Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

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Conan is an enduring classic that is firmly grounded in the traditions of Western heroic mythology. He’s the embodiment of Nietzsche’s übermensch.

Created by Robert E. Howard, Conan would make his first appearance in the short story “The Phoenix on the Sword”, published in December 1932 in Weird Tales. But I argue that a short story titled “The Shadow Kingdom”, written three years earlier would be equally important. Since it not only started the Sword and Sorcery literary genre by blending elements of fantasy, horror, and mythology with historical romance, action, and swordplay.

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