Characters / Conan The Barbarian Conan

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Conan

Conan is a wandering fighter from the distant northern land of Cimmeria. Drawn by his insatiable urge for adventure and riches, he left his homeland to take the ancient Hyborian world by storm. In his travels he would become a thief, a mercenary, a pirate, and eventually a king by his own hand.

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• Abdicate the Throne:
  • Defied in The Scarlet Citadel, where he refuses the villains' offer to buy his kingdom from him.
  • Played Straight in Conan of the Isles, where he relinquishes the throne of Aquilonia to his eldest son, Conn.
• Action Dad: Conan is still a fighting man after fathering several children with Zenobia.
• Actually Pretty Funny: According to Ascalante, he laughs at the singing of The Lament of the King, which condemns Conan while singing the praises of Numedides, the cruel tyrant who preceded him. Conan can't bring himself to kill the poet that made the song and create unrest because he is really good at his art.
• Always Save the Girl:
  • In The People of the Black Circle, he confronts to Black Seers of Yimsha to rescue Yasmina for their grasp, despite his previous intentions to avoid conflict with them.
  • In The Return of Conan, he proceeds on his quest to rescue Zenobia from Yah Chieng, even after being informed that doing so will jeopardize the world.
  • Subverted in the epilogue of Conan of Invincible. He declines to save Karela from slavers, citing an oath he previously swore not to help her.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: In Black Tears, Conan dismisses the stories that the land of Makan-e-Mordan is haunted as superstition, despite his previous encounters with the supernatural.
• Animal Motifs: Lions. He was infamous as Amra the Lion during his pirating days, and as King of Aquilonia, his kingdom's banner is a lion. The narration also repeatedly compares him to a wolf or a panther.
• Antagonist in Mourning: In Shadows of the Skull, Conan muses to himself that he will miss his Arch-Enemy Thoth-Amon following the latter's death at Conn's hands.
• Anti-Hero: Of the Unscrupulous variety. He's amoral, but he does have some standards — if someone is truly his friend, Conan will repay their kindness in turn, and is loyal to a fault to his allies. He also kills mostly only those who are truly evil or attack him first. He then becomes The Good King of Aquilonia, and considers all of his people part of his "tribe". Thus, hurting his people is disrespecting him, and Conan will not stand for that.
• The Anti-Nihilist: As expressed in a monologue in Queen of the Black Coast, Conan admits that the gods exist in his world, but doesn't have much interest in praying to any of them. Conan also admits, however, that he neither knows nor cares what will happen to him when he dies. In any case, while Conan is alive, he will live life to its fullest, and will leave those sorts of questions about the nature of the world to the philosophers.
  Conan: Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.
• Bad with the Bone:
  • In Black Colossus, he hits a hillman with a beef-bone after he attempts to desert.
  • In Rogues in the House, he used a beef bone against a jailer before making his getaway.
• Badass Boast:
  • In Shadows of Zamboula, he preceeds his Neck Snap of Baal-Pteor (who himself specialized in snapping necks) with the words "You fool! I think you never saw a man from the West before. Did you deem yourself strong, because you were able to twist the heads off civilized folk, poor weaklings with muscles like rotten string? Hell! Break the neck of a wild Cimmerian bull before you call yourself strong. I did that, before I was a full-grown man — like this!"
  • In The Hour of the Dragon, he sends a threatening message to Xaltotun.
    Conan: To Xaltotun, grand fakir of Nemedia: Dog of Acheron, I am returning to my kingdom, and I mean to hang your hide on a bramble.
  • In Black Tears, Conan tells Boghra Khan, a Turanian officer who attempted to entrap Conan, only to be captured himself, "But next time, Boghra, have a care how you set traps for wolves. Sometimes you catch a tiger."
  • At the end of Conan the Buccaneer Conan (who had just rejected Princess Chabella's hand in marriage, and with it the opportunity to inherit the throne of Zingara)tells Sigurd that ""Nay Sigurd, I'll win myself a throne some day, Crom willing; but 'twill most likely be at the point of a sword, not as a wedding gift."
  • In The Witch of the Mists, he gives one to Louhi when she questions why Thoth-Amon fears him.
    Conan: He fears me because he knows I am his doom. As I shall be yours, unless you take me to my son.
  • In Conan the Valorous, Conan responds to a Gunderman's own Badass Boast that "Gundermen die as easily as other men. I slew many at Venarium, and I was only fifteen then."
• Badass Normal: Conan is simply as strong, experienced and skilled as a mortal man can be. And yet, he finds himself fighting against magic users and abominations that are way above his level and coming out on top.
• Badass in Distress: He is captured and crucified by Constantius the Falcon, and only escapes due to the intervention of Olgerd Vladislav and his Zuagirs.
• Barbarian Hero: The archetypal example and the Trope Codifier. Conan is an Unscrupulous Hero, though not without his good points. He does have a code of honor, and generally repays kindness or hostility in turn. If you're nice to him and generally try to help him, Conan will watch your back until the end of days. If you're hostile to him, there's no greater opponent you could face. Even then, Conan doesn't really care for politics, machinations, or religion — he lives as he sees fit, regardless of what anyone tells him to do.
