ourselves. Simply put it is the difference between the idiom All is Vanity as spoken by the wise Marcus Tullius Cicero of Ancient Rome and the notion that all must bend to the Truth spoken of by Musashi.
One is a thing that looms over us, and is inseparable in a manner of speaking from Reality and the other is passing, it is transient. There are things that can be observed in the transient but there’s things that cannot. Passion might well pass it is true, but things like thirst, hunger, happiness and love cannot be easily dismissed. They are real. We know this as surely as we know there to be ground beneath our feet, wind outside and light that stems from the sun.
Therefore we must acknowledge what is true and what isn’t. We must not repress, cater to passing feelings and play pretend. We must acknowledge what is Truth and bend to it, because to do otherwise could cause us undue pains and sorrows.
Reality simply is. Truth exists as an objective concept. And the world is the way it is. No amount of wanting, crying, raging will change these facts.
We must be pragmatic, acknowledge what is and isn’t real. We must allow ourselves to burn with passion, think deeply and to rejoice in life while we still have it. This is the lesson that Conan tries to teach Belit and tries to convey, and it is the message that we can discern behind the words of beautiful Zenobia.
Another detail that must be acknowledged is that usually the Truth is uncomfortable, it isn’t what we want as Musashi points out. It is deeply uncomfortable and can be hard for us to accept. We can either run from it, or we can have the Courage of which Conan speaks of in this story to confront it. Now we know Conan doesn’t want to admit to the nature of his lover, as she is greedy and soon shows herself to care more for jewels than anything else… until her dying moments when she realizes what’s truly important to her is Conan.
So that though he didn’t wish to see the internal darkness there, he did do something very powerful; he pulled her into the light and redeemed her (as I’ve discussed in other articles).
But the thing is Conan still demonstrated courage by choosing to love her, and to give himself wholly to her, as she did with him. This is important because this is them living up to the maxim of which Conan speaks; that is to say that they are truly living. They aren’t pretending to be aught else than they are. They accept themselves for what they are, they do not repress themselves and do not lie to themselves for the most part.
They face the uncomfortable facts about this world and the internal world within themselves so that they are living truer than anyone else in the Hyborian Age if for but a brief time. The thing is their Passion was true, and that should be enough. This isn’t to say that we must find the most passionate relationship and forget reason, not at all. Only that if we feel Passion we should accept it, and if we don’t we must not lie or cover it up as this will only lead to pain.
Discomfort is part of Life, and therefore must be confronted, must be accepted and must be tackled. There are facts about ourselves we might not like but we need to deal with, but so long as we live truly to ourselves, and are honest with ourselves all should be well.
We will know that we’re on the right path when what discomforted no longer do so, and when we can face the ugliness inside and around us without fear. Truth isn’t something one can ignore or deny, or hide from and lies always destroy us.
The thing that discomforted Conan was the desires of his lover, but he learns to confront it and still love her. He tackles the uncomfortable and moves on, and this is important, as he continues to burn with Passion. This is how we know he is living truly and so the same is with us. We must grieve, cheer, and laugh and burn with as much Passion as possible if we are to live truly to ourselves and we must not however rage at the lies as they fall before us and discomfit us but rather accept the loss of illusions and the light of Truth.
Because if we cling too tightly to lies and Illusions we harm ourselves.
So…. live, burn, cheer, laugh and all that jazz as said before and embrace yourself and know that Life is no Illusion, there exists Truth in this world and the fact you’re alive is proof enough of that fact.
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We’d be very much in your debt for this generous show of gratitude. That’s the simple Truth of the matter (I could not resist this little joke).
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I like it!
What a great piece, thank you for the feature brother!