The Phoenix on the Sword
Encyclopedia
"The Phoenix on the Sword" is one of the original short stories
about Conan the Cimmerian
, written by American
author Robert E. Howard
and first published in Weird Tales
magazine December 1932. The tale was a rewrite of the unpublished Kull story, "By This Axe I Rule!" with long passages being identical. The Conan version of the story was republished in the collections King Conan
(Gnome Press
, 1953) and Conan the Usurper
(Lancer Books
, 1967). It has most recently been republished in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon (Gollancz
, 2001) and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933)
(Del Rey
, 2003). It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age
and details Conan foiling a nefarious plot to unseat him as king of Aquilonia.
.
Conan has recently seized the bloody crown of Aquilonia from King Numedides whom he strangled upon his throne; however, things have not gone well, as Conan is more suited to swinging a broadsword than to signing official documents with a stylus. The people of Aquilonia, who originally welcomed Conan as their liberator from Numedides' tyranny, have gradually turned against him due to his foreign Cimmerian blood. They have built a statue to Numedides' memory in the temple of Mitra, and people burn incense before it, hailing it as the holy effigy of a saintly monarch who was done to death by a red-handed barbarian.
Desiring to give the Aquilonian crown to someone of royal blood, a daring band known as the Rebel Four is formed consisting of Volmana, the dwarfish count of Karaban; Gromel, the giant commander of the Black Legion; Dion, the fat baron of Attalus; Rinaldo, the hare-brained minstrel. The Rebel Four recruit the services of a southern outlaw named Ascalante. But, in secret, Ascalante is merely using the rebels to gain the crown of Aquilonia for himself.
At the same time, Ascalante has a unique slave named Thoth-Amon
, formerly a powerful Stygian wizard, who has fallen on hard times since he lost a magic ring which was the source of his power. A thief had stolen the ring from Thoth-Amon and, thus, broken his power in Stygia. The other magicians rose up to slay him, and he fled. Disguised as a camel-driver, he travelled in a cavaran in the land of Koth, where Ascalante's reavers fell upon them. All in the caravan were slain except for Thoth-Amon who saved his life by revealing his identity to Ascalante and swearing to serve him.
Overall, the story centers around the plot of the Rebel Four to assassinate King Conan when he is unprepared and defenseless. However, two unforeseen events occur: Conan is forewarned of the impending coup d'état by Epemitreus the Sage who marks Conan's sword with a mythical phoenix
representing Mitra
, a Hyborian god. Asynchronously, Thoth-Amon recovers his lost ring of power and unleashes a fanged, ape-like demon that unintentionally foils the assassination attempt on Conan's life by the Rebel Four then slays Ascalante. Conan then uses his enchanted sword to slay the demon.
"By This Axe I Rule!
"By This Axe, I Rule" by Robert E. Howard
is the last of Howard's Kull stories, set in his fictional Thurian Age
. It was first published in the Lancer Books
paperback
King Kull in 1967.
This story was rejected by the pulp magazine
s Argosy
and Adventure in 1929, after which Howard rewrote it, substituting a new secondary plot. It was published in December 1932.
starring Kevin Sorbo
was partly based on "By This Axe I Rule!"
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
about Conan the Cimmerian
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....
and first published 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 December 1932. The tale was a rewrite of the unpublished Kull story, "By This Axe I Rule!" with long passages being identical. The Conan version of the story was republished in the collections King Conan
King Conan
King Conan is a collection of five 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 1953. 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...
, 1953) and Conan the Usurper
Conan the Usurper
Conan the Usurper is a 1967 collection of four fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp featuring Howard's seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. Most of the stories originally appeared in the fantasy magazine Weird Tales in the 1930s...
(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 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 Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933)
Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933)
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian is the first of a three volume set collecting the Conan stories by author Robert E. Howard. It was originally published in 2003, first the United Kingdom by Wandering Star under the title Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One , and shortly thereafter in the United States...
(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...
, 2003). 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 details Conan foiling a nefarious plot to unseat him as king of Aquilonia.
Plot summary
"The Phoenix on the Sword" begins with a middle-aged Conan of Cimmeria attempting to govern the turbulent kingdom of AquiloniaAquilonia (Conan)
Aquilonia is a fictional country created by Robert E. Howard as part of his Hyborian world, created for his character Conan the Barbarian. Conan eventually becomes king of this country....
.
Conan has recently seized the bloody crown of Aquilonia from King Numedides whom he strangled upon his throne; however, things have not gone well, as Conan is more suited to swinging a broadsword than to signing official documents with a stylus. The people of Aquilonia, who originally welcomed Conan as their liberator from Numedides' tyranny, have gradually turned against him due to his foreign Cimmerian blood. They have built a statue to Numedides' memory in the temple of Mitra, and people burn incense before it, hailing it as the holy effigy of a saintly monarch who was done to death by a red-handed barbarian.
