WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.559 So imagine for a moment that you are at the absolute 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:07.679 pinnacle of power. Right. You hold the ultimate 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:09.900 title. You command absolute authority and you 00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:12.119 demand the unwavering respect of an entire kingdom. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:14.179 A pretty comfortable spot to be in. Exactly. 00:00:14.300 --> 00:00:17.079 And your entire identity as a ruler, I mean, 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:19.660 your entire claim to legitimacy is wrapped up 00:00:19.660 --> 00:00:23.539 in one magnificent, irreplaceable symbol. And 00:00:23.539 --> 00:00:25.500 it's resting right on top of your head. The crown. 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:29.480 The crown. But now imagine if that. priceless, 00:00:29.699 --> 00:00:33.780 stuffed artifact, suddenly sprouted wings. Which 00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:36.240 is where things get weird. Yeah, it comes to 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:38.600 life and literally flies out the window, just 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:41.200 flaps away into the horizon, taking absolutely 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:42.840 all of your credibility with it. That would be 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:45.020 devastating. I mean, losing the one thing that 00:00:45.020 --> 00:00:47.579 grants you legitimacy in the most public, humiliating 00:00:47.579 --> 00:00:51.079 way imaginable, it would shatter anyone's worldview. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:53.560 Oh, completely. Especially a monarch who has 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:56.399 never, ever had to question his own authority. 00:00:56.619 --> 00:00:59.890 Right. Welcome to today's deep dive. We are thrilled 00:00:59.890 --> 00:01:02.750 you're joining us. Our mission today is to explore 00:01:02.750 --> 00:01:05.709 a narrative that takes that exact absurd premise 00:01:05.709 --> 00:01:09.269 and just, well, it pushes it into some wildly 00:01:09.269 --> 00:01:12.230 bizarre, darkly comedic territory. It really 00:01:12.230 --> 00:01:15.209 tests the boundaries of dark fantasy and satire. 00:01:15.349 --> 00:01:18.189 It does. We're digging into the 1933 short story, 00:01:18.310 --> 00:01:21.370 The Voyage of King Uvarin, which you might also 00:01:21.370 --> 00:01:23.930 know by its alternate title, Quest of the Gazolba. 00:01:24.170 --> 00:01:26.170 Written by the American author Clark Ashton Smith. 00:01:26.370 --> 00:01:29.290 Yes. And our source for this deep dive is a comprehensive 00:01:29.290 --> 00:01:32.170 Wikipedia article. It details the story's complete 00:01:32.170 --> 00:01:34.849 plot, its unique publication history, and its 00:01:34.849 --> 00:01:37.069 specific place within Smith's broader literary 00:01:37.069 --> 00:01:39.790 cycles. We've got the bizarre twists, the meta 00:01:39.790 --> 00:01:42.170 -context, and all the irony lined up for you. 00:01:42.290 --> 00:01:44.950 Okay, let's unpack this. So to really grasp the 00:01:44.950 --> 00:01:48.109 sheer absurdity of Smith's setup, we have to 00:01:48.109 --> 00:01:49.890 start in the throne room. Right, in a city called 00:01:49.890 --> 00:01:52.930 Aramom. Exactly. Aramom is a new steam city. 00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:54.879 And while the source material doesn't give us 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:56.920 a strict textbook definition of what Eustain 00:01:56.920 --> 00:01:59.319 means in Smith's lore, we get this immediate 00:01:59.319 --> 00:02:02.519 sense of an isolated, highly rigid, and deeply 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:05.760 stagnant society. Right. Because we are introduced 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:08.120 to King Uvaran, and he is just sitting on his 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:10.780 throne, completely weary of overseeing justice. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:13.479 He's bored. He's bored out of his mind dealing 00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:15.719 with petty criminals. You can just picture him 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:18.159 waiting away these minor offenses. He's completely 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.840 detached from the reality of his subjects. Right. 