Robert E. Howard and the Adventures of Conan

Robert E. Howard is renowned among fantasy fans as the creator of such memorable “Sword and Sorcery” characters as Conan the Cimmerian, Kull of Atlantis, and Solomon Kane. In fact, his stories have been hailed as “some of the most influential fantasy writing of the twentieth century, second only to J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings saga.” (Blood and Thunder, p. 15) 

Born in 1906, Robert had a hard-knock childhood that served as fuel for his innate creative talent. His father’s wanderlust caused the family to move often, and his mother was chronically ill due to tuberculosis. When Robert was thirteen, the Howards settled in Cross Plains, Texas, an oil boomtown where violence and crime were endemic. Robert escaped the anxieties of this hardscrabble life through a voracious passion for reading and storytelling. Although Cross Plains did not have a library, Robert managed to acquire books wherever and whenever he could. He also collected folklore, tall tales, and oral histories from the older generations of Texans.

Robert was a sensitive and stubborn man who chafed under the oppressive atmosphere of the few menial jobs available in town. Determined to work for no one but himself, he built a career as a professional writer through sheer grit, self-discipline, and tireless effort. Robert often spent up to twelve hours a day at his typewriter, battling against constant discouragement and rejection. After years of writing, he finally broke into the pulp magazines, such as Weird Tales, where his work thrived.

Many details of Robert’s life have been obscured by a wall of confusion and conflicting accounts, due in part to his own propensity for embellishment, as well as the speculative psychoanalysis indulged in by his early biographers. Very little seems to be known for certain about Robert Howard’s faith. Even the recent scholarly biography Blood and Thunder, mentions Robert’s religious sensibilities only in passing. The Howard family were not regular churchgoers and it may be impossible to say whether or not Robert considered himself a Christian.

However, Robert’s short stories and voluminous correspondence do contain some clues about his religious beliefs, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, seem to have been unconventional. Through his exhaustive research into the history and world religions, Robert came to be influenced by elements of Eastern mysticism. In his letters, he speculates about the possibility of past-lives, and references to reincarnation appear occasionally in his stories.

Regardless, his fantasy tales are often steeped in biblical imagery and themes. The first published Conan story, “The Phoenix on the Sword,” is remarkable for utilizing imagery from the book of Genesis, depicting a demonic Serpent as the ancient enemy of mankind. The life of King David also appears to have partially inspired the Conan mythos. In his youth, long before he became a mighty king, the Cimmerian slayed at least two giants, as recounted in the story “The Frost-Giant’s Daughter.”

In a revealing letter to fellow pulp writer H. P. Lovecraft, Howard writes he had “always had a deep interest in Israel in connection with Saul,” the first king of Israel. (quoted in Blood and Thunder, p. 138). Indeed, Saul is thought to have had a particular influence on the creation of Robert’s first Sword and Sorcery character, King Kull. But Howard’s interpretation of Saul’s life was wildly skewed by anti-clerical sentiments, according to which Saul was the unfortunate victim of the machinations of the “vindictive, selfish, and blindly shrewd” prophet Samuel. (ibid., p. 139)

Howard’s disdain for “plotting priest-craft” (ibid.) can be seen in some of the Conan stories as well, where representatives of organized religion are routinely pilloried as insincere, greedy, and power-hungry. Howard’s low opinion of priests was likely the product of his overarching personal philosophy that civilization itself was inherently corrupt and decadent, inferior to the supposedly virile virtues of the “barbarian” cultures. In the primitive religion of Conan’s native Cimmeria, there are no priests.

Howard seems to have completely misunderstood the narrative arc of Sacred Scripture: God’s loving relationship with his chosen people Israel and, through them, with all mankind. Divine mercy seems inexplicably absent from Howard’s worldview, as can be demonstrated by another of his famous characters, Solomon Kane, a sixteenth-century Puritan who avenges the innocent by brutally slaying evildoers in the name of God. Indeed, “Kane’s idea of divinity seems tied to the Old Testament and wrath.” (Blood and Thunder, p. 142) Humanity’s sinfulness and cruelty, as well as harsh retributive justice, are themes that form an unsettling undercurrent throughout Robert’s fantasy.

At the age of thirty, as his mother finally succumbed to tuberculosis, Robert lost all hope for the future. Tormented by severe depression, this impending loss was more than he could bear. Robert shot himself in the head with a borrowed gun and died eight hours later. In a final cruel irony, the Scripture passage read for his funeral at Cross Plains First Baptist Church was the account of King Saul’s suicide in 1 Samuel, Chapter 31.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us to pray for persons who have taken their own lives and we can certainly hope that, during the eight hours Robert Howard lay unconscious after the fatal gunshot, God provided him with the “opportunity for salutary repentance.” (CCC 2283) Despite the tragic end to his earthly story, Robert Howard’s literary legacy lives on: The adventures of Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane, and his other larger-than-life characters continue to be read and enjoyed by millions of adoring fans all over the world. 

Works Cited

Finn, Mark. Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard. Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, 2006.