Conan is highly intelligent and vastly multilingual in both speech and literature. The fact that he is willing to learn about diverse cultures depicts well of his adaptability.
I made Kind of a drunken master Conan once. I mean like always drunk and swaying. Had to roll a ridiculous number because his aim was off because of it but was also next to impossible to hit. Often missed his swings and would hit party members delivering tons of damage.
All readers of E. Howard's stories know that Conan was NOT just a strong dumb brute. Beside his great strength and martial skills, he was also one of the smartest protagonists in the fantasy genre.
Yeah, he was very intelligent, but didn't like to talk a lot. He was "uncivilized", because Howard thought civilization was corrupting and "the savage state of man" was uncorrupted and pure.
@AliceBowie the way he describe conan was akin to a elemental force. He was man in his most Primal state relying mostly on instinct and inherent nature unlike civilized man who thinks themselves better than those they deem less civilized and rely on rationalism and dogmas to navigate the world
Excellent video! To clear things up, we at Heroic Signatures are the rights holders to Conan the Barbarian, with Titan as our publisher. We're working hard to bring fans the very best Conan content-books, comics, video games, and hopefully, movies and TV in the future! To stay updated on all things Conan, make sure to subscribe to our channel. As for what's officially considered canon, only the works of Robert E. Howard qualify; everything else is 'just for fun' legends. Thanks to you, the fans, Conan remains alive and thriving! Fantastic work!
Thanks for your awesome work, I used your awesome site and RUclips channel while researching this and I make sure to add you guys in the source section, thanks for clarifying that btw!
Question: in 2028 Howard's Conan begin to enter the Public Domain, so. What is the plan to maintain the audience after the fear of litigation has passed for competitive restraint. Jason's Conan actually behaved like well... Lee Horsely? Grew up reading the books. Destroyer was better than the first.
@@michaelsmyth3935 Conan, the character, will still be trademarked and owned by HS. Only those public domain REH stories will be fair game, as many already are. Just like Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, as long as the new work is an absolute copy of the public domain work (eschewing any traits introduced in copyrighted iterations of the character that were not present in the fair use work) and doesn't use the name "Conan" anywhere, there's not a great deal that HS can do, legally. Practically, 2028 is not going to be any different than 2024 in terms of what can be done with the character by non-rightholders. The only thing preventing creators today from coming out with comic/film adaptations of early REH Conan public domain stories is the limitations imposed (strict adherence to the source material, having to call the character "Barbarian" or "Cimmerian" or something generic, etc) and the always-present threat of spurious litigation by the current rightholders (cough, Ablaze, cough).
haha hey just cool to find other people into the same random mix of fantasy as me! If only we could combine Redwall / Dark Sun / Conan into one Frankenstein version
You know, the fact that the stories of Conan is about barbarism defeating modern civilization, and now knowing on how many companies have used the Conan franchise for cash-grabs, or put in actual heart into it, only to have it either lose the rights, letting it go, or abandoning it all together leaving it out into the wild for anyone to use is perhaps the most accurate thing to ever happen to Conan, and I unironically love on how the best adaptation for Conan that he ever had was real life.
Another thing that has a wealth of Conan in it is the genre of heavy metal. Countless bands like Electric Wizard, Manilla Road, and Domine have many tracks dedicated to the Cimmerian.
Oh that's a great thing to mention, thanks for commenting that! That's what I mean there are just endless amounts of stuff to talk about here, maybe in the future I'll do like a 3 hour video on it to cover everything in as much depth as it needs
@@Neves_G I love Conan, it captures the vibe, though I haven't heard anything by them that is an adaptation. Few bands can capture the verve of Howardian heroes without naming specifics, but Conan does it release after release.
The simplicity of the character in tandem with the complexity of the world really elevates the story considerably. It gives it the benefit of getting to the point but never unveiling everything the world has to offer, which is the perfect recipe for an anthology, serial, or whatever else as it leaves the reader wanting more.
As you paint Conan as the big Inspiration for modern day - that he of course is, without doubt - what I missed a bit, is the mentioning of the things that inspired Howard. For example the whole concept of Red Sonja is taken from 'The Niebelungenlied'. Brunhild too is a female Warrior, with a big mistrust for men and who will only marry the man who bests her in combat. This is the same for many themes that stretch back to the Edda or other historic tales that per se are the Origin of many Fantasy Tropes, too. Only a bit nitpicking, the video is great and I greatly admire the depth and work you out in here. Keep it coming!
Thank you for mentioning that! There was SO much to cover in this video that I did have to gloss over a good amount of info but appreciate you mentioning that in the comments as Howard was undoubtedly inspired by those historical stories! Glad you enjoyed the video!!
Conan, drawn by Ernie Chan and/or John Buscema, is peak comic book art. That old black and white style just conveys EVERYTHING so much more solidly than the more modern, often digitally drawn(nothing wrong with that in most cases), color comics...
Was literally just talking to them about doing a dark souls Conan video game! Since he is the grandfather of berserk and all Barbarian characters in dnd and fantasy. He deserves a modern new game with insane combat and gritty gameplay.
I've been noticing more well put together, thought out deep dives into Howard lore of late and however great it is to see, part of me worries the mobs will get their claws into it. Our remaining heroes are few. Honestly, thank Crom that netflix show didn't happen and I dread the day we do get some other live action adaptation. These corporations have burned us enought times and I refuse to see the Cimmerian neutered. My hope is he continues to soar high enough to please the faithful but just low enough to stay under the radar of mainstream pop culture.
Fantastic! As a long-time fan - I devoured the novels and films as a teenager in the 80s - it is great to see the breadth of the character analyzed like this. And thanks to the new comics and games, it's awesome to see the character raising his sword again!
Do you mean like "every" single conan comic from all the different Marvel / Dark Horse / Titan, etc. etc. or from the original Marvel? I have serious respect for either but impressive if you have all of them, there are so many it's wild!
I actually have my own character in the series by the name of Branach who's a half Cimmerian and Pict barbarian, and he has also served several roles such as slave, gladiator, bodyguard, sellsword, hunter/tracker, treasure hunter, and assassin. He isn't nearly as charismatic or skilled/experienced, but he is much bigger and is cursed and tormented by a demon god. I've developed him over the last few years and I'd say I finally perfected his character at long last.
