Uldin

Uldin is the stocky, long-armed, shaven-scalped trainer who takes charge of the young Cimmerian Conan upon his arrival at the encampment of the Hyrkanian pit master Toghrul. When Toghrul halts before one of the slave pens and calls for him, Uldin steps forward, unwinds the chain from Toghrul's pommel, and grasps it firmly in his large and sinewy hands, speaking Vannish with a foreign accent as he mutters, "Come along, you!" He leads Conan into an airless, stench-filled room where the other Pit slaves lie ragged and unwashed on the raw dirt floor, their fire-lit eyes reflecting scant humanity. In the flickering light of a stub of taper, Uldin unlocks Conan's bulky collar and removes it, then faces the travel-worn youth and barks, "What is your name?" When Conan answers, Uldin presses further, "Whence come you?" — the first of many interrogations that mark the beginning of the boy's transformation from slave to fighter.

Identity and Role

Uldin is a Hyrkanian by origin, though he speaks Vannish with a foreign accent, indicating his long service in the northern lands where Toghrul stages his fights. He is the trainer of Toghrul's Pit slaves, men selected as much for their savage truculence as for their powerful bodies and superior fighting skills. His position places him between the pit master and the slaves: he is the one who receives new captives, removes their collars, and begins their education in the arts of combat. Unlike the armed guards who lounge around the slave pens, Uldin's authority comes not from weapons but from his knowledge of fighting technique, which he imparts to the young Cimmerian through relentless practice sessions. He is the first figure in Conan's life after his enslavement who treats him not merely as property but as a potential warrior, recognizing and cultivating the raw material of the barbarian youth.

Training and Discipline

As the white blanket of winter settles down on Asgard and the business of Pit fighting slows to a halt, Uldin continues to teach Conan the use of weapons other than fists, teeth, and feet. He introduces the youth to the simple staff, a six-foot length of hardwood as thick as a dog's leg, such as Conan had seen men use in his Cimmerian village. From the staff, Conan graduates to the spear, using it in both hands like a quarterstaff but giving emphasis to thrusting with the metal spearhead. For these lethal practice sessions, Uldin and Conan wear protective padding and wield blunt weapons, allowing the trainer to push his student hard without maiming him. From the spear, the Cimmerian goes on to the javelin, the axe, and finally the sword. The first time Uldin places a sword in Conan's hand, the youth turns the blade over thoughtfully — it is but a lath of iron without an edge, with an iron cross-guard set into a simple wooden hilt. "Not much of a sword," growls Conan, "Not like those my father made." The remark reveals both Conan's heritage as the son of Corin the smith and the gulf between the crude training weapons of the Pit and the fine steel his father forged. By spring, when Toghrul pulls up stakes and moves to another section of the country, the young Cimmerian has a working knowledge of all the elementary weapons, so skillful in their use that he no longer flings himself on his pallet each night an aching mass of bruises from Uldin's blows and thrusts.

The Pit Fighter's Life

Under Uldin's tutelage, Conan discovers that the life of a Pit fighter is not quite the worst of lives. To face an adversary and kill him is to enjoy, for a fleeting moment at least, the illusion of freedom — it is, in a way, to be a whole man again. The grueling torment of the Wheel of Pain had dehumanized him; the fierce battles of the Pit restore something of manhood and self-love. Uldin's training is the instrument of this restoration, giving Conan the skills that allow him to survive and triumph in the arena. The trainer also prepares Conan for the variety of opponents he will face. One day Uldin tells him, "You're to fight a Hyperborean tonight." When Conan asks what manner of folk they are, having heard vaguely that Hyperborea is a land lying east of Asgard, Uldin describes them as "a tall, lean, light haired people, for the most part," and warns, "Dangerous foes, reputed to be wizards and sorcerers." This warning foreshadows the supernatural threats Conan will later face, and it shows Uldin's role in preparing the young fighter not only physically but also mentally for the dangers of the Pit.

Recognition of Conan's Spirit

Uldin's training is not merely physical; it also reveals the unbroken spirit of his student. When a Hyrkanian general asks the assembled slaves what is the best of life, 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's approval lights his dark eyes as he tells 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 only chuckles and replies, "He wears chains so that he cannot." But the exchange underscores what Uldin's training has cultivated: a fighter whose spirit remains free even while his body is in chains. The trainer's discipline has honed Conan's natural ferocity into a weapon, but it has not broken his will — a fact that will prove decisive in the years to come.

Legacy and Significance

Uldin's role in Conan's life is foundational, though he disappears from the narrative after the training period. He is the figure who transforms the enslaved youth from a victim of the Wheel of Pain into a man-slayer capable of surviving the brutal spectacles of the Northlanders. The skills he imparts — the staff, the spear, the javelin, the axe, and the sword — become the tools of Conan's vengeance and his rise. The lesson of the Pit, that to kill an adversary is to enjoy the illusion of freedom and to be a whole man again, echoes throughout Conan's later life as he confronts Thulsa Doom. And the trainer's warning about the Hyperboreans, "reputed to be wizards and sorcerers," anticipates the supernatural evil Conan will eventually face in the form of the cult leader and his serpent cult. Uldin is thus the quiet, unheralded architect of the warrior who will one day stand before Thulsa Doom and declare, "My father was the light of day; Thulsa Doom, my night. Yet in one thing he spoke true. What matters is not the steel within the blade, but the steel within the man." The steel within the man was forged in the Pit, under the patient, brutal discipline of Uldin the trainer.