“The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune” first appeared in Weird Tales in September 1929. It received an illustration by Hugh Rankin. (Rankin signed it DOAK because he didn’t use his usually grease pencil technique.)
Kull is bored and frustrated with his role as king, so when a mysterious servant girl tells him of the wizard Tuzun Thune and his magic, he must seek him out. The wizard is of the Elder Race that held the Valusian continent before the present masters. He mystifies Kull with clever speech before showing him his mirrors that can see the past, the future and other worlds. Kull becomes a frequent visitor, neglecting his throne, delving deeper and deeper into one mirror in particular. He almost crosses over to the other side when Brule pulls him back, after killing Tuzun Thune. (This is the scene Rankin illustrates above.) The wizard, the servant girl and Kaanuub, the Baron of Blaal, planned to trap Kull in the mirror and then take over the throne.
The only other Kull story to appear in Weird Tales, it is quite different from “The Shadow Kingdom”, more of a mood piece and perhaps more typical of WT. It covers similar ideas as “The Striking of the Gong”. In that tale, Kull hears the striking of a gong and is transported to a dimension outside time and space where he meets a wizard. They ponder life and death before Kull returns to the land of living and only mere seconds have passed. It appeared in King Kull (1967), edited by Lin Carter. The original version appeared in The Second Book of Robert E. Howard (1976).
C. L. Moore used a similar friend-rescuing-a-friend-type device with Northwest Smith and Yarol in “Shambleau” (Weird Tales, November 1933). Henry Kuttner used it in “Thunder in the Dawn” (Weird Tales, May 1938) when Lycon saves Elak from the Pikhts. Fritz Leiber, again, when he wrote “The Bazaar of the Bizarre” in Fantastic, August 1963. Heroes need good sidekicks. Stories of this type allow the reader to see some dread alternative without having to lose the hero. (This is a series after all.) I am sure there are many other examples.
An adaptation of “The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune” has appeared three times: first, as an insert into a Conan adventure in Conan the Barbarian #25 (April 1973) adapted by Roy Thomas and drawn by John Buscema, Sal Buscema and John Severin. The wizard Tuzun Thune has traveled to the Hyborian Age and goes up against Conan (to his regret).
An actual adaptation of the story appeared in The Savage Sword of Conan #34 (October 1978) adapted by Roy Thomas and drawn by Mike Ploog.
Again, in a loosely based version called “Demon In a Silvered Glass” in Bizarre Adventures #26 (May 1981), the story was adapted by Doug Moench and drawn by John Bolton. Moench’s idea is much closer to the film Conan the Destroyer (1984).
Roy Thomas returned to the elements in “The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune” in a short run of the late issues of The Savage Sword of Conan. Issue #231 and 232 (March and April 1995), having Tuzun Thune pose as Gonar, armed with more mirror magic. The villain appeared twenty-two years earlier in Conan the Barbarian #25. Roy had a chance to bring him back for a revenge attempt (something most wizards never get, as Conan usually, like the old Raid commercials say, kills them dead). Art was done by Mike Docherty and E. R. Cruz.
“The Striking of the Gong” appeared in Savage Sword of Conan #23 (September 1979) and was adapted by Roy Thomas and drawn by Rich Hoberg and Bill Wray with more than a little Jim Starlin influence.
The power of “The Mirrors of Tuzun Thine” is evident in how much spill-over it has had. As the second Sword & Sorcery tale (I am ignoring the proto-S&S nature of the Solomon Kane stories here), it won over Farnsworth Wright and saw publication in Weird Tales. For many fans, Robert Bloch and Andrew J. Offutt included, it is a favorite with its moody feel rather than the blood-and-thunder action of Conan. I always felt it had more of a H. P. Lovecraft vibe to it. Like the best of the Cthulhu Mythos tales, it suggested the vast expanses of time and space, wherein wonders and terrors lurk. I always wanted to see exactly what Kull did in that shiny surface. I think the Mike Ploog version for SSOC #34 came closest to this.
