Red Nails
Encyclopedia
"Red Nails" is the last of the stories about Conan the Cimmerian
written by American
author Robert E. Howard
. A novella, it was originally serialized in Weird Tales
magazine from July to October 1936. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age
and concerns Conan encountering a lost city in which the degenerate inhabitants are proactively resigned to their own destruction. Due to its grim themes of decay and death, the story is considered a classic of Conan lore and is often cited by Howard scholars as one of his best tales.
The story was republished in the collections The Sword of Conan
(Gnome Press
, 1952) and Conan the Warrior
(Lancer Books
, 1967). It was first published by itself in book form by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. in 1975 as volume IV of their deluxe Conan set. It has most recently been republished in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon (Gollancz
,2001) and The Conquering Sword of Conan (Del Rey
, 2005) (published in the United Kingdom by Wandering Star as Conan of Cimmeria: Volume Three (1935-1936)
), as well as The Best of Robert E. Howard, Volume 2: Grim Lands ( Del Rey
, 2007).
of the Red Brotherhood enters this wilderness, fleeing persecution after killing a would-be rapist. She is followed into the wilderness by Conan, a fellow adventurer who hopes to make her his woman. They meet and quarrel, but their stand-off is interrupted by a "dragon" (actually a dinosaur) that mauls their horses. They retreat to a crag the monster cannot scale, but are trapped without food or water. Conan recognizes some poisonous fruit growing nearby. The pair fashion a spear, coat the tip with poison from the fruit, and thrust it into the jaws of the monster. Although blinded, the raging monster pursues them by their scent. Overtaken, Conan whirls to face the beast and lures it to its death.
Conan and Valeria emerge from the forest and make their way to a strange walled city they spotted from the crag. There are no grazing herds or cultivated fields; they assume the city is deserted. When they arrive at the city, Conan forces open the door, long since rusted shut. The couple enter a bizarre twilight world. The city, which they come to know as Xuchotl, is a single massive structure completely enclosed and roofed over. A single great hallway runs the length of the city, but there are no other streets or open courtyards. It consists entirely of four tiers of rooms, chambers and passageways. Xuchotl is constructed of jade with traces of other exotic materials.
The pair separate to search the city's seemingly empty halls. Valeria encounters a man named Techotl whom she joins in a fray between two factions that dwell in the once populous city. Aided by Conan, they defeat their enemies. Techotl invites Conan and Valeria into the stronghold of his people, the Tecuhltli. They are welcomed by the rulers, Olmec and Tascela. As Conan and Valeria rest, Olmec recounts the history of his people.
The city of Xuchotil was built long before its current inhabitants arrived. In those earlier times, a slave — Tolkemec — betrayed his masters and guided the newly arrived invaders into the city where they put to death the original builders. The conquerors were led by two brothers, Tecuhltli and Xotalanc, who afterward ruled peacefully over the city until a feud developed when Tecuhltli stole the bride of his brother Xotalanc. The slave Tolkemec betrayed both sides for his own purposes and was exiled to the catacombs.
As Olmec tells his tale, Tascela becomes enraptured with Valeria. Later she has a slave attempt to drug Valeria with the black lotus, a powerful narcotic plant. Valeria manages to overpower the slave and attempts to force her to reveal the motive behind such treachery. However, the slave feigns submission and escapes.
Valeria's pursuit of the slave is interrupted when the Xotalancas breach the Tecuhltli defenses. In the end the Xotalancas are exterminated and only Conan, Valeria, Olmec, Tascela, and fifteen Tecuhltli defenders remain alive. When Conan and two warriors leave to scout the Xotalanc stronghold, Valeria is left behind while her wounds are tended.
Olmec attempts to force himself on Valeria, but he is thwarted by Tascela. She is revealed to be a sorceress and the stolen bride who originally started the feud. She plans to use Valeria's vitality to restore her youth. Erstwhile, Olmec secretly ordered his two warriors to slay Conan. Conan kills them and hurries back for Valeria. Returning to Tecuhltli, Conan finds Olmec bound and tortured. Conan releases him, but Olmec attempts another betrayal and Conan slays him.
