The Tower of the Elephant

"The Tower of the Elephant" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard. It's set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan infiltrating a perilous tower in order to steal a fabled gem from an evil sorcerer named Yara. Due to its unique insights into the Hyborian world and atypical science fiction elements, the story is considered a classic of Conan lore and is often cited by Howard scholars as one of his best tales.[1]

This article is about the short story. For the collection of the same title that contains the story, see The Tower of the Elephant (collection).
"The Tower of the Elephant"
An interior panel of "The Tower of the Elephant" comic adaptation by Roy Thomas featuring the art of John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala. The original short story was written by Robert E. Howard and first appeared in a 1933 issue of Weird Tales magazine.
AuthorRobert E. Howard
Original title"The Tower of the Elephant"
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesConan the Cimmerian
Genre(s)Fantasy
Published inWeird Tales
Publication typePulp
PublisherRural Publishing Corporation
Publication dateMarch 1933
Preceded by"The Scarlet Citadel"
Followed by"Black Colossus"

Plot summary

The story is set in the decadent, evil Zamorian city of Arenjun,[2] the City of Thieves.[3] A callow young Conan, just beginning his career in the civilized regions, is drinking at a rowdy tavern when a Kothian rogue mentions a fabulous jewel known as the "Heart of the Elephant". It is kept in the tower of the evil sorcerer Yara, who has long terrorized the Kingdom of Zamora, most recently having transformed a prince into a spider and crushed the young man underfoot. When Conan interrogates the rogue for more information, the man mocks him and a fight ensues. The candle is knocked over and the tavern is plunged into darkness, but Conan's sword finds his opponent in the dark, and he escapes into the moonlit streets. (The Kothian's death saves a damsel he had planned to kidnap and sell into slavery.)

Without further planning, Conan ventures into Yara's garden to steal the jewel, but immediately encounters another intruder, Taurus of Nemedia, the "Prince of Thieves". The cunning Taurus, who is fat but amazingly agile, is impressed by Conan's daring and they agree to work together, with the master thief assuming a patronizing role to the inexperienced young barbarian. After battling lions in the tower gardens, the thieves ascend Yara's spire by grappling hook and rope. On the roof, Taurus enters a treasure chamber, but is ambushed by a lurking giant spider, and killed by three bites in the neck. After a desperate battle, Conan crushes the spider with a chest of gems, then descends in search of his prize, the Heart.

Lower in the tower, he discovers a strange "trans-cosmic being" with the body of a man and the oversized head of an elephant. The creature, named Yag-kosha, is a blind and tortured prisoner of Yara.

Yag-kosha reveals to Conan the pre-cataclysmic saga of his alien people, their arrival on Earth from the planet Yog, and how he taught Yara the art of magic, only to have his own apprentice betray him; but Conan's intrusion is the perfect opportunity for revenge. Moved to pity by Yag-kosha's plea, Conan, as instructed, grabs the fabled jewel, mercifully kills the elephant-like being, extracts the heart from his corpse, and drips its blood over the Heart of the Elephant. When he sets the blood-infused relic in front of Yara in his sleeping-chamber, the gem's magic shrinks and draws the soceror into the jewel. Inside, a revived Yag-kosha, limbs and wings restored, pursues the screaming Yara as the Heart vanishes.

Obeying Yag-kosha's instructions, Conan leaves immediately and emerges empty-handed from the tower at dawn, just as it collapses behind him. He has nothing for his night's work but his sword, loin-cloth, and sandals.

Publication history

Adaptations

The Tower of the Elephant has been adapted into comic form three times: twice by Marvel and once by Dark Horse.

The first adaptation by Marvel appeared in Conan the Barbarian #4.[4] The story was adapted by Roy Thomas and illustrated by Barry Windsor-Smith and Sal Buscema.

The second adaptation by Marvel appeared in the Savage Sword of Conan #24[5] and was again written by Roy Thomas but this time drawn by John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala.

The newest adaptation, in Dark Horse's Conan issues 20-22,[6][7] was written by Kurt Busiek and illustrated by Cary Nord, Dave Stewart and Mike Kaluta. Two of these have recently appeared in collections released by Dark Horse: the Conan the Barbarian adaptation in The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The Tower of the Elephant and other stories, and the Dark Horse adaptation in Conan Volume 3: The Tower of the Elephant and other stories.

Episode 3 of the animated series Conan the Adventurer is adapted from "Tower of the Elephant", although the character of Taurus is replaced with Jezmine who becomes an ongoing character in the series rather than dies.

A variant on this story has been added into the massively multiplayer online role-playing game Wizard101, a dungeon called the "Tower of the Helephant". The thief Taurus is the only name that remains true to the original tale, however the parallels between the stories are evident to anyone that is familiar with the story. The players must scale a tower and descend into it, ultimately freeing the elephant-headed interstellar being by defeating the wizard that bound him and destroying the "Heart of the Helephant".

The story is the inspiration for a sequence in Conan the Barbarian, which includes Conan and his fellow thieves scaling a tower, battling a giant snake, and stealing a jewel.

In the 2011 film Conan the Barbarian a character extols Conan's past accomplishments and mentions his adventure in the Tower of the Elephant.

There is a modular adventure based on this tale for Conan: The Roleplaying Game. The story was also adapted into a hack-and-slash video game for iOS by developer Chillingo, released as a tie-in for the 2011 film Conan the Barbarian.[8]

Notes
  1. Patrice Louinet. Hyborian Genesis: Part 1, pages 441 and 442, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian; 2003, Del Rey.
  2. The name added by L. Sprague de Camp in his introduction to Conan (Lancer, 1967)
  3. The name given by Howard in a letter to P. Schuyler Miller and John Drury Clark.
  4. http://www.comics.org/issue/24164/
  5. http://www.comics.org/issue/31657/
  6. http://www.comics.org/issue/271430/
  7. http://www.comics.org/issue/271432/
  8. Bennett, Colette. "'Conan: Tower of the Elephant' Review- A Hack 'n Slash Fit for a Barbarian". Touch Arcade. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
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Preceded by
"The Scarlet Citadel"		 Original Howard Canon
(publication order)		 Succeeded by
"Black Colossus"
Preceded by
"The God in the Bowl"		 Original Howard Canon
(Dale Rippke chronology)		 Succeeded by
"The Hall of the Dead"
Preceded by
Conan the Formidable		 Complete Conan Saga
(William Galen Gray chronology)		 Succeeded by
Conan and the Sorcerer
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