Chronologically Speaking, Part Twenty-Two: The Black Stranger

​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.

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We've got a live one today.

​In January of 1935, Robert E. Howard was basking in the acceptance of his story "Beyond the Black River" for Weird Tales, which editor Farnsworth Wright called "his best Conan story so far." Howard seemed jazzed about the direction of the story, telling HP Lovecraft in a letter that he would like to try his hand at a longer yarn, "of the same style, a serial of four or five parts."

"The Black Stranger" was probably written soon after, as Patrice Louinet notes in his essay "Hyborian Genesis" that there are partial drafts of other stories found on the backs of the pages of "The Black Stranger" that seem to be from the end of 1934 or very beginning of 1935. This leads Louinet to believe that it was probably written in January or February of 1935. Another thing that I love about what Louinet has to say of the story is that it is a criminally-overlooked story:

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"The Black Stranger has never received the critical attention it is due, primarily because it was not published in its original form until 1987, when Karl Edward Wagner included it in an anthology. In all its previous appearances, the story had been mercilessly butchered. The tale is simple enough on its surface, mixing elements of piratical adventure and Indian warfare, but should definitely not be dismissed in a cavalier way, as has been done sometimes. The Black Stranger is an extremely complex tale once one has understood that it is replete, consciously or unconsciously, with autobiographical elements, much more so than any of the stories Howard had written to date."

Patrice is right. For a long time, "Black Stranger" was swallowed up by the L. Sprague de Camp version, known as "The Treasure of Tranicos" as well as two other versions of the story, neither of which feature Conan. In L. Sprague de Camp's interesting but somewhat self-important essay "The Trail of Tranicos," de Camp notes that Glenn Lord thinks the story is a little older than Louinet does, perhaps written in 1933 or 34, but doesn't list any reasons why. 

The other rewritten versions of this story include "Black Vulmea's Vengeance," published in Golden Fleece and the variant "Swords of the Red Brotherhood."

de Camp's "Treasure of Tranicos" version itself had several different versions, edited by Lester Del Rey seemingly without de Camp's permission (how do you like it, Sprague?). "Treasure of Tranicos" was specifically tied more intentionally to the rest of the Conan mythos by de Camp, inserting Thoth-Amon, King Numedides, and the Aquilonian revolution that seats Conan on the throne.

Howard's original cut would not see publication in full until 1987, when it was included by Karl Edward Wagner in his first Echoes of Valor collection, a series well worth the money if you find it available. de Camp and Wagner continue to disagree about the real-life chronology of the manuscript, with de Camp saying, "There is reason to believe that the pirate version came before the Conan one" and Wagner countering, "I have the photocopy of Howard's original manuscript of 'The Black Stranger', which clearly shows Howard's efforts to change the story from the Conan to the Black Vulmea version."

I agree with Louinet that it's unfortunate that this story seems so maligned by the other versions of it that came after it (well, technically before it). It has the story threads knotted up and difficult to untangle. 

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Because of de Camp's meddling, I think the story's chronology has historically been misplaced. Every single other notable chronology places this story after "Beyond the Black River," and before "Wolves Beyond the Border." But I think they're all wrong. I was wrong too. When I first blogged about this story in October of 2024, I set it as part of a "Pictish trilogy" with "Black River" and "Moon of Blood."

​But I now think that was totally incorrect. Let's look at our chronological markers.

