Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian is a literary character created by Robert E. Howard in a series of fantasy pulp stories published in Weird Tales in the 1930s.The Conan stories take place on Earth, but in the mythical (created by Howard) "Hyborian Age", between the time of the sinking of Atlantis and the rise of the known ancient civilizations. He is a Cimmerian, a barbarian of the far north, he was born on a battlefield and is the son of a blacksmith. He grew up fast, by age fifteen he was already a respected warrior - participating in the destruction of Venarium. After this he was struck by wanderlust and began the colorful and exciting adventures chronicled by Howard (and others), encountering fabulous monsters, evil wizards, and delicious wenches and princesses - he has travelled throughout the world and been a slave, a thief and outlaw, a mercenary and commander of a mercenary company, and a pirate and privateer. He begins building larger units of men, aiming for greater territorial ambitions, his efforts and repeatedly thwarted - usually by the total massacre of his force excepting himself. But in his forties he finally succeeds, becoming king of Aquilonia, the most powerful kingdom of the age, having strangled the previous ruler on the steps to the throne.
The Conan stories are informed by the popular interest of the time in unscientific ideas on evolution and "social Darwinism". Are some peoples destined to rule over others? Are our physical and mental characteristics the result of our experiences or our inheritance from our ancestors?
The character of Conan has proven durably popular, resulting in pastiche Conan stories being assembled by later writers such as Lin Carter, L. Sprague de Camp, Karl Edward Wagner, John Maddox Roberts, Andrew Offut, J. Ramsey Campbell, Poul Anderson, Richard A. Lupoff, BjÃÂörn Nyberg, Robert Jordan, Steve Perry, Leonard Carpenter and John C. Hocking from Howard's notes and by rewriting his stories of other similar heroes. Ten novels and over sixty shorter Conan tales have been written. Conan has also appeared in comic books (the latest issues are published by Dark Horse Comics) and in films, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The film Conan the Barbarian (1982) was written by the unlikely pairing of Oliver Stone and John Milius, the script draws material from a number of stories. The film was directed by Dino DeLaurentis and a sequel, \Conan the Destroyer (1984) was also made. Schwarzenegger also played a muscular sword-fighter in the Howard-inspired Red Sonja (1985).
Terry Pratchett has parodied him with the Discworld character "Cohen the Barbarian", and numerous "Conan the Librarian" parodies have cropped up, including sketches in the Weird Al Yankovic comedy film UHF and on the children's television series Reading Rainbow. Independent comic legend Dave Sim's 'Cerebus' also began as a Conan parody.
The bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans was nicknamed Conan the Bacterium after the character.