Love the Conan breakdown! I have enjoyed that universe since I was a little kid and read so many of his books! He wasn't exactly the same as he was in the books. I absolutely love the movies that Arnold Schwarzenegger did. I know there are many problematic things by today's standards in many of the books, but that character and series is a great read and so much fun! I have no problem teaching my son how to conduct himself and how to be respectful, but that is certainly one character he will be introduced to.
I love hearing "Half the stuff we're going to get into today." then looking at the runtime and seeing the video is at least an hour long. I know it's probably a ton of writing but it's worth it in many cases. 😄👍
Fantasy before everyone started ripping off Tolkein in general is great. I recommend the video "A Brief Guide to Pre-Tolkein Fantasy" for more recommendations
Hey thanks so much for the kind words! It was a good amount of research and that's really kind of you to appreciate. More importantly, glad you enjoyed the vid!
I’m old enough to remember buying a Conan the Barbarian comic book for 25 cents. They were pretty dark for a ten year old to be reading. More so than the movies.
I like to imagine Conan kicking down the doors at Diddy freak offs and just putting them to the sword in the most brutal fashion that only he can provide.
I had a friend in the 80s who was hit by a car and thrown into a fence and impaled there.He had a intense recovery and I saw him three months later and he was smiling ear to ear and look great. I asked him how he did it and he said he told himself he was Conan (on the tree with the vultures) and not to feel sorry for himself and to be awesome. He lifted daily and stretched and even cooked for himself and not only got better, but top 1% of the population.
It's not a Conan story per say, but in the 80s Ralph Bashki and Frank Frazetta did a rotoscope animated movie called Fire and Ice which is probably the most Sword and Sorcery movie ever made, and the themes are very much aligned with the lore-accurate version of Conan, definitely worth a watch and/or review
My absolute Favorite was a pulp fiction novel where I was first introduced to ROBERT JORDAN❤ followed closely by black and white Savage Sword of Conan with. art level covers by JUSKO❤
You can’t leave out Frank Frazetta when talking about Conan! That’s how I picture when reading Robert E. Howard’s story’s and it’s definitely heavily referenced by anyone drawing Conan today. Awesome work!
Originally read the entire Conan series over 40 years ago & at one point I had the entire series in softcover with Frazetta artwork covers. I still remember the opening to the first one I read (not quoting obviously)... Know my Prince that between the day when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas there lived an age undreamed of, when mighty kingdoms spread over the earth & greatest of these was Aquilonia. Tither came Conan the Cimmerian, a thief, a reaver, a slayer; a man of gigantic melancholy and gigantic mirth who was destined to tread the jewelled thrones of the world beneath his sandalled feet. The greatest anti-hero of the 20th century.
Congratulations! You didn't miss much. There is also a GURPS version of Conan (1988) and currently Monolith takes it spin (the same who brought us Conan the Boardgame). The team-up with the Avengers or something similar Marvel did already in the 80s, with the same outcome. What Titan Comics are doing at the moment suits me, and next to the Comic series and the Savage Sword Magazine they also publish new, and I mean really new, Conan pastiches, under Titan Books. Currently I read "Blood of the Serpent". It is a modern version but some of Robert E. Howards original art of writing show trough. By Crom these days are good days for Conan fans! 🍻
Excellent job! I've been actually reading Conan since I was a teen - 45 years- and I was kinda a fan even before that, but my mom wouldn't let me buy Conan Comics, which was understandable because Conan comics, wasn't kid-friendly. So I one of those guys they knew all this stuff already but you still managed to open my eyes up. Like I don't think I realized the scope of it all before you put it all in one place. I do think you should have at least mentioned Frazetta. It was Frazetta cover art that posted the L. Sprague DeCamp/Lin Carter series sales. I think it was Frazetta's Conan that caused the first resurgence of Conan.
Hey thanks so much for watching and appreciating! It was a LOT to cover haha but it's been a really interesting series to chart over the years. 100% should have called out Frazetta by name but just tried to cover so much in here kind of got lost in the shuffle and didn't want to use so many names! Maybe for a future vid!
@exitsexamined absolutely! I don't think you missed anything else. Like I stated; I never realized the scope of it all. Forever, I always kinda felt like Conan and REH fandom was a lot smaller than I ever imagined. I think I've meant maybe one other adult that reads Howard and a handful of Conan fans, mostly from the Arnold movie and maybe a couple from the comics. So I always felt like I was all but alone in my love of Sword-and-Sorcery, Conan, and Howard. It's been relatively recent that I've found out there is such a huge fanbase.
Brother, that doesn't fill me with hope. Have you seen the state of Dynamite Comics? That's actually worse news than if D&D said they were publishing a new tie in.
Thank you for commenting this, this is what I mean it's just endless. So Dynamite and Titan will both be publishing books at the same time? Are they only doing books or also comics
It may have been recommended before but it'd be interesting to hear your thoughts on two series, one a response to Conan by making the main characters real, and another that does a good satire of it. The first is Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series taking place in the world of Newhon and the other of course is Terry Prachett's Discworld, the most obvious Conan connection being Cohen the Barbarian. (Interesting Times and The Last Hero in particular.) I really enjoy this channel and revisiting these series from my youth. Cheers!
Yeah, I'll second Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser and the Pratchett books. I nearly split my gut laughing when Cohen the, lifetime in his own legend, barbarian cam on the scene in The Colour of Magic.
Thanks for watching it, and glad you enjoyed it! Was kind of intense to make haha there is just so much to talk about here, could easily have made it 2-3 hours if I had the time for it!
There's also a wealth of charactwrs inspired by Conan and his stories, Tusk from Killer Instinct, Guts from Berserk, and even Fallout's got their own Conan-like in the form of Grognak The Barbarian.
I’ve always wanted to dip my toes into the Conan books and you have convinced me sir. A suggestion that I would like for you to do as well would be Warhammer( either 40K or the age of sigmar). There is a lot with Warhammer
Glad I could convince you and et me know what you think! I think it's unlikely I'll ever get into Warhammer because it's just so saturated on RUclips at the moment. Maybe looking at the series and the history of it as whole, but that would also be insane, they probably have at least 100 video games alone
This is gonna sound so Bizzare...but i think Finn from adventure Time shares quite a bit wirh Conan. And Kamandi the Last Human. I think the overall vibe is the fantasy of living in a hostile world but being able to make it through gumption and courage without all the trapings of society...just my observation though...
