Right from the first Conan story, “The Phoenix on the Sword” (Weird Tales, December 1932) Howard populates his Fantasy world with evil creatures drawn from elder dimensions and eldritch space. The Baboon-Demon of Stygia is the first of these. There was a movement in the air about him, such a swirl as is made in water when some creature rises to the surface. A nameless, freezing wind blew on him briefly, as if from an opened Door. Thoth felt a presence at his back, but he did not look about. He kept his eyes fixed on the moonlit space of marble, on which a tenuous shadow hovered. As he continued his whispered incantations, this shadow grew in size and clarity, until it stood out distinct and horrific. Its outline was not unlike that of a gigantic baboon, but no such baboon ever walked the earth, not even in Stygia: “The hideousness of its face transcended mere bestiality. It might have been the face of an ancient, evil mummy, quickened with demoniac life. In those abhorrent features the outlaw’s dilated eyes seemed to see, like a shadow in the madness that enveloped him, a faint and terrible resemblance to the slave Thothamon…Conan, shaking the blood-drops from his eyes, stared frozen. At first he thought it was a great black hound which stood above Ascalante’s distorted body; then as his sight cleared he saw that it was neither a hound nor a baboon.” As Mark Finn points out, “The Phoenix on the Sword” doesn’t often get picked for “favorite Conan story” but it is a good one. The story was originally a rejected King Kull piece called “By This Ax I Rule”. Howard revised it, added the sorcerer Thoth-Amon and his baboon-demon and Farnsworth Wright could do nothing but accept it for Weird Tales. Many artists have drawn the baboon-demon. The first was the artist who illustrated the original story in the pages of Weird Tales. This was Jayem Wilcox, who did the black and white illo in a scratchy line drawing. His demon looks quite humanoid with pointed ears and a dog’s mouth. Compared to many of the illustrations found in the pulps this one isn’t bad, capturing some of the creepiness of the monster.
Description Right from the first Conan story, “The Phoenix on the Sword” (Weird Tales, December 1932) Howard populates his Fantasy world with evil creatures drawn from elder dimensions and eldritch space. The Baboon-Demon of Stygia is the first of these. There was a movement in the air about him, such a swirl as is made in water when some creature rises to the surface. A nameless, freezing wind blew on him briefly, as if from an opened Door. Thoth felt a presence at his back, but he did not look about. He kept his eyes fixed on the moonlit space of marble, on which a tenuous shadow hovered. As he continued his whispered incantations, this shadow grew in size and clarity, until it stood out distinct and horrific. Its outline was not unlike that of a gigantic baboon, but no such baboon ever walked the earth, not even in Stygia: “The hideousness of its face transcended mere bestiality. It might have been the face of an ancient, evil mummy, quickened with demoniac life. In those abhorrent features the outlaw’s dilated eyes seemed to see, like a shadow in the madness that enveloped him, a faint and terrible resemblance to the slave Thothamon…Conan, shaking the blood-drops from his eyes, stared frozen. At first he thought it was a great black hound which stood above Ascalante’s distorted body; then as his sight cleared he saw that it was neither a hound nor a baboon.” As Mark Finn points out, “The Phoenix on the Sword” doesn’t often get picked for “favorite Conan story” but it is a good one. The story was originally a rejected King Kull piece called “By This Ax I Rule”. Howard revised it, added the sorcerer Thoth-Amon and his baboon-demon and Farnsworth Wright could do nothing but accept it for Weird Tales. Many artists have drawn the baboon-demon. The first was the artist who illustrated the original story in the pages of Weird Tales. This was Jayem Wilcox, who did the black and white illo in a scratchy line drawing. His demon looks quite humanoid with pointed ears and a dog’s mouth. Compared to many of the illustrations found in the pulps this one isn’t bad, capturing some of the creepiness of the monster.
