Why I Like Conan

So I started a sand and sorcery blog and then moaned about the quality of films and talked about the sexism and racism in REH’s writing.

Do I even like the Conan and or the genre at all?

Hell yes.

I first read Conan as a teenager, it is fair to say that the appeal of a manly man who defeated his enemies through guile and raw manly manliness who also got the girl, was strong.

I am sure back then the less acceptable connotations were lost on me as the above was the draw.

I guess I read the books first then saw the film?

To be honest I am not sure, but the film blew my mind.

It was the business.

I still think it is amazing today.

The story itself is a complete fabrication and Arnie does not really look like Conan at all, he has the wrong colour hair, the wrong colour eyes and Arnie has a naked chest, where as Conan had a hairy chest.

So whilst not really a Conan story in the pure sense, it is still a great piece of film work.

The sets are gorgeous and testament to what artisans can make.

The score is perfect and the story is in the right vein, that is to say it is a personal story and not one about saving the world from destruction.

There are so many very cool things in the film.

It is for me, the best film in its genre to date.

I felt it captured the world, and that is what I love about it to this day.

Interestingly the film being much more modern than the books does not have simple savage tribes of black people as the bad guys.

Yes, Thulsa Doom is black, clearly, but he is not a savage tribesman.

It also has a mix of protagonists rather than a single white guy.

But anyway, I read the books as a boy and loved them, saw the film and loved it.

In fact back then I would go down to the village and into the local video shop and hire all the fantasy films I could. I have seen many many terrible 80’s and 90’s sword and sorcery films.

But back then I loved them all.

The thing about Conan stories is that they are easy.

You don’t have complicated twisting plots, you don’t have intrigue and politics, you don’t a story arc that goes on for longer than it should.

You have simple, formulaic short stories that deliver the same thing each time.

They are pulp, and that is OK.

In today’s life style where time is precious I am glad to be able to pick something up and finish it before I have aged another year.

TV shows seem to drag on for years when the story should have concluded seasons ago.

You want to know what happens, but after years of watching the same stuff happen over and over you kind of don’t care anymore, it gets boring.

Conan stories are bish, bash, bosh, done!

Cheap thrills I guess.

So the accessibility and time required to enjoy a story is a big draw for me.

The character of Conan is more complex than those not familiar with him would know, he is not completely two dimensional, and he himself whilst unaccustomed to the ways of polite society has some redeeming attitudes toward life.

But the thing I like most, is not him, though he is a big factor in it, the thing I like most, is the world.

It is for me, fantastic and yet utterly believable.

There is one dominant intelligent race, man.

No elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, pixies, gnomes, trolls, ogres, ratmen, beastmen, frogmen, dragons, centaurs, gnolls, treemen, halflings, kobolds, hobgoblins, drow, minotaurs, mermaids, catfolf, giants, etc etc.

A world in which numerous races could exist for millennia without some sort of genocide having wiped out all but the most dominant race seems to me, unlikely, unless we refer back to ooh magic, or ooh the gods.

I like that religion is cultural and varied, and for the most part the gods do no nothing to interfere in the lives of Man.

(Are they even real?)

I like the way the different lands are described and the fact REH draws from the real world and blends them with myth and fantasy and makes a new world that is convincing.

For me the only issue with this stitching together of various cultures is that the various technology levels do not always sit well with me. 

But then I guess the actual world was like that.

I like that magic is rare and that some of the magic employed by sorcerers is in fact science, poisons on fingernails that seem to be a ‘touch of death’ spell. Herbs and plants that are used to make ‘magical potions’, the power of suggestion when combined with deep rooted cultural superstitions and hypnosis used as ‘mind control’.

Of course there is proper magic, the raising of the dead, the hurling of energy at enemies, the manipulation of the elements, and the summoning of creatures from other planes but it is never cheesy.

It is dark and terrible and you know the wizard has made some dark pact with some unnameable thing in order to have this power.

There are no energy discs to carry your rations on, no reversing gravity, no antimagic zones, no bags of holding, no vorpal swords, no armour of ghost repulsion, no flutes of giddy laughter, no pools of life, and certainly no wands of wonder.

The world is ancient and whilst civilisation is spreading and man is maturing, the world is still littered with far away forgotten glimpse of the past.

Signs that all is not as it seems, Man is not alone and other things exist out there.

It is I think very much low fantasy, almost an alternate version of history, and this is what I like, it is eay to relate to within the confines of its own setting, it is plausible.

This from a gaming point of view makes it easy to find inspiration for names, clothing, weapons, architecture and beliefs. 

It makes gaming very easy, but at the same time discourages ooh magic and hand wavium. 

Plus actions have very real consequences, oh no Belit is dead…

I cast Resurrection!

Yay, Belit is not dead any more. 

Anyway, to summarise.

I think the world of REH is accessible to all, easy to buy into whilst still being vast and rich.

Nothing is over the top for the sake of it, it is the story of an extraordinary man in an ordinary world (in its own context), driven by his desire to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

There are no gods to fight, no dragons to slay, no wizards to prevent from destroying the world.

There is but mirth, steel, and a strong arm to wield it.