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Racism in Age of Conan's Hyborian Age
Florian Eckhardt07.27.08 - 7:41 AM 25 comments

As a black gay Irish albino, I know the sting of prejudice, the invisible walls of racial stereotyping that isolate me from my fellow men. I hate it. I hate and I hate and I hate, even going so far as to declare myself Imperial Wizard of my own secret society for the Advancement in America of Black Gay Irish Albinos. I have not attracted any other members yet, but if you're white, and if you've ever woken up in the dead of night to find a stuffed Pillsbury Doughboy Doll, crucified upside down and burning on your front lawn, I'm sorry to say that was me.

But I think Robert E. Howard has gotten a bum rap as a racist for his Conan stories, and, by association, I think Funcom's latest MMO, Age of Conan, is being unfairly tarnished by the same brush.

Taking a look at the Age of Conan forums, it's easy to see that there's a common set of people convinced that the Conan stories were filthy exercises in racist hate-mongering. In this thread, for example, one Age of Conan fan comments:

Conan is a misogynist and a racist, a fantasy reflection of his creator's worldview.

Rant about "degenerate" mixed races, praise for purebred whities.

Oh yeah, Conan calls people "Black dog", kills them, and gets the gerl in the end through a display of infantile machoism and "Triumph of the Will".

Another agrees:

Ya, I'm reading Conan: The Hour of The Dragon by R.E.H. and the first thing that popped out to me was the term negroide or something like that. So far he's presented a depiction of black poeple in his books as primitive and neanderthalish. It's kind of interesting but at the same time it's very unedgucated.

Leading to this final conclusion:

Howard was a well read racist fscknuzzle...

Arguments so meticulously wrought, put forward with such erudition are certainly compelling. But one wonders what sort of racially-sensitive Cimmerian murder machine these guys were imagining when they came to the Conan mythos.

It's true, Conan does call some Stygians "black dogs" right before he drives an axe through their brain pans. It's odd that, from the perspective of these enlightened 21st century free thinkers, pointing out the color of someone's skin in anger is worse than just murdering them in anger.

It's also true that Howard uses the term "negroid" to describe Stygians and other black races. But, of course, in 1930, when Howard was writing, that word wasn't considered racist: it was widely used as a term of now-outdated anthropological description. Howard is, perhaps, to blame for not being forward thinking enough to refer to his Stygians by the politically correct term "African-Americans..." except, of course, that Stygians are neither Africans or Americans. They are Stygians.

And that's the rub. In my opinion, Howard's supposed racism was actually a very clever literary device, less racist than a literary example of cultural archetyping. In essence, in creating Hyboria, Howard wanted a large fictional canvas upon which he could indulge his love for history and historical drama without having to be burdened with the responsibility of rigid historical accuracy.

The literary method Howard used to achieve this was very clever. Instead of creating an entirely fictional world, he imagined a Eurasian super-continent, rife with civilizations unrecorded by history. However, Howard still wanted to be able to call upon the vague outlines of his reader's historical and cultural knowledge: populating his world with mythical civilizations, he wanted the Stygians to evoke the mysticism and necromancy that permeates our impressions of early Egyptian culture. He wanted the Acheronians to inflect the opulence, decadence and might of the Roman Empire. For the Cimerians, he wanted to invoke Celtic fury and ruggedness. For Aquilonia, Howard wanted to invoke the chivalrous mythos of France's Carolignian Empire. And so on. But at the same time, he did not want to be tied down by all of these civilization's historical constraints.

What we have then are less racial stereotypes than archetypes based upon the cultures of long dead civilizations which bore little resemblance to even the contemporaneous races and nations of Howard's own time, let alone ours.

The Age of Conan developers have been understandably defensive about Howard's perceived racism, and that's certainly a wise business move: it simply isn't worth starting a controversy about, especially when — with a few small alterations — they can take advantage of the breathtaking richness, the lavish viscerality and the epic scope of the Hyborian Age without alienating any focal groups.

On the other hand, it does strike me as odd, a smidge hypocritical, because while racism should certainly be avoided, almost all MMORPGs and TBS games are based upon a racialist design element. Granted, these are often abstracted upon imaginary races (although I would point out that all of the peoples of the Hyborian Age are races of the imagination): in World of Warcraft, for example, choosing to play the undead over a Tauren gives you different benefits. The Civilization series or the Age of Empires series are also excellent examples of racialism in games. Almost every one of us has made a conscious decision on which race to play when picking up a new game, and most of us never think twice about it.

At the end of the day, I don't really know if Robert E. Howard was a racist. I know very little of his personal life, and, in fact, it is not so hard to swallow that he may have been just as racist as many other people who lived in his time, when most of America was white and the human instinct to fear and hate the unknown was more largely unchallenged.