• Battle Cry: He is capable of making a Cimmerian war cry.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: In Jewels of Gwahlur, he learns that his rivals are planning to use the slave girl Muriela to impersonate the goddess Yelaya in order to deceive the Keshans into giving Thutmekri the Teeith of Gwahlur and turning on Conan. Conan instead convinces Yeleya to turn on Thutmekri and his co-conspirators by telling the Keshan to give the Teeth of Gwahlur to Conan and drive Thutmekri and his allies from Keshan. This backfires when Thutmekri uses a second fake Yelaya to expose Conan and Muriela's deceit.
• Big Damn Heroes: At the climax of Conan the Buccaneer, he arrives in King Ferdrugo's throne room with several allies in order to thwart Thoth-Amon's scheme to usurp the Zingaran throne form Ferdrugo.
• Bring It: When cornered by Ascalante and his men, he asks them "Who dies first?"
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Conan generally uses swords as his weapon of choice, he has used the battleaxe from time to time in Howard's stories, such as in the first Conan story, "The Phoenix on the Sword", which has King Conan taking one to the assassins trying to kill him in his bedchamber after breaking his sword.
• By the Hair: He grabs Thanara's hair after realizing she tampered with his wine.
• Character Catchphrase: When he's surprised, Conan has a tendency to say "By Crom!"
• Carpet of Virility: Howard describes him as having a hairy chest.
• Challenging the Chief:
  • In Iron Shadows in the Moon, he challenges Sergius of Khrosha, a Red Brotherhood captain, for leadership of his pirate crew. He wins, but his subordinate disagree on the validity of Conan's captaincy, as he was not a member of the Red Brotherhood at that time.
  • In The Return of Conan, he challenges Yanak for captaincy of a Red Brotherhood crew. Conan wins the fight and gains command over the crew.
  • Does it in an underhanded way in "Pool of the Black One", he can't publicly challenge the captain yet by the freebooter code but if he battles the captain when they are alone and then takes leadership few will argue.
• The Champion: In Shadows of the Skull, Queen Lilit calls him "the greatest champion of Mitra on earth."
• Character Development: Grows more mature and skilled over the years. By the time he's the king, he's evolved closer to a full-blown hero.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Apart from being a member of a superior race of humans, his tremendous strength is acquired through climbing the cliffs of his homeland and working at his father's forge.
• The Chains of Commanding: In any works where he's the king, the duty of governing weighs on him heavily. In ''The Phoenix in the Sword", he laments not being able to go adventuring anymore or personally lead battles, and states that it was far easier taking Numedides' crown off his head than holding it.
• Chairman of the Brawl: In, The Witch of the Mists, he throws a throne at Thoth-Amon, only for the Stygian wizard to vanish before it could hit him.
• Chekhov's Skill: Zig-Zagged. We don't see Conan developing it, but whenever it's mentioned that Cimmeria is a rugged, harsh, jagged land filled with rock walls unclimbable to anyone not born there, count on Conan's exceptional Cimmerian climbing skills being relevant to the plot. Examples include "The God In Bowl" and "The Tower Of The Elephant."
• Chivalrous Pervert: Discussed in "Xuthal of the Dusk" Conan is not exactly monogamous and shy about ogling or spanking women, but he has some decency that stops him from just dumping a woman he is already with for another until she is at least safe. When the villainess attempts to Murder the Hypotenuse, both the girl and narration knows that will simply enrage Conan.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: In The Return of Conan, he threatens a Turanian named Ardashir with this when interrogating him.
• Confess to a Lesser Crime: When being questioned the the authorities in The God in the Bowl, he claims that he broke into the Temple of Kallian Publico to steal food. When that fails, he confesses to his actual crime of trying to steal a goblet, which is still less severe than the crime of murder he is incorrectly being accused of.
• Cowardice Callout: In Conan the Avenger, he tells Prince Almuric that the latter's choice to flee his homeland the moment King Strabonus didn't bowl over easily enough makes him nothing but a rich coward who isn't worthy to share a tavern bench with Conan.
• Crime of Self-Defense: When traveling in Stygia during The Hour of the Dragon, Conan slays a man-eating python that approaches kill him. Unfortunately for Conan, the Stygians consider snakes to be sacred, so they immediately try to have Conan killed for blasphemy.
• Dangerous Deserter: After deserting from the Turanians, Conan becomes a recurring thorn in Turan's side as a kozak, pirate, Zuagir, and Afghuli leader.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He is seen riding a black horse in Black Sphinx of Nebthu.
• Dead Person Conversation: In both The Phoenix on the Sword and Conan of the Isles, He converses with the seceased Sage Epemitreus the Sage.
• Death by Woman Scorned: In Conan the Buccaneer, he nearly subjected to this by Queen Nzinga, who tries to have him fed to man-eating trees after he spurns her by trying to flee with Chabella.
• Death Glare: During his time as a captain of the guard for Queen Taramis, he glares at Salome (Who was impersonating Taramis) after refusing her order to disarm and disband the queen's guard, before correctly accusing her of being an imposter.
• Defiant Captive:
  • In The Scarlet Citadel: He responds to his captors' entreaties to sell his kingdom to him with insults and threats.
  • In The Hour of the Dragon, when he is being held as Xaltotun's prisoner, he refuses to submit to him, and even threatens to "make a brainless corpse out of [him]."
  • In The Return of Conan, Conan refuses to bow to Yezdigerd, challenges him to a fight, and breaks free of his restraints.
