I have read Robert E. Howard’s
The Tower of the Elephant many times, as it is one of my favorite
Howard stories. Only recently did it occur to me that there are many Biblical correlations in the story. Many of Howard’s works include Christian references, especially in his Solomon Kane stories. Growing up in Texas, Howard was likely exposed to Christian teachings, and his study of world history, including the Crusades, would have included much about the Catholic Church.
The Tower of the Elephant begins in a tavern in the City of Thieves.
Torches flared murkily on the revels in the Maul, where the thieves of the east held carnival by night. In the Maul they could carouse and roar as they liked, for honest people shunned the quarters, and watchmen, well paid with stained coins, did not interfere with their sport…. rascals gathered in every stage of rags and tatters—furtive cut-purses, leering kidnappers, quick-fingered thieves, swaggering bravoes with their wenches, strident-voiced women clad in tawdry finery. Native rogues were the dominant element—
“Know that in Zamora, and more especially in this city, there are more bold thieves than anywhere else in the world…”
A few minutes after uttering these lines, that man would be dead.
The tavern scene reflects sin and the sinful nature of man. It is almost a depiction of the wicked city of Gomorrah that God destroyed in Genesis 19. Sin is one of the central themes in The Bible and is mentioned hundreds of times.
The tower in Howard's story evokes the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. The Tower of Babel was built by men who thought to reach heaven on their own. They soon learned that they could not.
After killing a guard and some lions, Conan and his new compatriot, Taurus of Nemedia, climb Yara’s tower and find a fabulous fortune of jewels, but they are not content with just these; they are after a special jewel, the Heart of the Elephant. Taurus says,
"If we secure the Heart, these and all other things shall be ours."
The Bible warns against greed, and it is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. In Luke 12:15, Jesus says, “Take care, be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
1 Timothy 6:9 says, But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
Ruin and destruction; that is exactly what happens to Taurus, Prince of Thieves, dying from the bite of a deadly giant spider.
Conan kills the spider, and in a room, he encounters Yag-kosha. Yag-kosha is a messianic figure. Like Jesus, Yag-kosha has a dual nature. Jesus is God and man, Yag-kosha is part man, part elephant. When Conan first sees Yag-kosha, the Cimmerian thinks he is Yara’s god.
Jesus was known by different names–Son of Man, Lamb of God, Immanuel–while Yag-kosha is also known as Yogah. Yag-kosha is from another world who warred against the kings of his planet. Christ was persecuted because he went against the norms of Hebrew tradition and Roman laws.
Both Jesus and Yag-kosha have remarkable powers. Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, and commanded nature. Yag-kosha built the tower in a single night.
As the disciples learned from Jesus, Yag-kosha said of Yara the priest and sorcerer, he sat at my feet and learned wisdom. And then, like Judas, Yara betrayed Yag-kosha.
Both Jesus and Yag-kosha endure torture and incredible hardship.
By fire and rack he mastered me, and by strange unearthly tortures you would not understand… Then Yag-kosha found himself mangled, blinded, and broken.
Jesus suffered 39 lashes of a whip that tore his flesh to the bone; he had a crown of thorns pressed onto his head; and he was crucified with nails driven into his feet and hands and was hung on the cross to die a slow and excruciating death.
Now we come to something quite interesting. Yag-kosha asks Conan to kill him and cut out his heart. Here we see a parallel to Christ’s crucifixion. The deaths of Jesus and Yag-kosha (which were accepted by both) bring something miraculous–resurrection.
Before I delve into that, let's look at Yag-kosha’s final instruction to Conan.
“Take your sword, man, and cut out my heart; then squeeze it so that the blood will flow over the red stone.”
This is the line that hit me like a revelation–the blood.
“By my life-blood I conjure it, by blood born on the green breast of Yag…”
Blood sacrifice in the Bible goes back to Abel in Genesis 4. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son. It was very important in Hebrew tradition.
In The Bible, specifically during the Last Supper, Jesus says, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
Blood is mentioned hundreds of times in The Bible. Blood is a symbol of life, sacrifice, and atonement. Sacrifice plays a big part in the Christian faith.
Most are familiar with Christ’s resurrection. The resurrection is considered Christ’s final and most important miracle. It is the crux of Christianity, and for believers, is the single most important event in the history of mankind, or, as Yag-kosha put it, “such as earth has not seen before, and shall not see again, through a million million of millenniums.”
Yag-kosha’s resurrection is seen by Conan when he presents the Heart of the Elephant, the blood-soaked gem, to Yara. The priest is startled and begins to shrink.
Bending close, Conan saw Yara clamber up the smooth, curving surface, impossibly, like a man climbing a glass mountain. Now the priest stood on the top, still with tossing arms, invoking what grisly names only the gods know. And suddenly he sank into the very heart of the jewel, as a man sinks into a sea, and Conan saw the smoky waves close over his head. Now he saw him in the crimson heart of the jewel, once more crystal-clear, as a man sees a scene far away, tiny with great distance. [Or as St. Paul says, through a glass darkly] And into the heart came a green, shining winged figure with the body of a man and the head of an elephant—no longer blind or crippled. Yara threw up his arms and fled as a madman flees...
Conan sees Yag-kosha beborn, revitalized, and unbroken, not unlike after Christ’s resurrection, when Jesus's body was transformed and glorified.
… the great jewel vanished in a rainbow burst of iridescent gleams…
It has been theorized that while in the tomb, the body of Jesus, while wrapped in the Shroud, emitted a powerful flash of vacuum ultraviolet radiation, forming a perfect 3D negative image of the body on both the front and back of the cloth without scorching it.
The jewel vanishes, and the table is bare.
… as bare, Conan somehow knew, as the marble couch in the chamber above, where the body of that strange transcosmic being called Yag-kosha and Yogah had lain.
This parallels Jesus’s tomb, which was discovered empty on the third day.
We can see that Yara is in the role of Satan. In Howard’s story, the word devil is used six times. Even the giant spider is likened to a devil. Yag-kosha calls Yara a devil a few times: "I was slave to a devil in human form." And he says to Conan, "You are not of Yara’s race of devils."
When Conan presents the gem to Yara, the evil priest is startled, and when he sees Yag-kosha whole again, Yara threw up his arms and fled as a madman flees. That is similar to some Christian beliefs that Satan was enraged at Christ’s resurrection, knowing that this proved the devil’s ultimate defeat.
We are Conan, watching this remarkable play acted out before our bewildered eyes. We are participants, yes, but somewhat detached. How does Conan feel seeing all this?
And as Conan looked, he thought that his eyes must be playing him tricks… He blinked, puzzled, and for the first time that night, doubted his own senses… immersed in a feeling of overpowering unreality, the Cimmerian was no longer sure of his own identity; he only knew that he was looking upon the external evidence of the unseen play of vast Outer forces, beyond his understanding.
… was no longer sure of his own identity
This is the transformative power of Christ. Or as St. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, Not I, but Christ in me. Or as in John 3:30, He must increase, but I must decrease.
… vast Outer forces, beyond his understanding.
Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
When Conan flees the tower, he sees that the guards are dead, and his escape is made possible. The promise had been made, the word kept…
In The Bible, God promises salvation, eternal life, protection, guidance, and peace.
The last lines of Howard’s story give a sense of peace and hope. We are called out of our tombs into a new day and a new life.
And a silver door stood open, framed in the whiteness of dawn… Into the waving green gardens came the Cimmerian, and as the dawn wind blew upon him with the cool fragrance of luxuriant growths, he started like a man waking from a dream.
Stephen Gaspar's books can be found on Amazon! Click here.
