The influences behind Conan the Barbarian

Following one thread, 5 works from Conan the Barbarian to The Kraken. Back to all 28 works

1. 

   1934

   Queen of the Black Coast

   Robert E. Howard

   American pulp era. United States. Written in English.

   Conan becomes the lover and fellow raider of the pirate queen Bêlit, who dies in a ruined jungle city and returns from death to save him.

   What it handed down

   To Conan the Barbarian (1982)

   Direct source, well documented.

   Valeria is modeled on the pirate queen Bêlit: a fighting woman who becomes Conan's lover, dies, and returns from beyond death to save him in battle, as Bêlit had vowed she would. Conan's speech about Crom, a god who gives men courage and nothing else, is drawn from his talk with Bêlit, and Valeria's funeral pyre answers Bêlit's burning ship.

   Where it came from

   • The Tower of the Elephant, Robert E. Howard 1933

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