September 2020 - The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune
Sept 20, 2020 9:58:17 GMT -5
Post by Jason Aiken on Sept 20, 2020 9:58:17 GMT -5
I re-read the story yesterday and have repaired my sins of omission. I was struck by this passage which nicely encapsulates Howard's Wheel of Time:
"Time strides onward," said Tuzun Thune calmly. "We live today; what care we for tomorrow—or yesterday? The Wheel turns and nations rise and fall; the world changes, and times return to savagery to rise again through the long age. Ere Atlantis was, Valusia was, and ere Valusia was, the Elder Nations were. Aye, we, too, trampled the shoulders of lost tribes in our advance. You, who have come from the green sea hills of Atlantis to seize the ancient crown of Valusia, you think my tribe is old, we who held these lands ere the Valusians came out of the East, in the days before there were men in the sea lands. But men were here when the Elder Tribes rode out of the waste lands, and men before men, tribe before tribe. The nations pass and are forgotten, for that is the destiny of man."
Indeed, a common theme in the REH mythos.
Tuzan Thune reminds me of The Sphinx in "Mystery Me" in the way he answers Kull's questions.
I remain of the view that Kull is Howard's Marcus Aurelius, his philosopher-king. We know that Conan listened to the philosophers and was unimpressed. Kull seeks knowledge and to me there is to much of this and too little action. Howard is at his best is setting the scene with vivid imagery. The passivity and introspection in this is not so much to my liking.
Valid points, Kull did indeed seek out knowledge, but ended up sitting in front of a mirror for a while as a result. It would have been interesting to see some yarns where he would journey on adventures in foreign lands with Brule and Red Slayers at his back seeking it out rather than hang around Valusia all the time. But then again, that's kind of what differentiates him from Conan in a big way.