Kezankian Mountains

The Kezankian Mountains rise as a stark and unforgiving barrier in the Hyborian Age, a range of peaks and passes that separates the stone-strewn steppe of northernmost Turan from the lands to the west. They are part of the bleak geography of the north, where life is harsh and the hand of every stranger is lifted in enmity against his fellows. The mountains are not merely a scenic backdrop but a defining feature of the world through which Conan moves, a place where the fates of slaves, raiders, and warriors are decided by the brutal realities of terrain and survival.

Geography and Setting

The Kezankian Mountains are characterized by their forbidding passes and the rugged foothills that reach down to the stone-strewn steppe of northernmost Turan. This is a landscape of extremes, where the chill winds of early spring cut through travelers and the sparse soil supports only dwarfed trees clinging to the mountainsides. The range stands as a natural boundary, a threshold between the open prairie and steppe lands to the east and the more settled territories to the west. It is a place where the vast emptiness of the firmament stretches overhead, deep blue by day and a canopy of black velvet by night, and where the seldom-traveled tracks snake across flat prairie and the rondure of patient hills. The mountains themselves are part of this wild, untamed country, a source of man's wide migration and a barrier that must be crossed by anyone moving between the eastern steppes and the western kingdoms.

The Slave Road and the Wheel of Pain

The Kezankian Mountains are intimately connected with Conan's early life of slavery. After the Vanir raiders destroyed his Cimmerian village, the boy Conan was dragged along with other captives, chained one to another, trudging across an endless expanse of pristine snow shadowed by pines. The weary column of captives, a sad remnant of what had been a close-knit Cimmerian clan, slipped and slid their way over ice-coated snows and rocky outcrops into slavery. The mountains loom over this grim procession, their forbidding heights a silent witness to the destruction of Conan's home and the beginning of his long ordeal. The captives were eventually herded through the palisaded gateway of a Vanir town called Thrudvang, where Conan was chained to the Wheel of Pain, a massive wheel whose spokes were stout logs polished smooth by the pressure of human hands. The Kezankian Mountains thus mark the eastern edge of the world Conan knew, the boundary beyond which his life as a slave began.

The Pit Master's Journey

Conan's connection to the Kezankian Mountains continued through his time as a Pit fighter. His new owner, Toghrul, was a pit master from Hyrkania, a land far to the east beyond barren Hyperborea. Toghrul traveled with his troupe around Asgard and Vanaheim, sometimes together called Nordheim or Northlands, staging fights for the amusement of local chieftains and their gaming cronies. The red-bearded man's travels would have taken him through the passes of the Kezankian Mountains, which lie between the northern lands and the eastern steppes. When Toghrul led Conan away from Thrudvang, the chain wound around the pommel of his saddle clanked against the clumsy wooden collar that confined the neck of the Cimmerian slave. The journey was brutal, with stones thrusting jagged edges against Conan's naked feet, and the mountains would have been part of this harsh passage. The Kezankian Mountains thus stand as a marker of Conan's continued servitude, the terrain through which his master dragged him from one fighting pit to another.

The Road to Zamora

Later, after Conan had won his freedom and joined forces with Subotai, the Kezankian Mountains again marked a significant passage. The journey to Shadizar of Zamora was long and weary, with the travelers striding through empty land with a measured pace that devoured the leagues. Conan and Subotai crossed the border of Zamora, reaching that darkling land of shadowed secrets, furtive spies, profound philosophers, depraved kings, and sloe-eyed women. The mountains lay behind them as they entered the civilized world, a world of broad boulevards, pillared temples, domed palaces and mansions, and lush, walled gardens. In Shadizar, Conan found himself in the midst of a colorful throng, rubbing shoulders with merchants in rich robes, artisans hawking trays of brass ornaments, gems, and weapons, and a bewildering array of folk from all the divers peoples of the earth. The Kezankian Mountains, which had once marked the boundary of his slavery, now lay behind him as he entered the crossroads of the world, where he would seek the meaning of the twisted snakes upholding a black sun.

The Return Eastward

Conan's most significant passage through the Kezankian Mountains came when he turned eastward, leaving Shadizar and Valeria behind to pursue his vengeance against Thulsa Doom. Far to the east of Shadizar, a lone rider picked his way through a pass in the Kezankian Mountains, where the foothills reach the stone-strewn steppe of northernmost Turan. This was Conan, but not the penniless runaway slave who once before traversed this forbidding land. He was now clad in fine raiment, with a tunic of mesh-mail over his clothing, a steel cap on his head, and at his side hung the ancient sword he had taken from the cave of the grinning skeleton, now whetted to a razor edge and thrust into a splendid scabbard of reptile skin. To guard against the chill winds of early spring, he wore above his mail shirt a cloak of well-tanned wolf skin. The Kezankian Mountains thus mark the point of no return in Conan's quest, the threshold he crossed alone, having left behind the woman he loved and the comforts of civilization, to face his destiny. He remembered the lovely woman from whose encircling arms he had departed, knowing she would never understand, for her gods were not the northern gods. He turned east, but bowed his head to Valhalla, knowing his life hung on a slender thread, but having no other course. The mountains stand as a testament to his solitary determination, the rugged terrain mirroring the rugged path of his vengeance.

The Final Confrontation

Though the Kezankian Mountains themselves are not the site of the final battle, they are the gateway to it. Conan's passage through the mountains set him on the path that would lead him to the Mountain of Power, where Thulsa Doom held sway. The mountains represent the boundary between the world Conan knew and the unknown territory of his enemy's domain. When Conan finally confronted Thulsa Doom, his sword sighed as it swept up in a great arc and clove the swaying snake head from the human body. The severed head rolled slowly down the long flight of stairs and came to rest beside the fountain pool. Conan watched the gory object fall into the purple shadows of the dying day, then spoke of his father as the light of day and Thulsa Doom as his night, acknowledging that what matters is not the steel within the blade, but the steel within the man. The Kezankian Mountains, which had witnessed his passage into slavery and his return as a warrior, now stand behind this final act of vengeance, the rugged terrain that shaped the man who would not be broken.