In Swords of
the Purple Kingdom, the famous moonlit spectacle of Kull at bay atop a
crumbling stair joined by Dalgar to fight for king and lady (also Kull
#9 HB100) has a thematic resemblance to “Red Lace”.
In the story
Dalgar is said by Kull to have
fought by my
side as gayly as he ever rode to a feast
The mix of
death, love and gaiety by the light of the moon was
since immortalized
by singers and poets
The dark forces
of decay and death mix with renewal and rebirth, and Murom smiled
softly..
“Out of a
night of blood and terror, joy and happiness are born”
This is the same
ecology of dark gaiety that in Noto’s tale ends on a melancholy note while
Howard, for once, is less sombre.
“Life is that
way, Count..” grunts
Kull. The false optimism by which we are beset is the product of sorcerous
mirrors of illusion (the sun) - which brings us neatly to The Mirrors of
Tuzun Thune.
“See and
believe” intones the
wizard repeatingly, and there is a sense that his words impinge upon king Kull
to such an extent that he sees something from nothing.
At times Kull
halted to wonder how such thoughts and dreams had come to enter his mind, and
at times he wondered if they came of his own volition – here his thoughts would
become mazed. (page 176)
There is
something about the story that is at once very simple and monstrous.“..the
greatest are they who soonest learn the simplest things..” (page 173)
This type of
injunction draws home the simplicity of living now, and neither in the past or
the future, which are “illusions of substance”. The ego alone is real.
“What matters
men’s forgetfulness of you when you have forgotten yourself in the silent
worlds of death? Gaze into my mirrors and be wise.” (page 174)
The very
simplicity of an image that has no past or future, no sequence of events, and
that also is silent. For all the lack of content and reality, the wizard’s
words supply the rationale – which is ego.
The simplicity
of the story is that the mirrors represent the ego devoid of substance. Adding
words provides a rationale for this world of nothingness.
In The
Annotated Robert Howard, Robert Weinberg notes that Kull is taciturn, and
sees this as a fault in the stories completed by Carter, such as Riders
Beyond the Sunset and Black Abyss). Words, in the world of action,
are not necessary; they are terse, reflecting events.
Kull is
introspective, and for once this tells against him when the wizard’s words tell
him to reflect on.. nothingness.
..strange
visions entered his mind, like flying unbidden from the whispering void of
non-existence. (page
176)
Kull is gazing
at himself – which means the ego – and the wizard feeds his ego through “the
mirror of nothingness”. What that could imply (see prev.) is that a world of
words is there to impinge on “the mirror of nothingness” (electromagnetism) for
the sake of the ego.
What is
electromagnetism but ones and zeros? It is whatever is fed into it; it is
simply a convincing illusion of straight lines (sun, reflection) as opposed to
physical substance.
What is physical
substance but blood and decay? This lead back to the decadent ecology of Noto’s
“Red Lace” where the dainty morsels of nature grow into monstrous forms that
are killed to preserve a bizarre lifecycle.
Noto’s world is
hard to fathom, but it has physical substance in spades – which is where all
meaning and power originate. From the earth, the roots, vines, the crazy
creatures that thrive there.
These worlds –
like the comic book ones – depend on a sequence of events; on line and movement
from past to future. Everything that is there in the physical substance of
growth and decay is not there in a mirror, which is just image (Hyborian
Bridge 48). Very convincing, but with no history or continuity (sequence of
events). The point of a mirror is that it is aimed solely at the head – not the
body. Whereas the body needs a physical environment to live (and die) in, the
head (ego) doesn’t).
This could imply
we live in a world of the ego (head) as opposed to blood and decay and rebirth –
roots, vines, grubs, birds, hunters, Diana..
The question you
could ask is: what does electromagnetism enable? It enables anything that is
straight line order. That means things like management (communication),
planning (infrastructure) and politics (acolytes).
That entire
universe is symbolised by Apollo (sun), which is appearance, not reality. So,
what exactly is missing from that universe?
A straight line
order has to be missing out on harmonic constellations whereby the moon
reflects the sun in a physical sense. The harmonic universe is not silent; or
rather the silence has the sounds of the cosmos Hyborian Bridge 101
If a straight
line order has harmonic silence, in what sense does it exist in the cosmos 9of
sounds)? Kull, in his introspection, is incapacitated in that he cannot think to
draw his sword and shatter the mirrors of illusion. What saves the day is a
ringing sound; “Kull!” ejaculates Brule.
If we live in a
world of cosmic silence, then words are the equivalent of Tuzun Thune’s intonations
to Kull; they feed the ego through “the mirror of nothingness”, which is
electromagnetism.
Of course, you
can turn round and say to me; you like films, which are electromagnetism. I
know, and I also use the net. I do like some films, but don’t watch TV or do
social media. I use light bulbs but
would as soon use candles. My ideal would be sort of like the 60s hippies who
make a big point of not consuming and use beat-up vans and gear. One can’t
uninvent electricity but one shouldn’t stare. There are other things to see,
smell, hear, feel.
In fact the $,
the servant of electromagnetism, is the destroyer of urban and rural and
communal ambiance, feel, smell, sounds.
