So I've been reading

For the purpose of this discussion, let's just stick to Conan stories actually written by Howard himself, including finished ones not actually published during his lifetime ("The Frost Giant's Daughter", "The God in the Bowl", "The Vale of Lost Women", and "The Black Stranger").

We'll also include his "The Hyborian Age" essay and "Cimmeria" poem.

Damn Arnie looks even more badass with a beard

The more descriptions I read of Conan getting beaten and wounded dozens of times over and still fighting like a pissed off tiger the more I think "okay, I guess this is what Gygax was trying to emulate with Hit Points."

Not to mention 'Phoenix on the Sword', the first Conan story, in which one of the conspirators wrote a song presenting Conan exactly this way; it got very popular, but Conan just shrugged and let him live. During the attack, he's the one who comes closest to actually killing Conan.

Everything you need to know about Conan is encapsulated in the first lines of "The Phoenix on the Sword" (the first Conan story) and the last stanza of "The Road of Kings" poem (also in Phoenix).

>"Know, O prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."

>"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie?
>"I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky.
>"The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing;
>"Rush in and die, dogs—I was a man before I was a king."

That cartoon has nothing to do with the comics OR the short stories.

But basically:

>Series of short stories (dark horse comics are good if you want them in comic form).
>Many published fanfics that nobody considers canon but can still be fun.
>Conan is a tribal bumpkin who travels around and learns that the world is a horrible place, whilst being manly enough to survive in it. Also, civilization is inherently corrupt, and magic is generally evil. Conan is one of few with any honor or integrity, and he fights to force the world around him to do what he wants, and eventually conquering aquilonia. Turns out he hates politics, and even though he's arguably decent at being king, he hates it. He's clever, outsmarts his enemies, and adapts to a wide variety of situations. People around him often underestimate him and assume he's a Savage simpleton, good in combat and bad at everything else. They are often wrong.

The original stories are free and easily located on the internet if you'd like to read them yourself. They're also relatively short, so it's not hard to sample one.

That said, he's a pulp hero in a series of short stories. He doesn't really have some deep well of attributes and accomplishments that set him totally apart from the vile doppleganger that is Arnold Conan.

Rinaldo, if I recall his name correctly. Part of why the poet came so close, though, was becuase Conan didn't *want* to kill him. he liked Rinaldo.

>"Rinaldo!" his voice was strident with desperate urgency. "Back! I would not slay you—"

>"Die, tyrant!" screamed the mad minstrel, hurling himself headlong on the king. Conan delayed the blow he was loth to deliver, until it was too late. Only when he felt the bite of the steel in his unprotected side did he strike, in a frenzy of blind desperation.

>Rinaldo dropped with his skull shattered, and Conan reeled back against the wall, blood spurting from between the fingers which gripped his wound.

I'd forgotten about that show
youtube.com/watch?v=K8syTIxbG6U
I sort of want to make this my next campaign now

Also, Conan's a tremendously good climber. It's an often overlooked aspect of his character, but he mentions several times that Cimmerians knw how to climb before they knew how to walk (probably hyperbole, but it gets the point across), due to Cimmeria being such a rugged, mountainous and forested country.

His climbing ability and speed save him on more than one occasion.

I really liked the dark horse comics versions of the short stories.

>he's also a hinterland barbarian, so the people of Aquilonia don't easily rally to his cause and are relatively quick to accept a new ruler with even a dash of Aquilonian royal blood
Real provinces know their true king! Conajohara stronk! Long live King Conan!

Conan is beyond tremendous at climbing he's an 11/10 at it. Dude can climb shit Spiderman would think twice about.

>BBEG
Ugh.