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:23.719 And so the dynamic shifts. A criminal is finally 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:25.879 brought before the king, who actually proves 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:28.500 worthy of his attention. Someone who actually 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:33.080 warrants torture or execution. Yes. But before 00:02:33.080 --> 00:02:37.039 Yuvaren can deliver this majestic, terrible judgment, 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:41.479 the whole situation devolves into pure farce. 00:02:41.479 --> 00:02:43.560 That's amazing. The criminal somehow manages 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:45.939 to animate the stuffed bird that sits on the 00:02:45.939 --> 00:02:48.620 king's crown. It is such a surreal visual. I 00:02:48.620 --> 00:02:49.840 mean, you're ready to pass a death sentence, 00:02:49.939 --> 00:02:53.090 and your hat just... dips. It comes alive and 00:02:53.090 --> 00:02:55.530 flies far away from the palace. And the humiliation 00:02:55.530 --> 00:02:57.990 is profound. But the political implications, 00:02:58.310 --> 00:03:00.530 that's the real issue here. Because the people 00:03:00.530 --> 00:03:02.729 won't respect him anymore. Exactly. The kingdom's 00:03:02.729 --> 00:03:04.689 people will not respect a king without the crown. 00:03:05.129 --> 00:03:07.949 His authority isn't based on his wisdom. Or his 00:03:07.949 --> 00:03:10.430 lineage, yeah. Right. It's entirely tethered 00:03:10.430 --> 00:03:13.370 to this specific stuffed bird. Without it, the 00:03:13.370 --> 00:03:16.150 social contract of Aramom collapses. He's essentially 00:03:16.150 --> 00:03:19.919 just a guy in a chair. But wait. If his crown 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:23.099 literally flies away, why doesn't he just have 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:25.479 his royal jewelers cobble together a replica? 00:03:25.740 --> 00:03:29.560 I mean, why completely abandon the palace? That's 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:31.979 a great question, because in a society built 00:03:31.979 --> 00:03:35.180 on highly specific symbols of power, a forgery 00:03:35.180 --> 00:03:37.840 would likely be seen as an even greater weakness. 00:03:38.259 --> 00:03:40.319 Ah, they'd know it was fake. They'd know. He 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:42.939 has to retrieve the genuine article, so this 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:45.240 forces him into a desperate corner. He actually 00:03:45.240 --> 00:03:47.580 seeks divine intervention. Right, he heads to 00:03:47.580 --> 00:03:50.099 a temple to implore the god Jeol for guidance 00:03:50.099 --> 00:03:53.080 on this unprecedented crisis. And Jeol actually 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:55.680 answers. Though, I mean, calling it guidance 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:58.159 might be generous. True. The voice of the god 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:00.819 prophesies that Uvarin will indeed slay the bird, 00:04:00.939 --> 00:04:03.120 but he'll do it far from home. What's fascinating 00:04:03.120 --> 00:04:05.280 here is how this prophecy functions as both a 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:08.599 promise and a curse. How so? Well, it forces 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:11.060 the king out of his completely insulated throne 00:04:11.060 --> 00:04:13.419 room. He was a man who sat in judgment, right? 00:04:13.699 --> 00:04:15.680 Demanding the world be brought to him. Yeah, 00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:18.649 people came to his tower. Exactly. Now, to regain 00:04:18.649 --> 00:04:21.629 his respect, he has to become a vulnerable participant 00:04:21.629 --> 00:04:25.029 in a highly uncertain world. So he mobilizes 00:04:25.029 --> 00:04:28.829 the resources of an entire city -state. He assembles 00:04:28.829 --> 00:04:31.490 this massive fleet of ships just to chase down 00:04:31.490 --> 00:04:34.649 a runaway piece of taxidermy. It's a huge overreaction. 