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Study 137 - The Scarlet Citadel - Part 2 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-07-24 17:15:32
Imported:
2025-07
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Content

Conan reclaims his throne in the epic conclusion of The Scarlet Citadel by Robert E. Howard!

Special thanks to reader Anthony Tedesco!

Check out our Robert E. Howard collection!

Next up: Extra Credit Dungeon Crawling with Gary Butterfield of Watch Out For Fireballs!

Comments

Rick Hound

I did not expect demon plant s**nding on this summer day

Fuzzynubz

Nice! Been waiting for this one with baited breath

Rick Hound

What I appreciate with modern writers like Steven Erikson is that instead of the complete overhead view of a battle and go down the route of dehumanizing like Chad said, he instead gives the perspective views of individual characters or squads to show and even with all the neatly drawn strategies the actual battle is chaotic. The suffering of not just the soldier but also the animals which accompany them.

Pagurus

So, Pelias knows immediately that he spent 10 years unconscious upon hearing that it is the "year of the gazelle" now - no chance it could have been, say, 22 or any other number of years. This implies, that every year in history has its own name - what a fantastic world!

Pagurus

The creepy plant reminded me of Clark Ashton Smith's "The Seed from the Sepulcher" - great body horror story, if you ever get to it!

Jeremy Saz

Wow! Another rousing podcast that strikes, panther like. For next Thewly, I’d like to recommend Imaro by the African American author Charles Saunders. It’s a sword and sorcery series that takes place in a world of African mythology and history.

Ann Knight

Came here to say that very thing! I wasn't sure which was written first.

Richard Horsman

Have to correct you on naked Gandalf, Chad. He’s still grey, not pink. Tolkien describes him as having, -AND I QUOTE- “the same colour and toughness as overcooked beef; the sort hobbits serve to their least favoured relatives.” Your vision of a more medium rare style Gandalf is appealing, but not true to the master’s work I’m afraid.

Nathan Adam

I was thinking that it was like the Chinese zodiac calendar. Maybe Pelias was imprisoned in the year of the monitor lizard and just did some quick math in his wizard brain.

Sanjay Mathew

Naked he was sent back, for a time, until the roast is done.

Sanjay Mathew

The guys did an Imaro story last year I think

Pagurus

That is the likely implication - but how can he be sure that the zodiac hasn't come around several times since his imprisonment?

Ben Gilbert

For something different next Thewly, try one of George Alec Effinger’s stories about Maureen Birnbaum , Barbarian Swordperson.

Rafe Ball

Don't forget his barely seared version, Gandalf the Blue.

REO Jackwagon

They've absolutely done Imaro episodes with quite a bit of bio on Sanders. That being said, I'd love to hear them do more!

Jim Cannon

No Zenobia, my guess turned out to be incorrect. This is the OTHER story where King Conan is almost deposed. If I had a nickel, etc. You guys went straight to byakhee but isn't it possible that Conan was riding a dragon? At least, that's where my brain, trained by more traditional fantasy, went when I first read this, lo those many years ago. A hero riding a dragon to save the kingdom at the last second is still pretty frickin' metal, albeit maybe not *weird* metal.

Jim Cannon

When it comes to dungeoneering, I always lean towards the cleric class, myself. Not much precedence for it in the literature, admittedly (the class was first created so someone could play the Hammer version of Van Helsing against the campaign's vampire villain), but it combines martial vigor with spells. Plus, as the great sage Gary Larson once observed, there's something about the weight of a solid mace in your hand that makes you want to smash in someone's skull. The spells aren't quite as impressive as a wizard's, but they do provide more versatility than the abilities of the average fighting man. And the anthropologist in me likes inventing the religion of the character.

Nathan Adam

Good question. The DM in me wants to say that, with his arcane knowledge of seductive demon plants, he would know that it only feeds on a wizard's life force for a total of 11 - 12 years before it kills him. And if my players questioned it any further, I'd roll two fistfuls of dice and have monsters ambush them.

Brian Pitt

One of my favorite Conan stories, both because it has an actual sympathetic sorcerer and because it's hard to find a more metal album cover image than Conan riding down to the rioting city, holding his sword while on the back of a winged demon.