Conan comes upon Tascela who has Valeria pinned to an altar. Conan, caught in a steel trap, watches powerlessly as Tascela proceeds with the sacrifice of Valeria. The scene is interrupted by Tolkemec who has returned from the catacombs, wielding a wand of terrible destructive power. Desperate for assistance against Tolkemec, Tascela frees Conan. Conan is able to defeat Tolkemec. Valeria, freed, avenges herself upon Tascela with a dagger thrust to the heart.
With the last inhabitants of Xuchotl slain, Conan and Valeria depart the dead city.
"She was tall, full-bosomed and large-limbed, with compact shoulders. Her whole figure reflected an unusual strength, without detracting from the femininity of her appearance. She was all woman, in spite of her bearing and her garments. The latter were incongruous, in view of her present environs. Instead of a skirt she wore short, wide-legged silk breeches, which ceased a hand's breath short of her knees, and were upheld by a wide silken sash worn as a girdle. Flaring-topped boots of soft leather came almost to her knees, and a low-necked, wide-collared, wide-sleeved silk shirt completed her costume. On one shapely hip she wore a straight double-edged sword, and on the other a long dirk. Her unruly golden hair, cut square at her shoulders, was confined by a band of crimson satin.
"Against the background of somber, primitive forest she posed with unconscious picturesqueness, bizarre and out of place. She should have been posed against a background of sea-clouds, painted masts and wheeling gulls. There was the color of the sea in her wide eyes. And that was how it should have been, because this was Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, whose deeds are celebrated in song and ballad wherever seafarers gather."
"He was almost a giant in stature, muscles rippling smoothly under his skin which the sun had burned brown. His garb was similar to hers, except that he wore a broad leather belt instead of a girdle. Broadsword and poniard hung from this belt
"'Conan, the Cimmerian!' ejaculated the woman..."
At this point in the saga, Conan is a seasoned warrior with years of experience acquired in many lands:
"'I was a kozak before I was a pirate...They live in the saddle. I snatch naps like a panther watching beside the trail for a deer to come by. My ears keep watch while my eyes sleep.'
"And indeed the giant barbarian seemed as much refreshed as if he had slept the whole night on a golden bed. Having removed the thorns, and peeled off the tough skin, he handed the girl a thick, juicy cactus leaf.
"'Skin your teeth in that pear. It's food and drink to a desert man. I was chief of the Zuagirs once -- desert men who live by plundering the caravans.'
"'Is there anything you haven't been?' inquired the girl, half in derision and half in fascination."
"...He was slightly above middle height, very dark, though not negroid. He was naked but for a scanty silk clout that only partly covered his muscular hips, and a leather girdle, a hand's breadth broad, about his lean waist. His long black hair hung in lank strands about his shoulders, giving him a wild appearance. He was gaunt, but knots and cords of muscles stood out on his arms and legs, without that fleshy padding that presents a pleasing symmetry of contour. He was built with an economy that was almost repellent."
Techotl befriends Conan and Valeria. We are told, "In the cold, loveless and altogether hideous life of the Techultli, his admiration and affection for the invaders from the outer world formed a warm, human oasis, constituted a tie that connected him with a more natural humanity that was totally lacking in his fellows, whose only emotions were hate, lust and the urge of sadistic cruelty."
"The woman beside him sprang to her feet with a startled exclamation as the strangers entered, and her eyes, passing over Conan, fixed themselves with burning intensity on Valeria. She was tall and lithe, by far the most beautiful woman in the room. She was clad more scantily even than the others; for instead of a skirt she wore merely a broad strip of gilt-worked purple cloth fastened to the middle of her girdle which fell below her knees. Another strip at the back of her girdle completed that part of her costume, which she wore with a cynical indifference. Her breast-plates and the circlet about her temples were adorned with gems. In her eyes alone of all the dark-skinned people there lurked no brooding gleam of madness..."
"'Tolkemec!' whispered Tascela, livid, while the others crouched in speechless horror. 'No myth, then, no ghost! Set! You have dwelt for twelve years in darkness! Twelve years among the bones of the dead! What grisly food did you find? What mad travesty of life did you live, in the stark blackness of that eternal night?..."
genre a vehicle for expressing these views. Howard's Puritan adventurer Solomon Kane
explored the lost African city of Negari in "The Moon of Skulls", published in Weird Tales in 1930. In this tale we can discern the influence of She
by H. Rider Haggard
and the lost city of Opar
that appears in the Tarzan
novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Howard's Negari is ruled by the seductive queen Nakari, recalling Haggard's Ayesha
and Burroughs' La
of Opar.