• Death by Materialism: Averted in Conan the Valorous, where Conan suffers from a mysterious illness by taking cursed gold from the bodies of assassins sent to kill him. However, a talisman given to him earlier by a Khitan wizard saves him from his fate, and once Conan realizes the nature of his curse, he "exchanged the unclean gold for other money."
• Demanding Their Head: He tells Valannus to bring him him the head of Tarascus, a Nemedian king waging war against Aquilonia.
• Despair Event Horizon: He despairs for the fate of the world and his own soul as he is being overpowered by Yah Chieng.

He was overwhelmed by the certainty of defeat. Darkness and evil would triumph in the world despite his best efforts. His ensorceled soul would grovel on the floors of Hell in black eternity.

—The Return of Conan.

• Determinator: Say what you will about the man's morals; he will face most anything that you throw at him and will not give up. This is despite Conan facing down the likes of evil sorcerers and mages well-above his weight class. It's just that Conan's sheer determination and punishing strength make him formidable to anyone.
• Did You Actually Believe...?: In Jewels of Gwahlur, he berates Muriela for thinking her impersonation of Yelaya could fool him.
  Conan: Did you think you could fool me, you little idiot? A year ago I saw you in Akbitana with that swine, Zargheba, and I don't forget faces — or women's figures. I think I'll—.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Over the course of his life, Conan has defeated multiple beings that were demonic or eldritch in nature.
  • In The God in the Bowl, he decapitates the titular Animalistic Abomination.
  • In The Vale of Lost Women, he kills "A devil from the Outer Dark" to save the Ophirean woman Livia from being sacrificed to it.
  • In The Devil in Iron, he defeats the Humanoid Abomination Khosatrel Khel.
  • In The Slithering Shadow, he defeats the Eldritch Abomination Thog.
  • In The Phoenix on the Sword, he kills a demon summoned by Thoth-Amon with the broken remains of an enchanted sword.
  • Averted In Red Moon of Zembabwei, where he is unable to overcome Set, the Greater-Scope Villain of the franchise. Conan only survives because his son Conn kills Set's summoner, King Nanaunir before Set can destroy Conan.
• Does Not Like Magic: He is characterized as generally distrustful of magic. It's hard to blame him for this attitude, since Magic Is Evil in this setting most of the time, and likewise requires horrible things in the name of using it. He makes exceptions for magic weapons and working with good sorcerers like Kalanthes, but these exceptions are very rare; Conan is generally distrustful and hostile towards anyone who uses magic as a rule, especially if they're from Hyperborea.
  • He's more willing to go easy in the Marvel comics, but only up to a point - he'll give a magical practitioner a chance to earn his respect, and if they do, then he'll trust them as much as he does anyone. As a result, he's successfully teamed up with Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange, the Scarlet Witch, and Magik, and gladly names the first two and the last among the most savage swords he'd ever fought beside at the end of Savage Avengers (and almost hooked up with the third).
• Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: In The Witch of the Mists, Conan's son Conn expects to receive this punishment from his father after wandering out of the land Conan allowed him to him to travel through.
• The Dreaded: In The Return of Conan, Conan exploits have become so well-known that several Turanias are reluctant to attack him, despite to prospect of being rewarded for his death.
• Due to the Dead: In Conan the Buccaneer, Conan, after learning that Ninus had been stabbed, tells a doctor "If he dies, bury him with the full rites of Mitra." He also gives Balthus a short Cimmerian prayer at the news of his death.
• Empowered Badass Normal: During the events of Savage Avengers, Conan was bonded with an unnamed symbiote. Due to being old and weak, the Symbiote was unable to turn him into yet another version of Venom, but was able to manifest as a Necrosword which allowed Conan to fight on the same level as the Marvel superheroes and villains.
• Enemy Mine:
  • In The People of the Black Circle, who forms a temporary alliance with Kerim Shah of Turan in order to rescue Devi Yasmina from the Black Seers of Yimsha.
  • In Marvel Comics, he allies with Thoth-Amon against Thulsa Doom.
• Et Tu, Brute?:
  • His treacherous ally King Amalrus of Ophir betrays him to the Kothians, leading to his capture at the beginning of The Scarlet Citadel.
  • In The Hour of the Dragon, he is angered to learn Count Thespius has betrayed him.
• Familial Foe: Conan was an enemy of both King Yildiz and his son Yezdigerd.
• Fed to the Beast: He is nearly fed to Satha by the snake's master Tsotha-lanti.
• Finger in the Mail: In The Return of Conan, Conan recounts how he received the heads of several of his Afghulis from the Turanian governor Veziz Shah.
• Flaying Alive: In Jewels of Gwahlur, Thutmekri plans to have this fate inflicted on Conan.
• Forced to Watch: In Red Nails, Tascela plans to force an ensnared Conan watch as she kills Valeria. Luckily for both Conan and Valeria, Tolkemec's arrival forces Tasela to free Conan before she can carry out Valeria's death.
• Freudian Excuse: Though his frequent clashes with evil wizards don't necessarily improve his view of magic, the Dark Horse comics elaborate on his hatred for them. As a young man, he and his Aesir comrades went on a expedition and were enslaved by Hyperborean witch-men. Everyone but Conan was killed during a slave revolt, including a slave girl that he was in love with. This traumatic experience led to Conan nurturing hate for sorcerers and vowing one day to see Hyperborea burned to the ground.
