Horde from the Orient
Horde aus dem Morgenland (Original title: The Shadow of the Vulture ) is a short story by Robert E. Howard , published in January 1934 in the pulp magazine The Magic Carpet Magazine . It is a historical story from the beginning of the 16th century against the background of the battle of Mohács and the first siege of Vienna by the Ottomans under Suleyman I. One of the characters in the story is the "Red Sonya from Rogatino", which later appeared in a comic and film role model for Red Sonja , who became Conan's comrade in arms .
action
When Sultan Suleyman finally sends a Frankish embassy, which he had held for 9 months because they did not behave respectfully enough at first, home with threats to the Christian rulers, he recognizes a knight in the group who was killed in the battle of Mohács had managed to get through to him and hurt him.
This knight is Gottfried von Kalmbach. The Sultan's Grand Vizier sends Mikhal Oglu, the leader of the Akıncı , a widely feared butcher and assassin:
“A jeweled helmet rested on the narrow head, and huge vulture wings were fastened to the back of the gilded chain mail. These wings spread wide when he rode, heralding death and destruction. He was Soliman's saber-headed, the best butcher of a race of butchers. "
Mikhal Oglu receives the order to kill Gottfried. A first attack on a village in which Gottfried is sleeping off an intoxication can still escape. He escapes and arrives in Vienna, which is shortly afterwards enclosed and besieged by the Turks. There he meets a remarkable fighter on the walls of the city fortifications, who is armed with pistols and sabers and also knows how to use cannons:
“Gottfried approached her and looked with open admiration at the lush curve of her breasts under the supple armor, the lines of her hips and limbs. She stood there like a man - with her legs wide apart and her thumbs tucked into her belt - but she was all woman. "
Gottfried learns that the fighter is called Rote Sonya, that she pursues with hatred the Ottoman Sultan Süleyman, whose favorite, the historical Roxelane , is her sister. But before you can make yourself known, the Janissaries storm the walls of Vienna and Gottfried gets into trouble. But Sonya comes to his aid and proves to be a fighter of exquisite bloodthirstiness:
“[…] Her attack was like that of a panther. Their blows followed one another so quickly that the eye could hardly follow, their blade was like a curtain of white fire, and under their attack the men fell like ripe grain. With a roaring roar, Gottfried stepped to her side and brandished his long blade. Together they pushed the Muslims to the edge of the wall, where they either jumped on the ladders or fell screaming into the depths. "
In the event of a failure that he undertakes with a bunch of drunkards, Gottfried's life is again in danger and Sonya saves him again. And finally, for the third time, Sonya saves him when, exhausted after the last unsuccessful attack by the Ottomans on Vienna, he is stunned and captured by traitors. The traitors, two Armenians, father and son, are overwhelmed. Gottfried and Sonya threaten to kill their son, forcing their father to deliver a message to Mikhal Oglu that Gottfried fell from his horse while pursuing the retreating Turks, is lying in a hut nearby and only Sonya and one a few drunken soldiers were with him. Mikhal Oglu falls into the trap and rides back with a small group to get Gottfried's head.
The last chapter describes in detail the pageantry of the Sultan's victory festival in Istanbul , who has reinterpreted his defeat as a victory and makes up for the lack of military success in front of Vienna with the overwhelming splendor, splendor and waste of his festival. A present is brought in front of his throne and when you open it there is a sneering letter from Gottfried and Sonya as well as Mikhal Oglu's head, prepared with spices .
reception
The figure of Red Sonya had an afterlife as the red-haired swordsman Red Sonja - note the changed spelling. The character Howards initially has no relation to the fantasy world Conans. However, it served as the inspiration for the cartoon character of a red-haired swordsman clad in barely chain mail - bikini . Draftsman Barry Windsor-Smith created the template that left a lasting mark on the iconography of Red Sonjas in particular and of busty fantasy swordsmen in general. The story Howards was transposed into the Hyborian Age of Conans by author Roy Thomas and so the barbarian warrior Red Sonja appeared for the first time in the Marvel comic series Conan the Barbarian under the same title (issue 23, February 1973).
In the 1985 film Red Sonja , in which Brigitte Nielsen played Red Sonja, Howard is named as the author of the title character.
expenditure
- First printed in: The Magic Carpet Magazine , Vol. 3, No. 5 (January 1934)
- First edition in: Robert E. Howard: The Sowers of the Thunder. Donald M. Grant, 1973.
- Current issue in: Robert E. Howard; Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures. Del Rey / Ballantine, 2001, ISBN 978-0-345-50546-0 . E-book: ISBN 978-0-345-52432-4 .
- German translation: Horde from the Orient. Translated by Eduard Lukschandl. In: Robert E. Howard: Horde from the Orient. Pabel (Terra Fantasy # 37), 1977, pp. 109-160.
In addition to the German translation, the story has been translated into French and Finnish.
In addition to the title story and an introductory text by Hugh Walker, the German collection Horde aus dem Morgenland contains three historical stories about the (red-haired) swordsman Agnes de Chastillon:
- Black Agnes ( Sword Woman , 1975)
- Sword for France ( Blades for France , 1975)
- Bride of Death ( Mistress of Death , 1971, Howards Fragment, completed by Gerald W. Page)
Web links
- Horde from the East in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hence the original title The Shadow of the Vulture = Der Schatten des Geier [wing] s .
- ↑ Howard: Horde from the Orient. Pabel (Terra Fantasy # 37), 1977, p. 118.
- ↑ Howard: Horde from the Orient. Pabel (Terra Fantasy # 37), 1977, p. 132.
- ↑ Howard: Horde from the Orient. Pabel (Terra Fantasy # 37), 1977, p. 134.