Kudos for the Howard reference. Although, to be fair, in that story Conan found himself in a desperate situation because he was unmarried, without an heir, and therefore not part of a dynasty that his followers could rally around. So there may have been a bit of calculation going on. On his part, I mean.
Kudos for the Howard reference. Although, to be fair, in that story Conan found himself in a desperate situation because he was unmarried, without an heir, and therefore not part of a dynasty that his followers could rally around. So there may have been a bit of calculation going on. On his part, I mean.
Zenobia, as you say, demonstrated both purity and goodness. But she was not a modern "girl-boss" (how I despise that term). She wasn't a warrior, and did not go around beating up a dozen men, each twice her size, as modern feminists would have it. She did supply Conan a poignard, though, when he was weaponless, which ended up saving his life.
Both excellent points, I really like Howard's work and have written on it in my substack, but I do think that Howard was looking at things from a certain chivalric literary perspective due to how he was trying to sell the book to an English & European audience at the time. Zenobia seems to have been inspired by the love of his life, and so I think it was a decision of sentimentality and calculation on Conan's part.
Kudos for the Howard reference. Although, to be fair, in that story Conan found himself in a desperate situation because he was unmarried, without an heir, and therefore not part of a dynasty that his followers could rally around. So there may have been a bit of calculation going on. On his part, I mean.
Zenobia, as you say, demonstrated both purity and goodness. But she was not a modern "girl-boss" (how I despise that term). She wasn't a warrior, and did not go around beating up a dozen men, each twice her size, as modern feminists would have it. She did supply Conan a poignard, though, when he was weaponless, which ended up saving his life.
Both excellent points, I really like Howard's work and have written on it in my substack, but I do think that Howard was looking at things from a certain chivalric literary perspective due to how he was trying to sell the book to an English & European audience at the time. Zenobia seems to have been inspired by the love of his life, and so I think it was a decision of sentimentality and calculation on Conan's part.