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Xuthal of the Dusk

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  • Sequelitis: Widely considered one of the worst Conan stories.
  • Values Dissonance: Thalis of Stygia (Howard's proto-Egypt) claims to be the daughter of a king, as evidenced by her alabaster skin marking her as superior to the average, dusky-skinned Stygian, something whose racial implications for a modern audience are definitely not nice. However, this was actually a real trait of the Egyptian culture on which Stygians are based, which was completely unrelated to racism as we understand it today. Black Nubian tribes were usually slaves or vassals to the comparatively-lighter-skinned Egyptians, but they weren't considered more inherently "inferior" than any other nation subjected to Egyptian rule, and there was actually an entire line of black pharaohs (the 25th Dynasty) originated when the Nubian kingdom of Kush took over Egypt.
    • In addition to the above, it could also be a reference to the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt, which famously included the likes of Cleopatra. The Ptolemaic pharaohs were actually Greek, having been part of Alexander the Great's army, and therefore of a much lighter complexion to than the native/lower classes of Egypt. Since the Stygian nobility were originally from an invading empire, the parallels are clear.

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