• In the opening, Conan is described as massive and muscular, but still moving with the speed of a panther, suggesting a slightly older Conan: "Then he stalked across the glade, placing his feet with care. For all his massive, muscular build he moved with the supple certitude of a panther." The muscles become more pronounced in description past his younger days.
• Conan begins the story approaching the coast of the Western Ocean from the east, crossing tee Pictish Wilderness. He's exhausted after having been chased for dozens of miles: "They were the men of the Eagle, whose villages lay far to the east, adjoining the country of the Wolf-Picts. It was the Wolves who had captured him, in a foray against the Aquilonian settlements along Thunder River, and they had given him to the Eagles in return for a captured Wolf chief. The Eaglemen had a red score against the giant Cimmerian, and now it was redder still, for his escape had cost the life of a noted war- chief. That was why they had followed him so relentlessly, over broad rivers and hills and through the long leagues of gloomy forest, the hunting grounds of hostile tribes."
• Conan is very familiar with this wilderness area, suggesting he's been there some time: "The Cimmerian knew that for a thousand miles this western coast ran bare and uninhabited except by the villages of the ferocious sea-land tribes."
  • I think it's more likely that Conan has been up and down a thousand miles of this coast by ship, rather than on foot. That will become more important in a moment.
• When Conan appears to the rest of the characters, clad in pirate garb he's clearly stolen from the treasure cave, Black Zarono notes that Conan's ship was wrecked three years ago: "'I thought you were dead,' said Zarono slowly. 'Three years ago the shattered hull of your ship was sighted off a reefy coast, and you were heard of on the Main no more.'"
  • This means that Conan has been a Barachan pirate for probably four years or more. Sancha and Zaporavo in "Pool of the Black One" do not recognize Conan, suggesting that this story takes place after that one, after which Conan has made a name for himself amongst the Barachan pirates.
  • Conan has been missing since that time, as another line notes that he was already a notorious pirate captain: "Who of all the sea-folk had not heard the wild, bloody tales told of Conan, the wild rover who had once been a captain of the Barachan pirates, and one of the greatest scourges of the sea?"
• Conan is extremely familiar with civilization by this time. He is cool, collected, and maybe even suave. He's definitely able to turn on the "civilization" lever when he wants: "The Cimmerian grinned. It was evident that he was deliberately fanning the fires of hate between the two men." This alone places it as a pretty late story. How Conan acts in this narrative is consistent with how he was portrayed in "The Pool of the Black One," where he had grown adept at adapting to pirate social cues, and he seems to be even more skilled at it now.

These last two chronological clues are what I think are the most important.

• Conan expresses a desire to get back into the pirating world: " I've been wanting to get back on the Main for months, and this was a good opportunity!'"
• At the end of the story, Conan goes back to being a Barachan pirate: "'But what of you?' Conan grinned and indicated the Red Hand drawing swiftly inshore. 'A ship and a crew are all I want. As soon as I set foot on that deck, I'll have a ship, and as soon as I can raise the Barachans I'll have a crew. The lads of the Red Brotherhood are eager to ship with me, because I always lead them to rare loot. And as soon as I've set you and the girl ashore on the Zingaran coast, I'll show the dogs some looting! Nay, nay, no thanks! What are a handful of gems to me, when all the loot of the southern seas will be mine for the grasping?'

Most of these chronological clues above point to this story being a later one, but the last two limit how late it can be. Because Conan goes back to being a Barachan pirate at the end of it, that leads me to believe that "The Black Stranger" is the last Barachan pirate story, not the last story prior to Conan's kingship. The fact that this story takes place so close to "Beyond the Black River," geographically speaking, I think has been historically overrated. The "Tranicos" version does explicitly tie it more directly to Conan's kingship, so it makes sense to put it later if that's the version you're using, but that's not the Howard original. The traditional wisdom has been that this story acts as a bridge between Conan's scouting days and his kingship, but I argue that it would more correctly be seen as a bridge between Conan's final pirate period and his Aquilonian scouting.

I think it's likely that in the three years between Conan's ship going down in the ocean and him rearing his head again in "Black Stranger," Conan may have disappeared inland, to see the events of "The Servants of Bit-Yakin" and "Red Nails" take place, both of which mention Conan's recent Barachan pirate period. Though, if we want to assume Conan's Barachan period is longer, it could take place after "The Pool of the Black One" and prior to "The Servants of Bit-Yakin."

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"The Black Stranger" is a very interesting Conan story. It feels like a cross between Howard's Pictish wilderness story "Beyond the Black River" and the Barachan pirate story "The Pool of the Black One." It's very good, and its chronology was far more interesting to mull over than I thought it would be. 

Thus stands our most updated version of the chronology.

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. Queen of the Black Coast
7. The Shumballa fragment ("The Snout in the Dark")
8. Xuthal of the Dusk
9. The Gazal fragment ("Drums of Tombalku")
10. Iron Shadows in the Moon
11.  The Devil in Iron
12. The People of the Black Circle
13. A Witch Shall Be Born
14. The Man-Eaters of Zamboula
15. Black Colossus
16. The Pool of the Black One
17. The Servants of Bit-Yakin
18. Red Nails
19. The Black Stranger
20. Beyond the Black River
21. The Phoenix on the Sword
22. The Scarlet Citadel
23. The Hour of the Dragon