Conan, the barbarian , Conan, the Cimmerian or Conan, king of Aquilonia , are the three names by which a fictional warrior with an impressive physical appearance, black hair, tiger reflections and enigmatic gaze is known; always accompanied by his trusty sword and axe, and ready to fight monsters and all kinds of dangers that are in his path.
This character owes his fame to the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger , directed by John Milnus . But its birth is due to some stories, which around the 30s of the 20th century, Robert Ervin Howard published in several American pulp fiction magazines . The first story, The Phoenix on the Sword, was published in 1932. This was followed by The Scarlet Citadel and The Elephant Tower. The world in which our hero moves has nothing to do with today's and has its own history, geography or religions.
The stories take place in the Hyborian Age, which the author claims existed at the time when the legendary Atlantis sank into the sea, but until now no one has proven the existence of the Atlanteans, in a reliable way, because, Despite Plato, no remains have been found.
Howard's stories can be labeled within what we could call heroic fantasy, a genre to which the works of JRR Tolkien also belong, as the greatest example. Within this category, Conan, can become part of the sword and sorcery subgenre, which since its creation enjoyed the following of thousands of followers, but nothing comparable to Tolkien's work. Some maintain that this great difference in the dissemination of the works of one and the other is due to the fact that Tolkien was a prestigious professor at Oxford, while Howard was a self-taught writer from Texas. Another cause is the great popularity achieved by Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which has overshadowed the works on this subject by other great authors. We must also not forget that Howard's death at the early age of 30, played very well in favor of Tolkien's works. Between 1932 and 1935 Howard wrote 20 Conan stories, plus a novel about the Hyborian Age . Little by little, Howard's works lost popularity until they almost disappeared. In his aid came the publishing house Lancer Books , which in 1960 began to recover Howard's works, which were unexpectedly successful to the point that other authors in the 1970s and 1980s wrote many novels influenced by Howard's stories.
And this success was taken to the world of comics, focusing mainly on the character of Conan. Under the protection of Marvel, our hero begins a new stage full of adventures and fights, written by Roy Thomas that had an extraordinary impact and began to interest new strata of the American population.
Conan is about to turn 100 years old and still interests a large part of the world's population. Because? Well, because ordinary people identify with him, since, despite being an almost invincible warrior, he has experiences and feels like a normal person, with his mistakes and successes, his victories and his defeats. But Conan never gives up. When things go wrong and his enemies think he's defeated, he always gets up. Some believe that the first stories of Conan, back in 1930, are steeped in doom, due no doubt to the Great Depression of 1929, and the clouds of the outbreak of a looming world conflict, all of which lived through its creator, Howard.
Conan's character is highly controversial and multifaceted. Sometimes a barbarian, other times a thief, a mercenary and a pirate, however, he is governed by a code that establishes red lines that he never crosses. He is very jealous in keeping his emotions to himself, such as the love he feels for Belit , the pirate of the Black Coast.
It can be said without fear of being wrong that Howard created a hero model, in which future novelists and screenwriters for film and TV have been fixed in a forceful way. Suffice it to mention in this last section Wilow or Krull , Xena, the warrior princess, and the cartoon series Thundar , the barbarian. It has also received the attention of the creators of role-playing games or video games.
From the hand of Áurea Ediciones we can get to know Canon better, as a character who creates a subcategory within science fiction, and discover the best-known champion written by Howard. Both the plot and the small particularities of the work must be read carefully, only then can we understand the impact that the character of Conan has had, breaking the obstacles of time and language.
Conan's main God is called Crom. A remote and fickle God, who loads all his fury on the weak, who does not admit prayers but invocations through supplications. It becomes something similar to a fetish or amulet to win battles. In this way he appears as Conan's protector in the fights, who does not stop repeating his name when he is fighting.
's birthplace is Cimmeria , which is why in Howard's novel he is sometimes referred to by the Cimmerian. His ancestors were Cimmerian warriors , therefore his growth was marked by violence and brutality. Since he was a child, Conan stood out for his great physical strength and possessing an extraordinary fighting ability. Being very young he ventured on expeditions to earn his fortune. Being a fictional character, the places named in his comings and goings are also fanciful. There is no Cimmeria , nor the Hyboria era , the time immediately after the disappearance of Atlantis, another mystery of which we only know that Plato mentioned it in his writings. Conan is known for his extraordinary physical strength, sagacity, and fighting prowess. He is very muscular and fierce, with a black mane and blue eyes. His sword, which accompanies him to all parties, is called the Frost Fang. His main enemies are monsters, warlocks, and decaying kingdoms. Conan's code of honor, of which we have spoken previously, is specified in freedom, courage and survival as maximum values. Sometimes he is a paradigm of the anti-hero , who follows his natural path and seeks his fortune in a wild and confusing world. Other times he is able and triumph over the forces of evil. He values friendship and family very much. Currently, Conan the Barbarian continues to be a character closely linked to the culture of the people, and is the archetype of the fierce, bizarre and wild warrior in a fantastic world.
The Conan stories are known for their vibrant action, heroic battles, and fights with mythological entities. In his adventures, Conan encounters loyal friends, dangerous enemies, and various beautiful women, including Belit , the Queen of the Black Coast, and what they say was also his lover, Valeria.
In the Conan stories, there are some themes that run through all of them, such as freedom, progress versus savagery, power struggles, and exploration for fortune.