• Foregone Conclusion: Because the very first Conan story in existence portrays him as king of Aquilonia later in his life, everyone knows he is supposed to survive no matter the consequences any story that takes place beforehand.
• The Gambling Addict: In Shadows of Zamboula, he mentions to an innkeeper that he went gambling with "only a handful of silver to begin with," and ended up with barely enough to purchase of tankard of wine. However, Conan at least had the foresight to buy his room in advance.
• Genius Bruiser: The best warrior and most powerful human of his era and one of the best strategists, with the ability to speak several languages (including dead ones).
• Glory Seeker: In Conan of the Red Brotherhood, Conan seeks to increase his notoriety as the pirate Amra the Lion.
• The Good King: As ruler of Aquilonia. While The Chains of Commanding weigh on Conan's mind, he's still got the best interest of his people. Throughout the books, multiple people try to take over his kingdom or hurt his people. When this happens, Conan is quick to respond in kind with violence.
• Green-Eyed Monster: In The Phoenix on the Swords, he is envious that his subordinate Prospero for being able to travel to Nemedia while Conan is tied home by his kingly responsibilities.
• Grave Robbing: In The Thing in the Crypt, Conan enters a tomb and takes the sword of its occupant. This ends up waking up the occupant, who attacks Conan in retaliation.
• Henpecked Husband: Defied at the end of Conan the Buccaneer. Conan decides not to to marry Princess Chabela after she tells him about her intention to turn him into "the perfect Zingaran geltleman."
• Heroic Build: Zig-Zagged. He is very tall and extremely well muscled, yet how much of a hero he is is open to interpretation.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Conan is a great king, he forbids barons to mistreat their subject or he'll brain them, the levies and taxes are low and he doesn't force women in his seraglio. But no one really forgets that he is a red-handed barbarian who used to be a bandit and a pirate, making the Aquilonians quite fickle when it comes to their loyalty.
• Hidden Depths: When Yasmela in Black Colossus asks Conan if he is afraid of anything, Conan honestly admits that he fears the curse of the gods. Conan will always fight to the bitter end when cornered by magic or demons and will even rush to kill Eldritch Abomination for someone else's sake but he will want to make the most distance between him and whatever just happened there for the sake of himself. It's even a small reason for why Conan doesn't indebt himself or ask for help, Crom curses those he deems weak and pray for help.
• Honor Among Thieves: In The God in the Bowl, he demonstrates a refusal to betray his employer-in-crime unless they betray him first. he initally refuses to give up his employer's name after confessing to the attempted theft of a goblet. Once his employer, Aztrias Petanius, demonstrates his lack of reciprocation by saying that Conan is obviously guilty of the murder he has been accused of because he is "a vicious-looking brute" who has "villainous countenance," Conan immeditely identifies Aztrias as his employer in retaliation. Once Aztrias refuses to admit to hiring Conan, despite Demetrio offering to let both let Aztrias off the hook and arrange Conan's escape if he does so, Conan decapitates him.
• Honor Before Reason: In The Hour of the Dragon, he risks his life to save his faithful follower, Countess Albiona, from execution.
• Horrifying the Horror: By the time of The Witch of the Mists, he is considered to be "the most dangerous man in the world" by Thoth-Amon himself.
• Hostage Situation: In The People of the Black Circle, he takes Devi Yasmina hostage to prevent her subordinates from executing seven of his men.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: In Black Tears, his tenure as a Zuagir chief ends with his men abandoning him in a desert.
• Human Sacrifice:
  • When he kills The Evil Sorcerer Yah Chieng during the climax of The Return of Conan, the text announces that "Conan sacrificed to Crom, god of the the black-haired Cimmerian race, for the second time in twenty-five years"
  • He nearly ends up as one for Damballah in Red Moon of Zembabwei. However, Conn saves him at the last minute.
• Iconic Outfit: Though Conan in the books didn't seem to have any particular outfit or look beyond beyond being a muscular guy in whatever armor he could find, Frank Frazetta's illustrations forever locked in the image of him wearing a fur loincloth, boots, occasionally a a horned helmet, and not much else.
• I Need a Freaking Drink:
  • In The Scarlet Citadel, his response to seeing an eagle with Pelias' voice carry off Tsotha-lanri's head with Tsotha's headless body chases it is ""Crom! A murrain on these wizardly feuds! Pelias has dealt well with me, but I care not if I see him no more. Give me a clean sword and a clean foe to flesh it in. Damnation! What would I not give for a flagon of wine!"
  • He asks for a drink at the end of The Return of Conan.
  • At the end of The Witch of the Mists, he Prospero if he has "any more of that good red wine of the Poitanian vineyards?"
• I Warned You: In The Witch of the Mists, he tells Louhi that "I shall be yours [your doom], unless you take me to my son." Later in the story, Conan and his son fight their way out of captivity, and Louhi is killed in the skirmish. The text Lampshades this after he notices her corpse.
  Had he not warned Louhi that he would be her doom?
• Implied Death Threat: When he confronts Thoth-Amon in Red Moon of Zembabwei, he tells the sorcerer that this will be their last meeting.
  Thoth-Amon: We meet again, dog of Cimmeria.
  Conan: For the last time, jackal of Stygia.