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:38.430 It is. They set sail to the east, and Smith completely 00:04:38.430 --> 00:04:41.629 subverts the traditional hero's journey. right 00:04:41.629 --> 00:04:44.329 from the jump. The call to adventure isn't some 00:04:44.329 --> 00:04:47.990 noble quest to save the realm. No, it's a desperate 00:04:47.990 --> 00:04:50.310 scramble to cover up a humiliating prank. And 00:04:50.310 --> 00:04:52.629 the voyage itself is basically just an exercise 00:04:52.629 --> 00:04:55.509 in escalating frustration. So their first stop 00:04:55.509 --> 00:04:58.269 is a place called Sotar. Right. And they hear 00:04:58.269 --> 00:05:02.350 rumors of a bird called the gazolba. Naturally... 00:05:02.730 --> 00:05:05.110 Yuverin assumes his quest is already over. He 00:05:05.110 --> 00:05:07.550 thinks he's found it immediately. But the Zolba 00:05:07.550 --> 00:05:10.470 in Zotar turns out to be just a local bird. It's 00:05:10.470 --> 00:05:12.829 not his magical crown. It's literally just local 00:05:12.829 --> 00:05:14.930 wildlife. It just highlights how little they 00:05:14.930 --> 00:05:16.970 actually know about the world outside Eremolm. 00:05:17.029 --> 00:05:19.449 Yeah, they're chasing rumors based on a localized 00:05:19.449 --> 00:05:21.850 understanding of language and fauna. So they 00:05:21.850 --> 00:05:24.430 move on. They move on to their next stop, Tosk. 00:05:25.009 --> 00:05:27.610 And the situation grows significantly stranger 00:05:27.610 --> 00:05:30.810 there. Yeah, Tosk offers zero clues about the 00:05:30.810 --> 00:05:33.459 bird. Instead, they discover that the humans 00:05:33.459 --> 00:05:36.480 living there are, well, they're closer to apes. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:38.819 Which is a huge shock to the system. Think about 00:05:38.819 --> 00:05:41.040 what that represents for Yvorin. Coming from 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:44.060 his rigid society. Yes, he comes from a society 00:05:44.060 --> 00:05:47.100 obsessed with rigid hierarchy and royal authority. 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:50.180 Encountering a population that reflects a completely 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:53.120 different... perhaps devolved societal state, 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:55.959 it shatters the illusion that his way of life 00:05:55.959 --> 00:05:58.160 is the universal standard. The safety of his 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:00.819 known map is disappearing. Fast. And then the 00:06:00.819 --> 00:06:03.500 bottom completely drops out. They stop at an 00:06:03.500 --> 00:06:05.779 unnamed isle, presumably just to resupply or 00:06:05.779 --> 00:06:08.279 look for more clues, and the fleet is viciously 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:10.899 attacked by vampires. Yeah. The vampires absolutely 00:06:10.899 --> 00:06:13.000 devastate the fleet. This isn't just a minor 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.300 skirmish either. No, not at all. It's a catastrophic 00:06:15.300 --> 00:06:18.459 loss of manpower and ships. But hold on, vampires. 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:21.240 I know. That feels like a massive left turn. 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:24.779 We are following this quirky, slightly farcical 00:06:24.779 --> 00:06:27.399 quest about a lost hat, and suddenly we're in 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:30.459 a bloodbath. Does the narrative actually justify 00:06:30.459 --> 00:06:33.040 this sudden shift to horror? It makes perfect 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:35.899 sense when you understand Smith's broader literary 00:06:35.899 --> 00:06:38.959 universe, which we'll touch on later. But narratively, 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:41.920 it serves to strip away Yuveron's armor. Like 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:44.620 knocking him down a peg. More than a peg. The 00:06:44.620 --> 00:06:46.939 universe is aggressively whittling down his royal 00:06:46.939 --> 00:06:49.480 entourage. He's being punished for his arrogance. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:52.480 He's reduced from a fully supported monarch to 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.100 a deeply vulnerable traveler. Here's where it 00:06:55.100 --> 00:06:58.339 gets really interesting. Because the universe 00:06:58.339 --> 00:07:00.540 is not done punishing him yet. Not very close. 