One parting miss... You featured Frank Frazetta Iconic Barbarian paintings over and over failing to hive him credit. Those paintings became silk screen, posters, Figurines and Statues that captured the imagination and inspired alot of the other media forms that you did feature❤
In your listing of Conan resources, I didn't see any mention of Amra, the journal of the Hyborian Legion. This was a fan magazine published sporadically from 1959 to 1982. It contained short fiction, poetry, criticism, discussions of medieval and ancient history, weapons, and technology, as well as some pretty good artwork. It was also a place where the professionals could go an let their hair down, people like L. Sprague de Camp, Poul Anderson, Frank Herbert, Jerry Pournelle, Leigh Brackett, Harry Harrison, Fritz Leiber, Roger Zelazny and Lin Carter. It was published and edited by George Scithers, who took a break for a few years to edit Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. I first discovered it in 1969 and sent off a subscription to it and ponied up for 15 back issues. It was a wonderful introduction to Swords & Sorcery and High Fantasy when it really didn't exist in popular culture.
Conans a great pick, i think Riddick would be a good one. I honestly couldnt decide that 1v1 lol this is an awesome video. More of the Cimmerian the better
I may be a bit late for my suggestion but I myself been searching for some old point and click adventure games till I found upon a thing named Discworld. So I dug deeper since it peaked my curiosity with that I found the games are based on a book collection so I checked those out and I myself plan to get them at some point (once I finish some other reading subjects) I myself have had no much experience with it but it peaked my interests enough to make me want to read one of them.
I wish you'd spent more time on the Modiphius ttrpg. It's spectacular. It's literally an encyclopedia of the Hyborean age and totally faithful to the original Howard stories. You'd love it.
I wish I could! There's honestly just SO much in the conan universe and this video was already one of the longest on my channel and took a lot out of me. Maybe one day I can try to do a 2 to 3 hour video to really dive into the details if the channel every grows enough
Great break down. I've been a Conan fan for a long time. One of the stories that sprang to mind during your video is a Marvel What if issue where Conan time travels to the modern day (1980's). He eventually meets Captain America and Conan leaves him bleeding in the dirt. The story is pretty gritty. He's on the streets of New York mixing it up with street gangs and it shows Conan adapting and conquering the streets. Dope. Speaking of the movies, I always hoped for Arnold to come back as Conan in Howard's Conan the King as an older Conan. For a reboot I wanted to like Jason Mamoa, but the movie just sucked. I would have like to see the Rock as Conan. The Rock has the intelligence and build to portray Conan. The Rock's ego would probably fuck it up though.
With how Arnie grew into his later roles, I bet he looks back at Conan The Barbarian and has some regrets for what could have been. As far as I'm aware he still treasures that role since it put him on the map, but consider what Conan would have been with Arnold in his peak physically with the one-liners and other dialogue he's known for later in his career. I was never really introduced to all the Conan lore. I was aware vaguely of Marvel's Conan, and I knew of the two Arnold movies. It never started to trickle in that there was a whole universe with deep lore until I recently started playing Conan Exiles, which is hilarious since that game is very hands-off when it comes to story. But you at least have this huge map, and you start hearing about the different people like the Stygians and the Picts.
Ah sadly I'll admit I wasn't actually able to play exiles for this video, but it seems really cool. That's crazy though that's there's no lore in there? I mean I guess I understand as a survival game it doesn't need to but still..is there like anything else aside from just hearing about the picts?
@@exitsexamined There's lore and story, but it's hidden away and not delivered up front through questlines and cutscenes. Think Dark Souls lore, a lot of it is hidden away in random notes or books in the world. Sometimes you'll run into an NPC that will give some insight to their particular situation or history through their background, but there aren't like huge narrative dumps the game leads you through. An example is there's a city called the "Nameless City" in this large wasteland, it's completely ruined with undead like thralls wandering around. But you can find a Giant there that will tell you about the history of his kingdom and their interaction with the Exiles, and why the region is the way it is now. I don't know how much of that is actual cannon lore to the universe, or what was made for the game setting however. With my unfamiliarity with the setting, I'm not able to sift through it.
9:3813:50 Tolkien did not know the Howard's (Robert or Lovecraft), certainly never coresponded with them like they did with each other. There's some evidence that he read some amount of Conan, and quite liked it, but it's anecdotal from Sprage de Camp, and this was probably after Lord of the Rings publication (once they were published in books, deCamp says he gave him one IIRC). It would be cool if there was crossover, but it's cool enough that there was a Texan and an Oxford don were at the same time & worlds apart, both developing a far more fleshed out pre-history fantasy secondary world. Tolkien's was much much more developed over his life since 1916, Howard gave it some thought but also wrote the setting by the seat of his pants for less then a decade (though subsequent authors have since contributed to that lore).
I found a couple quotes about Tolkien knew about Conan / read it: dmrbooks.com/test-blog/2019/3/13/was-tolkien-a-robert-e-howard-fan As far as personally knowing each other I should clarified my words a bit more there, thank you for pointing that out!
The Conan the Adventurer cartoon is now on Tubi and is surprisingly watchable! My husband watched it as a kid but even without "nostalgia goggles" it's pretty good! Just grit your teeth and push past the Needle parts (they give Conan a young Phoenix as a companion and... well Snarf has nothing on Needle I'll say that. But he gets slightly better as the series progresses)
Yes, Aquilonia is essentially Medieval France. The old Marvel comics, however, frequently drew inspiration from Ancient Rome, which has led to some public confusion
Still ticks me off that Dark Horse was so close to getting through adapting all the core stories (and in chronological order), but they bungled it by spending way too much time on underwhelming arcs that went nowhere and felt like they were padding. Case in point--Belit appears in 1 Howard story; in the Dark Horse comics she appears in 4 graphic novels' worth. That's almost a 5th of the whole Dark Horse run of the main saga. We could've gotten things like their adaptation of Red Nails if they'd kept a decent pace. Because, honestly, we're all here for the REH stories; everything else is extra. Instead they had to rebrand the last 2 graphic novels as "Conan the Slayer" to try to shake things up, and it didn't work.
