The Eye of the Serpent

The Eye of the Serpent, also known as the Eye of Set and the Serpent's Eye, is a gem of legendary rarity and power, the greatest jewel in the possession of the Cult of Set. It is described as an enormous ruby-red jewel of tear-drop shape, so large and so beautiful that Subotai, a thief of the Hyrkanian steppes, gasps that it is "the rarest gem on earth, and the largest" and that with it "we could buy an emirate in Turan." Its value in hard money alone is enough to buy a dukedom, but it is also said to possess mystic powers beyond a man's imagining. The gem is kept in the Tower of the Black Serpent in Shadizar, the crossroads of the world, where it rests upon a stone pylon in a rotunda, guarded not by men but by a serpent of prodigious size, a monstrous reptile whose glittering scales and sinuous length are unlike anything the young Cimmerian Conan has ever seen or imagined.

The Prize of the Serpent's Tower

The Eye of the Serpent is first introduced to Conan by his companion Subotai, who describes it as the greatest jewel of all, a gem of such rarity that it could buy a dukedom. Subotai, a pragmatist, dismisses the rumours of its mystic powers, valuing it only for its worth in hard money. The tower that houses it is the home of all the serpents seen in the processions of the cult, and it is said that the gem is guarded not by men but by these serpents, which roam freely about the tower and its winding ways as dogs wander about the yurts of Subotai's people. The two thieves infiltrate the tower, and when they reach the rotunda, Subotai hisses in awe, "The Eye of the Serpent! Gods, look at that!" Conan's glance reveals the enormous ruby-red jewel resting upon the stone pylon, but his attention is immediately drawn to the base of the altar, where a serpent of prodigious size is coiled about the stela. The lamplight sparkles on the glittering scales of the monstrous reptile, adding immeasurably to its apparent magnitude. The theft is a success, but it is a narrow escape; as Conan and Subotai reach the top of the shaft, Valeria, a pirate woman who has joined them, warns that the sounds of pursuit are billowing up from below, and that beast-men are among their pursuers. She urges Conan to hide the Serpent's Eye, and the three flee down the tower wall before their rope is cut.

The Eye of Set and Its Hidden Power

After the theft, Conan carries the gem with him, unaware of its true nature. It is only later, in the hut of a shaman who has taken in the wounded Conan and the princess Yasimina, that the gem's significance is revealed. The old wizard asks to see the talisman Conan took from the slain warrior woman, and when Conan hands it to him, the wizard carries it to a shaft of sunlight and watches its radiance suffuse his simple abode. He recognizes it as the Eye of Set and asks Conan if he knows aught of its magical properties. Conan, who has treated it as "but a bauble to be sold," confesses that he and his companions stole it from the Serpent's Tower in Shadizar, risking their lives to get it. The wizard exclaims that no wonder the faithful guarded it so well, and reveals one of its many powers: it can command the beast-men whom Thulsa Doom keeps to do his bidding. "Raise it before one and command him, and he cannot but obey," the shaman explains. Conan stares in amazement, cursing Crom and lamenting that he had not known this before, as it would have saved some desperate hand-play. The shaman reminds him that he had tried to question Conan about the jewel before, but Conan had refused to speak of it and hid it in his bosom. Conan acknowledges the old man's right of it, blaming a trick of that malicious fate, and slips the cord over his head, once more burying the jewel beneath his garment.

The Gem Against the Cult

The Eye of the Serpent proves decisive in Conan's final confrontation with the Cult of Set. In the great temple, the Faithful of Set are gathered to hear the exhortation of their master, Thulsa Doom, who mounts the dais in his reptilian armour and intones that the day of doom is here and the purging is at hand. When Conan strides forth into the candlelight with 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. Doom, however, faces the barbarian squarely, with neither fear nor wonder in his cold, reptilian eyes, 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. "Back, in the name of Set!" he roars, adding a command in a foreign 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. They shrink back, but their line holds, and the worshippers can only watch in helpless amazement while the priest flees, screaming, down the broad staircase. Doom's lean, ascetic face remains devoid of expression, but his keen eyes search Conan's face, delving into his very soul. In the Cimmerian youth the sorcerer sees strength, and 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.

The Symbol of the Serpent's Power

The Eye of the Serpent is more than a treasure; it is a symbol of the power that Thulsa Doom wields over his followers and over the monstrous servants he commands. The gem's power to command the beast-men is a direct extension of Doom's own authority, a physical manifestation of the control he exerts through his cult. The cult itself is built on such control: its processions are led by girls and young women draped in soiled white garments, their eyes glazed and unaware, like dreamers walking in their sleep, while robed men with shaven pates bear brazen pots of smouldering incense to fill the air with seductive sweetness. The followers chant "Doom... Doom... Thulsa Doom..." as they lash their naked flesh with whips made of the hides of serpents, barbed with snakes' fangs. Doom's power is one of knowledge and belief, of shaping the minds of his followers until they will strike true to the infidel heart, whether it be the heart of friend, or lover, or loved one in their former life. The Eye of the Serpent, as the greatest treasure of this cult, embodies this power, and Conan's theft of it is a direct challenge to Doom's authority. When Conan uses the gem to command the beast-men, he turns Doom's own power against him, proving that the secret of strength is not in the gem itself, but in the hand that wields it. The gem, like the steel of Conan's father's sword, is a tool, and its power is only as great as the will of the one who commands it.