When Howard moved on to the Conan series, he began to place his own distinctive stamp on the lost city tale. In "Xuthal of the Dusk
" (published in the September 1933 issue of Weird Tales as "The Slithering Shadow"), Conan and a female companion discover an inhabited lost city and encounter its resident femme fatale. Though not without merit, "Xuthal of the Dusk" is generally regarded as a second-rate Conan story. However its theme of the decadence of a stagnant, dying culture is clearly evident. "Xuthal" is commonly viewed as the direct precursor to "Red Nails."
The theme of cultural decadence maintained its grip on Howard's imagination. In early 1935 he remarked to Novalyne Price:
The idea that would become "Red Nails" continued to germinate in Howard's mind, and later that year he began the actual writing of the tale. It would be the last major fantasy Howard would complete.
In 1935 Howard found himself burdened with medical expenses for the treatment of his ailing mother. Payment from Weird Tales was becoming increasingly unreliable. In early May, Howard wrote to editor Farnsworth Wright
pleading for money owed him. At that time Weird Tales owed Howard over eight hundred dollars for stories already published, and payable upon publication. Wright had been paying Howard in a series of monthly installments, but these checks ceased just when Howard needed them most. Howard explained the circumstances surrounding his need and made it clear that he understood that Weird Tales was undergoing its own share of financial difficulties due to the Depression
. However, he felt moved to state in no uncertain terms, "A monthly check from Weird Tales may well mean for me the difference between a life that is at least endurable --and God alone knows what."
Howard received no immediate reply from Wright. A week later he wrote to his agent, Otis Adelbert Kline
, inquiring if Kline had any inside knowledge concerning the situation at the Weird Tales editorial offices. Howard was ultimately moved to concentrate on better-paying markets, primarily those for Western
fiction. In a letter to H. P. Lovecraft
he confided, "As for my own fantasy writing, whether or not I do any future work in that field depends a good deal on the editors themselves. I would hate to abandon weird writing entirely, but my financial needs are urgent, immediate and imperious. Slowness of payment in the fantastic field forces me into other lines against my will."
On July 22, 1935, Howard mailed the typescript of "Red Nails" to Weird Tales. At the time he shared his thoughts with Clark Ashton Smith
, another colleague: "Sent a three-part serial to Wright yesterday: 'Red Nails,' which I devoutly hope he'll like. A Conan yarn, and the grimmest, bloodiest and most merciless story of the series so far. Too much raw meat, maybe, but I merely portrayed what I honestly believe would be the reactions of certain types of people in the situations on which the plot of the story hung..."
Later in the year, Howard told Lovecraft, "The last yarn I sold to Weird Tales --and it well may be the last fantasy I'll ever write-- was a three-part Conan serial which was the bloodiest and most sexy weird story I ever wrote. I have been dissatisfied with my handling of decaying races in stories, for the reason that degeneracy is so prevalent in such races that it can not be ignored as a motive and as a fact if the fiction is to have any claim to realism. I have ignored it in all other stories, as one of the taboos, but I did not ignore it in this story..."
On the verge of abandoning fantasy for more commercial concerns, Howard devoted considerable thought and effort to his final allegorical statement.
and Barry Windsor-Smith
for issues #2-3 of the Marvel Comics
magazine series Savage Tales
. The Thomas/Smith tale was later reprinted in the 1987 black-and-white magazine Conan Saga. It has also been reprinted many times since then, both in black-and-white and in full color, by Marvel and more recently by Dark Horse.
An animated feature based on this story, Conan: Red Nails, is currently in production. Actor Ron Perlman
will provide the voice of Conan. Tolkemec is voiced by Mark Hamill
in this version. However, there have been no updates to the film's website since December 2007. IMDB currently lists the film for release in 2010.
Cerasini, Marc A and Charles Hoffman. (1987) Robert E. Howard. Mercer Island, WA; Starmont House.
Ellis, Novalyne Price. (1986) One Who Walked Alone: Robert E. Howard: The Final Years. West Kingston, RI; Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc.