00:07:00.779 --> 00:07:03.220 The battered, traumatized remnants of the fleet 00:07:03.220 --> 00:07:06.899 manage to escape. They proceed to an island called 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:09.839 Ornava. And Ornava's defining characteristic 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:12.959 is that it is entirely populated by birds. Now 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:14.939 you'd assume a man whose life has been upended 00:07:14.939 --> 00:07:17.240 by a bird. And who just lost most of his men 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:19.639 to vampires. Right. You'd assume he might tread 00:07:19.639 --> 00:07:22.379 incredibly lightly in a domain ruled by avian 00:07:22.379 --> 00:07:25.329 life. You would hope so. But Yuvorin has learned 00:07:25.329 --> 00:07:29.170 absolutely zero lessons about humility. He still 00:07:29.170 --> 00:07:32.290 operates with this staggering, arrogant, royal 00:07:32.290 --> 00:07:35.029 mindset. He really does. Hoping to claim a hunting 00:07:35.029 --> 00:07:37.910 prize, the king takes aim and shoots an owl. 00:07:38.129 --> 00:07:40.730 It's an astounding display of hubris. It's wild. 00:07:41.029 --> 00:07:43.889 He's an uninvited, heavily depleted guest in 00:07:43.889 --> 00:07:46.470 a foreign land, and his immediate instinct is 00:07:46.470 --> 00:07:48.990 violence for the sake of a trophy. He still thinks 00:07:48.990 --> 00:07:51.519 the world belongs to him. He does. But the local 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:53.920 population doesn't take kindly to that. No. The 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:56.019 moment he shoots the owl, the birds swarm him. 00:07:56.139 --> 00:07:59.579 A giant bird swoops down, physically kidnaps 00:07:59.579 --> 00:08:02.279 Yvorn, and hauls him away to a towering structure. 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:05.079 Which is such great irony. The guy he used to 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:07.259 pass judgment from a high tower is now being 00:08:07.259 --> 00:08:09.720 dragged into one against his will. The procedural 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:13.019 irony here is incredibly thick. Uvarin is brought 00:08:13.019 --> 00:08:15.819 before a kingbird and put on trial. A bird court. 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:18.959 A literal bird court. The monarch, who is profoundly 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:22.019 bored by his own justice system, is now the defendant 00:08:22.019 --> 00:08:24.620 in an entirely alien court. And the kingbird 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:27.079 actually outlines the charges. Uvarin is accused 00:08:27.079 --> 00:08:29.639 of the unprovoked murder of the owl. And in a 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:33.240 move that eerily mirrors human courts, the kingbird 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:35.940 actually allows Uvarin the chance to defend himself. 00:08:36.179 --> 00:08:38.419 Which is where Uvarin's lack of self -awareness 00:08:38.419 --> 00:08:41.840 completely seals his fate. A smart man would 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:45.299 plead for mercy. claim ignorance, or apologize 00:08:45.299 --> 00:08:48.519 profusely. But not our guy. No. Uvarin decides 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:52.019 this is the optimal moment to explain his overarching 00:08:52.019 --> 00:08:54.720 quest to this avian judge. It's unbelievable. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.460 He literally stands there and tells the kingbird 00:08:57.460 --> 00:09:00.019 that his entire reason for sailing the ocean 00:09:00.019 --> 00:09:03.620 is to find a specific bird and murder it a second 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:06.399 time. He essentially confesses premeditated intent 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:08.840 to commit further violence against their kind. 00:09:09.059 --> 00:09:11.000 He's telling the birds he wants to kill a bird. 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:13.940 He confirms every negative assumption his captors 00:09:13.940 --> 00:09:17.620 could possibly hold. It is spectacular self -sabotage. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:19.860 So the court reaches the only logical verdict. 00:09:20.179 --> 00:09:23.259 The kingbird sentences Yuvorin to be imprisoned, 00:09:23.620 --> 00:09:25.659 killed, and then stuffed for their collection. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:27.940 It's a masterful narrative, Luke. It really is. 00:09:28.019 --> 00:09:30.220 Think about it. He wore a stuffed bird to project 00:09:30.220 --> 00:09:32.860 vanity and power. Now, the birds are going to 00:09:32.860 --> 00:09:35.179 turn his stuffed corpse into a monument of their 00:09:35.179 --> 00:09:38.059 justice. he is slated to become the very object 00:09:38.059 --> 00:09:41.159 he lost exactly but he doesn't end up as a museum 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:44.740 exhibit no he manages an escape right while locked 00:09:44.740 --> 00:09:48.690 in the tower he manages to fool a guard and his 00:09:48.690 --> 00:09:51.289 method of escape forces him to completely abandon 00:09:51.289 --> 00:09:54.570 his royal dignity. He uses the bird guard's own 00:09:54.570 --> 00:09:57.649 feathers as a disguise. Yes, he sneaks out of 00:09:57.649 --> 00:10:00.350 the tower dressed as a giant bird. Consider the 00:10:00.350 --> 00:10:02.789 psychological degradation of that moment. For 00:10:02.789 --> 00:10:06.009 a king. For a haughty king. To survive, he has 00:10:06.009 --> 00:10:08.549 to literally drape himself in the feathers of 00:10:08.549 --> 00:10:11.009 the creatures he despises. He sneaks back to 00:10:11.009 --> 00:10:14.240 the remnants of his fleet and flees Ornava. stripped 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.799 of any remaining pretense of majesty. Yet he 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:19.440 remains relentless. He orders the surviving ships 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:22.379 to continue the quest. But the sea finally puts 00:10:22.379 --> 00:10:24.700 an end to the expedition. Because as soon as 00:10:24.700 --> 00:10:27.659 they resume, a massive violent storm overtakes 00:10:27.659 --> 00:10:30.539 them. The storm delivers the final decisive blow 00:10:30.539 --> 00:10:33.440 to his former life. It completely obliterates 00:10:33.440 --> 00:10:36.000 what's left of the Eremon fleet. So Yuvaran washes 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.929 up on an unknown shore. Completely alone. He 00:10:38.929 --> 00:10:41.330 is a shipwrecked man on a strange beach with 00:10:41.330 --> 00:10:43.750 zero wealth, zero guards, and zero authority. 00:10:44.029 --> 00:10:46.750 But as he explores this unfamiliar shoreline, 00:10:46.889 --> 00:10:51.669 he spots a man hunting. And the prey. The gazolba. 00:10:51.809 --> 00:10:54.809 It's the gazolba bird. Yvorin watches this hunter 00:10:54.809 --> 00:10:57.610 make a kill and notices the hunter is casually 00:10:57.610 --> 00:10:59.970 wearing a gazolba right on his head. It's the 00:10:59.970 --> 00:11:03.990 exact object Yvorin crossed an ocean for. The 00:11:03.990 --> 00:11:07.009 thing that cost him his fleet, his dignity, and 00:11:07.009 --> 00:11:09.190 nearly his life. And it's just sitting on some 00:11:09.190 --> 00:11:11.450 stranger's head as a casual accessory. Just a 00:11:11.450 --> 00:11:14.289 hat. Just a hat. So Yvorn rushes up to the man 00:11:14.289 --> 00:11:16.809 with all the lingering royal indignation he can 00:11:16.809 --> 00:11:19.190 muster. He declares that the bird is a sacred 00:11:19.190 --> 00:11:21.769 symbol of kingship. That it's royal property. 00:11:21.909 --> 00:11:23.789 Right. And the hunter just laughs in his face. 00:11:23.950 --> 00:11:27.250 He laughs because in his reality, Yvorn's entire 00:11:27.250 --> 00:11:29.929 worldview sounds like the ravings of a madman. 00:11:30.149 --> 00:11:32.570 The hunter introduces himself as Nas Obamar. 00:11:32.970 --> 00:11:35.629 a captain from a place called Uatroy. And Naz 00:11:35.629 --> 00:11:38.470 Obamar explains the crushing reality of the situation. 00:11:39.190 --> 00:11:43.009 To him, the gazolba isn't a crown jewel. It isn't 00:11:43.009 --> 00:11:45.769 a symbol of divine right. He hunts them and eats 00:11:45.769 --> 00:11:48.389 them for basic sustenance. It's his lunch. It's 00:11:48.389 --> 00:11:50.309 literally his lunch. If we connect this to the 00:11:50.309 --> 00:11:53.250 bigger picture, this interaction perfectly distills 00:11:53.250 --> 00:11:56.250 the story's core theme, the relativity of value. 