The real, not the primitive, pop culture Conan The Barbarian is the near-perfect character we miss so much. And most importantly: he is not a cliché, anyone is surprised to recognize himself in certain situations. What is best in life according to this character?
Conan The Barbarian ideology
Recall that one of the most epic stories begins when Conan goes to buy something alcoholic for his friends. He is horrified to learn that in this city it is not sold after ten in the evening. At this moment, he realizes that the almighty Crom has left him. A story is familiar to everyone!
Stupid rumor insists that Conan the Barbarian is a savage, a savant (or rather an imbecile at all). He is running around in a loincloth and killing, raping everything he sees. But more mature and knowledgeable people from the time of the Hyborian era know: Conan is a dozen layers deeper.
- He is a cunning, professional thief, rogue, and original thinker.
- The character is one of the main critics of fashion on the entire continent.
- He is also damn self-ironic and polite. Because of where Conan is from, the impolite never live to come of age.
And even his stereotypical loyalty to Crom is in doubt: “I like Bel, patron saint of thieves. He helped me a lot when I was a thief in Zamora!”
Interesting facts
Robert Irwin Howard, the founder of the genre of sword and magic, created Conan from Cimmeria in the 30s. It was when the Great Depression rocked the United States, and people especially needed a new hero.
So, Howard saw hope from an unexpected angle: his character had the only superpower. It was to survive in any conditions, against which the economic downturn seemed a trifle. In other words, Howard discovered the main feature of the post-apocalyptic setting long before the post-apocalyptic fashion.
- The most amazing thing is that this hero was not only masculine (like Howard’s previous ideas), but also self-righteous.
- Open any of Robert Irwin’s stories and you will be surprised: they look like mocking, even mocking fanfiction.
- As if someone took Conan, familiar to us from the film with Schwarzenegger, and decided to write a witty parody.
- Conan seems to be trying to follow his inner masculine code, but from time to time he breaks down and begins to freak out inappropriately.
As an example to you: Conan the Cimmerian finds himself in a lost city where crazy things are happening. He is accompanied by a beautiful blonde slave who falls into hysterics. She begins to insist that they apparently died and have now turned into ghosts themselves.
Conan comes up with a witty idea: he slaps the beauty on the ass with all his foolishness and she squeals. “You see, we are not ghosts, ghosts do not squeal when they are spanked from below the back!” – sums up the barbarian.