History Literature / ThePeopleOfTheBlackCircle

* BreakTheHaughty: the necromancer's plans for Yasmina, which he attempts by forcing her to live the worst memories of all her previous incarnations, subjecting her to a parade of memories as a lowborn peasant, of a slave, of a mother giving birth, and otherwise experiencing all the indignities and pains of a woman not born into queendom.

* ArrangedMarriage: the Devi Yasmina rejects Conan, despite their mutual attraction, because she says that she must make one for the good of her people. Conan jeers at such a concept.

* ActionGirl: the Devi Yasmina. She's made of some pretty tough stuff and is not just a wilting lily. She pro-actively seeks her brother's murderers and intends to hire Conan to help her get them. And, when subjected to magical MindRape, faints but does not break.
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Conan has absolutely zero interest in challenging the Black Seers of Yimsha. . . until they abduct Devi Yasmina. Conan then states he'll have her back, even if he has to tear the mountain down with his bare hands.

* TheLawsOfMagic: Referenced during the conversation between Khemsa and Kerim Shah, specifically the Law of Synecdoche, in that it was the theft of lock of hair from King Bhunda Chand that allowed them to begin their work of stealing his soul.

** Kerim Shah, like many Howard villains, is also physically courageous and doesn't flinch from danger. He's the one who proposes to Conan an EnemyMine alliance against Yimsha, while admitting he and Conan have no reason to remain allies once they've rescued Devi Yasmina. . . but they can fight that battle after dealing with the Black Seers.

* {{Necromancer}}: The Master of the Black Seers of Yimsha, and how he murdered the king. Khemsa calls it necromancy, and Bhunda Chand states he Dan feel his soul being drawn from his body, as well as attempts to sever the connection between them and shove his soul into an abyssal monster.

%% * HungryJungle: Where the black lotus grows.

%% * BigBad: The Master of Yimsha.

%% ** Kerim Shah, like many Howard villains, is also physically courageous and doesn't flinch from danger.

* HypnoticEyes: Khemsa's main power. He can compel people to do his bidding by looking them in the eye, up to and including killing themselves.

* ConservationOfNinjitsu: Conan fells four tribesmen in a single sentence trying to make the safety of a reinforced hut with butane blow each. But once he's inside with but a single tribesman, a furious duel ensues with the lone warrior holding his own for some time against the Cimmerian.

* ConservationOfNinjitsu: Conan fells four tribesmen in a single sentence trying to make the safety of a reinforced hut. But once he's inside with but a single tribesman, a furious duel ensues with the lone warrior holding his own for some time against the Cimmerian.

* HypnoticEyes: Khemsa's main power.

%% * HypnoticEyes: Khemsa's main power.

--> "People who plot on rooftops should keep their voices down."

%% * LoveMakesYouEvil: Yasmina's servant Gitara

* {{Necromancer}}: The Master of the Black Seers of Yimsha, and how he murdered the king. Khemsa calls it necromancy, and Bunda Chan states he Dan feel his soul being drawn from his body, as well as attempts to sever the connection between them and shove his soul into an abyssal monster.

%%--> "People who plot on rooftops should keep their voices down."

%% * DeadpanSnarker: Kerim Shah.

%% * TheHighQueen: Yasmina

%%* TheChainsOfCommanding: Conan resolves to take Yasmina with him. Yasmina feels some desire to join his wild existence (and some attraction to him), but believes more strongly that she must return to her people.

%% * MadeASlave: The necromancer resolves to do this with the Devi Yasmina. Yezdigerd likewise desires the Devi's kingdom for his empire and the Devi herself for his seraglio.
%% * MementoMacGuffin: Where they got the king's hair

%% * MindRape: The necromancer does this to Yasmina via PastLifeMemories. She is horrified, but does not lose her mind.

%% * {{Necromancer}}: The Master of the Black Seers of Yimsha, and how he murdered the king.

* BigBad: The Master of Yimsha.

* TheChainsOfCommanding: Conan resolves to take Yasmina with him. Yasmina feels some desire to join his wild existence (and some attraction to him), but believes more strongly that she must return to her people.
* DeadpanSnarker: Kerim Shah.
--> "People who plot on rooftops should keep their voices down."

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Somewhere between this and a TearJerker is the opening scene where Bhunda Chand commands Yasmina to kill him while he's lucid, so the evil forces won't get him. She does it, and he [[GoOutWithASmile dies with a "grim smile"]]. In these few lines, some of the best Howard ever wrote, we learn all about Bhunda Chand and mourn his loss.
* EyeOfNewt: the king's hair was needed to perform the ritual that ultimately killed him.
* GirlInTheTower: the Devi Yasmina is imprisoned in one after being stolen by the Black Seers.
* TheHighQueen: Yasmina
* HungryJungle: Where the black lotus grows.
* HypnoticEyes: Khemsa's main power.

* LoveMakesYouEvil: Yasmina's servant Gitara
* MadeASlave: The necromancer resolves to do this with the Devi Yasmina. Yezdigerd likewise desires the Devi's kingdom for his empire and the Devi herself for his seraglio.
* MementoMacGuffin: Where they got the king's hair

* MindRape: The necromancer does this to Yasmina via PastLifeMemories. She is horrified, but does not lose her mind.

* {{Necromancer}}: The Master of the Black Seers of Yimsha, and how he murdered the king.

* SomewhereAHerpetologistIsCrying: When the Master of Yimsha [[ScaledUp Scales Up]] to attack Conan, he tries biting him with venomous fangs. Conan draws a dagger and pins the giant snake's jaws shut, so it attacks with "the only weapon it has left". . . trying to constrict Conan to death. Possibly justified due to being a magically shapeshifted snake.

** Kerim Shah, like many Howard villains, is also physically courageous and doesn't flinch from danger.

* VillainousValor: Khemsa is an evil wizard in a Conan story, so of course he is doomed, but he is also the best-developed such character Howard had created up to this point. His lover, Gitara, induces him to betray his masters, the Black Seers of Yimsha, (just as she has betrayed her mistress, Yasmina,) in the hopes that the two of them can conquer an empire together). When he does, they retaliate, and four of them bring their full sorcerous might down on him. But his love for Gitara is genuine and allows him, in defense of both himself and her, to draw on a strength of will not even he suspected he possessed. For a time, he is able, alone, to withstand the power of the four together. Unfortunately, one of them recognizes the source of his newfound strength and forces Gitara to throw herself from a cliff. This breaks Khemsa's will and allows them to defeat him. When Conan finds him later, broken but still alive through a combination of his magical power and burning desire for vengeance, he gives Conan the means to defeat the Black Seers. Khemsa is so remarkable that it's probably best the story didn't end in a showdown between him and Conan, because some readers might have found it rather difficult to root for the Cimmerian by that point. It's not like Conan never betrayed anyone to get what he wanted...

* BringIt: At the end of the story, Yasmina tries to offer Conan a ransom for rescuing her. He promises (threatens) to collect his ransom in his own way and time, with fifty thousand men "to see that tge scales are fair." Yasmina laughs and promises to meet him with a hundred thousand men. The two part, considering each other a WorthyOpponent.