Conan the Barbarian-Who is Conan the Cimmerian?

The results of Conan's confidence were not always immediate, as evidenced when he was held prisoner in "The Scarlet Citadel" and in "The Hour of the Dragon" and "Rogues in the House". Conan possessed enough presence of mind to remain calm in the face of imminent danger and death, while tapping into a huge reservoir of patience, waiting for a chance to turn luck to his favor. Sometimes his fear of the supernatural spurred him into action, while other times it kept him motionless. In "The Hour of the Dragon" Conan is chained in the dungeons below Belverus.

"Conan lay still, enduring the weight of his chains and the despair of his position with the stoicism of the wilds that had bred him. He did not move, because the jangle of his chains, when he shifted his body, sounded startlingly loud in the darkness and stillness, and it was his instinct, born of a thousand wilderness-bred ancestors, not to betray his position in his helplessness."

"But the instincts of the wild were there, that had caused him in his childhood to lie hidden and silent while wild beasts prowled about his covert."

It was only when he surmised that a beast of some sort had sucked the marrow from the bones of a human skeleton did Conan have great trouble in fighting "down the unreasoning panic of a trapped wolf".

Conan eventually faced the Haunter of the Pits, a gray ape of Vilayet. In a great display of confidence and resolve, the savage barbarian coaxed the beast out into an open rush, knowing that one thrust of his blade would tell, or end the tale. He knew that he had to meet the ape breast to breast, land a killing strike, and trust that his rugged frame would withstand the mauling that was sure to ensue. Conan seemed to posses an absolute understanding of his abilities, an understanding that allowed him respond quickly and without hesitation. Most men in his circumstances would have had cursed or wept, or gone mad with fear, and died in the grip of the ape. His focus was clear, his intent was to survive.

"For one dizzy instant he felt as if he were being dismembered in the grip of an earthquake; then suddenly he was free, sprawling on the floor, and the monster was gasping out its life beneath him, its red eyes turned upward, the hilt of the poniard quivering in its breast. His desperate stab had gone home."

Perhaps one of the greatest displays of Conan's confidence can be found in "Beyond the Black River". Conan and Balthus of Aquilonia are in a race against time to return to Fort Tuscelan on the eastern bank of Black River. The Picts are advancing on the fort and settlement, and only Conan and Balthus are aware of that fact. With dangerous calm and great confidence, Conan lures a Pict over to him, to kill him.

What did you say to the Pict?” asked Balthus.

“Told him to pull into shore; said there was a white forest runner on the bank who was trying to get a shot at him.”

“That doesn't seem fair,” Balthus objected. “He thought a friend was speaking to him. You mimicked a Pict perfectly—”

“We needed his boat,” grunted Conan, not pausing in his exertions. “Only way to lure him to the bank. Which is worse — to betray a Pict who'd enjoy skinning us both alive, or betray the men across the river whose lives depend on our getting over?”

Not so hard of a question to answer when a person has the power to save an entire settlement, or allow one to be destroyed, all in the name of being fair. These, among many other reasons are what kept the stories in front of me. Conan the Cimmerian possessed many traits, some admirable, some less than honorable. Always with the eye of the leader, Conan harbored a responsibility to protect those under his command, or those in his present company. This trait is at it's most obvious when women are involved. In "The Hour of The Dragon", Conan decides to make "one last duty as King of Aquilonia".

"I'm going into Tarantia after Albiona tonight," answered the king. "I've failed all my other loyal subjects, it seems-if they take her head, they can have mine too."

"This is madness!" cried Servius, staggering up and clutching his throat, as if he already felt the noose closing about it.

"There are secrets to the Tower which few know," said Conan. "Anyway, I'd be a dog to leave Albiona to die because of her loyalty to me. I may be a king without a kingdom, but I'm not a man without honor."

Another trait Conan displays is his "never give up, never surrender" state of mind. He constantly and openly displayed an absolute refusal to submit to another person’s will. That is not to say that Conan had never chosen the path of retreat or regress, but sometimes tempting death's hand when the odds doubled against him. Conan always went down swinging, never surrendering or submitting to the will of the enemy, preferring death to a life of submission.

"I never saw a man fight as Conan fought. He put his back to the courtyard wall, and before they overpowered him the dead men were strewn in heaps thigh-deep about him. But at last they dragged him down, a hundred against one. When I saw him fall I dragged myself away feeling as if the world had burst under my very fingers. I heard Constantius call to his dogs to take the captain alive--stroking his mustache, with that hateful smile on his lips!"

These musings bring into light another question, just how much Howard do we see in Conan? That will be the subject of another day.