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.