Howard, Robert E. Letter to Otis Adelbert Kline, May 6, 1935.
_________. Letter to H. P. Lovecraft, December 5, 1935.
_________. Letter to H. P. Lovecraft, February 11, 1936.
_________. Letter to Clark Ashton Smith, July 23, 1935.
_________. Letter to Farnsworth Wright, May 6, 1935.
_________. (2005) "Red Nails", The Conquering Sword of Conan. New York: Del Rey. pp. 211-281.
Louinet, Patrice. (2005) "Hyborian Genesis Part III", The Conquering Sword of Conan. New York: Del Rey. pp. 369-386.
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...
written by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard
Robert Ervin Howard was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. Best known for his character Conan the Barbarian, he is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre....
. A novella, it was originally serialized in Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
magazine from July to October 1936. It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age
Hyborian Age
The Hyborian Age is a fictional period within the artificial mythology created by Robert E. Howard, in which the sword and sorcery tales of Conan the Barbarian are set....
and concerns Conan encountering a lost city in which the degenerate inhabitants are proactively resigned to their own destruction. Due to its grim themes of decay and death, the story is considered a classic of Conan lore and is often cited by Howard scholars as one of his best tales.
The story was republished in the collections The Sword of Conan
The Sword of Conan
The Sword of Conan is a collection of four fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian, first published in hardcover by Gnome Press in 1952. The stories originally appeared in the 1930s in the fantasy magazine Weird Tales...
(Gnome Press
Gnome Press
Gnome Press was an American small-press publishing company primarily known for publishing many science fiction classics.The company was founded in 1948 by Martin Greenberg and David A. Kyle. Many of Gnome's titles were reprinted in England by Boardman Books...
, 1952) and Conan the Warrior
Conan the Warrior
Conan the Warrior is a 1967 collection of three fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The collection is introduced and edited by L. Sprague de Camp. The stories originally appeared in the fantasy magazine Weird Tales in...
(Lancer Books
Lancer Books
Lancer Books was a series of paperback books published from 1961 through 1973 by Irwin Stein and Walter Zacharius. While it published stories of a number of genres, it was noted most for its science fiction and fantasy, particularly its series of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian tales, the...
, 1967). It was first published by itself in book form by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. in 1975 as volume IV of their deluxe Conan set. It has most recently been republished in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon (Gollancz
Gollancz
Gollancz often refers to the British publishing house Victor Gollancz Ltd.Gollancz, a family name originating from the Polish town Gołańcz , is mainly known as the name of a prominent British Jewish family, including:* Sir Hermann Gollancz , rabbi* Sir Israel Gollancz , scholar of...
,2001) and The Conquering Sword of Conan (Del Rey
Del Rey Books
Del Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House and, in turn since 1998, by Bertelsmann AG. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. It specializes in science fiction and fantasy...
, 2005) (published in the United Kingdom by Wandering Star as Conan of Cimmeria: Volume Three (1935-1936)
Conan of Cimmeria: Volume Three (1935-1936)
The Conquering Sword of Conan is the third of a three-volume set collecting the Conan the Barbarian stories by author Robert E. Howard. It was originally published in 2005, first the United Kingdom by Wandering Star under the title Conan of Cimmeria: Volume Three , and shortly thereafter in the...
), as well as The Best of Robert E. Howard, Volume 2: Grim Lands ( Del Rey
Del Rey Books
Del Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House and, in turn since 1998, by Bertelsmann AG. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. It specializes in science fiction and fantasy...
, 2007).
Plot summary
"Red Nails" begins in the jungles far to the south of any known civilized or barbarian lands. ValeriaValeria (Conan the Barbarian)
Valeria is a pirate and adventuress in the fictional universe of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories. She appears in Robert E. Howard's Conan novella Red Nails, serialized in Weird Tales 28 1-3 . This was the last Conan story written by Howard, and published posthumously...
of the Red Brotherhood enters this wilderness, fleeing persecution after killing a would-be rapist. She is followed into the wilderness by Conan, a fellow adventurer who hopes to make her his woman. They meet and quarrel, but their stand-off is interrupted by a "dragon" (actually a dinosaur) that mauls their horses. They retreat to a crag the monster cannot scale, but are trapped without food or water. Conan recognizes some poisonous fruit growing nearby. The pair fashion a spear, coat the tip with poison from the fruit, and thrust it into the jaws of the monster. Although blinded, the raging monster pursues them by their scent. Overtaken, Conan whirls to face the beast and lures it to its death.
