Kull of Atlantis

Robert E. Howard is most noted for Conan the Barbarian but Kull the Conqueror preceded him.  In 2007, I was looking for something new to read and stumbled on the collected stories of Kull.  I offered some thoughts on June 21, 2007.

I have taken to reading Robert E. Howard again. About 20 years ago, I read the Conan series (as reconstructed by L. Sprague de Kamp and Lin Carter) because it was sitting on a shelf at a friend's house. It was fun and made good material for my campaign. Since then, I have read very little of Howard. Having caught part of Kull the Conqueror (the movie that failed to launch Kevin Sorbo's movie career) not long ago, I decided to read the source material.

Kull is unlike Conan in all ways except physical description. The muscular build, lightning reflexes, intense eyes, and square-cut black hair described as a lion's mane are common to both. But Kull is very contemplative and has a complete disinterest in women. He likes to talk about philosophy, alternate realities, history, and the like. In all the stories, Kull never has an affair. He never has a queen. Where Conan is a solitary wanderer who has allies only occasionally, Kull is surrounded by associates: there is the chief councilor Tu, sidekick Brule the Spear-Slayer, Ka-nu the Pictish Ambassador, and a variety of less frequent persons. Most of Conan's adventures are early in his career and he has not yet become a King whereas Kull is king in all but one story. The typical story has Kull trying to foil the latest assassination plot against him.  Another common theme is for Kull to cross the lands on some reckless adventure which Tu wisely advises against.

While Conan the Barbarian (with Arnold) did a fairly good job of bringing Howard's creation to the big screen, Kull the Conqueror failed entirely to stay true to the character. According to the IMDb, the movie was originally meant to be a Conan sequel but Arnold declined and the movie was reworked to have King Kull. Since it was to be Kull, it is amazing that they created Ascalante as a sidekick rather than use Brule the Spear-Slayer or Dalgar the Farsunian Adventurer or Captain Kelkor of the Red Slayers. The movie bares little resemblance to the literary Kull and none of the changes appear to be for the better.

It is plain why Howard abandoned Kull in favor of Conan. Kull really has only two facets: dull contemplation and uncontrollable furious rage. His amazing indifference to so much is annoying and he often nags how being king is boring compared to his days of high adventure. He reminds me of Admiral James Kirk always wishing he was just a captain again. Why the hell did you become king/admiral if it is such an undesired burden?