The Lancer Kull Series: Wizard and Warrior by Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter

by Gary Romeo

“Wizard and Warrior” is an unfinished fragment by Robert E. Howard that was reworked by Lin Carter. It is the eleventh story in King Kull, Lancer Books, 1967. Presumably Lin Carter also titled the story.

Illustration by Justin Sweet for Kull: Exile of Atlantis, Del Rey, 2006

Lin Carter edited the fragment and provided an ending. Comparing the first few paragraphs shows the type of changes that Lin Carter made.

Lancer:

Three men sat at a table playing a game with carved ivory pieces. Across the sill of the open window whispered a faint breeze, redolent of the heady perfume of roses from the moonlit garden that lay beyond.

Three men sat at a table. One was a king, the second a prince of an ancient and noble house, the third a chieftain of a terrible and barbaric nation.

“Score!” quoth Kull, King of Valusia, as he moved one of the ivory figures on the board. “My wizard holds your warrior in check, Brule.

Del Rey:

Three men sat at a table playing a game. Across the sill of an open window there whispered a faint breezing, blowing the filmy curtains about and bearing to the players the incense of roses and vines and growing green things.

Three men sat at a table – one was a king – one a prince of an ancient house – one was the chief of a terrible and barbaric nation.

“Score!” quoth Kull, king of Valusia, as he moved one of the ivory figures. “My wizard menaces your warrior, Brule.”

Lin Carter followed the two page draft pretty closely, slightly changing sentence structure and punctuation as he saw fit as the editor of the story.

Marvel Comics adapted the completed Lin Carter version of the story in The Savage Sword of Conan #55. Script by Roy Thomas and art by Alfredo Alcala. Marvel used the title “The Wizard and the Warrior” for Conan the Barbarian #29. That issue was an adaptation of REH’s “Two for Tyre” however.

Brule takes center-stage in this story. REH contrasts Kull as a tiger and Brule as a leopard. He continues to describe Brule: “Immobile features set off a fine head, powerful neck, heavy trim shoulders and a deep chest. These features, with the muscular legs and arms, were characteristics of the nation to which he belonged. But in one respect Brule differed from his tribesman, for whereas their eyes were mostly hard scintillant brown or wicked black, his were a deep volcanic blue. Somewhere in his blood was a vagrant strain of Celt or of those scattered savages who lived in ice caves close to the Arctic circle.” Lin Carter changed the wording in his version to: “This trim, powerful musculature was characteristic of his warlike and barbarous tribe of the Pictish Isles, but in one respect he differed from his fellow tribesmen. Whereas they had glinting eyes of black, his burned a strange blue. Somewhere in his blood was mingled a vagrant strain of Celt or of those scattered savages who live in the ice caves of the cold north, near distant, fabulous Thule.”

At this time in his life, REH was starting his fascination with the Celts and losing touch with Kull as a character. In a previous story, “Riders Beyond the Sunrise” it seemed REH was leading Kull to his doom and possibly replacing him with Kelkor (with the “strange eyes”). Now in this story Brule is the main focus and he acquires the characteristic most associated with Conan, “volcanic blue eyes.” I’m surprised Lin Carter didn’t edit this description more. Brule had been described as being dark-eyed in previous stories and mentioning Celts seems anachronistic for a Kull story. Replacing “Arctic circle” with Thule was arguably a good edit.

In both REH’s and Lin Carter’s version, Brule tells a story of his encounter with a wizard. The reader is informed about Pictish society and internal politics. Brule’s tribe is at war with the Sungara, a rival tribe. Lin gives Brule a mighty (maybe magical, definitely anti-magical) iron sword. (Lin was big on the mighty sword trope.) Brule confronts Aa-thak the wizard. Brule’s iron sword thwarts Aa-thak’s magic in a stalemate until Brule uses the sword to slice Aa-thak’s magic staff. After that Brule easily slays the wizard.

Returning to the game, Brule moves another ivory piece and checkmates Kull. Kull concludes: “The game is yours, Brule, but I cannot object! My sympathies are ever with the warrior against the wizard. Magic fails, as ever it must, against a strong man’s will and wit – as my wits fail against this strong wine, or I should have seen your trap!”

Lin ends the story: “But he called for more wine, and proposed another game.”