36:02 If it also meant I stopped aging, I'd want to live forever. There are so many good things that I could eventually do given all the time. Also, if it means eventually meeting a girl like Valyria or Red Sonya I'm definitely all in. 😄👍
In the part about tabletop RPGs I was disappointed to see no mention of GURPS Conan by Steve Jackson Games (1989). They also release a handful of solo adventures in which one could take the role of Conan.
I started reading Conan novels in the seventys. I started buying savage sword then. In the ninety's I had bought every savage sword of Conan. Except number one. It was an expensive $100. I had lots of king Conan's and Conan comics.
@exitsexamined I liked it a lot. Unfortunately had to wait on the mail but was still surprisingly engaging. I think it might still be around. Am going to look into it.
As muh as i love Conan as a character (i inherited a dozen Howard's Conan books from my dad and i collected 2 Marvel Comics Conan series), i must say i'd rely on Guts... 😏
Hey man! Liked the video and just wanted to put some info out there for anyone excited by or looking for more on Conan! There is a channel, Grim Dark Half-off, I think? He’s got 50+ videos on/about the Conan games,books, and over all lore. Dude has been quality for years and is battling cancer currently so go support!
@@exitsexamined I love Conan so much because it does everything that other fantasies do, not just because it was the first high fantasy but also because it does so much that you won't see in other fantasies ot be honest.
@@exitsexamined Exiles was like ARK, the story exists but you need to put it together yourself or youtube the lore. I loved how the fighting worked and the building looked so good. Otherwise it felt alot like ARK but with better fighting.
Krom would never give us gold stars, he breaths life into humans, and gives them the ability to die heroically, and that's it, any help he gives you would detract from your honorable struggle.
James Earl Jones stole the show for me. One of the great cinematic villains, and arguably Jones's second greatest villain next to Vader, though of course not as iconic.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Conan is highly intelligent and vastly multilingual in both speech and literature. The fact that he is willing to learn about diverse cultures depicts well of his adaptability.
Almost every D&D character I’ve ever played has just been me riffing on Conan, and it’s never been boring.
I made Kind of a drunken master Conan once. I mean like always drunk and swaying. Had to roll a ridiculous number because his aim was off because of it but was also next to impossible to hit. Often missed his swings and would hit party members delivering tons of damage.
Hahah same!
All readers of E. Howard's stories know that Conan was NOT just a strong dumb brute. Beside his great strength and martial skills, he was also one of the smartest protagonists in the fantasy genre.
Multilingual, map maker, master woodsman, master sailor
Yeah, he was very intelligent, but didn't like to talk a lot. He was "uncivilized", because Howard thought civilization was corrupting and "the savage state of man" was uncorrupted and pure.
@AliceBowie the way he describe conan was akin to a elemental force. He was man in his most Primal state relying mostly on instinct and inherent nature unlike civilized man who thinks themselves better than those they deem less civilized and rely on rationalism and dogmas to navigate the world
Excellent video! To clear things up, we at Heroic Signatures are the rights holders to Conan the Barbarian, with Titan as our publisher. We're working hard to bring fans the very best Conan content-books, comics, video games, and hopefully, movies and TV in the future! To stay updated on all things Conan, make sure to subscribe to our channel. As for what's officially considered canon, only the works of Robert E. Howard qualify; everything else is 'just for fun' legends. Thanks to you, the fans, Conan remains alive and thriving! Fantastic work!
Thanks for your awesome work, I used your awesome site and RUclips channel while researching this and I make sure to add you guys in the source section, thanks for clarifying that btw!
Lets go 💪
Question: in 2028 Howard's Conan begin to enter the Public Domain, so. What is the plan to maintain the audience after the fear of litigation has passed for competitive restraint.
Jason's Conan actually behaved like well...
Lee Horsely? Grew up reading the books. Destroyer was better than the first.
@@michaelsmyth3935 Conan, the character, will still be trademarked and owned by HS. Only those public domain REH stories will be fair game, as many already are. Just like Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, as long as the new work is an absolute copy of the public domain work (eschewing any traits introduced in copyrighted iterations of the character that were not present in the fair use work) and doesn't use the name "Conan" anywhere, there's not a great deal that HS can do, legally.
Practically, 2028 is not going to be any different than 2024 in terms of what can be done with the character by non-rightholders. The only thing preventing creators today from coming out with comic/film adaptations of early REH Conan public domain stories is the limitations imposed (strict adherence to the source material, having to call the character "Barbarian" or "Cimmerian" or something generic, etc) and the always-present threat of spurious litigation by the current rightholders (cough, Ablaze, cough).
Picking up my new issue of Conan today! I've been loving this story line so far. Awesome job to everyone involved🎉
First you appericate dark sun, then re-introducing me to redwall, now youre sharing my love for conan?
Stop this my heart can only grow some much!
haha hey just cool to find other people into the same random mix of fantasy as me! If only we could combine Redwall / Dark Sun / Conan into one Frankenstein version
@@exitsexamined you could it's called world building my dude 🤙🤙
The lore is deep and Howard's world building is amazing. I am one of those hardcore fans. I wish you luck sir. CROM!
It's just so cool that there are so many awesome fans of howards work even after all these decades, thank you sir haha
You know, the fact that the stories of Conan is about barbarism defeating modern civilization, and now knowing on how many companies have used the Conan franchise for cash-grabs, or put in actual heart into it, only to have it either lose the rights, letting it go, or abandoning it all together leaving it out into the wild for anyone to use is perhaps the most accurate thing to ever happen to Conan, and I unironically love on how the best adaptation for Conan that he ever had was real life.
Another thing that has a wealth of Conan in it is the genre of heavy metal. Countless bands like Electric Wizard, Manilla Road, and Domine have many tracks dedicated to the Cimmerian.
Oh that's a great thing to mention, thanks for commenting that! That's what I mean there are just endless amounts of stuff to talk about here, maybe in the future I'll do like a 3 hour video on it to cover everything in as much depth as it needs
There's even a Doom Metal band called Conan, I think that I don't need to explain anything else.
