Conan and Toghrul (slave and pit master)

The bond between Conan and Toghrul is forged in the iron crucible of slavery, a relationship that defines the Cimmerian's young manhood and shapes his understanding of power, freedom, and vengeance. Toghrul, a Hyrkanian pit master, purchases Conan from the Wheel of Pain, and their dynamic is immediately established as one of owner and chattel, a brutal apprenticeship that hones Conan into a champion while simultaneously breeding in him a deep and abiding contempt for his master. This relationship, born of a transaction and sustained by violence, ultimately becomes the stage for Conan's first decisive act of liberation, a moment that prefigures his lifelong war against those who would enslave him.

Purchase and the First Act of Defiance

Conan's servitude under Toghrul begins not with a battle, but with a transaction. After years of pushing the Wheel of Pain, a red-haired horseman with a heavy gold chain and a pin of blue and topaz stones studies Conan with the cool appraisal of a horse trader. He pays the Master of the Wheel several small, flat squares of gold, and Conan's manacle is unlocked and replaced with a heavy wooden collar. The foreigner, speaking in hard gutturals, declares, "I am Toghrul. I own you now. You come." He tugs on the chain as one would a dog's leash, and Conan stumbles forward. In a burst of rage, Conan snatches a link and jerks it back, tearing the chain from Toghrul's grasp. For a moment, he stands free, the hot breath of freedom awakening wild memories in his barbaric heart, surrounded by the naked blades of Toghrul's men-at-arms. Yet, after glancing at the Wheel of Pain and the empty manacle that had bound him, he silently picks up the chain and hands it back to his new master. Toghrul grins, recognizing the spirit in his new property, and remarks, "The animal has spirit! He will make a rare spectacle in the Pit." This initial flash of defiance, followed by a calculated surrender, establishes the central tension of their relationship: Conan's unbroken will versus Toghrul's physical ownership.

The Pit and the Making of a Champion

Under Toghrul's ownership, Conan is thrust into the brutal world of the Pit, where he becomes a celebrated fighter. After a particularly grueling victory, in which Conan breaks a Negro fighter's neck against the wall, the crowd goes mad, hurling golden armlets and broaches at his feet. Toghrul lowers himself into the Pit, slaps Conan's bruised shoulders, and gabbled incoherent praise while stooping to gather up the golden offerings. "Come, boy!" he says, his hands full of gewgaws. "I always knew you would be a champion! We'll wash those cuts, and you shall have all the ale you can drink." This moment reveals the transactional nature of Toghrul's affection: his pride is rooted in the profit Conan generates, and his praise is a showman's act for the crowd. Toghrul's concern, however, is not for Conan's well-being but for his value as a commodity. He fears that Conan's lack of refined martial skill will one day pit him against a superior swordsman, leading to his maiming or death, which would render him worthless to the games-man. To protect his investment, Toghrul takes his troupe far to the east, across the bleak plains of Hyperborea to the town of Valamo, where he hires a master swordsman named Oktar to teach the Cimmerian more skillful handling of his blade.

Display and Dehumanization on the Road

The journey to Valamo is a two-month trek in a well-guarded caravan, and at every stopping place, the Æsir and later the Hyperboreans gather to admire Toghrul's champion, who has become famous for his exploits and gigantic strength. Toghrul, a showman to the core, strips the young barbarian and displays him naked on a revolving platform from which four iron chains extend upward to the slave collar he wears. Nordheimers and their women gladly pay their copper coins to stare with curious, appraising eyes at Conan's magnificent physique. Conan returns their stares with stolid indifference, determined to deny them the pleasure of seeing his arousal by the seductive smiles and sidelong glances of the women. He hates them all. This public display is the ultimate expression of Toghrul's power over Conan, reducing the warrior to a spectacle for the amusement and curiosity of strangers, a dehumanization that deepens Conan's resentment and his resolve to one day be free.

The Unbroken Spirit and the Warning

Despite his chains, Conan's spirit remains unbroken, a fact that Toghrul acknowledges with a mixture of pride and unease. During a gathering in a yurt, a Hyrkanian general asks Conan what the best of life is. Conan's mouth twitches in a shadow of a smile as he replies, "The best of life is to confront your enemy face to face, to see his hot blood spill upon the earth, and to hear the lamentations of his women!" The general approves, warning Toghrul, "The Pit has not broken the spirit of your champion, O Toghrul. Neither has it sapped his will. Beware lest this young tiger some day turn and rend you!" Toghrul chuckles and replies, "He wears chains so that he cannot." This exchange is a direct foreshadowing of the relationship's end. Toghrul's confidence in the power of his chains is his fatal flaw; he believes that physical restraint is sufficient to control a man whose spirit remains fiercely independent. Conan says nothing more, but a strange volcanic fire smoulders briefly in his fierce blue eyes, a silent promise of the reckoning to come.

The Earthquake and the Final Reckoning

The relationship reaches its violent conclusion during an earthquake that devastates the town of Kolari. As the earth rocks and vibrates, Conan breaks his gate loose and staggers out into the moonlight, witnessing the houses of Kolari in ruins. He hears Toghrul's frantic voice calling for help. Below him, at the foot of a little hill, he sees the Pit master's head protruding from a wide crack in the earth, swallowed to his shoulders and unable to free himself. Toghrul pleads, offering gold and freedom, but Conan throws back his head and laughs—his first good laugh since the Vanir had captured him, ten long years ago. "My freedom, eh? That I already have. Stay there, swine! If the earth swallows you down, good riddance to you!" He turns and walks away, guided by the moonlight, leaving Toghrul to his fate. Behind him, Toghrul's frantic voice rises to an awful shriek as, in a final earth tremor, the crack that held him closes once more. This moment is the culmination of their entire relationship: Conan's refusal to save Toghrul is not merely an act of vengeance but a profound assertion of his own agency. He recognizes that his freedom is not something Toghrul can grant or withhold; it is something he has already claimed for himself. The chains are gone, and with them, the last vestige of his servitude.

The Legacy of the Master-Slave Dynamic

The relationship between Conan and Toghrul is a microcosm of the larger forces that shape Conan's life. Toghrul is the first of many masters who attempt to break Conan's will through physical domination, and his failure sets a pattern for Conan's subsequent conflicts. The suffering Conan endures under Toghrul's ownership, from the brutal fights in the Pit to the degrading public displays, is a crucible that forges his strength and hardens his spirit, echoing the lesson his father imparted on that lightning-riddled night: "The heart of a man is like a piece of unworked iron. It must be hammered by adversity and forged by suffering." Toghrul, in his greed and myopia, unknowingly creates the very weapon that will be turned against him and, later, against the greater evil of Thulsa Doom. Conan's final act of walking away from Toghrul's pleas is not just a personal victory; it is a declaration that he will never again be owned, a principle that guides him through his subsequent adventures and his eventual confrontation with the cult of Set. The memory of Toghrul, the grinning showman who saw only a valuable spectacle, serves as a constant reminder of the dehumanizing nature of slavery and the price of freedom.