But it's his literature that counts at the end of the day, and from what I've read of the Conan stories, his supposed literary racism is a clever literary device to quickly put a reader in a world with a minimum of exposition or confusion. His technique is not much removed from the same sort of racialism you find in many popular games. Yes, in Conan's world, most blacks are slaves... but Conan spends a great deal of his time in Northern climates, where blacks would have been enslaved within the fiction of his world. And most Stygians are evil... but again, not all.

Ultimately, it seems a shame to me that a game set in such a rich, vibrant would as Hyboria should constantly be apologizing for its source, especially when the source is not nearly as insidious as some would make it out. For me, you'd be far better off apologizing for the rampant misogynism of Hyboria, where all women go around topless and throw themselves into a swoon at the first sign of danger. But, of course, no one will get outraged by that, because if gamer's can't accept any hint of racism in their games, they will always enthusiastically accept misogyny if it means they get to see a nice set of tits. And I'm right there along with you guys.

This is obviously a contentious subject, and I know gamers are fantasy readers. Please let me know if I'm seeing Howard through glasses rose-tinted by my fondness for the many lusty Sunday afternoons I spent as a boy, curled up and transported to Conan's Hypborian world.

....

Along with Eliza Gauger, Florian Eckhrdt is Imperial Wizard of Ectoplasmosis, a fringe art and culture blog. He also writes far dorkier stuff at AMC's SciFi Scanner, a sci-fi blog. He ate olives for dinner last night and now feels a bit briny.



MORE IN OUR Age of Conan SECTION

Latest comment by Rell |view all 25 comments
If that quote isn't enough, there are many more- all one has to do is read R.E. Howard's stories. If he's not a racist, then you're not a black Irish Albino....



Professor Pew's Avatar
Professor Pew at 07/27/2007 07:49

The characters in any MMO may be racist because they belong to... a race. But at the same time, you see Tauren, Orcs, Undead, Trolls and Blood Elves getting it on in dark underground lairs where they /dance and /sleep. That is some interracial steamy stuff right there! If people would see it as opposing factions instead of opposing races, there wouldn't be a problem.

Then again, there was a French guy who said Ratatouille was racist (he was then shot down by other Frenchmen)...
SkaGoblin's Avatar
SkaGoblin at 07/27/2007 07:52

Good god damn, this is the best thing I've read in a while on any video gaming blog. I was wondering if anyone was going to mention the supposed racist overtones in the Conan books. A lot of books written around that time, particularly the new craze in pulp and fantasy novels, had some fairly out there racial perspectives. Read the Tarzan books sometime, you'll see the same thing.
rpbowlinggod's Avatar
rpbowlinggod at 07/27/2007 08:16

@professor

I agree. How many games/movies are there now with "dwarf hates elf, must work together, comedy and understanding ensues"
bluemeep's Avatar
bluemeep at 07/27/2007 08:48

I'm racist against people that have better gear than I do.

Buttholes.
xrayne446's Avatar
xrayne446 at 07/27/2007 08:48

an educated, well versed, researched, and pointedly journalistic post on a video game site. one small step....
GuitarAtomik's Avatar
GuitarAtomik at 07/27/2007 08:49

Great article.

I'll have to agree with you. Obviously the characters in Conan are somewhat racist but not any more or less than the time period it compares to in real history. It's completely believable that the races of Hyboria would be wary of each other considering the fact that they were almost always at war with one another and were mostly taught about other races by reputation and myth. Hyboria was far from utopia.
savagesaladin's Avatar
savagesaladin at 07/27/2007 08:50

@rpbowlinggod

Oh, you mean like those awesome racist black cop meets racist white cop movies? Those movies kick ass. My favorite one has to be with that white alcoholic cop and Eddy Murphy. Yeah, did you know that Eddy Murphy used to be funny? That was before he did pussy children movies. Charlie Murphy is way better that his brother. I love that guy.
LordRegulus's Avatar
LordRegulus at 07/27/2007 09:09

Admittedly, Howard was a bit of a racist, but not as much as H. P. Lovecraft. I'm a bit relieved that only "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" has made the transition to the gaming world. Many of his other stories would give the devs way too much to apologize for.
BigPopaGamer's Avatar
BigPopaGamer at 07/27/2007 09:46

I would like to point out that these books were written in a time where using those words were a normal part of life. Don't crucify a man or his work just because 80 years later it offends you. Hoygeit put it best, people can find racism in anything.

I just learn to ignore those that call wolf everytime there is a puppy.
Tubatic's Avatar
Tubatic at 07/27/2007 11:39

I'm glad you're writing stuff.

We really can't fault a work for being of its particular author's time period. I mean, years from now, Chocolate Rain could have a whole new, frighteningly negative racist connotation. Would the internets of today, as a whole, be considered racist for laughing at young looking dudes with deep voices **who move away from the mic to breath in?

But yeah, in the case of older stuff, you've just got to look past the racial implications and enjoy/not enjoy the content.

