111 replies to this topic

[Checker]

I'm trying to determine whether Conan in the Robert Howard books is described as the "strongest man in the world." If you know of a citation that proves or disproves this, please let me know. Thanks.

[MacBeth]

no howard didnt say he ws the strongest of the world,just that he was stonger than most,their have been many momnets where someone bigger came along.

[alex]

I'm compelled to shatter this myth. because this pet really peeves me.

Conan "towered over most men" -- But let's not take this fanatically, it doesn't imply he could beat every one at arm wrestling. Conan's strength stems from his cunning brain and domineering personality. He was a born leader, not strictly a slab of beef.

[Checker]

Thanks for your help. You wouldn't know book/page number where I could actually look it up. I need a citation for this -- a page where Howard indicates that he was powerful but not necessarily omnipotent.

[Gorulga]

Off hand I can't remember one instance where Conan would have been weaker than a human opponent. Certainly against monstrous or supernatural opponents but not against humans. That strangler of Yota-Pong came close and he was also substantially bigger than Conan but not stronger as Conan broke his back.

The argument that Conan is the strongest man in the hyborean world may be true or close to truth at least.

[TroceroQuijas]

He is THE stand alone character of the Hyborian Age. With the mind and body he's given, Ill have to say he is the strongest. Any and every other character in the Hyborian Age and the rest of the S&S world would have perished somewhere along the line of Conan's Saga. He isnt our favorite for nothing.

[Ironhand]

REH describes Conan as "strong beyond the conception of common men". I take this to mean, among other things, that he is actually stronger than he looks.

I can't tell you which story I read that in, but it was in "The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian", so that narrows it down a little.

[Orkin]

I think this would be taken with a grain of salt, being fiction and of course fantasy fiction.

If you look that the world's strongest man competition, these are probably some of the strongest men in the world, yet even the best of them could hardly be described as catlike.

[MacBeth]

those men are 6'7 giants with 36 inch biceps,I always looked at conan like he was arnolds size,a 6'3 26 inch bicep
those men,can pull a 747,they are the strongest there is,one I like is the conans wheel,for a good reason and some others,one of the old champs could throw the caber like 15 feet and still keep it in a straight line.

[cimmerianbloke]

Keep in mind that even if not the strongest sheer power-speaking, is skills with weapons and its frenzy at combat made him the most powerful warrior of his era. Where's the point about who's the strongest? His warrrior skills and brains allowed him to make it up to the world's most prestigious throne...

[Checker]

Gorulga -- That's right. My main concern was with the Howard books. I should disclose that I am a fact-checker at a national magazine, and the reason why I came to this forum was because someone in one of our stories calls Howard's Conan the "strongest man in the world." It's an informal comment. From this discussion, it sounds to me like it might not be literally accurate, but that the general sense of it is correct.

[Jack T. Chance]

Puny humans! Hulk strongest one there is!

Okay, all kidding aside, it seems that Howard's take was that no man could stand before Conan in battle, but that this owed to more than just physical strength. Being from a barbarian nation, he was raised in the midst of battle, and therefore became a highly skilled warrior. The combination of his barbarian battle skills, and his considerable physical strength, made him a formidable opponent that none seem to have been able to overcome in battle. But that doesn't mean he was the strongest man alive. Stronger than most, yes, but not necessarily THE strongest. But what strength he did have, he used well, in conjunction with his barbarian battle knowledge, to make the most out of what he had.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Gorulga]

This is a vauge area as there is nothing that directly confirms it one way or the other. Still on several occcasions Conan is the last man standing after a big mass battle. Or he is the only one of thousands to survive after a hard campaign.

Don't forget when Conan says he broke the neck of a wild Cimmerian bull before he was a fully grown man. Any adolescent who can do that must be one of the strongest in the world, if not the strongest. It must have been an extraordinary feat, earning him great respect among his tribespeople or else he wouldn't have been so proud of it many years later.

Conan also speaks contemptously of the strength of civilized people describing them as "poor weaklings with muscles like rotten string"

[Orkin]

For every instance where Howard describes Conan as strong, he probably (?) has a dozen places where he describes Conan's quickness, agility, litheness, coordination, coolness under pressure, iron constitution... etc...

[Ironhand]

I don't think that REH ever presented Conan with a mortal human opponent who was stronger, but he did have him fighting Frost Giants, giant apes or ape-men, and a giant statue or living iron. In these cases, facing opponents who were definitely stronger than him, Conan won by using his wits and superior speed.

Bear in mind, though, that against such opponents, no amount of wit and speed would have availed Conan if he had not had sufficient strength and toughness.

[Taranaich]

In one of the stories, I think it may have been the novel (Hour of the Dragon), he lifts a man up bodily over his head and throws him to his death.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That was Scarlet Citadel I think. He was even wearing plate armour, and Conan pressed him right over his head in true Hulk Hogan style before tossing him off the palace balcony.

I personally think the scene where he rams a burning bench made of solid silver into the Black Stranger in the story was damned impressive.

But you have to give extra special credit for his famous "Break the neck of a Wild Cimmerian Bull!" moment where he snaps the poor sap's neck like a rotten branch.

[Mikey_C]

The bull, definitely the bull!

[Cadogan]

Breaking a man's neck with a single punch is pretty damn impressive as well!
From "Pool of the Black One"

[Konorg]

I'm trying to determine whether Conan in the Robert Howard books is described as the "strongest man in the world." If you know of a citation that proves or disproves this, please let me know. Thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok ok guys I can settle this post with the words of the man(REh) himself about Conan himself from The Castle of Terror from Chapter 2 The Circle of Death:

Although Conan was one of the strongest men of his time,once a lion got its claws and teeth into him that strength would be no more effective than that of a small child.

So that proves that while he was one of the strongest men he's not the strongest.

For those who don't knwon this it's not big muscles that give you great strength

it's the strength of the ligaments and tendons that give you great strength.

[Kortoso]

What's Castle of Terror? It's not a REH story that I know of.