Chronologically Speaking, Part Twenty-Five: The Vale of Lost Women

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. This is our final regular entry.

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Robert E. Howard wrote "The Vale of Lost Women" around February of 1933, the twelfth Conan story he'd written in fairly quick succession, and sent it to Weird Tales. Though there are no records remaining of the rejection, it appears to have been rejected by Farnsworth Wright, and rightfully so. But that rejection was a blow to Howard that caused him to move on from his Cimmerian barbarian for nearly a year, as he turned his prospects to other characters and genres and wouldn't return to writing the character until the end of 1933.

"Vale" was apparently inspired by some autobiographical elements- stories he'd seen occurring to women in his life- but was completely overrun by Howard's virile racial discomfort and disgust. It becomes slightly stronger when the narrative moves to its second half in the titular valley for lost women, but it's ultimately a pretty unsuccessful story.

​It's also a little hard to place. Let's see what chronological markers we have.

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• The story most assuredly takes place after Conan's Zamorian thieving days, which we can tell in two lines. 
  • One line mentions elephant tusk horns, and Conan is said in "The Tower of the Elephant" to not know what an elephant was due to having never seen one. He likely has now.
  • The other line comes from Conan himself, mentioning the "wise men of Zamora."
• Conan is wearing a mix of tribal garb and his usual sword / belt / sandals set: "He was clad like his followers in leopardskin loin-cloth and plumed headpiece." And slightly later, "High-strapped sandals guarded his feet, and from his broad girdle hung a sword in a leather scabbard. His appearance was alien and unfamiliar."
• The story likely takes place near the borders of Kush, pretty far south in the Hyborian Age equivalent of Africa. Livia and her brother are Ophireans who were captured at the Stygian city of Kheshatta and taken through Kush. Other stories take place in and around Kush like "Queen of the Black Coast" and the Shumballa fragment.
• Conan seems disinterested and even put off by Livia's offer to essentially be his sex slave if he rescues her: "You speak as if you were free to give yourself at your pleasure... as if the gift of your body had power to swing kingdoms. Why should I kill Bajujh to obtain you?" This is kind of an odd reaction from Conan, who is not usually picky with liasons. Some readers have used the as evidence that Conan is still grieving the death of Bêlit following the events of "Queen of the Black Coast," which is entirely possible.
• The story ends with Conan and Livia headed in the direction of Stygia: "I will take you to the Stygian borders. The Stygians will send you home to Ophir." This seems to imply that the next story is likely more north than this.

These chronological markers aren't extremely strong, and they don't tie the story to one, single time in Conan's life. Much hay has been made over the decades about the fact that the Conan we see here seems more stern and short with Livia than many other depictions of the character. Some have considered this to be due to Conan grieving Bêlit following "Queen of the Black Coast." Some have assumed this is an older, more jaded Conan. I think the first possibility seems the more likely of the two. This story could take place when Conan returns to some of the more southern reaches of the map later in his wanderings, like in stories like "Red Nails" and "The Servants of Bit-Yakin," but I think it's more likely that it is set with the other stories after "Black Coast" when Conan appears to hang around the south. 

It seems most likely to me that Conan sets The Tigress aflame at the end of "Queen of the Black Coast," then continues through the jungles of Kush on foot. Conan then becomes a mercenary in the jungles of the south for a time, seen in the Shumballa fragment ("The Snout in the Dark") and "The Vale of Lost Women," before heading back toward the more northern civilizations at Livia's behest. Then, he reaches the edges of Stygia in "Xuthal of the Dusk" and joins up with slightly more-northern armies in the Gazal fragment ("Drums of Tombalku").

Here's the updated chronology. I'll make a post capping it all off soon.

1. The Frost-Giant's Daughter
2. The God in the Bowl
3. Rogues in the House
4. The Tower of the Elephant
5. The Nestor synopsis ("The Hall of the Dead")
6. The Yaralet fragment ("The Hand of Nergal")
7. Queen of the Black Coast
8. The Shumballa fragment ("The Snout in the Dark")
9. The Vale of Lost Women
10. Xuthal of the Dusk
11. The Gazal fragment ("Drums of Tombalku")
12. Iron Shadows in the Moon
13. The Devil in Iron
14. The People of the Black Circle
15. A Witch Shall Be Born
16. The Man-Eaters of Zamboula
17. Black Colossus
18. The Pool of the Black One
19. The Servants of Bit-Yakin
20. Red Nails
21. The Black Stranger
22. Beyond the Black River
23. Wolves Beyond the Border
24. The Phoenix on the Sword
25. The Scarlet Citadel
26. The Hour of the Dragon