Some say that a well wrought theme will shake the foundations from the first scene onward in a film and a thesis should be apparent from paragraph one of an article. To put it bluntly, even at the risk of seeming metal-handedly harsh, here is a thesis regarding Conan the Barbarian: The brute cannot be truly understood or appreciated without knowing a fact or two first about his macho-man creators.
The Adventures of Robert E. Howard
At age 30, Robert E Howard, author of several classic adventure characters including Conan, Solomon Kane, and Kull the Conqueror, was found shot through the head in his driveway, the gun in his hand. In his short life, Howard would leave behind a devastating legacy of literature that most authors would take two lifetimes to achieve. His champion character, Conan, has over 1000 pages of lore to his name alone. When asked how he wrote as much material as he did for Conan in such a short amount of time, Howard gave a harrowing response.
Howard said he was finishing writing for the night when a tall shadow fell across his shoulders and the spirit of Conan came upon him. To him the barbarian said, "I am Conan of Cimmeria and you will tell my tale until it is finished...and if you stop before that I will split your skull with my axe." Howard wrote all night with the glint of steel at his neck. In the morning he collapsed, waking in a few hours, realizing that he must fortify himself for the night hours when the spirit would come to visit him again, and according to Howard it did visit him again until the story was finished. Although he suffered from physical ailments, Howard had the guts of a sabertooth tiger.
Flash forward almost fifty years from his death to another man as notorious in nature--John Milius.
The World of John Milius
Imagine a world where everyone votes almost entirely liberal. Then take the biggest, ballsiest, right-winginest, cigar-chomping, pro-military, self-proclaimed anarchist, give him a million guns, and toss him like a T-rex among pygmies in Hollywood and the legend of John Milius begins to take shape. In Tinseltown, this man is the definition of "Macho," writing bloody screenplays like Apocalypse Now and Red Dawn. He also served as the main inspiration for The Big Lebowski character Walter Sobchak (need more be said?).
For Milius, Conan was source material that was right up his alley. Like Howard, obsessed with Vikings and mythology as a boy, Milius poured ancient history into the story of Conan that often gets overlooked, history such as the belief in Crom.
Conan's Belief in Crom
"Fire and wind come from the sky, from the gods of the sky. But Crom is your god, Crom and he lives in the earth." --Conan the Barbarian
Throughout his sagas the Barbarian continually refers (but roughly never calls upon) to the god of his people, Crom. Belief in Crom is itself nihilistic in nature for the god seems to care not what men are or do in life, but simply how they fought and died. Valor and violence pleases him and weakness drives his rage, thus praying to a god like Crom is to invoke his wrath.
Crom appears to be linked to the gods of Norse mythology albeit in the starkly primeval sense. Differing from Howard's version of the character, Milius draws more significantly on the old Viking beliefs mentioning that Crom lives on a mountain in the chamber of Vahalla. This connection is further established when Sandahl Bergman's character, Valerie, comes back to aid Conan after death as a valkerie. Even the infamous crucifixion scene notable for its clash with Christian symbolism is more reference to the god Odin's self-inflicted crucifixion where he hung upon the tree Yggdrasil stabbed with a spear to gain more wisdom. Thus the line, "Contemplate this upon the tree of woe."
Conan differs greatly from the Vikings in his dreary (almost) monotheism. It is never mentioned what becomes of a soul that does not please Crom. Perhaps there is no other existence. Crom clashes significantly with the Norse gods, choosing to live on a mountain instead of the sky like the Aesir.
To clear up the discrepancies between the two and solidly anchor Crom in historical fact, his name must be used as a clue. Throughout the Conan narrative a resounding theme that Howard consistently uses is the death of an older culture as it meets a newer one. In Europe, especially Britan, and in the film is the presence of stone circles as seen at Stone Henge. These standing stones fall into different categories one being called crom-lechs. A cromlech was used for burials being called a portal tomb. Howard's obsession with ancient cultures and his love for his Irish heritage (almost all of his protagonists relate to his ethic origins) would lead to a fascination with stone circles and cromlechs, thus the name Crom for Conan's god.
Milius perfectly captures Howard's theme in principle and spirit with his sword finding scene in the film. Conan falls into a tomb underneath standing rocks (cromlech) and finds an ancient race of giants (older civilization meeting new) that impart a sword of great strength to him (Crom giving man strength through the riddle of steel).
The Barbarians of Cimmeria
Men of dark hair and blue eyes huddle close to their ancient fires, warding away the harsh landscape of northern ice. The lonely flames thaw brawny thews and clear the smoldering superstitions of their savage minds.
The Cimmerians are fictional in Howard's world, hailing from the far nothern country filled with hills and ice. They are considered barbarians, holding the mystical as fact without second thought and being shaped by the barren land they live on to survive anything. Like most of Howard's peoples they have foundations found in entrenched historical facts.