• Improvised Weapon User: In Rogues in the House, he uses a stool as a projectile to kill Nabonidus with. He also wins himself some time against Khosatral Khel by tearing a patch of tapestry and wrapping it on the golem's face to blind him.
• It's Personal:
  • In Shadows of the Moonlight, he kills Shah Amurath as revenge for the slaughter of his fellow Free Companions.
    Conan: Oh, I've dreamed of such a meeting as this, while I crawled on my belly through the brambles, or lay under rocks while the ants gnawed my flesh, or crouched in the mire up to my mouth—I dreamed, but never hoped it would come to pass. Oh, gods of Hell, how I have yearned for this!
    Shah Amurath: Keep back.
    Conan: Ha! Shah Amurath, the great Lord of Akif! Oh, damn you, how I love the sight of you—you, who fed my comrades to the vultures, who tore them between wild horses, blinded and maimed and mutilated them all, you dog, you filthy dog!.
  • In Black Tears, he seeks revenge against his former comrade Vardanes for betraying him to the Turanians.
  • At the end of Beyond the Black River, Conan announces his intention to kill seventeen Picts to avenge the deaths of Balthus and Slasher, ten for Balthus, and seven for Slasher respectively.
  • In The Return of Conan, he kills Veziz Shah, a Turanian who once executed ten of his Afghulis.
• King in the Mountain: In the Dark Horse comics, long after his passing, its said he will return in an hour of darkness when the serpent strikes.
• It's Personal with the Dragon:
  • The pastiches and comics depict Conan as having a long-standing adversarial relationship with the Evil Sorcerer Thoth-Amon, who is a high-ranking follower of the God of Evil Set, to the point where Thoth-Amon often serves as the Big Bad for Conan's stories, while his master Set is relegated to being a seldom-seen Greater-Scope Villain.
  • In Conan the Buccaneer, Conan has a feud with Black Zarono, who is one of the Co-Dragons for Duke Villagro, and later for Thoth-Amon. Conan and Zarono got into a tavern brawl, Their feud intensifies after Zarono stabs Conan's old aquaintence Ninus, and helps Villago's other Co-Dragon, Menkara, steal a chart Ninus was planning to sell to Conan. By contrast, Conan is indefferent to the ambitions of Duke Villagro, and Conan chooses to oppose Villagro because his chivalry will not allow him to disregard Chabela's pleas for help, and because Conan hopes to be rewarded for foiling Ferdrugo's plans. Downplayed once Zarono begins answering to Thoth-Amon. Although Conan and Thoth-Amon do have prior history, Thoth-Amon, at this point in Conan's life, does not consider Conan to be worth hunting down, and so is willing to let Zarono deal with him.
• The Kingslayer: Since many tyrants tend to be his frequent foes, that is a given. His most famous is probably Numedides, the Aquilonian king that he choked to death with his own hands and proceeded to rule his kingdom afterwards. He also kills Kings Strabonus and Yezdigerd.
• Last-Second Chance: He offers this to Rinaldo during the climax of The Phoenix on the Sword. Rinaldo does not take it, forcing Conan to kill him in self defense.
• Libation for the Dead: He does this for Balthus and Slasher at the end of Beyond the Black River.
• Lightning Bruiser: He is huge and heavily muscled, with strength beyond the conception of civilized men, yet he is constantly described as moving with the speed and grace of a panther. In their sword fight from 'The Pool of the Black One', Conan kills a Master Swordsman whose skill is completely useless against his natural strength, speed, and cunning:
  Zaporavo was the veteran of a thousand fights by sea and by land. There was no man in the world more deeply and thoroughly versed than he in the lore of swordcraft. But he had never been pitted against a blade wielded by thews bred in the wild lands beyond the borders of civilization. Against his fighting-craft was matched blinding speed and strength impossible to a civilized man. Conan’s manner of fighting was unorthodox, but instinctive and natural as that of a timber wolf. The intricacies of the sword were as useless against his primitive fury as a human boxer’s skill against the onslaughts of a panther.
• Loophole Abuse: In Conan the Valorous, Conan decides to fight King Bull, which is considered sacred, to save the life of Aelfrith. When a chief tells Conan that "it is forbidden for any man to raise weapon against the King Bull," Conan fights and slays the bull with his bare hands.
• Made a Slave:
  • In his youth, he was enslaved by the Hyperboreans.
  • In The City of Skulls he is enslaved by the Meruvians for a brief period of time before breaking free.
• Made of Iron: Conan is so durable he managed to survive stuff that would have otherwise killed or crippled normal men like being crucified, having his back almost broken when cut down, and forced to endure a long ride without water or treatment for his injuries. He still got better.
• Major Injury Underreaction: At the end of Red Nails, he expresses more concern about finding something to eat than of his lacerated leg.
  Conan: Well, this cleans up the feud. It's been a hell of a night! Where did these people keep their food? I'm hungry.
  Valeria: You need a bandage on that leg.
  Conan: I can walk on it.
• Manly Man: Conan is a Lightning Bruiser, has a Heroic Build, regularly saves scantily-clad women, and is generally an archetypal example of the positive aspects of masculinity — honor, courage, power, integrity, loyalty, and determination.
• Misery Builds Character: In The Witch of the Mists, Conan initially decides to let his son Conn, who has gone missing, rough it out in the rain to teach him a lesson. He later changes his mind.
