Black Lotus (Flower)

Description[]

The black lotus was a rare,^{[citation needed]} mysterious,^[2] and deadly flower,^[1] whose pollen and flowers were poisonous.^[3]

The flowers had dark blossoms.^[4] The powder made from black lotus was yellow^[5] and produced a yellow,^[6] green-yellow,^[2] or light-blue cloud.^[7]

It grew in the Lost Jungle of Khitai,^[5][3] in certain pits of Xuthal^[1] in the Southern Desert of Kush,^[1] near the City of the Winged One close to the Zarkheba River,^[4] and in the Black Lotus Swamp of Stygia.

Properties and Use[]

The black lotus was used for various purposes:

• The juice induced death,^[1][4] as did inhaling a powder made from the black lotus.^[2][5][6] Some sturdy specimens could survive a lethal dose of black lotus extract, such as Conan, who entered a state of nightmares-haunted death-like slumber.^[8]
• Though the powder was designed to kill, the right amount could simply paralyze the target instead of killing it),^[6]
• "Black lotus dream"^[9] and sedation:^[10] Its scent brought dream-haunted^[4] slumber, and lethargy^[11] (the "finest concentrated essence" caused a sensation of burning throat),^[7] while the blossoms could also be used to make a sleeping powder.^[12]
• It could also induce hallucinations: The juice from the black lotus grown in Xuthal was used as an (addictive) recreative drug, inducing gorgeous and fantastic dreams (while causing the body to sleep like the dead, without the slighest sign of life),^[1] while a potent extract of black lotus pollen induced nightmarish visions along with a progressive loss of the subject's hold on reality with each successive dose.^[13]
• Lotus Root of the black lotus drive mad the users.^[14]

The powder of the black lotus was cast into a cloud by blowing it through a tube,^[2][5][6][7] while the sleeping powder was mixed into a beverage^[15] and the potent pollen extract inducing nightmarish visions was cast in a fire.^[13] The Brotherhood of the Falcon used a hawk with a lethal dose of black lotus extract.^[8]

Early Hyborian Age[]

The black lotus grown by the people was cultivated it for ages until its juice induced fantastic dreams instead of death. By the Age of Conan, they spent most of their time dreaming thru the drug,^[1] and the people of Xuthal were considered to be addicted to it.^[16]

Hyborian Age of Conan[]

Stygia exported expensive drugs made from the black lotus.^[17]

Taurus of Nemedia, prince of thieves, used all his stash of a powder made from the black lotus to silently kill a pack of lions.^[2][5]

While Conan and Valeria were in Xuchotl, Yasala attempted to drug Valeria using the black lotus, possibly on Tascela's instructions.^[18]

While infiltrating his tower to steal the Eye of Erlik, Conan was paralized by its owner, Hissar Zul who used a precise and moderate amount of the black lotus powder.^[6]

Zaporavo, pirate catain of the Wastrel, sometimes used a sleeping powder made from the blossom of the black lotus. His mate Sancha used a vial of that powder to drug Conan and his crew.^[12]

The Umiank tribes in the Far-Borth reaches possessed Lotus Root of the black lotus. When Conan's crew mutineed against him and started abusing the locals that had saved them after they shipwrecked, the mutineers found the Lotus Root and started ingesting it, unaware they were consuming black lotus, driving them mad. Eventually, they slayed each other in greed and madness, and Conan spared the last one alive, Dhugar, now completely insane.^[14]

The Brotherhood of the Falcon used a hawk with a lethal dose of black lotus extract to assassinate Conan, though he miraculously survived.^[8]

• The Black Lotus was created by Robert E. Howard in "The Slithering Shadow" (Weird Tales; September, 1933), and is an element present in the Cthulhu Mythos.^[19]

• In "Black Lotus and Yellow Death", the final chapter of the adaptation of the novel Conan and the Sorcerer by Andrew J. Offutt, there is no Black Lotus, but instead only Yellow Lotus.