[quote]lewhitehurst wrote:
[quote]Uncle Gabby wrote:
I hope Conan’s parents and/or people weren’t killed. It wasn’t part of the original Conan stories, and that whole justifying the violence of the protagonist by having him avenge his dead parents or family has been done to death.
Conan is a noble savage, he’s violent because nature is violent. He hasn’t been castrated by a lot of cultural/religious bullshit. He’s elemental.
[/quote]
According to the trailers, it does appear that they are going to use his parent’s death as part of his motivation. I agree with you. What made Conan such a great character to me was the fact that he wasn’t doing what he did for some grand glorious reason. He stole, killed, pillaged and ransacked because that is what would get him what he wanted and that is the world he lives in. Truth be told, most people are not noble, nor do they do the things they do for noble reasons. it is usually simple self-interest and survival. [/quote]
The essential thing about his character was that although he was the barbarian in the story, with no qualms about stealing or killing, he always came out looking good compared to the “civilized” people around him. He was noble in that he lived by a strong code of honor. He kept his word, he would risk death for a comrade he had only just met. Here’s my favorite scene from the original stories in which Conan describes in his own words why he had to flee the city guards:
"Well, last night in a tavern, a captain in the king's guard offered violence to the sweetheart of a young soldier, who naturally ran him through. But is seems there is some cursed law against killing guardsmen, and the boy and his girl fled away. It was bruited about that I was seen with them, and so today I was haled into court and a judge asked me where the lad had goine. I replied that since he was a friend of mine, I could not betray him. Then the court waxed wrath, and the judge talked a great deal about my duty to the state, and society, and other things I did not understand, and bade me tell where my friend had flown. By this time I was becoming wrathful myself, for I had explained my position.
"But I choked my ire and held my peace, and the judge squalled that I had shown contempt for the court, and that I should be hurled into a dungeon to rot until I betrayed my friend. So then, seeing they were all mad, I drew my sword and cleft the judge's skull; then cut my way out of the court, and seeing the high constable's stallion tied near by, I rode for the wharfs, where I thought to find a ship bound for foreign parts."
