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Message: <blockquote data-quote="InzeladunMaster" data-source="post: 1479882" data-attributes="member: 9774">I decided to reread The Tower of the Elephant today.  While I will not make an argument that the story is Howard's best (I flatly believe it is not his best; there are many of his stories I like much better), I was impressed with several elements in the story that correspond with Joseph Campbell's ideas.According to Campbell, the hero should start out fairly innocent when something happens to open the hero's life into a world of unexpected power and danger.  This happens when Conan, who is young, hears about the Elephant Tower and the riches within.Then the hero will encounter threshold guardians, who try to keep the character from engaging in the adventure (like Uncle Owen in Star Wars).  Conan encounters a Kothian who tries to talk him out of going on the adventure to loot Yara's tower.Now on the journey, the hero must encounter obstacles.  The tower itself is such an obstacle, and he must find a way in.  Enter the helpful guide with the magical talisman.  Taurus has a special rope and he guides Conan into the tower.  No longer necessary to the story, he is promptly killed by the next guardian/obstacle.  The story even introduces labyrinthine motifs, and a "dragon" (Yara).In order to continue Conan's motivation a bit further, Howard introduces yet another helpful guide with a magical talisman: Yag-kosha and the Heart of the Elephant.  Yag Kosha introduces Conan, and the reader, to some of Howard's Hyborian history, much as Ben Kenobi tells Luke of the clone wars and other historical events.  In order to activate the talisman, Conan must kill the guide.  In this he is uncertain.  Campbell calls this the refusal of the call.  An example of this from Star Wars is when Luke complains that he has to go home, has work to do, and can't get involved.  Of course, Howard shortens the refusal to a mere hesitation, not wanting Conan to seem whiny.  The slaying of Yag Kosha represents another threshold to be crossed by Conan before he can continue his journey.  Conan uses the talisman to slay the evil force and escapes the exploding Death Star, er, Elephant Tower.Conan has recieved a bit of mystical insight and wonders if it was all real. He made a transformation from thinking one way to thinking a bit differently, wondering about reality, something he probably never pondered before.The ending is probably the weakest connection, but it amazed me how well the story fit into Campbell's theories of myth.  The Frost Giant's Daughter follows many of the same patterns as well.I am not really arguing anything, but am merely expressing amazement at how Joseph Campbell was able to categorize human myth-making so well.</blockquote>

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