Line #3 Literature/QueenOfTheBlackCoast


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6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f7f39bdf8a40a6dceae5bdfc53f42ba2.jpg]]
7
8	->''Believe the green buds awaken in the spring,\
9	That autumn paints the leaves with somber fire;\
10	Believe I held my heart inviolate\
11	To lavish on one man my hot desire.''
12	-->-- The Song of Bêlit
13
14	''Queen of the Black Coast'' is a Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian tale by Creator/RobertEHoward.
15
16	The story begins in Argos, with [[InMediasRes Conan fleeing for the docks, and the law in hot pursuit]]. He leaps aboard a merchant vessel, making good his escape, where he is welcomed by the captain, Tito. An infamous PirateGirl named Bêlit has been terrorizing the coastline, and strong warriors like Conan are in particular demand for protection from the pirates.
17
18	Naturally, before long said pirates attack the ship, and Conan slays numerous crew before Bêlit herself intervenes - not by fighting Conan, but by seducing him. The two [[LoveAtFirstSight fall in love]] almost immediately, finding in each other a kindred spirit in a world where they are outsiders. They ravage the coastline together, their combined martial prowess so great that they become nearly legendary icons of piracy.
19
20	Then, Bêlit suggests an adventure up a deadly and forbidden jungle river, to a mythical city of ruins where great treasure is said to wait for anyone brave (or stupid) enough to enter, setting up a confrontation with worse [[EldritchAbomination horrors]] than even they had imagined.
21
22	Renowned not only as one of Howard's best stories, but as one of the greatest examples of pulp fiction and heroic fantasy ever written. Not only is the narrative smooth flowing and well polished, but Howard's [[PurpleProse penchant for poetry]] reaches its zenith. Bêlit herself is among Howard's best known characters despite only appearing in this one story - she's been named among the best female pirates in fiction, and was a major inspiration for the character of Valeria in the 1982 Conan film (in fact, since Valeria isn't named onscreen until the sequel, many thought she ''was'' Bêlit).
23
24	It's also the point at which Howard started including more blatant {{Fanservice}} into the Conan stories, between Bêlit's DiamondsInTheBuff and numerous [[FanserviceExtra assorted naked women (and men, to be fair)]]. Showing that a Conan story being chock-full of nudity and being ''good'' aren't mutually exclusive.
25
26	The story has entered the public domain and may be read here: [[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Queen_of_the_Black_Coast Queen of the Black Coast]].
27
28	----
29	!!Queen of the Trope Coast:
30	* AllAmazonsWantHercules: Bêlit wants Conan.
31	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Someone as pale as Bêlit, who spent as much time in the tropical sun wearing as little as she does, would not remain "white ivory" for very long. She'd either get a tan or burn red.
32	* BackupFromOtherworld: [[spoiler:Bêlit's ghost helps Conan against the winged ape, getting some ghostly vengeance in the process.]]
33	* BadassCreed:
34	** Conan describes himself perfectly in probably Book!Conan's most-quoted speech[[note]]Movie!Conan's most-quoted speech being either "What is best in life?" or "to hell with you, Crom!"[[/note]]:
35	-->'''Conan''': I have known many gods. [[FlatEarthAtheist He who denies them is as blind]] as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is an illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.
36	** And Bêlit answers with one of her own:
37	-->'''Bêlit''': There is life beyond death, I know, and I know this, too, Conan of Cimmeria -- my love is stronger than any death! I have lain in your arms, panting with the violence of our love; you have held and crushed and conquered me, drawing my soul to your lips with the fierceness of your bruising kisses. My heart is welded to your heart, my soul is part of your soul! Were I still in death and you fighting for your life [[NotHyperbole I would come back from the abyss to aid you]] -- aye, whether my spirit floated with the purple sails on the crystal sea of paradise, or writhed in the molten flames of hell! I am yours, [[BlasphemousBoast and all the gods and all their eternities shall not sever us!]]
38	* BadBoss: Bêlit. We'll give her a pass on reacting to the slaughter of half her crew by declaring her undying love for the slaughterer; arguably, that act saved the other half of her crew. But taking herself and Conan unobtrusively out of the way of a death trap, while doing nothing to warn four of her men and leaving them to get crushed so she can grab the treasure afterward... whoa. Harsh.
39	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Conan has slain the winged ape and its werehyenas, freeing them from the evil spell the ape had cast upon them. He lives to fight and adventure again, but the pirate crew is all dead, as is possibly his greatest love, Bêlit. She gave the ocean its sense of mystery and allure and adventure, and without her Conan has every reason to remain landlocked for the rest of his life.]]
40	* BlackComedy: Conan's barbarian code of honor vs. the laws of civilized men. He regards it as perfectly natural that a captain of the guard should be run through with a sword for assaulting a woman, yet these people expect him to reveal the killer's location and, when he naturally refuses to betray his friend, think he'll meekly submit to being thrown into prison for contempt of court!
41	-->"So then, seeing they were all mad, I drew my sword and cleft the judge's skull..."
42	* BrainsAndBrawn: Bêlit and Conan. [[InformedAbility Or so we're told.]]
43	* BurialAtSea: [[spoiler:Bêlit's]] VikingFuneral.
44	* CombatPragmatist: The winged ape during the FinalBattle sends ''all'' of its remaining werehyenas at Conan to soften him up before immediately attacking him when he's barely caught his breath in the aftermath.
