Conan the Barbarian

Keeping in the spirit of Conan: The Barbarian’s recent theatrical release, I thought it only fitting that I devote a blog entry to it.  There is a great deal about the iconic warrior that most people don’t know.  For one, Conan first appeared in 1932, a full decade before J.R.R. Tolkien even began writing the Lord of the Rings.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Conan was the birth of the fantasy genre.

Given that people know very little of Conan prior to the 1980s films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, I’m assuming that means people know even less about his creator, Robert E. Howard. 

I was told once a very intriguing story regarding the troubled soul of Robert E. Howard.  Rumor has it that he was not inspired to write Conan stories; but rather commanded to do so by the apparition of the barbarian, which would periodically come to visit him.  With his hooded eyes edged in wrath, and his sword dripping in blood, Conan would threaten Howard with his life if he did not sit down and pen the barbarian’s tale.  And so, night after night, the apparition would oversee Howard’s work; while in a cold sweat Howard would write as vigorously as possible for fear that he would not live to see the light of day again should he slow down.

True or not, it is an excellent story.

But that, it is rumored, is how the legend of the great Conan of Cimmeria was written.