00:11:56.779 --> 00:12:00.120 How so? Well, Euphorin's entire civilization, 00:12:00.580 --> 00:12:04.059 its justice system, its hierarchy, its respect 00:12:04.059 --> 00:12:07.299 for leadership, was precariously balanced on 00:12:07.299 --> 00:12:10.360 the perceived value of that specific stuffed 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:13.139 bird. In Aramolm, it was absolute power. But 00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:15.419 you move that exact same object a few thousand 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:18.379 miles away, and its value is strictly caloric. 00:12:18.620 --> 00:12:20.980 It's just meat. It really makes you evaluate 00:12:20.980 --> 00:12:23.740 how we define a crown jewel. Absolutely. It only 00:12:23.740 --> 00:12:26.100 has power because everyone inside a specific 00:12:26.100 --> 00:12:29.440 geographical or cultural bubble agrees to pretend 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:31.639 it has power. The second you step outside that 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:33.559 bubble, you're just a frantic guy yelling about 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:36.220 someone else's lunch. And Smith beautifully cements 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:38.059 this shift in perspective with the resolution. 00:12:38.620 --> 00:12:41.799 Nas Albemarle doesn't assert dominance over Uvaran. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:44.139 No, he simply offers to teach the former king 00:12:44.139 --> 00:12:46.480 how to cook the gazolba. And Uvaran accepts. 00:12:47.070 --> 00:12:49.269 The great monarch who defied the gods to reclaim 00:12:49.269 --> 00:12:51.889 his majestic crown just sits down on the beach 00:12:51.889 --> 00:12:54.450 with Nazobamar cooking and eating the bird. He 00:12:54.450 --> 00:12:56.610 actually fulfills the prophecy of the god Jeel. 00:12:56.710 --> 00:13:00.230 Oh, right. He slew the bird far from home. Exactly. 00:13:00.830 --> 00:13:03.570 But the context is entirely devoid of majesty. 00:13:03.870 --> 00:13:06.350 It's not a royal execution to restore order. 00:13:06.570 --> 00:13:09.429 It's just surviving on a beach. It's the ultimate 00:13:09.429 --> 00:13:12.269 ego death. Truly. So what does this all mean? 00:13:12.549 --> 00:13:16.230 How does a story featuring vampire attacks, avian 00:13:16.230 --> 00:13:19.529 courts, and profound existential irony fit into 00:13:19.529 --> 00:13:21.750 the broader landscape of weird fiction? It's 00:13:21.750 --> 00:13:24.309 a great transition to the meta context. Let's 00:13:24.309 --> 00:13:26.450 do it. Because the publication history of this 00:13:26.450 --> 00:13:28.809 tale is a fascinating journey in its own right. 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:32.299 This is the voyage of King Ivorin squarely within 00:13:32.299 --> 00:13:35.200 Smith's Zothique cycle. The Zothique cycle. Yes. 00:13:35.220 --> 00:13:37.960 For those familiar with Smith's lore, the Zothique 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:40.220 stories are set on Earth's last continent in 00:13:40.220 --> 00:13:43.000 a far distant future. Right. It's a world characterized 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:45.919 by a dying sun, ancient magic, and a pervasive 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:49.059 sense of decadence and dark irony. Which perfectly 00:13:49.059 --> 00:13:51.759 explains why a quirky quest to find a lost hat 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:54.399 suddenly violently veers into a vampire attack. 00:13:54.539 --> 00:13:57.179 It does. The setting itself is inherently hostile 00:13:57.179 --> 00:14:00.759 and decaying. Precisely. The veneer of civilization 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:03.980 in Eremom is just an illusion in a world that 00:14:03.980 --> 00:14:07.159 is fundamentally winding down. That makes so 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:09.919 much sense. The eight men of Tosk, the vampires, 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:13.720 the hyper -intelligent birds of Ornava, they 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:16.259 all represent a world where human dominance is 00:14:16.259 --> 00:14:19.240 a fading memory. Knowing that setting makes the 