Chronologically Speaking, Part Twelve: "The Servants of Bit-Yakin"

Chronologically Speaking is a series focused solely on placing the Conan of Cimmeria stories in timeline order. It's an analysis of only the text of Robert E. Howard's original Conan tales. I'm examining the stories one at a time, in publication order, to show explicit chronological notes to order the stories.

"The Servants of Bit-Yakin," also known as "Jewels of Gwahlur," was the thirteenth Conan of Cimmeria story to be published. First seeing print in the March 1935 issue of Weird Tales, there had been a three-month gap between "A Witch Shall Be Born" and this one. In preceding months, Howard had a Conan story, or at least part of one, published in August, September, October, November, and December of 1934. He'd recently been experimenting with new characters and different genres, like El Borak and Kirby O'Donnell, so it seems like he was probably a little burnt out on the Cimmerian again. He might have come back to the Hyborian Age for "The Servants of Bit-Yakin" since it was easily his best-selling series and characters like El Borak and O'Donnell hadn't been as reliable.

Because Robert E. Howard's original title for this story was "The Servants of Bit-Yakin," that's the one I'm going to use to refer to it throughout this post, but it's much better-known under it's published title of "Jewels of Gwahlur." Both titles present interesting opportunities to put your own spin on the pronunciation and I've heard many variations in how to say both "Bit-Yakin" ("Bit-YAY-kin?" "Bit-Yah-keen?") and "Gwahlur" (Rhymes with "squalor?" Rhymes with "allure?")

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Sword & sorcery author Fritz Leiber wasn't a huge fan of this one, rating it as one of the three worst Conan stories. I would rate it a little higher; the adventure is a good time. I would agree that the prose suffers, though. Weirdly enough, there's one point where Conan balks at the character Muriela by saying "Goddess! Ha!" or "Goddess! Bah!" It comes across as repetitive in a useless way, like he didn't know what else to have Conan say or he didn't realized he'd had Conan say almost the same thing three times in a row. It's kind of grating, not poetic.

While the writing probably isn't Two-Gun Bob's best, it's a pretty fun story that's easy to place in the timeline. It has lots of chronological markers!

• Conan is described as having already been to the Black Coast and the Baracha Isles, placing this story firmly after both of those pirate periods: "Conan the Cimmerian, late of the Baracha Isles, of the Black Coast, and of many other climes where life ran wild, had come to the kingdom of Keshan following the lure of a fabled treasure that outshone the hoard of the Turanian kings." 
  • That means this story is definitely after "Queen of the Black Coast" and "Pool of the Black One."
• In fact, Conan's fame as Amra the Lion has preceded him into these southern kingdoms in which the story takes place: "Conan's fame had preceded him, even into distant Keshan; his exploits as a chief of the black corsairs, those wolves of the southern coasts, had made his name known, admired and feared throughout the black kingdoms."
• Not only is Conan famed as a pirate, but he also clearly has military leadership experience and is known for that as well: "His reckless ferocity impressed the lords of Keshan, already aware of his reputation as a leader of men, and the prospects seemed favorable." This places the story likely after "Black Colossus" as well.
• It is said that Conan knows Thutmekri "of old," but he's not a character we've seen before. I wonder how the two met seeing as they do not like each other.
• Conan is clearly on par with master thieves. In many instances, he is silent and completely unseen when he wants to be: "Conan became stealth personified. A velvet-footed shadow, he melted into the thickets." This places the story well after his thieving days when he usually gets caught.
• Conan has obviously been to Asgalun, Shem at least once: "The art was unmistakably Pelishti; he had seen frescoes of identical characteristics on the walls of Asgalun." It seems Howard has changed the name since he referred to it as "Askalon" in "Queen of the Black Coast."
• But really, it's characterization that clearly places this story late along Conan's life into his thirties at least. This Conan of "Bit-Yakin" is shrewd, intelligent, well-spoken, discerning, and extremely good with languages: "Many a sheltered scholar would have been astonished at the Cimmerian's linguistic abilities, for he had experienced many adventures where knowledge of a strange language had meant the difference between life and death." This Conan is far more like the King Conan we see in "The Phoenix on the Sword" than any part in the timeline before it.

It's the characterization that really dominates where this story belongs. Even without saying Conan has already lived through his Barachan pirate days, this is a much older, wiser, worldly Conan.

"The Servants of Bit-Yakin" is without a doubt a lesser Conan story for me, but it's still a pretty fun one. I love the opening during which Conan is doing a death-defying climb. The whole setting is one I want to delve much deeper into. His interplay with Muriela is endearing. The scene where he finds Zargheba's decapitated head staring at him is a certified chiller. And there's just enough magic and politicking to add a few more layers to it. Its prose isn't always top-notch and leans more heavily on Howard's racism than some other stories, but it's far from one that should be discounted.

This updates our chronology to the following:

1. The Tower of the Elephant
2. Rogues in the House
3. Queen of the Black Coast
4. Xuthal of the Dusk
5. Iron Shadows in the Moon
6. The Devil in Iron
7. The People of the Black Circle
8. A Witch Shall Be Born
9. Black Colossus
10. The Pool of the Black One
11. The Servants of Bit-Yakin
12. The Phoenix on the Sword
13. The Scarlet Citadel