@@Neves_G I love Conan, it captures the vibe, though I haven't heard anything by them that is an adaptation. Few bands can capture the verve of Howardian heroes without naming specifics, but Conan does it release after release.
The simplicity of the character in tandem with the complexity of the world really elevates the story considerably. It gives it the benefit of getting to the point but never unveiling everything the world has to offer, which is the perfect recipe for an anthology, serial, or whatever else as it leaves the reader wanting more.
I claim this comment section for Thulsa Doom!
"Jumps off cliff into comment section"
Dead men can claim no lands
By this Axe, I reclaim the comments!
@@Hyperguyver2Do you know the riddle of the comment section?
Enough of your mummery priest!
As you paint Conan as the big Inspiration for modern day - that he of course is, without doubt - what I missed a bit, is the mentioning of the things that inspired Howard. For example the whole concept of Red Sonja is taken from 'The Niebelungenlied'. Brunhild too is a female Warrior, with a big mistrust for men and who will only marry the man who bests her in combat. This is the same for many themes that stretch back to the Edda or other historic tales that per se are the Origin of many Fantasy Tropes, too.
Only a bit nitpicking, the video is great and I greatly admire the depth and work you out in here. Keep it coming!
Thank you for mentioning that! There was SO much to cover in this video that I did have to gloss over a good amount of info but appreciate you mentioning that in the comments as Howard was undoubtedly inspired by those historical stories!
Glad you enjoyed the video!!
😂
Conan, drawn by Ernie Chan and/or John Buscema, is peak comic book art. That old black and white style just conveys EVERYTHING so much more solidly than the more modern, often digitally drawn(nothing wrong with that in most cases), color comics...
Chan/Buscema defined Conan, for better or worse. I think mostly for better, however they did create a stereotype that has often been hard to break.
Ay, we cookin tonite😙👌
Been thinkin about getting Frank Frazetta prints
Honestly that's a great idea probably gonna get in on that too haha
Conan 2 was such a D&D module, which is exactly why my nerdy friends and I loved it. Still, for me, nothing beats the first one.
Was literally just talking to them about doing a dark souls Conan video game! Since he is the grandfather of berserk and all Barbarian characters in dnd and fantasy. He deserves a modern new game with insane combat and gritty gameplay.
A dark souls conan game would actually be awesome. Have you checked out any of the newer conan games like exiles?
@@exitsexamined I played exiles years ago but didnt do well then, and didnt have the patience to dive deeper lol but i love conan.
@@exitsexaminedexiles has turned to crap
The closest thing to this coming out is The First Berserker: Khazan releasing next year.
Aye! We are currently plotting to conquer the world of video games!
This was awesome. Thank you for letting me have a small part of this.
Thank you so much again for the help, it's awesome people like you are keeping the fandom alive
Fantastic, your enthusiasm for Conan is infectious!
Haha if this video makes even one person go back to read the books I'll deem it a success!
I've been noticing more well put together, thought out deep dives into Howard lore of late and however great it is to see, part of me worries the mobs will get their claws into it. Our remaining heroes are few. Honestly, thank Crom that netflix show didn't happen and I dread the day we do get some other live action adaptation. These corporations have burned us enought times and I refuse to see the Cimmerian neutered. My hope is he continues to soar high enough to please the faithful but just low enough to stay under the radar of mainstream pop culture.
Fantastic! As a long-time fan - I devoured the novels and films as a teenager in the 80s - it is great to see the breadth of the character analyzed like this. And thanks to the new comics and games, it's awesome to see the character raising his sword again!
It's long time fans like you that keep the fandom alive an what it is today, so thank you!
Great job with the video, man. Glad to see one of my favorite characters and writers get some love!
Couldn't have done it without you! Thank you so much again!
@@exitsexamined Anytime, my dude. Happy to help
I own almost every conan comic. My uncle left them to me when he passed. One of my favorite series ever made
Do you mean like "every" single conan comic from all the different Marvel / Dark Horse / Titan, etc. etc. or from the original Marvel? I have serious respect for either but impressive if you have all of them, there are so many it's wild!
@exitsexamined id say most of both. Probably not all but around 40 years of collecting
Yes, been waiting for you to cover this, amazing job considering just how much stuff there is to cover!!
I actually have my own character in the series by the name of Branach who's a half Cimmerian and Pict barbarian, and he has also served several roles such as slave, gladiator, bodyguard, sellsword, hunter/tracker, treasure hunter, and assassin. He isn't nearly as charismatic or skilled/experienced, but he is much bigger and is cursed and tormented by a demon god. I've developed him over the last few years and I'd say I finally perfected his character at long last.
Great video. Well done. Love the enthusiasm to the character and genre.
Love the Conan breakdown! I have enjoyed that universe since I was a little kid and read so many of his books! He wasn't exactly the same as he was in the books. I absolutely love the movies that Arnold Schwarzenegger did.
I know there are many problematic things by today's standards in many of the books, but that character and series is a great read and so much fun! I have no problem teaching my son how to conduct himself and how to be respectful, but that is certainly one character he will be introduced to.
great video man, probably the best time to be a fan of Conan rn
Thanks so much! Yeah I was pleasantly surprised how much new stuff is in the works!
I love hearing "Half the stuff we're going to get into today." then looking at the runtime and seeing the video is at least an hour long.
I know it's probably a ton of writing but it's worth it in many cases.
😄👍
Good video. Always curious about Conan, knew it had a long old history but never looked into it.
I think a ton of people are the same way, it's wild how huge the history of the series actually is
Fantasy before everyone started ripping off Tolkein in general is great. I recommend the video "A Brief Guide to Pre-Tolkein Fantasy" for more recommendations
Wow! What an amazing retrospective you did here. Very well done sir. You did your homework. I really enjoyed this video. Chef's kiss!
Hey thanks so much for the kind words! It was a good amount of research and that's really kind of you to appreciate. More importantly, glad you enjoyed the vid!
I’m old enough to remember buying a Conan the Barbarian comic book for 25 cents. They were pretty dark for a ten year old to be reading. More so than the movies.
I like to imagine Conan kicking down the doors at Diddy freak offs and just putting them to the sword in the most brutal fashion that only he can provide.
