The beheading of Thulsa Doom

The beheading of Thulsa Doom is the culmination of Conan's lifelong quest for vengeance, the moment when the Cimmerian, armed with his father's sword and the stolen Eye of Set, strides into the serpent cult's temple and ends the sorcerer's reign. It is both a personal reckoning and the destruction of a religious movement, as the confrontation reveals Doom's true nature and shatters the faith of his followers. The act resolves the central conflict of the narrative, transforming Conan from a hunted fugitive into the instrument of the cult's downfall.

The Setting and the Gathering

The event unfolds in the great temple of the Cult of Set, where the Faithful have assembled to hear their master's exhortation. Hundreds of candles, nursed by loving hands, cast a dim radiance over the chamber, reflecting the eager faces of the congregation. The commingling of young voices, flutes, and brasses makes solemn music that reverberates through the cavernous hall, lending an air of sanctity vastly pleasing to the worshippers. Thulsa Doom, resplendent in his reptilian armour, mounts the dais and faces his followers, his eyes dark and filled with sorcery but devoid of humanity. He fixes his gaze beyond the uplifted faces massed before him, as if seeing some vision of the future that he alone can perceive, and intones that the day of doom is here and the purging is at hand. He promises that all who stand against them in high places—parents, teachers, judges—shall depart in a night of blood and fire, and that the earth shall be cleansed and ready to receive the god they worship. The listeners moan "Set!" in ecstasy, and Doom continues, calling them the pure water that will cleanse the world, holding in their hands the eternal light that burns in the eyes of Set.

Conan's Entrance and the Power of the Eye

As Doom raises a hand in benediction, a wave of consternation breaks over the assemblage, like ripples from a falling pebble disturbing the surface of a pool. The spell of the devotions breaks and falters into silence, and a hundred pairs of eyes seek to pierce the shadows beside the open doors. Doom looks around to see the cause of the disturbance, and his brutish guards spring into position between their master and his followers, linking arms to form a living chain through which none could break. Conan strides forth into the candlelight with the slow-paced steps of a stalking panther, his father's sword in his right fist, moving with a strange inevitability like a tide sweeping in across the sand. The lead priest shrinks away, unnerved by the Cimmerian's calm certitude that Fate is guiding him, but Doom faces the barbarian squarely, with neither fear nor wonder in his cold, reptilian eyes. Doom declares that Conan is but a mortal man who cannot stem their tide of victory, and commands his guards to seize him. Before any of the slow-witted beast-men can react, Conan holds up the huge gem he stole from the temple in Shadizar and repeats the words learned from the shaman, roaring "Back, in the name of Set!" and adding words in another tongue, "Podozhditye, nazad! Back and restrain the others!" At the sight of the crimson Eye of Set, the guards flinch as from the flesh-tearing sting of a whip, shrinking back while their line holds, and the worshippers watch in helpless amazement as the priest flees, screaming, down the broad staircase.

Doom's Final Seduction and the Revelation

Doom's lean, ascetic face remains devoid of expression, but his keen eyes searching Conan's face seem to delve into his very soul. In the Cimmerian youth the sorcerer sees strength, and also humanity, which he reads as weakness. He smiles a thin, triumphant smile as he catches and holds the barbarian's gaze with his strangely snakelike eyes, and begins to speak in his soft, hypnotic voice, addressing Conan as a son come to his father. He asks who gave Conan the will to fight for life, who taught him to endure, claiming to be the wellspring whence flows his strength, and warning that without him Conan's life would have no purpose. To the young Cimmerian it seems that the Master's eyes expand until they swallow up the universe, and he stands in a vast nothingness between the stars, seeing only those glowing, unwinking eyes. The seductive voice drones on, insisting that without Doom it will be as if Conan never existed, and that Doom is his friend, not his enemy. For a long moment, the dark eyes of Doom, redolent with unearthly power, hold Conan spellbound. Then Conan blinks his ensorcelled eyes and, summoning all the courage that is in him, tears his gaze free. In that instant, he flings up his left arm and suspends the Eye of Set an arm's length from the face of Thulsa Doom. Doom stares fixedly at the swinging jewel, then raises eyes wide with horror to meet Conan's vengeful glare. Before the frozen faces of the faithful, Doom's neck lengthens, his jaws elongate, his nose shrinks and disappears, his forehead retreats, and his lips thin and vanish. His dark eyes round into lidless orbs, and a purple tongue flicks out to test the air. Thulsa Doom bears the scaly serpent head of the ancient snake-men, those timeless enemies of all mankind.

The Execution and Its Aftermath

As one, the congregation gasps, and a shudder ripples through the silent throng. The princess, watching from the shadows, utters a half-choked cry as tears of pity, mixed with horror and relief, course down her cheeks. Conan's sword sighs as it sweeps up in a great arc and cleaves the swaying snake head from the human body. The body falls backward and lies, writhing, like a trampled serpent, at the top of the wide steps, while the severed head rolls slowly down the long flight of stairs and comes to rest beside the fountain pool. Conan watches the gory object fall into the purple shadows of the dying day, then speaks half to himself, reflecting that his father was the light of day and Thulsa Doom his night, yet in one thing Doom spoke true: what matters is not the steel within the blade, but the steel within the man. Rousing himself, Conan turns to face the guards who, obedient to his last command, still hold the assemblage at bay. Raising the Eye of Set once more, he tells the guards of Doom to go back to the caves from which he called them, and to find another source of meat. As the beast-men melt away, Conan looks at the former followers of Thulsa Doom. Some stare dejectedly about them, as if they know not where they are, nor how they came to be in this strange place. Some sob for their dead leader, while others weep for their lost Paradise, their moans undulating like the restless singing of the surf.

The Significance of the Act

The beheading is the final stroke of a vengeance that began with the raid on the Cimmerian village, when raiders swept down upon the hamlet, shattering the thin ice of the stream and slaughtering the inhabitants, including Conan's mother. It is also the resolution of the riddle of steel, the lesson Doom himself taught in the garden when he demonstrated that strength lies not in steel but in the hand that wields it, and the mind that commands the hand. Conan's final words invert this teaching, affirming that the true steel is within the man himself. The act destroys the cult's power, as the revelation of Doom's serpent nature and his death leave the followers bereft, their faith shattered, and their Paradise lost. The event marks Conan's transition from a youth driven by blood and vengeance to a man who has solved the riddle of his life, having confronted and overcome the embodiment of his night.