Mordec was the blacksmith of Duthil in Cimmeria. Along with Balarg the weaver, he was considered one of Duthil's two leading citizens. Mordec and Balarg had an ongoing friendly rivalry about which one was precisely more leading. His wife Verina had been a strong woman who had given birth to Conan on a battlefield, but was an invalid with tuberculosis by the time Conan was 12. At this time Cimmeria was invaded by the powerful kingdom of Aquilonia. The Aquilonians established the outpost of Venarium, a day's walk from Duthil. Mordec joined the Cimmerian resistance, but insisted that Conan was too young to fight. Mordec and Conan had an argument, which nearly resulted in father and son killing each other. Verina played the voice of reason and prevented this. Mordec charged into battle, and was one of very few Cimmerians to survive that fight, which resulted in Aquilonian occupation.
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Literary comment[]
While Conan describes himself as the son of a blacksmith in Robert E. Howard's The Hour of the Dragon, Howard did not give the father a name. Other authors have given the father the names of "Niall" or "Corin".