{"id":6522,"date":"2020-10-03T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2020-10-03T16:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/?p=6522"},"modified":"2022-09-06T20:06:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T00:06:00","slug":"frazettas-death-dealer-and-the-question-of-white-nationalist-iconography-at-fort-hood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/2020\/10\/03\/frazettas-death-dealer-and-the-question-of-white-nationalist-iconography-at-fort-hood\/","title":{"rendered":"Frazetta\u2019s \u201cDeath Dealer\u201d and the Question of White Nationalist Iconography at Fort Hood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2009, the military base at Fort Hood installed what can only be described as a bizarre sculpture. Sitting outside the headquarters building is a monumental equestrian statue of medieval European fantasy complete with all the expected trappings\u2014chain mail, axe, helmet and a shield here emblazoned with the caltrop of the III Corps United States. As this imposing character looks down with red eyes from his muscled horse, one cannot help but wonder about the figure\u2019s appropriateness within this space. Surely, the statue would better suit an event at Comic-Con than an Army Base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cPhantom Rider\u201d Statue outside III Corp Headquarters, Fort Hood Texas, 2009.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The sculpture renders Frank Frazetta\u2019s \u201cDeath Dealer\u201d a character originally painted in 1973. During his career Frazetta would become famous for creating the cover art for re-printings and pastiches of Robert E. Howard\u2019s Conan the Cimmerian. The infamous, Western barbarian, who spends his time battling Oriental sorcerers and slaughtering black cannibals, played some role in inspiring the \u201cDeath Dealer\u201d as suggested by this cover of \u201cConan the Conqueror\u201d from 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe Death Dealer,\u201d Frank Frazetta, 1973.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Conan the Conqueror Cover, Frank Frazetta, 1967.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the original painting obscures the phantom figure\u2019s physical qualities, his weaponry and costume code him as white. The bearded axe and horned helmet recall popular iconography denoting \u201cViking\u201d[ness], though as some scholars have demonstrated such helmets were largely products of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, his shield bears the reichsadler<\/em>, the black heraldic eagle employed by the Holy Roman Emperor which has also been used for more contemporary and horrifying purposes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Imperial Black Eagle associated with Henry VI from Codex Manesse<\/em> (c. 1304).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Nazi appropriation of the Imperial Black Eagle<\/em> in their Reichsadler Symbol (1935-1945).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, the visual elements alone do not convey the more problematic elements found in the Conan narratives. As the \u201cDeath Dealer\u201d grew in popularity, even becoming adopted as the III Corp mascot in 1986, Frazetta joined author George Silke to create a backstory for his creation in 1987. The novel \u201cPrisoner of the Horned Helmet\u201d begins in a proto-European forest defended by \u201cGath of Baal\u201d (our Death Dealer). The text, perhaps unsurprisingly, describes \u201cGath\u201d as a \u201cbarbarian\u201d who must defend his homeland from the invading Kitzaaks, a pseudo-Mongol Empire, and their collection of Eastern allies, including the naked and bloodthirsty \u201cFeyan Dervishes.\u201d The cover art here depicts a scene where our hero encounters desert-dwelling \u201cnomads\u201d who have been mutated into dog-faced beings by their continued use of drugs. Such tropes have connections to medieval Latin Christian polemical narrative of Muslims, frequently described as a \u201crace of dogs\u201d or in the case of the Nizari State at Alamut, engaged in the consumption of hashish<\/em> as part of a perverted \u201cSaracen\u201d practice. Finally, as the \u201cDeath Dealer\u201d raises the axe, the artist reveals those corded arms, his previously indeterminable “epidermal” (Heng, 181-184) whiteness is now made manifest. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cover of \u201cPrisoner of the Horned Helmet\u201d (The Death Dealer II), Frank Frazetta, 1987.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Evidently, the \u201cDeath Dealer\u201d suffers from what Helen Young has previously termed the \u201cHabits of Whiteness\u201d that pervade fantasy literature. As with Tolkien\u2019s and Howard\u2019s work, white bodies and imagined culture is central to this genre. While I do not presume intent on the commissioning of the Fort Hood statue, given the textual narrative, how do we approach this installation of white violence? In fairness, when the III Corps adopted the character they decided to utilize the more politically correct \u201cPhantom Warrior,\u201d perhaps not wishing to glorify \u201cdeath.