Runninghead

I loved these two Conan shows. Excellent muscular, visceral readings- those pigeons had better watch out now! Conan's low-tax policy is totally sound- there are no roads, services, military, welfare or healthcare but the population are so tough, buff and healthy they don't need any of that! Thank you Chad for the Tyrant of Syracuse story, I not heard that one before and it'll be really handy for some classes I teach. It'll serve as a great example of how you should never invest so much of your resources in offence that you neglect your defence. I'm old enough to remember the early days of D&D here in the UK but I kinda missed the boat on it. To catch up, I got my DM buddy to include me in a newb campaign a few years ago. I wasn't much impressed by my character's limited abilities- what use is the magical power to boil a small amount of water?! Then I realised I could boil the water in an enemy's eyeballs and it changed the whole game for me! I guess that's probably a familiar D&D rite of passage for many? Hearing Chris and Chad having so much fun with this tale really made these shows for me. I love Thewly too!

Forrest Rush

Oh, Robert, Robert… you tiptoe right up to tentacle porn, but then panic and let your repressed fears take the wheel — so Conan has to leap in and hack the poor bush to death before things get too throbbing.

Tomas Rawlings

On question of why did they let Civilians Conan and Pelias live, I’d argue the text gives the clues. For Conan they offer him money to abdicate and name their guy as the ruler. As we see in monarchy, chaos appears where there is no clear succession. If Conan agreed to help with it, it reduces the probability of chaos and increases the chances of a smoother transition. (I guess the royal strangling was fast so a smoother transfer of power?!). So that’s the initial aim of keeping him alive. When he refuses, they do go to kill him, but now another reason appears to not kill him: Tsotha-lanti wants to demonstrate his power over all, including life and death. He forbids Conans killing not because he’s opposed to it but because it did not order it. I suspect that later on he’d be fine to order Conans death when it looks to be his will alone. I think this is the same reason Pelias is alive still; the demonstration of power over life and death. Tsotha-lanti is trying to show he’s so powerful he can let even sorcerers live, but only at his pleasure.

It's a Ghost.

The giant bat-like creature reminded me of the time I had a dream where I was trapped on a mountain with She-Ra and her friends, but She-Ra was able to send an SOS to some flying horses, and when the flying horses arrived to save us, we all (including Swift Wind, who is a winged horse himself) jumped on the backs of the winged horses and flew away to safety.

Steve

"Some of them drownding"?

superkeaton

I always enjoy these stories where Conan gets a buddy. This, Tower of the Elephant, Rogues in the House, it's fun to get someone who operates differently, but not less effectively, than our favorite Cimerian.

Elisheba

Gandalf does in fact get naked in Lord of the Rings! After the battle with the balrog he sorta comes to himself without clothes on not remembering who he is, and since our last sight of him was him preparing to face down the balrog, I think instead of battling they may have just gone clubbing together.

Elisheba

Conan: Friendship is Magic

YoAdrienne

I am not usually of the sword and sorcery ilk, but I love a good monster and this story has two.. the frog headed creature that mimics the cries of previous victims (I think) and that horrifying plant.. I find mimicry terrifying and this is how it's done!

Ethan Cordray

This story has it all -- dungeon crawling, plant freakery, wizard vs. wizard, and of course Conan going FULL VAN ART on his flying hell steed! ...do people still paint rad fantasy art on the sides of their vans? Feels like we need to bring that back.

Tara Murphy

Question! Can I give a gift subscription to your podcast? I made a new friend on the set of this Netflix Josh Hartnett fighting a sea monster series we are filming here, and he is a big ol' Lovecraft nerd. I got him listening to the show and his birthday is next weekend and I thought it would be the perfect gift. Because I don't want him to miss an episode! Thank you.

Tara Murphy

Thanks! That was easy. Seeing the options, I think I need to also upgrade my membership. I think I might be missing an episode a month, but I'll have to check.

ESTY

Know O Prince, that as ever; Thewly rocks balls! A fantastic King Conan tale presented with vim and vigour! It was like silk breeches for my ears (and for my giant-snake scaring soul) The Rotortiller of Encino delivered such a rousing performance that it made me wish that you’d do an old-school ransom for a FULL READING of the Scarlet Citadel; that would be very Byakhee.

ESTY

One man’s byakhee is another man’s wyvern

Peter Mellett

I LOVE the final act of this one. The chase sequence and almost slapstick finale is so satisfying.

It's a Ghost.

Very important comment. The name Strabonus reminded me of retired NBA basketball player Arvydas Sabonis and the character Richard Stabone (aka Boner) from the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains. Also, I just looked up the Wikipedia page for Andrew Koenig, who played Richard Stabone on Growing Pains, and apparently he was the inspiration for the short story "Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Koenig Also, RIP Andrew Koenig.

Pagurus

Apparently they were both published 1933 in Weird Tales, this one in January, "Seed" in October.

Mooncubus

Where do I get one of these plants? For uh... Science of course...