I had a friend in the 80s who was hit by a car and thrown into a fence and impaled there.He had a intense recovery and I saw him three months later and he was smiling ear to ear and look great. I asked him how he did it and he said he told himself he was Conan (on the tree with the vultures) and not to feel sorry for himself and to be awesome.
He lifted daily and stretched and even cooked for himself and not only got better, but top 1% of the population.
Wow
It's not a Conan story per say, but in the 80s Ralph Bashki and Frank Frazetta did a rotoscope animated movie called Fire and Ice which is probably the most Sword and Sorcery movie ever made, and the themes are very much aligned with the lore-accurate version of Conan, definitely worth a watch and/or review
I mentioned fire and ice before on this channel! Interestingly enough the guy who would later make Dinotopia was one of the animators on that film
The bad guy in Fire & Ice reminds me of Elric a bit, although he's probably more like Yyrkoon.
If you like rap or hip hop, Cam'ron has a song "crown me" with the Conan score to a beat, and it is so good
Good work ...!!
My absolute Favorite was a pulp fiction novel where I was first introduced to ROBERT JORDAN❤ followed closely by black and white Savage Sword of Conan with. art level covers by JUSKO❤
You can’t leave out Frank Frazetta when talking about Conan! That’s how I picture when reading Robert E. Howard’s story’s and it’s definitely heavily referenced by anyone drawing Conan today. Awesome work!
This was the era I grew up in. Conan, Beast Master, Sonya. These and war movies were my thing.
Oh which war movies? Maybe I could try to cover them on the channel that might be interesting!
Oh which war movies? Maybe I could try to cover them on the channel that might be interesting!
Originally read the entire Conan series over 40 years ago & at one point I had the entire series in softcover with Frazetta artwork covers. I still remember the opening to the first one I read (not quoting obviously)... Know my Prince that between the day when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas there lived an age undreamed of, when mighty kingdoms spread over the earth & greatest of these was Aquilonia. Tither came Conan the Cimmerian, a thief, a reaver, a slayer; a man of gigantic melancholy and gigantic mirth who was destined to tread the jewelled thrones of the world beneath his sandalled feet.
The greatest anti-hero of the 20th century.
Congratulations! You didn't miss much. There is also a GURPS version of Conan (1988) and currently Monolith takes it spin (the same who brought us Conan the Boardgame).
The team-up with the Avengers or something similar Marvel did already in the 80s, with the same outcome. What Titan Comics are doing at the moment suits me, and next to the Comic series and the Savage Sword Magazine they also publish new, and I mean really new, Conan pastiches, under Titan Books. Currently I read "Blood of the Serpent". It is a modern version but some of Robert E. Howards original art of writing show trough.
By Crom these days are good days for Conan fans! 🍻
The MMO is amazing…very immersive. 🎉
Excellent job! I've been actually reading Conan since I was a teen - 45 years- and I was kinda a fan even before that, but my mom wouldn't let me buy Conan Comics, which was understandable because Conan comics, wasn't kid-friendly.
So I one of those guys they knew all this stuff already but you still managed to open my eyes up. Like I don't think I realized the scope of it all before you put it all in one place.
I do think you should have at least mentioned Frazetta. It was Frazetta cover art that posted the L. Sprague DeCamp/Lin Carter series sales. I think it was Frazetta's Conan that caused the first resurgence of Conan.
Hey thanks so much for watching and appreciating! It was a LOT to cover haha but it's been a really interesting series to chart over the years. 100% should have called out Frazetta by name but just tried to cover so much in here kind of got lost in the shuffle and didn't want to use so many names! Maybe for a future vid!
@exitsexamined absolutely! I don't think you missed anything else. Like I stated; I never realized the scope of it all. Forever, I always kinda felt like Conan and REH fandom was a lot smaller than I ever imagined. I think I've meant maybe one other adult that reads Howard and a handful of Conan fans, mostly from the Arnold movie and maybe a couple from the comics. So I always felt like I was all but alone in my love of Sword-and-Sorcery, Conan, and Howard. It's been relatively recent that I've found out there is such a huge fanbase.
Conan is still alive kicking. Dynamite studios is getting ready to publish a new series. There is a new official novel coming out.
Brother, that doesn't fill me with hope. Have you seen the state of Dynamite Comics? That's actually worse news than if D&D said they were publishing a new tie in.
Titan is currently doing the Conan comics..and it's F***ing great..
Thank you for commenting this, this is what I mean it's just endless. So Dynamite and Titan will both be publishing books at the same time? Are they only doing books or also comics
@exitsexamined I was mistaken. Dynamite published before. Titan now has the license.
@@HellBoy-id6ss thank you for this. I was thinking it was Dynamite.
It may have been recommended before but it'd be interesting to hear your thoughts on two series, one a response to Conan by making the main characters real, and another that does a good satire of it. The first is Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series taking place in the world of Newhon and the other of course is Terry Prachett's Discworld, the most obvious Conan connection being Cohen the Barbarian. (Interesting Times and The Last Hero in particular.) I really enjoy this channel and revisiting these series from my youth. Cheers!
Yeah, I'll second Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser and the Pratchett books. I nearly split my gut laughing when Cohen the, lifetime in his own legend, barbarian cam on the scene in The Colour of Magic.
Love this video
Thanks for watching it, and glad you enjoyed it! Was kind of intense to make haha there is just so much to talk about here, could easily have made it 2-3 hours if I had the time for it!
There's also a wealth of charactwrs inspired by Conan and his stories, Tusk from Killer Instinct, Guts from Berserk, and even Fallout's got their own Conan-like in the form of Grognak The Barbarian.
haha oh my god! I can not believe I forgot to mention Grognak, thank you for mentioning haha
@@exitsexamined No problem, great vid!
Amazing video. Conan was my introduction to fantasy amd you have earned yourself a subscription. Salute!
Hey thanks so much for the kind words, sounds like you had an excellent introduction to fantasy!
I love this channel
This was a great video!
Do you think you can do a video on the history of red Sonja now?
Hell yeah!
Maevrllous story and characters from Howard
And Sword and Sorcery sorrise! Thank you to talk about it
FOR CROM!
Get an ebook of all of REH's books and then get some paper books. This is your best bet.