So Florian, you wanna host a discussion/article about RE5 being set in Africa? :p
UNDERSTAR's Avatar
UNDERSTAR at 07/27/2007 11:45

Im racist against everybody even my own kind. I think everybody has a little bit of racism in them some how.
savagesaladin's Avatar
savagesaladin at 07/27/2007 12:00

@Tubatic

There's nothing racist about RE5 taking place in Africa. Only wanting RE games to take place is white towns is racist. A zombie is a zombie no matter what color it is.

Some douche bags are saying Castle Crashers is racist because blue, green, yellow and red guys are charging castles full of bad guys wearing black outfits.

So please, leave this game alone. I really want to play it. It looks incredible.
guspasho's Avatar
guspasho at 07/27/2007 12:03

You know what else Howard was? A Catostrophist. He believed, like everyone else of his day, in the theory that the world changed not through largely slow processes like continental drift, but through gigantic catastrophes that punctuated eras.

And you know what else? Who cares? I think it's fascinating to see these old cultural and scientific theories delved into. Howard proves how it can make for interesting fiction.
Papapishu's Avatar
Papapishu at 07/27/2007 12:21

Damn. I was wondering why someone was on my lawn in a purple shawl, holding sign with a giant flaming shamrock and ululating in Gaelic. That explains everything!

Can someone get Edgar Rice Burroughs and Tolkien out of the way too? Pretty please?
Tubatic's Avatar
Tubatic at 07/27/2007 12:31

@savagesaladin

I want to play it too!!!! "Zombies" in the hot steamy daylight? All sorts of win there

I'm not saying it'll necessary have a threateningly racist agenda. But, because its one of few games set in Africa, and a pretty rare incident of massive amounts of black zombies, it lends itself to some sort of discussion about real world race and culture in fictional videogames.
Xander's Avatar
Xander at 07/27/2007 12:42

I'm not for any kind of prejudice. But come on! Conan is a FICTIONAL character! Who cares if he's a racist or not. Sigh...

This is a pointless discussion.
vinnchan's Avatar
vinnchan at 07/27/2007 13:24

@Tubatic

You could even take it to the next step and make RE5 *GASP* political! Imagine something like The Constant Gardener but instead of investigating why your wife is dead, you're investigating a zombie outbreak.

But there are others saying the game takes place in Haiti where they have a rich zombie/voodoo culture?
trunxkam45's Avatar
trunxkam45 at 07/27/2007 14:47

If anything, Stygia should be compared to Ancient Egypt. Howard's view of the Earth as depicted through Hyboria is one created by the legends and stories of the world. I think it's overall pretty beautiful. As an ethnic Rohilla Pathan(Indian blood for the past 300 years, ancestors came from Afghanistan whose ancestors came from Mongolia, Turkey, and Persia primarily), I find it particularly interesting how Howard differentiated between Afghanistan(Afghulistan), India(Vendhya), Mongolia, and Persia(Iranistan) for example. Looking through an Orientalist point of view, many people today often can't differentiate between such groups. However, most of the ethnic groups are stereotyped and obviously viewed through an outside perspective (peoples towards the north being pale skinned, red/blond haired, all looking like vikings, describing the language of blacks as grunts, depicting others as extremely exotic, with accessories such as nose piercings) which I argue provides a great example of how people may view others. Overall, I love how Howard manages to reflect upon very varied and specific ethnicities and powers of Earth that have been otherwise ignored. Great stuff.
twincannon's Avatar
twincannon at 07/27/2007 15:57

WoW made me racist against female night elf hunters :(
Mxyzptlk's Avatar
Mxyzptlk at 07/28/2007 02:01

Pretty much every well-known white author who wrote pre-1950's or so has been accused of racism at one point or another. People need to stop getting so butthurt about it.
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us</a><br/>
kittridge at 07/28/2007 06:55

Extremely well written article. This Florian Eckhardt fellow is quite the find, D-Toid. Nice. ^_^

Sorry, nothing to add on-topic. Never played Age of Conan or read anything by this Howard character. Sounds interesting though.
Rell's Avatar
Rell at 05/14/2008 09:44

A quote from R.E. Howard's Conan story the "Vale of Lost Women", in which the white man Conan speaks to a white woman in secret, who is the hostage of evil black savages:

"I am Conan, a Cimmerian, and I live by the sword's edge. But I am not such a dog as to leave a white woman in the clutches of a black man... if you were old an ugly as the devil's pet vulture, I'd take you away from Bajujh (the black tribal leader) simply because of the colour of your hide. But you are young and beautiful, and I have looked at black sluts until I am sick at the guts..."
Rell's Avatar
Rell at 05/14/2008 09:50

If that quote isn't enough, there are many more- all one has to do is read R.E. Howard's stories. If he's not a racist, then you're not a black Irish Albino.

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