Conan and Valeria emerge from the forest and make their way to a strange walled city they spotted from the crag. There are no grazing herds or cultivated fields; they assume the city is deserted. When they arrive at the city, Conan forces open the door, long since rusted shut. The couple enter a bizarre twilight world. The city, which they come to know as Xuchotl, is a single massive structure completely enclosed and roofed over. A single great hallway runs the length of the city, but there are no other streets or open courtyards. It consists entirely of four tiers of rooms, chambers and passageways. Xuchotl is constructed of jade with traces of other exotic materials.
The pair separate to search the city's seemingly empty halls. Valeria encounters a man named Techotl whom she joins in a fray between two factions that dwell in the once populous city. Aided by Conan, they defeat their enemies. Techotl invites Conan and Valeria into the stronghold of his people, the Tecuhltli. They are welcomed by the rulers, Olmec and Tascela. As Conan and Valeria rest, Olmec recounts the history of his people.
The city of Xuchotil was built long before its current inhabitants arrived. In those earlier times, a slave — Tolkemec — betrayed his masters and guided the newly arrived invaders into the city where they put to death the original builders. The conquerors were led by two brothers, Tecuhltli and Xotalanc, who afterward ruled peacefully over the city until a feud developed when Tecuhltli stole the bride of his brother Xotalanc. The slave Tolkemec betrayed both sides for his own purposes and was exiled to the catacombs.
As Olmec tells his tale, Tascela becomes enraptured with Valeria. Later she has a slave attempt to drug Valeria with the black lotus, a powerful narcotic plant. Valeria manages to overpower the slave and attempts to force her to reveal the motive behind such treachery. However, the slave feigns submission and escapes.
Valeria's pursuit of the slave is interrupted when the Xotalancas breach the Tecuhltli defenses. In the end the Xotalancas are exterminated and only Conan, Valeria, Olmec, Tascela, and fifteen Tecuhltli defenders remain alive. When Conan and two warriors leave to scout the Xotalanc stronghold, Valeria is left behind while her wounds are tended.
Olmec attempts to force himself on Valeria, but he is thwarted by Tascela. She is revealed to be a sorceress and the stolen bride who originally started the feud. She plans to use Valeria's vitality to restore her youth. Erstwhile, Olmec secretly ordered his two warriors to slay Conan. Conan kills them and hurries back for Valeria. Returning to Tecuhltli, Conan finds Olmec bound and tortured. Conan releases him, but Olmec attempts another betrayal and Conan slays him.
Conan comes upon Tascela who has Valeria pinned to an altar. Conan, caught in a steel trap, watches powerlessly as Tascela proceeds with the sacrifice of Valeria. The scene is interrupted by Tolkemec who has returned from the catacombs, wielding a wand of terrible destructive power. Desperate for assistance against Tolkemec, Tascela frees Conan. Conan is able to defeat Tolkemec. Valeria, freed, avenges herself upon Tascela with a dagger thrust to the heart.
With the last inhabitants of Xuchotl slain, Conan and Valeria depart the dead city.
Valeria
Valeria is a pirate who had been serving as a mercenary soldier just prior to the story's events. Like Conan, she is a famous adventurer. Most of "Red Nails" is told from Valeria's point of view."She was tall, full-bosomed and large-limbed, with compact shoulders. Her whole figure reflected an unusual strength, without detracting from the femininity of her appearance. She was all woman, in spite of her bearing and her garments. The latter were incongruous, in view of her present environs. Instead of a skirt she wore short, wide-legged silk breeches, which ceased a hand's breath short of her knees, and were upheld by a wide silken sash worn as a girdle. Flaring-topped boots of soft leather came almost to her knees, and a low-necked, wide-collared, wide-sleeved silk shirt completed her costume. On one shapely hip she wore a straight double-edged sword, and on the other a long dirk. Her unruly golden hair, cut square at her shoulders, was confined by a band of crimson satin.