I’ve always wanted to dip my toes into the Conan books and you have convinced me sir. A suggestion that I would like for you to do as well would be Warhammer( either 40K or the age of sigmar). There is a lot with Warhammer
Glad I could convince you and et me know what you think! I think it's unlikely I'll ever get into Warhammer because it's just so saturated on RUclips at the moment. Maybe looking at the series and the history of it as whole, but that would also be insane, they probably have at least 100 video games alone
You could do the gotrek and Felix books, they are very good@exitsexamined
Crom doesn't give cookies. He rains down dooms.
This is gonna sound so Bizzare...but i think Finn from adventure Time shares quite a bit wirh Conan. And Kamandi the Last Human.
I think the overall vibe is the fantasy of living in a hostile world but being able to make it through gumption and courage without all the trapings of society...just my observation though...
All I can think about is Conan the Barbarian and Lumpy Space Princess crossover now
@@exitsexaminedthats a thing?
One parting miss... You featured Frank Frazetta Iconic Barbarian paintings over and over failing to hive him credit. Those paintings became silk screen, posters, Figurines and Statues that captured the imagination and inspired alot of the other media forms that you did feature❤
In your listing of Conan resources, I didn't see any mention of Amra, the journal of the Hyborian Legion. This was a fan magazine published sporadically from 1959 to 1982. It contained short fiction, poetry, criticism, discussions of medieval and ancient history, weapons, and technology, as well as some pretty good artwork. It was also a place where the professionals could go an let their hair down, people like L. Sprague de Camp, Poul Anderson, Frank Herbert, Jerry Pournelle, Leigh Brackett, Harry Harrison, Fritz Leiber, Roger Zelazny and Lin Carter. It was published and edited by George Scithers, who took a break for a few years to edit Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
I first discovered it in 1969 and sent off a subscription to it and ponied up for 15 back issues. It was a wonderful introduction to Swords & Sorcery and High Fantasy when it really didn't exist in popular culture.
Conans a great pick, i think Riddick would be a good one. I honestly couldnt decide that 1v1 lol this is an awesome video. More of the Cimmerian the better
Definitely should include Conan’s cameo in the show Wayne, probably the most accurate portrayal of the big fella yet
BY CROM! MY FAVORITE GUILTY PLEASURE PULP SERIES!
Haha why guilty? Embrace the Sword & Sorcery!
Crom! I still want sword and sorcery movies! Especially a great Conan movie. One good movie is not enough for me in my lifetime. 😅
Just ordered the rules and startup information for the Play by Mail game. Will be interesting to see how it's evolved. Going to try playing Argos.
Please let me know what you think! I really wanted to try it, sounds really cool!
his understanding of anatomy is impeccable 😢
And now there is a youtube video. Add it to the list. :)
I may be a bit late for my suggestion but I myself been searching for some old point and click adventure games till I found upon a thing named Discworld. So I dug deeper since it peaked my curiosity with that I found the games are based on a book collection so I checked those out and I myself plan to get them at some point (once I finish some other reading subjects)
I myself have had no much experience with it but it peaked my interests enough to make me want to read one of them.
I wish you'd spent more time on the Modiphius ttrpg. It's spectacular. It's literally an encyclopedia of the Hyborean age and totally faithful to the original Howard stories. You'd love it.
I wish I could! There's honestly just SO much in the conan universe and this video was already one of the longest on my channel and took a lot out of me. Maybe one day I can try to do a 2 to 3 hour video to really dive into the details if the channel every grows enough
I'm actually surprised you didn't mention the new RPG that's coming out, the kickstarter has been killing it over the past few days.
I should've watched til the end
I still have a bunch of the comics and a set of the original writings from Robert Howard.. and all the movies, including the one with Jason Mamoa
Oh nice! What did you think of the Mamoa one?
@@exitsexamined i liked it. he made a good Conan
Great break down. I've been a Conan fan for a long time. One of the stories that sprang to mind during your video is a Marvel What if issue where Conan time travels to the modern day (1980's). He eventually meets Captain America and Conan leaves him bleeding in the dirt. The story is pretty gritty. He's on the streets of New York mixing it up with street gangs and it shows Conan adapting and conquering the streets. Dope. Speaking of the movies, I always hoped for Arnold to come back as Conan in Howard's Conan the King as an older Conan. For a reboot I wanted to like Jason Mamoa, but the movie just sucked. I would have like to see the Rock as Conan. The Rock has the intelligence and build to portray Conan. The Rock's ego would probably fuck it up though.
Wasn't there a full length animated film of The Red Nails on the cards at some point?
Oh if you find info on it I'll add it to the description! It might have been during one of the projects that never materialized!
Every writer should try their hand at describing their OC the way Howard describes Conan.
With how Arnie grew into his later roles, I bet he looks back at Conan The Barbarian and has some regrets for what could have been. As far as I'm aware he still treasures that role since it put him on the map, but consider what Conan would have been with Arnold in his peak physically with the one-liners and other dialogue he's known for later in his career.
I was never really introduced to all the Conan lore. I was aware vaguely of Marvel's Conan, and I knew of the two Arnold movies. It never started to trickle in that there was a whole universe with deep lore until I recently started playing Conan Exiles, which is hilarious since that game is very hands-off when it comes to story. But you at least have this huge map, and you start hearing about the different people like the Stygians and the Picts.
Ah sadly I'll admit I wasn't actually able to play exiles for this video, but it seems really cool. That's crazy though that's there's no lore in there? I mean I guess I understand as a survival game it doesn't need to but still..is there like anything else aside from just hearing about the picts?
@@exitsexamined There's lore and story, but it's hidden away and not delivered up front through questlines and cutscenes. Think Dark Souls lore, a lot of it is hidden away in random notes or books in the world. Sometimes you'll run into an NPC that will give some insight to their particular situation or history through their background, but there aren't like huge narrative dumps the game leads you through.
An example is there's a city called the "Nameless City" in this large wasteland, it's completely ruined with undead like thralls wandering around. But you can find a Giant there that will tell you about the history of his kingdom and their interaction with the Exiles, and why the region is the way it is now.
I don't know how much of that is actual cannon lore to the universe, or what was made for the game setting however. With my unfamiliarity with the setting, I'm not able to sift through it.