  Conan: Forget it, man! We'll account this part of the lad's education. If he be the stuff of kings, a slight wetting and a sleepless night will hurt him little and teach him a lesson.
• Modest Royalty: In The Phoenix of the Sword, set during his reign as the King of Aquilonia, he is introduced wearing simple clothing.
  His garments were of rich fabric, but simply made. He wore no ring or ornaments, and his square-cut black mane was confined merely by a cloth-of- silver band about his head.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: After usurping the throne of Aquilonia from Numedides, he declines to purge the survivors of his dynasty, which comes back to haunt him when one of those members, Baron Dion, conspires against him.
• No Honor Among Thieves: Conan has a flexible code of honor, if he is recruited as partner-in-crime he will place prioritize self-interest over loyalty, figuring his talents for manual labor and violence compensate any perceived debt. If the work is as honest a sellsword can hope to find he will fight to the death and refrain from looting since the rulers or mercenary leaders entrusted Conan with a position of power. If he is hired to commit crimes but the employer does right by him Conan will weight if the person's character is worthy of trust before deciding to doublecross him or endanger his own life.
• No, You: His response to Yezdigerd telling him to die is "Die yourself, jackal of Turan" before beheading him.
• Number Two: In A Witch Shall be Born, he spends a period of time serving as the second-in-command of the Zuagir chief Olgerd Vladislav before usurping leadership from him.
• My Greatest Failure: In the Dark Horse comics he has a few moments that haunt him (the first being his failure to save Iasmini and the Aesir, the second being responsible for the destruction of two of his bands of mercenaries)
• Obfuscating Stupidity: In Shadows of Zamboula, he pretends not to realize that the woman Zabibi is actually Nefertari, the lover of Zamboula's satrap.
• Off the Table: In People of the Black Circle, Conan attempts to convince Yasmina to become his queen, which she rejects, also telling him "there are customs" preventing him from becoming King of Vendhya alongside her. Thirteen years later, during The Return of Conan, she tries to convince Conan to become King of Vendhya alongside her, only for him to tell her he already has a kingdom to rule (Aquilonia), and is already married.
• Offered the Crown: At the end of The Road of Kings, he is offered the crown of Zingara, but he turns it down.
• One-Man Army: More than once, Conan has single-handedly fought his way out of a courtroom when surrounded by guards and with his weapon confiscated (the escape involves reacquiring it). His first story involved surviving a twenty men assassination attempt by himself and then a demon joined the fray.
• Papa Wolf: After learning his son Conn has been kidnapped, he travels on a solo quest to rescue his son.
• Pay Evil unto Evil:
  • Prior to the start of Rogues in the House, Conan kills a priest who betrayed him and his Gunderman companion to the authorities.
  • In Shadows of Zamboula he uses a Neck Snap to kill Baal-Pteor, who claimed to have snapped the necks of hundreds of human sacrifice, and even mentions having strangled women, children (including infants), and the elderly.
  • At the end of Shadows of Zamboula, Conan has the innkeeper Aram Baksh devoured by cannibals, whom Baksh had fed his previous guests to, and he attempted to do the same to Conan earlier in the story.
  • At the end of A Witch Shall be Born Conan has Constantius the Falcon crucified, just as Constantius has Conan crucified several months earlier.
  • In Pool of the Black Ones, he undermines Zaporavo's rule as captain of the Freeboooter so he can assassinate him in secret and then assume captaincy. Zaporavo didn't really wrong Conan or do any huge evil act but he was a gloomy pirate.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  • In The Scarlet Citadel, before throwing Arpello to his death, he tells him "Take your plots to hell with you!"
  • In The Return of Conan, when preparing with kills Veziz Shah, he tells him "Dog, remember when you caught ten of my Afghulis when you commanded a squadron in Secunderam? And how you sent me their pickled heads in jars with wishes for a hearty repast? You time has come. Rot in Hell!"
  • "Die yourself, jackal of Turan!" (to King Yezdigerd in The Return of Conan)
  • "At last we meet, you yellow dog! Your days of magic are numbered. The gods have doomed you, and your black powers are broken! Do you hear the shouts and clash of arms? Do you see the fires? Your swordsmen are being cut down by the prisoners from the dungeons and by the people of Paikang! Your bloody empire is crashing in ruins. To blackest Hell I send you, sur, and may you rot there forever!" (To Yah Chieng in The Return of Conan)
  • In Conan the Valorous, he give the following angry speech to Atzel before killing him: "Damn you to Hell for a torturer of women and children! Crom curse you for a nithing!. And demons gnaw your guts forever for making me kill this noble beast!"
• Privateer: In Conan the Buccaneer, he serves as one for Zingara.
• Puppet King: Defied. In The Hour of the Dragon, Xaltotun offers to help Conan retake Aquilonia from the Nemedians if Conan agrees to serve him. Conan refuses.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Pillage and burn? Certainly. Rape? Certainly not. Multiple short-term relationships and regular heroics with scantily-clad women means Conan has taken many women to his bed, but rape is out of the question as a hard rule. Despite his string of casual romances with different women, he is quite respectful to all of them as much as he is able to be, and always respects consent. However, Conan is quite willing and able to burn down villages and pillage them for loot, but only if it's full of evil people or they tried to attack him first. In Black Sphinx of Nebthu, set during Conan's reign as King of Aquilonia, he hangs any man caught engaging in rape, both as a punishment to the rapist and to make it clear to everyone else in Conan's kingdom that consent will be respected.