"Against the background of somber, primitive forest she posed with unconscious picturesqueness, bizarre and out of place. She should have been posed against a background of sea-clouds, painted masts and wheeling gulls. There was the color of the sea in her wide eyes. And that was how it should have been, because this was Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, whose deeds are celebrated in song and ballad wherever seafarers gather."
Conan
"[Valeria's] thoughts were scattered by the rustling of the leaves below her. She wheeled cat-like, snatched at her sword; and then she froze motionless, staring wide-eyed at the man before her."He was almost a giant in stature, muscles rippling smoothly under his skin which the sun had burned brown. His garb was similar to hers, except that he wore a broad leather belt instead of a girdle. Broadsword and poniard hung from this belt
"'Conan, the Cimmerian!' ejaculated the woman..."
At this point in the saga, Conan is a seasoned warrior with years of experience acquired in many lands:
"'I was a kozak before I was a pirate...They live in the saddle. I snatch naps like a panther watching beside the trail for a deer to come by. My ears keep watch while my eyes sleep.'
"And indeed the giant barbarian seemed as much refreshed as if he had slept the whole night on a golden bed. Having removed the thorns, and peeled off the tough skin, he handed the girl a thick, juicy cactus leaf.
"'Skin your teeth in that pear. It's food and drink to a desert man. I was chief of the Zuagirs once -- desert men who live by plundering the caravans.'
"'Is there anything you haven't been?' inquired the girl, half in derision and half in fascination."
Techotl
Techotl is typical of the warriors of Xuchotl. Howard relates Valeria's impressions of her first sight of one such warrior:"...He was slightly above middle height, very dark, though not negroid. He was naked but for a scanty silk clout that only partly covered his muscular hips, and a leather girdle, a hand's breadth broad, about his lean waist. His long black hair hung in lank strands about his shoulders, giving him a wild appearance. He was gaunt, but knots and cords of muscles stood out on his arms and legs, without that fleshy padding that presents a pleasing symmetry of contour. He was built with an economy that was almost repellent."
Techotl befriends Conan and Valeria. We are told, "In the cold, loveless and altogether hideous life of the Techultli, his admiration and affection for the invaders from the outer world formed a warm, human oasis, constituted a tie that connected him with a more natural humanity that was totally lacking in his fellows, whose only emotions were hate, lust and the urge of sadistic cruelty."
Olmec and Tascela
"On a wide ivory seat on a jade dais sat a man and a woman who differed subtly from the others. He was a giant, with an enormous sweep of breast and the shoulders of a bull. Unlike the others, he was bearded, with a thick, blue-black beard which fell almost to his broad girdle. He wore a robe of purple silk which reflected changing sheens of color with his every movement, and one wide sleeve, drawn back to his elbow, revealed a forearm massive with corded muscles. The band which confined his blue-black locks was set with glittering jewels."The woman beside him sprang to her feet with a startled exclamation as the strangers entered, and her eyes, passing over Conan, fixed themselves with burning intensity on Valeria. She was tall and lithe, by far the most beautiful woman in the room. She was clad more scantily even than the others; for instead of a skirt she wore merely a broad strip of gilt-worked purple cloth fastened to the middle of her girdle which fell below her knees. Another strip at the back of her girdle completed that part of her costume, which she wore with a cynical indifference. Her breast-plates and the circlet about her temples were adorned with gems. In her eyes alone of all the dark-skinned people there lurked no brooding gleam of madness..."
Tolkemec
"Framed in the door to the left of the dais stood a nightmare figure. It was a man, with a tangle of white hair and a matted white beard that fell over his breast. Rags only partly covered his gaunt frame, revealing half-naked limbs strangely unnatural in appearance. The skin was not that of a normal human. There was a suggestion of scaliness about it, as if the owner had dwelt long under conditions almost antithetical to those conditions under which human life ordinarily thrives. And there was nothing at all human about the eyes that blazed from the tangle of white hair. They were great gleaming discs that stared unwinkingly; luminous, whitish, and without a hint of normal emotion or sanity. The mouth gaped, but no coherent words issued --only a high-pitched tittering."'Tolkemec!' whispered Tascela, livid, while the others crouched in speechless horror. 'No myth, then, no ghost! Set! You have dwelt for twelve years in darkness! Twelve years among the bones of the dead! What grisly food did you find? What mad travesty of life did you live, in the stark blackness of that eternal night?..."