00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:21.279 publication timeline even more interesting. Oh, 00:14:21.299 --> 00:14:23.879 the publication history is great. The Wikipedia 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:26.279 article notes that this story first saw the light 00:14:26.279 --> 00:14:30.440 of day in 1933. But it wasn't championed by a 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:33.120 major publishing house. No, Smith actually included 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:35.860 it in a self -published trade paperback. Titled 00:14:35.860 --> 00:14:38.059 The Double Shadow and Other Fantasies. And putting 00:14:38.059 --> 00:14:40.600 out your own work in the 1930s required immense 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:43.519 dedication. I can imagine. It speaks to the highly 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.379 specialized, perhaps overly niche nature of his 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:49.279 fiction at the time. A story blending high fantasy 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:52.659 satire with creeping horror wasn't exactly an 00:14:52.659 --> 00:14:55.120 easy sell to mainstream markets. He was clearly 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:57.440 ahead of the curve, though. Because it took over 00:14:57.440 --> 00:14:59.480 a decade for the broader market to catch up. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:03.379 It did. In September 1947, the story was republished. 00:15:03.460 --> 00:15:05.440 And this time it was picked up by the legendary 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:09.100 pulp magazine Weird Tales. Weird Tales was instrumental 00:15:09.100 --> 00:15:11.679 in shaping the landscape of speculative fiction. 00:15:11.899 --> 00:15:14.679 They really were. They provided a home for authors 00:15:14.679 --> 00:15:17.179 who defied traditional genre boundaries. And 00:15:17.179 --> 00:15:19.000 they didn't just tuck it away in the back pages 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.559 either. They made it the cover story. With that 00:15:21.559 --> 00:15:24.360 punchy alternate title. Yes, Quest of the Gazolba. 00:15:24.620 --> 00:15:27.980 And it featured striking cover art by the illustrator 00:15:27.980 --> 00:15:31.799 Boris Dolgov. That's a huge step up from a self 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:34.419 -published paperback. Right. Imagine browsing 00:15:34.419 --> 00:15:38.740 a newsstand in 1947 and seeing Dolgov's art promoting 00:15:38.740 --> 00:15:41.059 a story about a king fighting his way across 00:15:41.059 --> 00:15:44.299 a dying earth just to find a stuffed bird. It's 00:15:44.299 --> 00:15:46.899 fantastic validation for the story. And its legacy 00:15:46.899 --> 00:15:50.059 certainly didn't end in the pulp era. Prominent 00:15:50.059 --> 00:15:52.879 bibliographers of weird fiction have meticulously 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:55.259 tracked its enduring appeal. Like Donald Sidney 00:15:55.259 --> 00:15:58.759 Fryer. Yes, he highlighted it in his 1978 work 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:01.700 Emperor of Dreams. And Robert Weinberg discussed 00:16:01.700 --> 00:16:03.940 it in his book The Weird Tales Story. It's also 00:16:03.940 --> 00:16:05.779 been preserved in some heavy -hitting collections 00:16:05.779 --> 00:16:07.960 over the decades. Ensuring new generations of 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:10.320 readers could find it. Exactly. It was included 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:13.779 in The Abominations of Yondo in 1960. And naturally, 00:16:13.899 --> 00:16:15.700 it found its rightful place in the dedicated 00:16:15.700 --> 00:16:18.720 Zothique collection in 1970. It endures because 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:21.399 it is such a potent distillation of what makes 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:24.539 Clark Ashton Smith unique. He forces his characters 00:16:24.539 --> 00:16:27.080 to confront the utter insignificance of their 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:30.379 own societal structures when faced with the broader, 00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:32.879 indifferent universe. Let's synthesize everything 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:34.940 