This article covers some of the major Conan chronologies that have been advanced over the years. From the 1930s onward a number of fans and scholars have attempted to create a chronological timeline into which the numerous Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard and later writers could be placed.
Contents
- MillerClarkde Camp chronology
- Order earliest and latest forms
- Robert Jordan chronology
- William Galen Gray chronology
- Order
- Joe Marek chronology
- Dale Rippke chronology
- References
Going beyond a simple fan activity, these efforts have had a significant impact on the development of the popular conception of the character of Conan as well as economic consequences on the Conan franchise. As Paolo Bertetti observes, the focus on the creation of a character chronology outside of the work of the original author begins a "process that tends to transform the character into a social object of inter-individual construction and public debate, rendering it independent of texts in which it was born," and in the case of Conan, this has led to the exploitation of the character for commercial reasons and perhaps encouraged and justified the proliferation of pastiche stories and novels over the years.
A number of factors have prevented the establishment of a consensus on order of the Conan stories, most notably the fact that Howard himself apparently had little more than a general idea of the character's career path and intentionally wrote the stories out of chronological sequence. Clearly, the stories where Conan is a thief are at the early part of his career and those of King Conan - at the later part. But the middle part - the various tales of his being a pirate, land-robber and mercenary at various locations around the world - are more difficult to arrange in a neat order. While the earliest (Miller/Clark) timeline had at least partial endorsement from Howard, the addition of stories discovered and published after Howard's death in 1936 are more difficult to place. Fragments and synopses that were never completed are even more problematic and some contain what appear to be internal inconsistencies.
Miller/Clark/de Camp chronology
The essay A Probable Outline of Conan's Career (1936) was completed during Howard's lifetime by P. Schuyler Miller and John D. Clark. Howard, who reviewed it in draft and made a few corrections, stated it followed his vision of Conan's career "pretty closely." The version subsequently published in the Howard fanzine The Hyborian Age (1938) incorporated Howard's corrections. The chronology was revised over the years by Miller, Clark and L. Sprague de Camp to take into account additional Conan material, including previously unpublished stories by Howard and newly written stories by others. These revised versions of the chronology guided the order in which the stories were arranged when they were compiled into book form in the early series published by Gnome Press (1950–1957), Lancer/Ace (1966–1977), and Bantam (1978–1982), and text from the chronology was used in these series to bridge gaps between the stories.
The subsequent versions include An Informal Biography of Conan the Cimmerian (1952), a revision by Clark and de Camp used to bridge stories in the first hardcover edition of the Conan stories, published by Gnome Press. De Camp's final version of the chronology, Conan the Indestructible (1984), incorporated the first seven volumes of the series of Conan pastiches published by Tor Books.
While the chronology has Howard's general approval in regard to its placement of the stories covered by its earliest published version, such authority is lacking for later versions' placement of stories discovered after Howard's death. Most post-Howard Conan stories were written to conform to it. The chronology has been criticized for missing some in-story chronological indications pointing to a slightly different arrangement (such as "Xuthal of the Dusk" preceding "The Devil in Iron"), for force-fitting posthumously discovered Howard tales into its scheme (e.g. "The Black Stranger," in which Howard has Conan turn pirate between his stints as general and king in Aquilonia, rewritten by de Camp to omit the piratical interlude), and for having Conan wander "all over the Hyborian world in a scattered and illogical pattern, and at a break-neck pace."
Order (earliest and latest forms)
All stories added after the earliest version are indented."
Robert Jordan chronology
A Conan Chronology by Robert Jordan (1987) was the attempt of Conan writer Robert Jordan to create a new Chronology including all Conan material written up to that point, including fifteen of the first sixteen volumes of the series of Conan pastiches published by Tor Books (omitting the eighth, Conan the Valorous). It was first published in Conan the Defiant, by Steve Perry (Tor Books, 1987). It was heavily influenced by the Miller/Clark/de Camp chronology, though deviating from it in some respects, and covers more of the Tor series. Jordan seldom provided his reasoning on his departures from the earlier chronology.
William Galen Gray chronology
Timeline of Conan's Journeys (1997, rev. 2004), was William Galen Gray's attempt to create "a chronology of all the stories, both Howard and pastiche." It is based on a close reading of all the stories and drawing on the earlier Miller/Clark/de Camp and Jordan chronologies. Where the earlier chronologies differ Gray sometimes adopts one's placement, sometimes the other, and occasionally departs from both, in each case explaining his reasons for the placement. The Gray chronology incorporated all then-published Conan stories, including all the Tor volumes, but treated inconsistently Tor pastiches whose portrayals of Conan's early life contradict Howard's account of it. Three of these, the movie adaptations Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer and the John M. Roberts novel Conan the Bold, Gray rejected as apocryphal "Legends." The fourth, Harry Turtledove's Conan of Venarium, he accepted.
Order
Apocryphal:
Joe Marek chronology
Joe Marek's chronology is limited to stories written (or devised) by Howard, though within that context it is essentially a revision of the Miller/Clark/de Camp tradition. Noting the Miller/Clark/de Camp chronology's general approval by Howard, he tends to follow it when it does not contradict the internal evidence of the stories or force Conan into what he perceives as a "mad dash" around the Hyborian world within timeframes too rapid to be credible. Marek considers four changes from this chronology as central to his own:
- that "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" is the first Conan tale.
- that the four thief stories ("The Tower of the Elephant", "The Hall of the Dead", "The God in the Bowl" and "Rogues in the House") occur in a direct east to west sequence (note, however, that this is not really a change; while other chronologies may intersperse pastiches in the sequence, all except the Dale Rippke chronology place these stories in the same order).
- that "Xuthal Of The Dusk" (a.k.a. "The Slithering Shadow") has to occur before "The Devil In Iron", as the events of the former is referenced by Conan in the later.
- that "The Vale Of Lost Women" occurs later in the series than previously assumed.
Marek provides arguments for his story placements, though he fails to incorporate into his scheme the chronologically wide gap between "Beyond the Black River" and "Wolves Beyond the Border" he admits to be indicated by Howard's version of "The Black Stranger" as he believed doing anything more to filling the hole would require a major reordering of the stories that would take attention away from his four primary changes. Additionally Marek divided his timeline into five parts that would constitute about 250 paperback pages each.
Dale Rippke chronology
In 2003 Dale Rippke published The Darkstorm Conan Chronology, a completely revised chronology, including only those stories written (or devised) by Howard. Completions of Howard works by other hands and post-Howard works are not included. Rippke bases his story placements on the texts as Howard wrote them, which lead him to some of the same conclusions as Marek. Most of his differences with Marek fall in the middle of their respective efforts. The Dark Horse comic series is based on and mostly follows this chronology.