9:38 13:50 Tolkien did not know the Howard's (Robert or Lovecraft), certainly never coresponded with them like they did with each other. There's some evidence that he read some amount of Conan, and quite liked it, but it's anecdotal from Sprage de Camp, and this was probably after Lord of the Rings publication (once they were published in books, deCamp says he gave him one IIRC).
It would be cool if there was crossover, but it's cool enough that there was a Texan and an Oxford don were at the same time & worlds apart, both developing a far more fleshed out pre-history fantasy secondary world. Tolkien's was much much more developed over his life since 1916, Howard gave it some thought but also wrote the setting by the seat of his pants for less then a decade (though subsequent authors have since contributed to that lore).
I found a couple quotes about Tolkien knew about Conan / read it: dmrbooks.com/test-blog/2019/3/13/was-tolkien-a-robert-e-howard-fan
As far as personally knowing each other I should clarified my words a bit more there, thank you for pointing that out!
The Conan the Adventurer cartoon is now on Tubi and is surprisingly watchable! My husband watched it as a kid but even without "nostalgia goggles" it's pretty good! Just grit your teeth and push past the Needle parts (they give Conan a young Phoenix as a companion and... well Snarf has nothing on Needle I'll say that. But he gets slightly better as the series progresses)
Im reading all of REH Conan works. They are timeless. Lot if Howards contemporaries works have a dated style but not him.
I wish they would do a movie based on Queen of the black Coast. And just keep it step by step just like the book
Honestly I would 100% watch that, such a great story
Aquilonia should be the Roman Empire mist with Frace… I think;)
Yes, Aquilonia is essentially Medieval France. The old Marvel comics, however, frequently drew inspiration from Ancient Rome, which has led to some public confusion
Still ticks me off that Dark Horse was so close to getting through adapting all the core stories (and in chronological order), but they bungled it by spending way too much time on underwhelming arcs that went nowhere and felt like they were padding. Case in point--Belit appears in 1 Howard story; in the Dark Horse comics she appears in 4 graphic novels' worth. That's almost a 5th of the whole Dark Horse run of the main saga.
We could've gotten things like their adaptation of Red Nails if they'd kept a decent pace. Because, honestly, we're all here for the REH stories; everything else is extra. Instead they had to rebrand the last 2 graphic novels as "Conan the Slayer" to try to shake things up, and it didn't work.
I would love to see a conan Warhammer crossover fanfic where Conan is the Emperor in his early years.
36:02
If it also meant I stopped aging, I'd want to live forever. There are so many good things that I could eventually do given all the time.
Also, if it means eventually meeting a girl like Valyria or Red Sonya I'm definitely all in.
😄👍
what did you censor in the robert e howard quote with the reporter
Oh my friend is about to play a Conan baised charecter in our Dnd session.
I lnow Conan of course but itll be nice to know more about him.
Like he's just playing directly as conan? Sounds awesome haha
Also at this point I'm surprised that they haven't put Conan in the Soul Caliber series of games
In the part about tabletop RPGs I was disappointed to see no mention of GURPS Conan by Steve Jackson Games (1989). They also release a handful of solo adventures in which one could take the role of Conan.
I did! Very briefly! It might have been wording on screen - Was hard to pack it all in haha would need two hours to go through everything haha
Didn't he also have a late night talk show?
:P
I started reading Conan novels in the seventys. I started buying savage sword then. In the ninety's I had bought every savage sword of Conan. Except number one. It was an expensive $100. I had lots of king Conan's and Conan comics.
Wow that is probably worth a good chunk of money now, you're probably one of the few people in the world who has them all, that's awesome!
I remember that play by mail game. I played Argos👍
So cool! How was it? Can you still play?
@exitsexamined I liked it a lot. Unfortunately had to wait on the mail but was still surprisingly engaging. I think it might still be around. Am going to look into it.
OK, here goes. Have you considered covering L. Frank Baum’s Oz series?
Love the video but a minor correction, Conan was king for about 20 years, that's not a small bit of time.
Howard was a body-builder and into fitness so I can see why he had an eye for physical aesthetics.
Was he? He looked a little, I don't know, not a body builder? haha. Did you see that on wiki or where? Wish I put that in!
@@exitsexamined I think I got that from Grim Dark Half-Off youtuber.
As muh as i love Conan as a character (i inherited a dozen Howard's Conan books from my dad and i collected 2 Marvel Comics Conan series), i must say i'd rely on Guts... 😏
Would love a video about Red Sonja
Hey man! Liked the video and just wanted to put some info out there for anyone excited by or looking for more on Conan! There is a channel, Grim Dark Half-off, I think? He’s got 50+ videos on/about the Conan games,books, and over all lore. Dude has been quality for years and is battling cancer currently so go support!
I used some of his stuff for research on this video! He has great stuff, sorry to hear about that ugh
Aye! Grim Dark Half Off is a legend in Conan fandom, and we wish him well!
26:30 Detective Conan randomly joining in on the Conan fun haha
Honestly the amount of times Detective Conan popped in while researching for images and for facts was insane haha
YES ROBERT E HOWARDS CONAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh nice to see another howard fan! Which was your favorite book?
@@exitsexamined Phoenix of the sword
@@exitsexamined I love Conan so much because it does everything that other fantasies do, not just because it was the first high fantasy but also because it does so much that you won't see in other fantasies ot be honest.
The movie was my first intro, then the game Exiles. Gotta get me some books!
Nice! How did you like exiles? I never was able to play it much, does it go into the lore a good amount?
@@exitsexamined Exiles was like ARK, the story exists but you need to put it together yourself or youtube the lore. I loved how the fighting worked and the building looked so good. Otherwise it felt alot like ARK but with better fighting.
@@exitsexamined Also you are able to eat people so thats a win!
Krom would never give us gold stars, he breaths life into humans, and gives them the ability to die heroically, and that's it, any help he gives you would detract from your honorable struggle.
James Earl Jones stole the show for me. One of the great cinematic villains, and arguably Jones's second greatest villain next to Vader, though of course not as iconic.
Great video! Quick question: in what story did Conan first do the String Dance?
I think that was actually at the start of every story
The Shadow by Walter B. Gibson or Solomon Kane, another Howard character.