THE DEVIL IN IRON

Okay, I think I'm in the minority about this story on two fronts:

1. I think this story needs to be slotted much earlier into Conan's career that I had it (and than many chronologies have it).
2. It's much better than people give it credit for. 

"The Devil in Iron," another of the original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard, has Conan on the Vilayet Sea, doing much the same thing that he did in "Iron Shadows in the Moon." It was first published in Weird Tales in August of 1934. In this one, there are more lost cities and more strange magic, with another female companion who's not much good in combat, but I actually think this story does most of that better than "Iron Shadows."

Let's focus on continuity, though, because this is the first time in my chronology that I'm arguing for a major revision of one story's placement. Specifically, I think this story needs to move earlier in the chronology: after "Shadows in the Dark" and before "Iron Shadows in the Moon." That's seven placements up. Let me explain why.

There's nothing in the continuity that makes this story need to take place later. It's not like Conan mentions the time he was chief of the zuagirs or anything. Many of the stories are very helpful when Conan will say something out loud like, in "Beyond the Black River," Conan spouts:

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"​I've seen all the great cities of the Hyborians, the Shemites, the Stygians, and the Hyrkanians. I've roamed in the unknown countries south of the black kingdoms of Kush, and east of the Sea of Vilayet. I've been a mercenary captain, a corsair, a kozak, a penniless vagabond, a general—hell, I've been everything except a king of a civilized country, and I may be that, before I die."

That story needs to take place much later in his career. By my count its list of Conan's occupations references at least

• either his Turanian mercenary period like "The Curse of the Monolith" (which was written after Howard's death, but Howard agreed Conan had a mercenary period in which he learned to command following "Rogues in the House") or leading forces in "The Snout in the Dark,"
• piracy in "Queen of the Black Coast,"
• his kozak period like this story and "A Witch Shall Be Born," 
• ​the "penniless vagabond" line probably refers to his earliest days as a thief like "The Tower of the Elephant,"
• leading forces as a general in "Black Colossus,"
• and allusions to his future reign as king of Aquilonia in "The Phoenix on the Sword."

For those reasons, it's almost universally agreed upon that Conan's time in the Pictish Wilderness in stories like "Beyond the Black River" takes place late in his life, right before his kingship.

​We don't get anything that illuminating, but we get a few continuity clues in "The Devil In Iron.". King Yezdigerd is mentioned, so that means it definitely has to take place after a story like "The Hand of Nergal," during which King Yildiz is still ruler.

​"Yezdigerd, king of Turan, was the mightiest monarch in the world. In his palace in the great port city of Aghrapur was heaped the plunder of empires. His fleets of purple-sailed war galleys had made Vilayet an Hyrkanian lake."

I'd also like to note that there's no reason it can't take place prior to "Iron Shadows in the Moon." When Conan is introduced in the story, rescuing Olivia, he is already a kozak. His enemy Shah Amurath recognizes him as one right away.

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​'Kozak!' ejaculated Shah Amurath, recoiling. 'I did not know a dog of you escaped! I thought you all lay stiff on the steppe, by Ilbars River.'

I looked to "A Probable Outline of Conan's Career" for their thoughts on the story's placement, and literally all we get there is this:

"​The height of the second kozak episode.  Somewhere about 32 or 33, he makes the kozaks a real threat to King Yezdigerd, before feeling the urge to be off and riding south to Vendhya."

One of the things that I've thought was most compelling about the orders of certain chronologies is making logical movements across the map. As the Joe Marek chronology puts it, he's trying to avoid forcing Conan into a "mad dash" around the Hyborian world. I think that makes a lot of sense, so it seems weird to me that Conan might randomly end up, once again, in the middle of the Vilayet Sea. It seems more likely to me that he had both of these adventures on the islands of the Vilayet close together in time.

However, I've got a problem.

Conan mentions "the black lotus of Xuthal," something that comes up in "The Slithering Shadow," also known as "Xuthal of the Dusk," which is five stories in the future from this one. I'm not sure how things are going to have to be reordered after that. I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

The descriptions of the city of Dagon and the strange magicks that reside there are pretty fun in this story, more fun than they are in "Iron Shadows in the Moon." Conan's initial creep though the city is probably the strongest part of the narrative.

From reading other Conan bloggers and historians, it seems that most people really don't dig this story, but I found it to be pretty decent. In my rankings, it's in the middle of the pack. Quite a few people seem to say that this is the weakest of Howard's original stories, but it just feels leagues better to me than stuff like "Iron Shadows in the Moon" and "The Slithering Shadow," in fact, I'd probably say it's just a little worse than "The Frost-Giant's Daughter." That feels controversial.

Roy Thomas adapted this one into Savage Sword 15 with art by John Buscema.

Coming up next in the chronology is "The Flame Knife," which features Conan going south to kingdoms we have yet to explore!

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