Shadows in the Moonlight (short story)
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| "Iron Shadows in the Moon" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by Robert E. Howard | |
 | |
| Original title | Shadows in the Moonlight |
| Country | US |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy |
| Publication | |
| Published in | US |
| Publication type | Pulp magazine |
| Publisher | Weird Tales |
| Publication date | 1934 |
| Series | Conan the Cimmerian |
"Shadows in the Moonlight" is one of the original short stories starring the fictional sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian, written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in Weird Tales magazine in April 1934. Howard originally named his story "Iron Shadows in the Moon". It is set in the pseudo-historical Hyborian Age and concerns Conan escaping to a remote island in the Vilayet Sea where he encounters the Red Brotherhood, a skulking creature, and mysterious iron statues.
The story was republished in the collections Conan the Barbarian (Gnome Press, 1954) and Conan the Freebooter (Lancer Books, 1968). It has more recently been published in the collections The Conan Chronicles Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle (Gollancz, 2000) and Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932-1933) (Del Rey, 2003).
Plot summary
The story begins when a female lovely named Olivia, having fled captivity from the city of Akif, is chased down and cornered in a marsh, on the edge of the Vilayet Sea. Her pursuer and former master is a sadistic rogue named Shah Amurath. But before he can lay hands on her, a figure rises from the reeds. The newcomer has seen all his friends betrayed and treacherously cut down to a man before escaping into the marshes. There he has hidden out for so long he is nearly mad. The newcomer quickly dispatches Shah Amurath, then he and Olivia hop in a boat and decide to lie low for a little while. Only then does the newcomer identify himself: Conan the Cimmerian.
Conan and Olivia find their way to a dark and apparently deserted island, where they spend the night sleeping in ancient ruins decorated with remarkably lifelike statues. Olivia has a dream in which she sees a band of men turned into those statues and wakes convinced they will come to life in the moonlight. Conan is less than convinced of Olivia's fears; he is more concerned by whatever it is lurking in the jungle, lobbing giant boulders at the two fugitives.
A pirate ship makes port on the island. Leaving Olivia hidden in the brush, Conan challenges their captain, an old rival. He slays the pirate captain, but is knocked unconscious by a stone from a sling. The pirates bind him and take him with them to the ruins where they discuss his fate, until they pass out drunk. Olivia meanwhile, narrowly escapes from a massive and dark figure that pursues her up to the ruins.
Olivia sneaks past the drunken and sleeping pirates and frees Conan. Conan then slays the dark figure that pursued Olivia, a giant man-ape, which had also been hurling the boulders at them. As Conan recovers from his battle with the man-ape, they hear the beginning of a horrific slaughter back at the ruins.
The two quickly head back to the deserted pirate ship. As Conan prepares the ship to sail, a band of beaten and bedraggled pirates comes and asks to come aboard and leave the "devil island." Conan challenges them and they accept him as their captain. At the end Olivia begs Conan to allow her to stay with him, and he, laughing, accepts, saying he will make her "Queen of the Blue Sea."
Themes
The last sentence, in which Conan promises to make Olivia "Queen of the Blue Sea", is similar to the last sentence of "The Hour of the Dragon" in which Conan declares: "Zenobia was a slave in Nemedia, but I will make her queen of Aquilonia!". However, the directions of social movement are reversed between these two cases - Olivia, who was born a princess, becomes a pirate queen; Zenobia who had been a slave becomes the queen of a major kingdom.
Olivia never again appears in the Conan stories, and it remains unknown what was her ultimate fate. It is noteworthy, however, that the very next Conan story, published one month after the present one, was the well-known "Queen of the Black Coast" where Conan is paired with a female pirate - though one very different from Olivia, and on a different sea.
Adaptation
The story was adapted by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala in Savage Sword of Conan #4 in 1974, then by Tim Truman and Tomas Giorello in Conan the Cimmerian #22-25 in 2010.
External links
- Conan the Barbarian at AmratheLion.com
- Conan.com: The official website
Shadows in the Moonlight public domain audiobook at LibriVox
