“There comes, even to kings, the time of great weariness. Then the gold of the throne is brass, the silk of the palace becomes drab. The gems in the diadem sparkle drearily like the ice of the white seas; the speech of men is as the empty rattle of a jester's bell and the feel comes of things unreal; even the sun is copper in the sky, and the breath of the green ocean is no longer fresh.” - The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune
As someone who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, I frequently endure bouts of depression, hopelessness, nightmares, and insomnia. As such, I identify with the words of Robert E Howard, also a man who struggled with darkness and sadly took his life at the age of thirty. This is a bleak beginning to something exciting and fun, but also something that leaves more questions than answers. This introduces Howard’s short story, The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune.
A little backstory; Howard was a pulp writer who had seen success in writing action and adventure stories. He was a historian who infused his stories with a sense of reality that many pulp writers struggled to achieve. He also found that infusing fantastic elements, such as magic, monsters and no small amount of horror, his stories would carry a genre-defining flavor, and that flavor would come to be known as Sword and Sorcery.
Kull the Conqueror is the precursor to Conan the Barbarian. A sort of prototype. In fact, the only reason that Conan exists is because Howard rewrote a Kull story featuring a character named Conan. Kull came first, and he is a very different character from Conan. I believe Howard put more of himself into Kull, and more of what he wanted to be into Conan.
Kull is the king of Valusia, and an exile of Atlantis (yes, that Atlantis, which had not yet sunk into the sea). He rules with wisdom and melancholy, taking up the sword when necessary, and occasionally drifts into dark attitudes. This is where the Mirrors of Tuzun Thune begin.
In his depression, Kulls friend, Brule, offers to take Kull adventuring to help him pull out of it. Kull wants none of it, however, a typical depressive trait. Loss of interest, isolation, and avoidance of friends and family. He is in deep.
Into the throne room comes a young woman, who submits to Kull that he should visit a wizard named Tuzun Thune, who has a house of mirrors and is said to confer with demons and speak with the dead. Kull is intrigued and visits the wizard in secret.
Upon arrival, Kull is greeted warmly. He is intrigued by Tuzun Thunes philosophy on the universe. For instance, he tells Kull he could summon a demon simply by smacking Kull in the face. That is not untrue, physically attacking a man can summon an entirely different person from within them. A weak man can grow strong, a slow man can become fast, and a dim witted man can suddenly become resourceful, and all of them may fight back like a demon.
Another example, Kull asks if Tuzun Thune can speak with the dead. His response is, again, clever. This time however it is also foreboding. He tells Kull that he can speak to the dead by speaking to the living, for we are all born to die. Therefore, there is no difference between the living and the dead. This answer in particular is just another indicator of Howard’s dark struggles, but within only a few paragraphs, the story is diving into unexpected territory for a fantasy story, especially pulp!
We will get back to the plot in a moment, but lets talk about how modern fantasy is almost devoid of this flavor. The philosophy presented here, and the attention paid to mental struggles, is captivating. It forces the reader to ask questions about the nature of life and death, and as we will see later, even causes us to consider the nature of reality, the metaphysical, and our identities.
Kull is led to a chamber of mirrors. Here, he is encouraged to sit and look into the mirrors, and as he does he realizes that his reflection is moving on its own. Looking beyond his reflection, he sees entire worlds. Worlds different from his own. Worlds that exist independently from ours. The past, the present, and something else entirely. Tuzun Thune continues the line of questioning about the nature of life and reveals unspoken, hidden truths to Kull.
Days and weeks pass. Kull comes back again and again to gaze into the mirrors. His kingdom sufferers in his absence, but Kull is transfixed on the worlds beyond worlds. The alternatives, the wonder, and possibly the escape from the mental pain he suffers.
Eventually, Kull asks a deep question, one that rattles me to my core.
"Tell me, wizard," he said, sitting before the mirror, eyes fixed intently upon his image, "how can I pass yon door? For of a truth, I am not sure that that is the real world and this the shadow; at least, that which I see must exist in some form."
This question, am I even real? Do I live in the reflection of a mirror? If that is true, can I cross over? This is deep stuff. How often has our own life felt like a fiction? The days pass as if on fast forward, people jump in and out of our lives like characters in a movie. Here and then gone. Food either seems too good to be true or bland and forgetful. Our vacations go by in a heartbeat, and we always remember them differently than they were.
PTSD skews my reality. I often feel like I am on autopilot, just being directed from one part of life to the next. What should thrill me seems dull. What should move me seems irrelevant. Sometimes, It feels fake. Kind of like living in Barbies plastic world, for lack of a better description.
Yeah, there is an ocean, technically, but it seems to have lost its wonder. The cup seems empty. The sand seems made of plastic. My job is… What is my job? Beach? Stories? Do these things matter? There has to be more. Something else. Something more… real.
The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune paint this picture marvelously, as only a master storyteller like Howard could do. He takes his time to show us how Kull understands the world, and shows us why he has come to this place. Do I even exist, and if I do does it really matter?
As the story closes, Kull almost enters the world on the other side of the mirror. As he does, he hears the voice of his friend, Brule, and the shattering of glass. In a daze, Kull sees Tuzun Thune dead on the floor and the young woman from the beginning of the story groveling. It is revealed that she was a pawn in a plot to overthrow Kull by trapping him within the mirror (there is something to be said about that). Tuzun Thune spun his wisdom and philosophy in order to seduce Kull. A modern equivalent would be trying to convince someone to kill themselves, gaslighting on a grand scale, as it were.
Kull collects his senses and lets the woman go. She was, after all, only a pawn. He returns to his kingdom. Tuzun Thunes house is forsaken and abandoned, and Kull resumes his ponderings, never quite knowing if his reality is the truth.
This was the first Kull story I read, and my favorite. While it does not have the typical action scenes, it does do something unique by making compelling philosophical and metaphysical arguments. It paints depression in a way that is relatable, realistic, and appropriately dangerous. The story also points us to the fact that there are people who will use and exploit the mentally ill for their own gain, as we have seen over and over in history.
This is an extremely refreshing read. I always envision Howards stories as taking place in a persian, Babylonian, sumerian hybrid. One that has access to steel, castles, and more medieval technology, while still holding an ancient aesthetic. It is truly a prehistoric world, lost to time. A world beyond our world, so to speak.
I rate this story a five out of five. This is a great sword and sorcery story, and an even better exploration of depression from a man who eventually succumbed to it. Hopefully, if you are suffering from mental health issues, you wont “cross the mirror”. Hopefully, you will find help in the here and now, just like I did.
I strongly recommend therapy for those suffering from depression. I also strongly recommend that you choose to go adventuring with your friends, rather than getting lost in your own mind.
And yeah, read The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune.