Conan: The Scarlet Citadel Review & Retrospective 

“Arrows flew like hail through the hosts, darkening the sun.” Damn I love Robert e Howard so much! XD

Technically, Tsotha-Lanti was not dead after his beheading. His own sorcery, combined with that of his rival Pelias, kept him “alive” and animate. Pelias stole his head and body followed after, which when viewed through the contextual lens of myth and symbolism, which Howard frequently drew inspiration from, usually represents the stealing or gaining power over another. It should also be mentioned that Tsotha was a child of the demons which dwelt on Dagoth Hill, where he would eventually build the Scarlet Citadel itself, and so he was not entirely human, nor bound to normal human limitations. In essence, Tsotha was what we might call a cambion, a child between the mating of a “male” demon and a human mother. For another thing, Tsotha is a good example of a very common trope in these kinds of stories, which as Howard might have potential phrased it, conveys a sense that “those so profoundly steeped in the black arts do not always know death as true men do.” Very similar can be seen with other evil magicians within Howard’s stories, such as Thulsa-Doom, Xaltotun, Thoth-Amon, and others, and even more in the stories of other authors of the time such as H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Lin Carter, etc.

The cool thing about this story is that it truly feels like a king conan story. Not a Kull story with Conan, but a Conan story where he is king, and it can only work with Conan. If you ask me. I have only read a few Kull stories. So I may be getting things wrong.

I'm using these reviews/retrospectives as am opportunity to go back and reread some of these wonderful series. I think I actually liked this even more than I remember. But the scene stealer is as I remember, the pit. I just love Conan trapped in the pit and Howard does an amazing job getting across just how hellish it is. It is where his purple prose really shines.

People who criticize Howard always do so with little information, and very bad faith. I tend to ignore them, but it still makes my blood boil. Hell, one comment on an audiobook version of Howard’s horror story called him “Diet Lovecraft.”

Well you just earned a subscriber.

Well done man! Yesterday I finished reading the Scarlet Citadel and I watched this after, all these images the narration!!! Hail King Conan!

Great review! Ive read a handful of conan pulps from the Coming of Conan the Cimmerian book, and The Scarlet Citadel is my favorite story so far. Its such a wild, fun ride. Opening with a big battle, to his epic speech about why he earned his king status by merit, to the awesomely alien dungeons of the citadel itself, to second big battle, to the conclusion.

Howard was better at writing Lovecraftian stories than Lovecraft himself was. There, I said it. The ultimate proof of this is a little volume put out by Del Rey entitled "The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard".

Well done video enjoyed every minute of it. Have not read this story in a while but thanks for reviewing it. The art work from Dark Horse was really good to add also

Really great video. Please do all of the Conan stories. I love your music, graphics, narration, everything.

I’m very much enjoying this series and watching them in order! Looking forward to watching the rest of them. I don’t know if it’s just me, but when I listened to this audiobook, I could hear the Conan movie theme in my head when his army shows up at the end to take down Tsotha’s army.

Howard was a legend.

These truly are great videos, man. The best recaps I have seen on youtube and you have a knack for using images from the best adaptations that get the point across. If a person were to ask me about delving into Conan stories, I would simply direct them here. Enjoyed the John Carter vid as well, looking forward to what you do in the future.

These videos are so great. I’m working on a retrospective video for Conan (1982) and I’ve been reading the stories to prepare. I would love to have you on and maybe do a guest video discussing Conan. Let me know. But again, I really admire the work you’re doing.

I love this story and your synoposis, however, I do have one tiny complaint, Tsotha-Lanti's name is pronounced with a silent letter t.

Right on. Like your take on this review. ...grinz... await your words on another particular "critic" that threw shade on REH's writing. 🤔

Your Conan videos are amazing…not sure why you stopped. Probably not enough of a following I guess? But I await more Conan content eagerly. I listen to your retrospectives after reading each story. PS: It is utterly outrageous to characterize Howard as some sort of fan fiction writer riding the coat tails of Lovecraft. And when I say “outrageous” I mean it. It’s absurd. Conan’s journey through the subterranean pits of Tsotha-Lanti are superbly written and are indeed horrifying. In my opinion, quite a bit better than Lovecraft but that’s just my personal opinion. Whatever the case, it is not a matter of opinion that Howard stood apart as a singular talent and with or without Lovecraft, would have captured our imaginations. That’s just a fact. It’s like saying that George Lucas doesn’t deserve credit for Star Wars because he drew inspiration from Japanese films and Westerns.

Think I’ve read most of Howard’s stuff 🤔

Done everything Conan

I'd like to scarlet senadel It tell you the 1st time Conan feels fear Not by normal mortals by the supernatural the lovecraftin horror you cannot explain That's what I like about the universe of HPL and REH they are connected.

Wait where do I recognize his voice from???

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