Reception
E. F. Bleiler placed "Red Nails" among "among the better Conan stories," citing its "Extravagant adventure embodying a considerable amount of antiquarian lore and imagination."Background
Robert E. Howard's stories often express the author's belief that civilizations carry the seeds of their own destruction. Howard found in the lost cityLost city (fiction)
In the popular imagination lost cities are real, prosperous, well-populated areas of human habitation that have fallen into terminal decline and been lost to history. Most real lost cities are of ancient origins, and have been studied extensively by archaeologists...
genre a vehicle for expressing these views. Howard's Puritan adventurer Solomon Kane
Solomon Kane
Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. A late 16th / early 17th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a sombre-looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanquish evil in all its forms...
explored the lost African city of Negari in "The Moon of Skulls", published in Weird Tales in 1930. In this tale we can discern the influence of She
She (novel)
She, subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by Henry Rider Haggard, first serialized in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887. She is one of the classics of imaginative literature, and with over 83 million copies sold in 44 different languages, one of the best-selling books...
by H. Rider Haggard
H. Rider Haggard
Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire...
and the lost city of Opar
Opar
Opar is a fictional lost city in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Tarzan novels.Burroughs may have taken the name from the Biblical reference to Ophir, whence King Solomon supposedly received a cargo of "gold, silver, sandalwood, precious stones, ivory, apes and peacocks" every three years, via...
that appears in the Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
Howard's Negari is ruled by the seductive queen Nakari, recalling Haggard's Ayesha
Ayesha (novel)
Ayesha, the Return of She is a gothic novel by the popular Victorian author H. Rider Haggard, published in 1905, as a sequel to his far more popular and well known novel, She...
and Burroughs' La
La (Tarzan)
La is a character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Tarzan novels. She first appeared in the second Tarzan novel, The Return of Tarzan , and reappeared in the fifth, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar , the ninth, Tarzan and the Golden Lion , and the fourteenth, Tarzan the Invincible...
of Opar.
When Howard moved on to the Conan series, he began to place his own distinctive stamp on the lost city tale. In "Xuthal of the Dusk
Xuthal of the Dusk
"The Slithering Shadow" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in the September 1933 issue of Weird Tales magazine. The story's original title was "Xuthal of the Dusk"...
" (published in the September 1933 issue of Weird Tales as "The Slithering Shadow"), Conan and a female companion discover an inhabited lost city and encounter its resident femme fatale. Though not without merit, "Xuthal of the Dusk" is generally regarded as a second-rate Conan story. However its theme of the decadence of a stagnant, dying culture is clearly evident. "Xuthal" is commonly viewed as the direct precursor to "Red Nails."
The theme of cultural decadence maintained its grip on Howard's imagination. In early 1935 he remarked to Novalyne Price:
The idea that would become "Red Nails" continued to germinate in Howard's mind, and later that year he began the actual writing of the tale. It would be the last major fantasy Howard would complete.
In 1935 Howard found himself burdened with medical expenses for the treatment of his ailing mother. Payment from Weird Tales was becoming increasingly unreliable. In early May, Howard wrote to editor Farnsworth Wright
Farnsworth Wright
Farnsworth Wright was the editor of the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the magazine's heyday.He was born in California, and educated in the University of Nevada and the University of Washington....
pleading for money owed him. At that time Weird Tales owed Howard over eight hundred dollars for stories already published, and payable upon publication. Wright had been paying Howard in a series of monthly installments, but these checks ceased just when Howard needed them most. Howard explained the circumstances surrounding his need and made it clear that he understood that Weird Tales was undergoing its own share of financial difficulties due to the Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. However, he felt moved to state in no uncertain terms, "A monthly check from Weird Tales may well mean for me the difference between a life that is at least endurable --and God alone knows what."
Howard received no immediate reply from Wright. A week later he wrote to his agent, Otis Adelbert Kline
Otis Adelbert Kline
Otis Adelbert Kline born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, was an adventure novelist and literary agent during the pulp era. Much of his work first appeared in the magazine Weird Tales. Kline was an amateur orientalist and a student of Arabic, like his friend and sometime collaborator, E...