Coming from modern day Ukraine in a province called the Crimea, named for them of course, archelogical evidence points to a mysterious race that was short lived in history. What is known of them suggests that they, like other societies labeled as barbaric, including the Huns and Mongols, had a battle strategy based on shooting as many arrows from horseback as possible before the enemy could assemble a counter-attack. It is known that this race made many raids upon neighboring territories until somewhere around 650 BC when they vanish from history like cigar smoke.
These factual Cimmerians do not share much in common with Howard's Conan aside from their location of origin being found in Europe and their barbarian qualities. Nonetheless, they are not the only culture of ancient people mentioned in the movie that has a historical counterpart.
At the end of the film it is revealed that Conan eventually becomes king of Aquilonia stated by Howard as having noble castles and heavy calvary. Located in the middlle of what is to be Europe they are more than likely based from the Franks. The film begins with Conan being taken from his slaughtered home and made to fight in the pits by a race of red haired men called the Vanir. Howard akins them to a race of blond haired men called the Aesir and it is not too difficult to determine who forms their basis. There is also Conan's companion in the film, Subotai, played by Gerry Lopez and referred to as a Hrykanian archer, who is based directly from one of Ghengis Kahn's generals of the same name.
Lastly the word Stygia is heard from time to time in the film as a land that lies to the far south. Howard calls them a dark and mysterious people residing along the river Styx otherwise known to another culture as the Nile. This race, based clearly from the Egyptians, worship an evil serpent god named Set... and so does Thulsa Doom.
Thulsa Doom and Snake Cults
Brought to mesmerizing life by James Earl Jones, Thulsa Doom is the terrifying sorcerer who massacres Conan's village when he is a boy, cutting the head off of his mother. It is a memorable moment in the film, as is the character. Although he is sometimes thought to be based off another Howard character named Thoth Amon, he is actually first seen in a Kull story written before Conan called "Delcardes Cat" published posthumously in 1967.
Saying that Doom has an obsession with snakes is an understatement, in the movie he turns into one as well as shoots another like an arrow from a bow. Doom calls upon the sinister serpent god called Set to give him nefarious powers. In ancient Egypt, the sun god Ra was depicted with a smaller serpent goddess named Uraeus wrapped around his head. This diminutive god would be placed on statues and called Au Zit or Isis, but not before blending the two names to be Au Set. Nevertheless, the Egyptions never associated her with horrific evils as Howard's Stygians did.
The Riddle of Steel
Deceased for a thousand years a giant falls forward deprived of the beautiful crafted (and fabled) Atlantean sword now property of Conan. Schwarzenegger's sword in the film is classic, skillfully formed by Jody Samson, and steeped in lore.
Ironically, the beginnings of steel weapons begin with the iron age about 1000 BC However, Howard's stories are meant to take place around 15,000 BC. It can be surmised that steel, like many other secrets, was lost only to be discovered again. Ignoring the conflict in dates allows a closer look at the weapons attributes. The Atlantean Sword is meant for one-handed wielding with the capability to use two, hard enough to sheer through other steel, and is garnished with runes.
All three traits are relative to the swords made from Damascus steel. Even with the powers of modern science, the exact forging techniques of these blades still remains a mystery. Unable to stain or shatter, these weapons were superior in the first millennium AD and were often decorated with runes and patterns.
Conan the Barbarian vs Conan the Austrian
When the film was released it was dismissed as being simple "clap-trap" entertainment. With a character like Conan a movie can quickly become cliche and fall amongst the ranks of bad action/adventure films. This one does not, simply because of the depth of character presented.
Some critics say the film destroys Howard's interpretation of Conan, but this falls short of true on many levels. In fact, they both compliment one another. Milius shows us who Conan was before the foundation laid by Howard took place. To say that Howard's touch is removed from the film is absurd. From the villain to the giant snake, the tower from which they flee to Sandahl Bergman's character at his side, Milius/Schwarzenegger's Conan is richly dipped with inspiration found in the original publications.
As for casting Arnold, despite his accent one can argue this case: Conan the Cimmerian is the strongest man of Germanic origin in his world and in ours at the time so was Schwarzenegger. So once again, need more be said?
Sources:
- Lendering, Jona. "Cimmerians." Livius. N.p., 13/Jan/20 Web. 18 Jan 2012.
- Sherwood, Vicki. "The Megaliths of Carnac."Menhirs.Tripod. Tripod,/Aug/2003. Web. 18 Jan 2012.
- Sherby, Oleg D., and Jeff Wadsworth. "Ancient Blacksmiths, The Iron Age, Damascus Steels, And Modern Metallurgy ." Thermec 2000. (2000): 1 Web. 18 Jan. 2012.
- Milius, John, dir. "Conan Unchained: The Making "Conan" . Dir. Laurent Bouzereau. Universal Studios, 2000. Videocassette.
- Higgins, Brian. "Ophic Mysteries." Viewzone. N.p., NA. Web. 29 Jan 2012.
- H., Johanne. "Odin - The Chief God." Norse Mythology. N.p., 2012. Web. 29 Jan 2012.
- Herman, Paul, and Todd A. Woods. "Robert E Howard Bibliography." Howard Works. 2000. Web. 29 Jan 2012.
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