Exploring the relationship between the 1982 film ‘Conan the Barbarian’ and the original Robert E Howard Stories and some more axe-wielding mayhem!
Before HeroQuest’s Barbarian, Before White Dwarf’s Thrud the Barbarian, Before Nigel the Barbarian - There was Arnie’s 1982 Conan The Barbarian!
This newsletter is another side-quest from Warhammer 40K as I complete the mission to explore the 1982 film, Conan the Barbarian. Part one of this quest is here and the Retro Ramble podcast I was in, is linked here; Apple Podcast/Patreon/YouTube/Spotify. For all this to fully make sense, you really need to have seen the film, so do check it out first!
(Image - an Age of Sigmar barbarian-type warrior. The Darkoath Chieftain on Warsteed. Source - Warhammer Community)
Cometh Conan!
The term ‘barbarian’ originates in ancient Greek as ‘someone who does not speak Greek’. Plus. a bit of gaming history to start with - the D&D stat block for Conan from D&D’s 1976 supplement ‘Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes’.
(Image - Stat block for Conan the Barbarian showing his skills and game stats)
The film’s connection to Robert E Howard
Conan was created by pulp writer Robert E Howard (more here). The 1982 film though was not directly based on any specific Conan story - but it did use the character and themes from the original. It also referenced some story events that Howard himself had written - both in his Conan and other non-Conan stories.
Film Characters vs Literary Characters
In terms of characters, as well as Conan there are a number of other characters in the film who have roots in Robert E Howard’s works.
The film’s main villain, Thulsa Doom was not a Conan villain, but a villain from Howard’s first ‘sword & sorcery’ character, Kull of Atlantis. Kull is a literary forerunner of Conan and some argue an ancestor of him, they are certainly thematically related. But what we do know from Howard’s world-building is that the Cimmerians, of whom Conan is one, lived in the Hyborian Age and are the descendants of Atlantean colonists of the Thurian Age, where Kull reigned.
(Image - Art depicting Thusa Doom by Justin Sweet. Source, Wikipedia)
Conan’s love interest in the film, Valeria, is named after a character from a Conan story ‘Red Nails’ though it is argued that her personality in the film is closer to another Conan love-interest from the story ‘Queen of the Black Coast’, pirate-queen Bêlit. This is in-part because in Queen of the Black Coast, Bêlit’s spirit re-appears after death to save Conan (as in the film). This from the original story:
“In one mad instant she was there—a tense white shape, vibrant with love fierce as a she-panther’s. The dazed Cimmerian saw between him and the onrushing death, her lithe figure, shimmering like ivory beneath the moon; he saw the blaze of her dark eyes, the thick cluster of her burnished hair; her bosom heaved, her red lips were parted, she cried out sharp and ringing as the ring of steel as she thrust at the winged monster’s breast.”
A note on Red Sonja, another 80s film with Arnie as a fantasy warrior and that we mention in the podcast. Robert E Howard had indeed created a character, Red Sonya, but her full name was Red Sonya of Rogatino - with the different spelling of ‘Sonja’. Howard created her as an historical set adventuress from the 16th Century who is of Polish/Ukrainian origin. (Interestingly Sandahl Bergman who plays Valeria in the 1982 Conan film, portrayed the evil queen in 1985’s Red Sonja!)
(Image - Left to right, Valeria, Conan & Subotai. Source: Conan.com)
Film Plot vs Literary Narrative Elements
The opening narrative voice talks about an age undreamed of and this text is a shortened version of the some text from the first ever published Conan story, The Phoenix and the Sword. Here’s the original:
“KNOW, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars”
There is an interesting scene early on where Conan has congress with a prophetic witch. That scene does seem to have a Howardian origin but again not from the Conan stories. We find it in another character’s story, Bran Mak Morn, King of the Picts. In the story Worms of the Earth, Bran encounters Atla, a half-human witch who offers him secret knowledge if he sleeps with her.
The scene in the film where they climb the tower to do a spot of thievery, this event has an analogue in the story, The Tower of the Elephant. (Which, interestingly, is referenced in the film via the scene with King Osric where he asks about the missing Subotai if he has been ‘eaten by lions’ as there are roaming lions as a trap for intruders in the original story.)
(Image - Arnie as Conan charges down one of Thusa Doom’s men in a scene from the 1982 film. Source: Conan.com)
The giant snake scene has an analog in The Hour of the Dragon where it is also a sacred animal and killed by Conan, to quote;
“Its neck arched, but before it could dart, Conan whipped his knife from under his mantle and struck like a flicker of lightning. The broad blade split that wedge-shaped head and sheared deep into the thick neck.”
The crucifixion is similar to a scene in A Witch Shall be Born, to quote from the original;
“Conan drew his head back as far as he could, waiting with terrible patience. The vulture swept in with a swift roar of wings. Its beak flashed down, ripping the skin on Conan’s chin as he jerked his head aside; then before the bird could flash away, Conan’s head lunged forward on his mighty neck muscles, and his teeth, snapping like those of a wolf, locked on the bare, wattled neck.”
Conan facing an evil sorcerer is a theme in several of the original stories - Beyond the Black River, Hour of the Dragon and The Scarlet Citadel for example.
Conan battling monsters (or monstrous creatures) is also a regular theme; The Scarlet Citadel, Rogues in the House, Beyond the Black River, Hour of the Dragon and The Scarlet Citadel.
Thanks for reading!
Links of Note
Jordan Sorcery, “I Was Sent A Game That Doesn’t Exist!”
Note! There is more about this project here. The direct chat for this project is here. You can comment here or find me on BlueSky.
Also note! This book project is a personal one and not affiliated with any company that, in my day job, I work with or partner with.