• Really Gets Around: The number of women he's taken to his bed is comparable to that of killed enemies. Which is to say, a lot. In the Robert E. Howard stories alone, he has six confirmed conquests (Bêlit, Sancha, Valeria, Princess Yasmela, an unnamed prostitute and Zenobia - whom he later marries), eight more female companions where it's not clear if they slept together, and there have been many more Conan stories and love interests in the following decades.
  • In the Marvel comics, he almost hooks up with the Scarlet Witch, but both demur after an Almost Kiss, because she has an on-and-off thing with Doc Voodoo and he hasn't got over Belit yet.
• Rebel Leader: He was the leader of the rebellion against King Numedides.
• Renaissance Man: He had too many jobs in just one lifetime: sellsword, bodyguard, pirate, captain of the guard, general of countless armies and eventually king of the greatest empire in the world. Not only is he a fighter without equal, he is an excellent tactician, strategist and a speaks a variety of tongues. The only skill he hasn't dominated in this setting was magic, but he had good reasons.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: He is mistakenly believed dead in The Hour of the Dragon, with this belief enforced by the villains covering up his survival to make controlling Aquilonia easier.
• Revenge Before Reason: When escaping King Tarascus' palace, Conan takes the time to make an attempt on Tarascus' life, which leads to him screaming for the guards.
• Riches to Rags: His life as an adventurer had him being rich from his loot, then losing all of it to gambling, partying or being arrested.
• Rightful King Returns: In both The Scarlet Citadel and The Hour of the Dragon, he reclaims the throne of Aquilonia from usurpers.
• Save the Villain: Done for pragmatic reasons in Red Nails. When he sees the villainous Olmec in a Death Trap, his initial instincts are to either let him die or "can speed up that process by twisting my sword-point around in your ear." He ends up saving Olmec after the latter convinces Conan he needs Olmec's help to save Valeria on Tascela. However, Conan still ends of killing Olmec after he attacks Conan.
• Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: In The Scarlet Citadel, he refuses to betray his subjects by selling his kingdom.
• Self-Made Man: He carved his own wealth with his bare hands and became king by his own hand.
• Sex Slave: To Queen Nzinga in Conan the Buccaneer. In Savage Avengers, he makes his disapproval of this clear when he finds out that the prostitutes he paid for were these, promptly slaughtering his way through the gang.
• Shoot the Dog: In Conan the Valorous, Conan is forced to killed the King Bull to save the live of the chieftainness Aelfrith. The King Bull is considered sacred by the people of the Border Kingdom, but has been trained to attack women by Bossonians under the employ of the corrupt chief Atzel.
• Shrouded in Myth: By the time of The Return of Conan, he has become this to the Turanians.

The saga of his daring exploits had invested him with magical powers in their eyes, until his name was spoken like that of a mythical ogre.

—The Return of Conan.

• Slave Galley: He is forced to work on a ship in The City of Skulls.
• Smarter Than You Look: In both the original stories and the Marvel comics, he's generally assumed at first glance to be nothing more than a very effective thug. As it is, he fairly quickly figures out the modern world, and earns the respect of Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom, and even, begrudgingly, Kang the Conqueror (who is more than a bit afraid of what he could become).
• Sole Survivor:
  • In The Scarlet Citadel, he is last survivor of the five thousand Aquilonians who arrived in Ophir to aid Amalrus, only to be betrayed by him.
  • He is the last surviving of the kozaks defeated by Shah Amurath near the Ilbars River, shortly before the events of Shadows of the Moon.
• Spiteful Spit:
  • In The Scarlet Citadel, he spits in the eyes of King Amalrus, who betrayed him to the Kothians and tried to force him to abdicate.
  • In Conan the Barbarian #256, he spits at a vision of Kulan Gath after the latter tries to coerce him into killing Vammatar.
  • In Savage Avengers (2022) he does the same to Thulsa Doom when the latter offers to spare him by turning him into one of Set's snakemen.
• The Starscream:
  • In The Pool of the Black One, he murders his boss Zaporavo to make himself captain of the Wastrel.
  • In A Witch Shall be Born, he usurps leadership of the Zuagirs from his boss, Olgerd Vladislav.
• A Taste of the Lash: The narraration of The Thing in the Crypt mentions that Conan "had tasted the bitterness of the chains and the lash" during his enslavement to the Hyperboreans.
• Throwing Down the Gauntlet: He challenges Yezdigerd to a fight when the former is brought before the latter as a prisoner. Yezdigerd does not respond, and only gets up to fight after Conan breaks free of his restraints and clears a pathway towards him.
• Trademark Favorite Food: In the Howard stories, Conan is often gnawing a beef bone when he has to opportunity to eat well. It frequently doubles as a preferred weapon.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Downplayed in A Witch Shall be Born, he usurps leadership of the Zuagirs from Olgerd Vladislav, who saved him from crucifixion several months prior. However, Conan subjects Olgerd to Cruel Mercy by exiling instead of killing him, and Conan mentions that Olgerd had ulterior motives for helping Conan, and subjected Conan to a brutal test in order to prove Conan's worthiness to live.
• Unscrupulous Hero: Conan is certainly an Anti-Hero of the violent variety, but to say that Conan has no morals would be outright incorrect.