Desiring to give the Aquilonian crown to someone of royal blood, a daring band known as the Rebel Four is formed consisting of Volmana, the dwarfish count of Karaban; Gromel, the giant commander of the Black Legion; Dion, the fat baron of Attalus; Rinaldo, the hare-brained minstrel. The Rebel Four recruit the services of a southern outlaw named Ascalante. But, in secret, Ascalante is merely using the rebels to gain the crown of Aquilonia for himself.
At the same time, Ascalante has a unique slave named Thoth-Amon
Thoth-Amon
Thoth-Amon is a fictional character created by Robert E. Howard. He is an evil wizard in The Phoenix on the Sword, the first of the Conan the Cimmerian stories...
, formerly a powerful Stygian wizard, who has fallen on hard times since he lost a magic ring which was the source of his power. A thief had stolen the ring from Thoth-Amon and, thus, broken his power in Stygia. The other magicians rose up to slay him, and he fled. Disguised as a camel-driver, he travelled in a cavaran in the land of Koth, where Ascalante's reavers fell upon them. All in the caravan were slain except for Thoth-Amon who saved his life by revealing his identity to Ascalante and swearing to serve him.
Overall, the story centers around the plot of the Rebel Four to assassinate King Conan when he is unprepared and defenseless. However, two unforeseen events occur: Conan is forewarned of the impending coup d'état by Epemitreus the Sage who marks Conan's sword with a mythical phoenix
Phoenix (mythology)
The phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....
representing Mitra
Mitra (Conan)
Mitra is a fictional deity from the Hyborian Age works of Robert E. Howard. In the Conan the Barbarian series of stories by Howard, Mitra is a popular god among the Hyborian peoples, a personification of good...
, a Hyborian god. Asynchronously, Thoth-Amon recovers his lost ring of power and unleashes a fanged, ape-like demon that unintentionally foils the assassination attempt on Conan's life by the Rebel Four then slays Ascalante. Conan then uses his enchanted sword to slay the demon.
"By This Axe I Rule!By This Axe I Rule!The Phoenix on the Sword"By This Axe, I Rule" by Robert E. Howard is the last of Howard's Kull stories, set in his fictional Thurian Age. It was first published in the Lancer Books paperback King Kull in 1967....
"
"By This Axe, I Rule" by Robert E. HowardRobert 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....
is the last of Howard's Kull stories, set in his fictional Thurian Age
Thurian Age
The Thurian Age is a fictional period within the artificial mythology created by Robert E. Howard, in which the sword and sorcery tales of Kull of Atlantis are set. It is within the same shared universe as the Hyborian Age of Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories, but at an earlier period. The...
. It was first published in the 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...
paperback
Paperback
Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...
King Kull in 1967.
This story was rejected by the pulp magazine
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
s Argosy
Argosy (magazine)
Argosy was an American pulp magazine, published by Frank Munsey. It is generally considered to be the first American pulp magazine. The magazine began as a general information periodical entitled The Golden Argosy, targeted at the boys adventure market.-Launch of Argosy:In late September 1882,...
and Adventure in 1929, after which Howard rewrote it, substituting a new secondary plot. It was published in December 1932.
Adaptations
The first comic book appearance of King Kull was in "Kull the Conqueror" (1971) published by Marvel Comics. The first issue was in part an adaptation of "By This Axe, I Rule!" and issue #11 (1973) was more specifically based on that story and had the same title. The 1997 movie Kull the ConquerorKull the Conqueror
Kull the Conqueror is a 1997 fantasy film about the Robert E. Howard character Kull starring Kevin Sorbo. It is a movie adaptation of Howard's Conan novel The Hour of the Dragon, with the protagonist changed to the author's other barbarian hero Kull...
starring Kevin Sorbo
Kevin Sorbo
Kevin David Sorbo is an American actor best known for the roles of Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Captain Dylan Hunt in Andromeda and Kull in Kull the Conqueror.-Early life:...
was partly based on "By This Axe I Rule!"
External links
- The Phoenix on the Sword at Project Gutenberg AustraliaProject Gutenberg AustraliaProject Gutenberg Australia, abbreviated as PGA, is an Internet site which was founded in 2001 by Colin Choat. The site hosts free ebooks or e-texts which are in the public domain in Australia. The ebooks have been prepared and submitted by volunteers...
- By This Axe I Rule! publication history at Howard Works
- The Phoenix on the Sword at Conan Wiki
- Conan the Barbarian at AmratheLion.com
- Conan.com: The Official Website