45	* TheCorruption: The winged ape can drive you mad, and it itself is the victim of it.
46	* CoversAlwaysLie: Downplayed with the original Maragaret Brundage illustration for ''Weird Tales'' (seen in the public domain link above). The winged ape is shown, Conan appears in the armor and cloak Howard described him with in the beginning, and the representation of Bêlit is as accurate as it could be and be acceptable fir magazine stands. But the action depicted, of Bêlit cowering behind Conan as he squares off with the winged ape, never happens in the story.
47	* DeadGuyOnDisplay: [[spoiler:The winged ape hangs Bêlit from the yard-arm of her own ship by the necklace she looted from his city, apparently to mess with Conan.]]
48	* DoNotGoGentle: Tito intends this if his ship is overtaken by pirates, passing out meager weapons and armor to his crew.
49	-->'''Tito''': Little use to resist if we're run down, but it rasps to soul to give up life without a struggle.
50	* DreamingOfTimesGoneBy: Conan has a true dream about the history of the jungle city [[spoiler:while sedated by the black lotus]].
51	* DumbMuscle: Conan averts it, as the story shows he is very capable of giving articulate [[UsefulNotes/{{Existentialism}} existentialist]] lectures, but he amusingly invokes it at the KangarooCourt when he decides listening all their talk about civic values doesn't beat beheading the judge and running away.
52	* FanserviceExtra: The naked Stygian women on the boat encountered by Conan's merchant ship, and references to "blood-stained altars where naked women screamed"[[note]]a line almost certainly calculated to win a cover illustration[[/note]] in Stygia.
53	* FullFrontalAssault: Bêlit's Kushan pirates are described to fight naked, and so does she in part, being permanently bare-breasted.
54	* {{Greed}}: Bêlit goes a little nuts at the prospect of the treasure. This is described as a "bright drunkenness" characteristic of Shemites who cherish beautiful things, riches and material splendor. (Shemites, according to Howard, are the ancestors of Jewish people, but the description sounds almost spiritual, not like a GreedyJew but more like what you might expect from Dwarves.)
55	* HeartbrokenBadass: At the end of the story, Conan's lover Bêlit is dead. He gives her a funeral and then wanders off into the jungle.
56	* HeroicBSOD: After [[spoiler:finding Bêlit's corpse]], Conan dives into melancholy and becomes unable to think of anything except revenge.
57	* InformedAbility: We see very little of Bêlit's purported intelligence and plan making (although we do see her leadership skills, given that her crew follows her faithfully despite how uncaring to them she is).
58	* InstantSedation: Conan getting sedated by black lotus.
59	* ItCanThink: Conan realizes this of the winged ape, based on the strategy involved in its massacre of the pirates. [[{{Determinator}} Conan doesn't care,]] [[ItsPersonal he's still going to kill it or die trying.]]
60	* KangarooCourt: Conan fled one in the opening (after ''killing the judge'').
61	* LoveAtFirstSight: Between Bêlit and Conan. To the point that Conan, first glimpsing her as a differently-colored figure on the deck of the pursuing ship, is compelled by "some whim or qualm" to put an arrow in the man next to her, not the Pirate Queen herself.
62	* MatingDance: Bêlit dances like this for Conan.
63	* MightyWhitey: The all-black crew follow the pale-skinned Shemite Bêlit (and Conan, after he joins the ship as her co-captain and lover) unquestioningly, and treat her as more of a goddess than a human.
64	* NoBodyLeftBehind: After returning to human form, the bodies of the werehyenas crumble to dust.
65	* NoOntologicalInertia: Once the winged ape dies, whatever sorcery it used to create the werehyenas dies with it, [[ThisWasHisTrueForm returning them to human form]] [[NoBodyLeftBehind before they crumble into dust.]]
66	* NotDistractedByTheSexy: The master of the merchant ship Conan sails on gives the port in Stygia wide berth, even when a snake-themed ship approaches filled with naked women, who call to the sailors and "posed and postured brazenly." Given that the previous paragraph had gone into grim detail about the horrors that await in Stygia, this is a wise move on the captain's part, and the ship of naked women can be surmised to be a lure for the less wary.
67	* OurAngelsAreDifferent: The winged humanoids who once inhabited the lost city. Mortal but exceptionally long-lived, building their city before humanity had first crawled from the muck, and devolved by environmental catastrophes into demonic winged apes.
68	* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Werehyenas created by the winged ape from a group of lost soldiers.
69	* PantslessMalesFullyDressedFemales: Downplayed in both cases. Bêlit is the only in her crew to wear clothing, even if she still wears less than expected.
70	* {{Pirate}}: Bêlit and her crew. Conan takes to the life readily when Bêlit offers it to him.
71	* PirateGirl: Bêlit, the Queen of the Black Coast.
72	* RedEyesTakeWarning: Conan sees red eyes gleaming in his lotus-induced dream; always they portend horror, madness, and death to those who intrude in the lost city. They're the eyes of the malevolently intelligent winged ape.
73	* ThisWasHisTrueForm: The werehyenas briefly resume human form after the winged ape is killed by Conan.
74	* TreasureRoom: They find a room with treasure... when disaster strikes.
75	* VertebrateWithExtraLimbs: The winged ape.
76	* VikingFuneral: [[spoiler:Bêlit's.]] Flaming ship and all.
77	* WingedHumanoid: The winged ape. And what it and its people used to be.

Context Literature / QueenOfTheBlackCoast