we've unpacked today. Let's do it. We've tracked 00:16:34.940 --> 00:16:38.419 King Uvaran on this incredibly absurd, tragicomic 00:16:38.419 --> 00:16:42.100 arc. He begins as a haughty profoundly bored 00:16:42.100 --> 00:16:45.120 monarch passing harsh judgment from the comfort 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:47.440 of an isolated throne room. A man who thought 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:50.549 he controlled the world. Right. Then, through 00:16:50.549 --> 00:16:53.450 a bizarre magical fluke, he loses his literal 00:16:53.450 --> 00:16:56.429 symbol of authority. The bird flies away. Rather 00:16:56.429 --> 00:16:59.690 than adapt, his pride forces him into a harsh, 00:16:59.889 --> 00:17:02.649 unforgiving world. He survives devolving ape 00:17:02.649 --> 00:17:05.309 men and devastating vampires. Only to face a 00:17:05.309 --> 00:17:08.009 literal bird court that sentences him to be stuffed. 00:17:08.309 --> 00:17:10.789 Finally, after losing his entire fleet and escaping 00:17:10.789 --> 00:17:13.630 in a degrading disguise, he washes up on a beach 00:17:13.630 --> 00:17:16.049 stripped of all royal pretensions. He ends up 00:17:16.049 --> 00:17:18.450 as a castaway. Casually eating the very symbol 00:17:18.450 --> 00:17:20.920 of his form. or glory just to survive the day. 00:17:21.059 --> 00:17:23.480 This raises an important question about the architecture 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:26.329 of our own lives. How so? We all construct our 00:17:26.329 --> 00:17:29.230 identities around specific symbols, a job title, 00:17:29.509 --> 00:17:32.789 an academic degree, a particular lifestyle, or 00:17:32.789 --> 00:17:35.250 even just our reputation within a specific community. 00:17:35.569 --> 00:17:39.490 Things we use to signal our worth. Exactly. We 00:17:39.490 --> 00:17:41.910 convince ourselves that these constructs grant 00:17:41.910 --> 00:17:45.730 us inherent respect. Uvran's devastating voyage 00:17:45.730 --> 00:17:48.529 is a stark reminder that the value of those symbols 00:17:48.529 --> 00:17:51.309 is entirely fictional. They only matter to the 00:17:51.309 --> 00:17:53.529 people standing immediately next to us who agree 00:17:53.529 --> 00:17:55.569 to play the same game. game if you step off the 00:17:55.569 --> 00:17:58.630 board the game stops mattering it is a profoundly 00:17:58.630 --> 00:18:01.349 humbling realization it strips away the armor 00:18:01.349 --> 00:18:03.710 we build around ourselves it really does and 00:18:03.710 --> 00:18:06.029 that brings us to the final lingering thought 00:18:06.029 --> 00:18:08.450 we want to leave you with today think about the 00:18:08.450 --> 00:18:10.980 ultimate symbol of your own life's work your 00:18:10.980 --> 00:18:13.559 identity, or your status. The accomplishment 00:18:13.559 --> 00:18:16.000 you hold most dear. If that symbol were taken 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:18.099 completely out of its current bubble and dropped 00:18:18.099 --> 00:18:19.740 somewhere else in the world, in a completely 00:18:19.740 --> 00:18:21.779 different culture, an entirely different industry, 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:24.160 or a different time entirely, would it still 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:26.660 hold any power whatsoever? Or would it just be 00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:29.480 lunch? Or would you find yourself standing on 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:31.319 a strange beach, realizing it's just someone 00:18:31.319 --> 00:18:33.500 else's everyday lunch? Something to think about. 00:18:33.900 --> 00:18:36.759 Thank you so much for joining us on this deep 00:18:36.759 --> 00:18:40.220 dive into the weird... darkly comedic world of 00:18:40.220 --> 00:18:42.660 Clark Ashton Smith. It's been a fun one. We love 00:18:42.660 --> 00:18:45.160 unpacking these obscure, thought -provoking narratives 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:47.799 with you, and we hope you walk away today with 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:50.059 a slightly new perspective on the things you 00:18:50.059 --> 00:18:52.700 hold important. Until next time. Keep exploring, 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:55.079 and maybe keep a slightly lighter grip on your 00:18:55.079 --> 00:18:56.099 own metaphorical crown.