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Bêlit
and Conan, Marvel Comics |
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Bêlit
She was the shapely
yet formidable captain of the black corsairs, fierce
pirates from the land of the Southern Isles and perhaps,
the only woman that could be considered Conan’s
equal. She has the distinction of being the only woman
the barbarian ever loved.
The Nemedian Chronicles
state that she felt an overwhelming love for Conan from
the instant she set eyes on him, as he mowed down her
men on the decks of the doomed Argus. Rather than see
him pinioned with their spears, she ordered them to
stand back, for she had never seen his like. Impulsively,
she invited him to journey with her “to the ends
of the earth and the ends of the sea.” She was
Queen of the Black Coast—and he would be her king.
Although she and Conan
ranged the Western Ocean and its southern shores together
for perhaps 1,000 days and nights, she was a mystery
and an anomaly even to the Chroniclers. It is known
that she was Shemite by birth and that she believed
the Shemitish deities Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Derketo, and
Adonis to be the greatest of gods. She even nurtured
an affection for Bel, god of thieves.
Yet who was she, really?
Scholars of the Chronicles argue amongst themselves
about her origins. She claimed that her “fathers
were kings of Asgalun,” the most important seaport
of pastoral Shem, but some believe the legend that says
she was the only child of a King Atrahis, who was killed
by his usurping brother Nim-Karrak in league with the
Stygians. In these accounts, little Bêlit’s tutor
N’Yaga, an exile from islands south of Kush, fl
ed with her back to his homeland. There, he convinced
his superstitious fellow tribesmen that she was the
daughter of the goddess Derketa, who was perhaps a sister
and consort to Derketo, and that her coming fulfi lled
an ancient prophecy.
As she grew, she gained
skill with bow, dagger, and spear, and attained the
rank of warrior by battling subterranean Mound-Dwellers.
She used her newfound prestige to convince the men of
the Southern Isles to take up piracy. According to this
cycle, she and Conan later overthrew Nin-Karrak in Asgalun,
after which Bêlit claimed her father’s throne,
then immediately renounced it—for, having avenged
his murder, she now wanted no crown beyond the one worn
by the crashing waves off the Black Coast. |
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