He gets right down to business though and warns Kull that his life and his very kingdom are in great jeopardy. Kull finds Ka-nu feasting, hanging out with Pictish ladies and having a fine time. It seems that Atlanteans and Picts are tribal enemies, so the two share an immediate dislike. Kull, being a distrustful sort, taunts Brule, the bearer of the message. Later, Kull receives a message from Ka-nu, the Pictish ambassador, requesting that Kull meet him alone later that night. It brilliantly introduces Kull's kingdom and his place in it. The Shadow Kingdom begins with a finely written parade of Kull's army. His world was dark and shadowy, with a much murkier feel than the later Hyborian Age. Kull, perhaps mentally battered by a hard life, was a loner. In stark contrast to Conan, Kull did not have the least interest in women. Having fought hard to win the kingship, he was rather uncomfortable and distrusting on the throne (with good reason as it turns out). Kull was a brooder, constantly preoccupied by dark thoughts regarding the nature of reality. The Kull tales were Howard's first attempts to create a fully-realised fantasy world and it was from Kull's Pre-Cataclysmic Age that Conan's Hyborian age was born.ĭespite their similar occupations, Kull was a vastly different character than Conan. It was the first published story about King Kull, an Atlantean renegade who became king of the prehistoric kingdom of Valusia. The Shadow Kingdom is considered by many to be the first modern Sword and Sorcery tale.
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