THE HAND OF NERGAL

"The Hand of Nergal" is another one of the stories that were started by Robert E. Howard during his lifetime and then finished later by another author. That seems to usually be the team of L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, but this one was just finished by Carter alone. It has some good scenes, but ultimately feels like it's just a little bit less than the sum of its parts. In my own estimation, its vibe is more that of Carter than Howard. It just doesn't feel like REH's other work.

The story opens on a battlefield which is already at the height of its carnage. Conan is working as a mercenary for the armies of Turan after deciding to leave thievery behind for a time. The copy of this story I read was in the 1967 book Conan and each entry has a short recap at the beginning, which I've found very helpful. I don't know if they appear with every version of these stories, but I kind of hope they do. This one seems to imply some character growth in the part of Conan- he's seen how society runs and has decided that he doesn't really want any part of it, so he'll go do what he does best. At the end of "Rogues in the House," he got ahold of a horse, then headed east, and has made it quite a ways.

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Conan fights some very cool giant, sinewy bat creatures on the field of combat, but his army is ultimately unsuccessful. There are some very cool and cinematic moments throughout, as well as one very funny passage that I'm not sure was intended to be funny. Carter introduces Bakra of Akif, who is played up like a major badass. We watch him get picked up and then yeeted back down onto the battlefield in an unceremonious death, ending with, "Thus ended the career of Bakra of Akif." I don't know if it was supposed to be funny, but it made me laugh.

As one of the only survivors of the fight, Conan comes across a girl name Hildico, who tells him that he's needed by Prince Than in the city of Yaralet. There, we get a huge exposition dump from the monk Atalis about how Yaralet is beset by an awful curse that has turned their leader evil. It suffers from a lack of "show, don't tell," as it feels we don't actually get to see any of Yaralet- we just sneak with Conan and Hildico through underground tunnels. Conan helps defeat the evil forces by using the Heart of Tammuz, a gem he randomly found prior to the opening of the story, and it all feels just a little bit cheap, though the spark-flying battle between two constructions of light and shadow is pretty darn cool.

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Speaking of unintentionally funny moments, the Heart of Tammuz is gassed-up as the powerful counter-talisman to the evil Hand of Nergal (from way back in King Kull's time!). Atalis says several times, "The Heart will protect you... all his power will be gone!" It doesn't work as planned, since the villain Munthassem Khan awakens and says, "The Heart protects, in very truth--but only him who knows how to invoke its power!" At this point in the story, I'm wondering what the correct way to invoke that power is. A moment later, Hildico appears and chucks the Heart of Tammuz at the Khan: 

"It caught him full between the eyes with an audible thud. Eyes filming, he sank bonelessly into the cushioned embrace of his black throne. The Hand of Nergal slid from nerveless fingers to clank against the marble step."

Apparently, the "correct" way to use the Heart was to just fucking throw it at your enemy's head and it'll knock them unconscious. This is the worst talisman of all time!

"The Hand of Nergal" is a bit odd in construction and tone compared to other Conan tales. I would argue that its inciting incident doesn't actually happen until two-thirds of the way into the story. The stakes are a little weak as well. Usually they are simple: Will Conan get the treasure? Will Conan defeat the monster? Will Conan survive the evil sorcerer's plans? But he doesn't have much of a personal stake in this story, voluntarily going to Yaralet to help the people there, without much of anything riding on his success for him. I know that's the more heroic thing to do than needing to get something out of it, but it weakens the plot some for me.

The tone is a bit odd compared to other stories from this section of Conan's career too. It's got this kind of wide-eyed, full-hearted reverence for adventure that hasn't even been alluded to in previous tales. Conan's been mostly working to subsist himself: he steals not because he loves treasure but because it buys him lots of meat, wine, and nights with women. He works as a mercenary not because he has any allegiance to the empire, but because it pays well and he's good at it. However, there are two lines in this story that just feel out of place. The first is at the end of Chapter 3:

"They rode across the shallow ford of the river and across the gloom-drenched plain towards Yaralet,... and Conan's heart, which never beat more joyously than when thrilled with the promise of excitement and adventure, sang."

And the other is the last line of the story:

"[Conan] swung about, flung up one brawny arm, grinned back at them farewell, and rode off with the lithe girl clasped before him. Atalis chuckled. 'Some men fight for things other than gold,' he observed."

Both of these sections felt odd. Since when has Conan just loved adventure? Sure, his quests have all been voluntary and it's not like they're a slog, but he mostly seems to be doing them out of necessity, greed, lust, or just a desire to make a mark on the world. We've never gotten any hint that his heart sings at the idea of adventure. And as for the second quote, just no. Conan hasn't ever fought for anything other than gold at this point. Conan does indeed have a sense of duty and he's certainly not a bad guy, at least compared to all the other movers and shakers of the Hyborian Age, but I don't know if this kind of heroic wistfulness is earned.

​I wonder if Lin Carter felt like Conan's motivations felt a little weak while drafting this story. Why does he go to Yaralet to help these people? Well, I suppose if we throw some lines in there about how much he loves the promise of a good adventure, it will seem like he's getting something out of it.

I wrote more than I meant to about this story, as it's not one of the best. It just kind of ran through me. Maybe I'm not much of a Lin Carter fan.

Conan will still be working with the Turanian army as a merc in our next story, "The City of Skulls," though I think we're going even further east to never-before-seen lands. I've been working on a map to track Conan's movements up to this story, that I'll post soon.

★★★☆☆