, inquiring if Kline had any inside knowledge concerning the situation at the Weird Tales editorial offices. Howard was ultimately moved to concentrate on better-paying markets, primarily those for Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
fiction. In a letter to H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
he confided, "As for my own fantasy writing, whether or not I do any future work in that field depends a good deal on the editors themselves. I would hate to abandon weird writing entirely, but my financial needs are urgent, immediate and imperious. Slowness of payment in the fantastic field forces me into other lines against my will."
On July 22, 1935, Howard mailed the typescript of "Red Nails" to Weird Tales. At the time he shared his thoughts with Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith was a self-educated American poet, sculptor, painter and author of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Swinburne...
, another colleague: "Sent a three-part serial to Wright yesterday: 'Red Nails,' which I devoutly hope he'll like. A Conan yarn, and the grimmest, bloodiest and most merciless story of the series so far. Too much raw meat, maybe, but I merely portrayed what I honestly believe would be the reactions of certain types of people in the situations on which the plot of the story hung..."
Later in the year, Howard told Lovecraft, "The last yarn I sold to Weird Tales --and it well may be the last fantasy I'll ever write-- was a three-part Conan serial which was the bloodiest and most sexy weird story I ever wrote. I have been dissatisfied with my handling of decaying races in stories, for the reason that degeneracy is so prevalent in such races that it can not be ignored as a motive and as a fact if the fiction is to have any claim to realism. I have ignored it in all other stories, as one of the taboos, but I did not ignore it in this story..."
On the verge of abandoning fantasy for more commercial concerns, Howard devoted considerable thought and effort to his final allegorical statement.
Adaptations
The story was later adapted by Roy ThomasRoy Thomas
Roy William Thomas, Jr. is an American comic book writer and editor, and Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibly best known for introducing the pulp magazine hero Conan the Barbarian to American comics, with a series that added to the storyline of Robert E...
and Barry Windsor-Smith
Barry Windsor-Smith
Barry Windsor-Smith, born Barry Smith is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best known work has been produced in the United States....
for issues #2-3 of the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
magazine series Savage Tales
Savage Tales
Savage Tales is the title of three American comics series. Two were black-and-white comics-magazine anthologies published by Marvel Comics , and the other a color comic book anthology published by Dynamite Entertainment.-Marvel/Curtis:The first of the two volumes of Savage Tales ran 11 issues, with...
. The Thomas/Smith tale was later reprinted in the 1987 black-and-white magazine Conan Saga. It has also been reprinted many times since then, both in black-and-white and in full color, by Marvel and more recently by Dark Horse.
An animated feature based on this story, Conan: Red Nails, is currently in production. Actor Ron Perlman
Ron Perlman
Ronald N. "Ron" Perlman is an American television, film and voice over actor. He is known for having played Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast , a Deathstroke figure known as Slade in the animated series Teen Titans, Clarence "Clay" Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, the comic book character...
will provide the voice of Conan. Tolkemec is voiced by Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
in this version. However, there have been no updates to the film's website since December 2007. IMDB currently lists the film for release in 2010.
Sources
Burke, Rusty. The Robert E. Howard Bookshelf. REHUPA. http://www.rehupa.com/bookshelf.htmCerasini, Marc A and Charles Hoffman. (1987) Robert E. Howard. Mercer Island, WA; Starmont House.
Ellis, Novalyne Price. (1986) One Who Walked Alone: Robert E. Howard: The Final Years. West Kingston, RI; Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc.
Howard, Robert E. Letter to Otis Adelbert Kline, May 6, 1935.
_________. Letter to H. P. Lovecraft, December 5, 1935.
_________. Letter to H. P. Lovecraft, February 11, 1936.
_________. Letter to Clark Ashton Smith, July 23, 1935.
_________. Letter to Farnsworth Wright, May 6, 1935.
_________. (2005) "Red Nails", The Conquering Sword of Conan. New York: Del Rey. pp. 211-281.
Louinet, Patrice. (2005) "Hyborian Genesis Part III", The Conquering Sword of Conan. New York: Del Rey. pp. 369-386.
External links
- Conan wiki • Red Nails • Synopsis, characters, locations, and publishing history
- Conan the Barbarian at AmratheLion.com
- Conan.com: The Official Website
- Conan: Red Nails - Official film website