\u201d Still, we cannot divorce this sculpture from its racial overtones because of the larger context of artistic and authorial intent. The Army\u2019s own literature manages to perpetuate some of the problems with this imagery, stating that it \u201crepresents the heritage and symbol of America\u2019s Armed Corps\u201d and even connects the \u201cPhantom Warrior\u2019s\u201d horse to those employed by William the Conqueror in 1066. Even when devoid of the textual contribution of Frazetta\/Silke, the official narrative insists upon a European past.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By highlighting these issues, I do not mean to attack the Army\u2019s history, though the question of \u201chistorical preservation\u201d remains interesting to this conversation. In recent years some discourse has begun to question the public display of Confederate statuary and the naming of military bases for Confederate generals. Opponents of this movement have cried foul, stating that to do so would be to remove American \u201chistory.\u201d Of course, these claims are groundless as many of the monuments and bases were erected or named during the early-twentieth century. Yet, even if this were not true, and the icons of Confederacy somehow held an indelible historical value, in what way does an 1980s sword & sorcery construction constitute the pith of American military memory?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cover of \u201cPrisoner of the Horned Helmet\u201d (The Death Dealer II), Frank Frazetta, 1987.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cHood\u2019s Texas Brigade\u201d Monument, Austin TX, 1910.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we continue to move beyond more obvious examples of racist imagery, perhaps new attention needs to be paid to seemingly neutral renderings which bear all the hallmarks of a white fantasy. Indeed, it is the subtle appellations which allows such narratives to endure. With the escalating number of white nationalist affiliations among military personnel, the public should consider \u201cwho does this Warrior speak to and what mythologies does he seek to reinforce?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cPhantom Warrior\u201d Statue, Fort Hood, 2009.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tirumular (Drew) Narayanan
PhD Student in Art History
University of Wisconsin, Madison<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

III Corps Centennial Book<\/em>. September, 13 2018. https:\/\/hood.armymwr.com\/application\/files\/8015\/4395\/7625\/III-Corps-Centennial-Book.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frank, Roberta. \u201cThe Invention of the Viking Horned Helmet.\u201d International Scandinavian and Medieval Studies in memory of Gerd Wolfgang Weber<\/em> (2000): 199-208.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higgs Strickland, Debra. \u201cMonstrosity and Race in the Late Middle Ages.\u201d In The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and The Monstrous. Edited by Asa Simon Mittman with Peter J. Dendle, 365-386. New York: Routledge, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heng, Geraldine. The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages<\/em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young, Helen. Race and Popular Fantasy Literature: Habits of Whiteness<\/em>. New York: Routledge, 2016.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brooks, Lecia. \u201cSPLC Testifies Before Congress on Alarming Incidents of White Supremacy in the Military.\u201d Last modified February 11, 2016. https:\/\/www.splcenter.org\/news\/2020\/02\/11\/splc-testifies-congress-alarming-incidents-white-supremacy-military<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Risen, James. \u201cWhy is the Army Still Honoring Confederate Generals?\u201d The Intercept<\/em>. Last Modified October 6,2019. https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2019\/10\/06\/army-bases-confederate-names\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2009, the military base at Fort Hood installed what can only be described as a bizarre sculpture. Sitting outside the headquarters building is a monumental equestrian statue of medieval European fantasy complete with all the expected trappings\u2014chain mail, axe, helmet and a shield here emblazoned with the caltrop of the III Corps United States. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Frazetta\u2019s \u201cDeath Dealer\u201d and the Question of White Nationalist Iconography at Fort Hood”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1846,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67956,264206,264201],"tags":[73918,324673,138,249788],"class_list":["post-6522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-history","category-history-disciplines","category-the-future-of-the-humanities","tag-iconography","tag-medievalism","tag-racism","tag-white-supremacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6522"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8718,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6522\/revisions\/8718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}