  • If someone shows genuine loyalty and kindness to Conan, he will repay that loyalty and kindness in turn. In Queen of the Black Coast, Conan refuses to betray a friend of his to a local judge, clearly stating his reasons why he won't — Conan will not betray his friend to anybody. Then, when the judge orders Conan arrested for his refusal to testify, Conan promptly kills the guards, kills the judge, and hops onto the nearest ship out of town without paying for a fare.
  • He doesn't Rape, Pillage, and Burn. That is, pillaging and burning is fine, but rape is absolutely not fine. Not only does Conan try to treat the women he beds with respect (and he's taken a lot of women to his bed), but in Black Sphinx of Nebthu (which is set during Conan's reign as King of Aquilonia), he puts any man convicted as a rapist to death. In the Marvel comics, he is extremely disgruntled to find out that the prostitutes he had hired were sex slaves and promptly put the head of the boss through the nearest wall and slaughtered the rest.
  • While Conan is known to inflict rather brutal deaths on his enemies, they either tried to attack him first or they had it coming. Conan Does Not Like Magic out-of-hand, but that's because magic in his universe tends to come with a high cost to cast it or to use it, such as sorcerers who need human sacrifices to obtain their power or tyrants who use magical means to maintain their grip on the populace. As such, Conan believes that tyrants and sorcerers, despite their might and their power, are men of flesh and bone who need a good ass-kicking.
• The Usurper: A heroic example since he ends up being more popular with the Aquilonians than the tyrant he killed. However, in The Phoenix in the Sword, they end up forgetting Numedides' atrocities and due to the villains' actions, Conan is viewed like a barbarian reaver that deposed the rightful king.
• Villain Killer: He has killed many evildoers over the course of his life.
  • In Rogues in the House, he kills Thak, a violent Frazetta Man, and Nabonidus, a corrupt priest.
  • In Conan the Rebel, he decapitates the Stygian sorcerer Tothapis.
  • In Black Colossus, he kills the Evil Sorcerer Natohk,
  • In Shadows of the Moonlight, he kills Shah Amurath (The man who massacred Conan's kozaks and Olivia's cruel master) and the pirate captain Sergius.
  • In Shadows of Zamboula, he kills the Evil Sorcerer Totrasmek and his henchman Baal-Pteor.
  • In The Devil in Iron, he kills the cruel nobleman Jehungir Agha and the Humanoid Abomination Khosatrel Khel.
  • In The Flame Knife, he kills Virata of Kosala and Olgerd Vladislav, the leaders of a cult bent on world domination.
  • In Red Nails, he kills the treacherous Prince Olmec and the Evil Sorcerer Tolkemec.
  • In Beyond the Black River, he kills the Pictish leader Zogar Sag by killing the demon he is synchronized with).
  • In Conan the Liberator, he kills King Numedides, the tyrannical ruler of Aquilonia.
  • In The Phoenix of the Sword, he kills Gromel, Count Volmana, and Rinaldo, three conspirators seeking to depose him.
  • In The Scarlet Citadel, he kills Prince Arpello, the tyrannical Puppet King backed by his enemies, and King Strabonus, an ambitious monarch seeking to gain a foothold in Aquilonia.
  • In the Marvel Universe', he kills Thulandra Thuu and the resurrected Thoth-Amon, and later, Kulan Gath - both literally, in the present, and figuratively in the past, where he decides to Take a Third Option, killing Gath's slave master and raising him as an honourable warrior.
• Wanting Is Better Than Having: Conan loves the thrill and challenge of acquiring treasure or gaining a throne far more than he does the actual goal. Even when he acquires a vast treasure, he'll eventually spend it all and set off on his next adventure. When he seizes the throne of Aquilonia, he does his best to run the kingdom effectively but realizes that fighting Numedides to seize his crown was a lot more invigorating than actually having to wear it.
• Warrior Poet: Literally, as it's heavily implied that the eponymous Song of Belit was written by him. There's also The Road Of Kings, split into two different chapter headers in The Phoenix on the Sword, implied to be written by Conan to commemorate the assassination attempt in that story.
• We Used to Be Friends: In Black Tears, Boghra Khan, the Turanian officer who opposes Conan at the beginning of the story was a friend of Conan's back when Conan served King Yildiz. Boghra doesn't even realize that the outlaw leader he is opposing and his old friend are the same person until he his brought before Conan. Conan allows Boghra to leave with his life, saying that is his way of repaying a gambling debt to Boghra.
• World's Best Warrior: It's all but outright stated that Conan is the most dangerous man of his age. Peerless as a warrior, and peerless as a king.
• World's Strongest Man: Though it is also not stated, he is physically stronger than any other human he encounters, even men much larger than he is. There are several monsters, however, who are far stronger than he is.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • He felt this way about Thak and Thoth-Amon following their respective deaths.
  • In Conan the Valorous, Conan, upon mortally wounding the Gunderman Hagen, requests his name because Conan felt their fight was so good he wanted it to be sung about at Conan's funeral pyre.
• Wrecked Weapon: His sword gets broken in The Phoenix on the Sword.
• You Are Too Late: In Beyond the Black River, he and his current companion Balthus arrive too late to warn an Aquilonia fort about a Pictish attack.
• You Kill It, You Bought It: He kills Aquilonia's King Numedides and seizes the throne for himself.

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