The Conan Look According To Arnie

[Adipose]

Yep, good 'ol Arnie, bless him. Muscle bound to who wouldn't have it. Gave his body to the Conan look. Thing is, Howard didn't see Conan that way, or at least the original Conan art work didn't portray him that way. Me, personally, I kinda like the Arnie look, mostly because I like Arnie. Getting back to Howard though, the original illustrations of Conan portrayed him as being very fit but not heavily muscled like Arnie. Having said that, the original look doesn't always coincide with the dialogue in the original Howard books...as in "mighty thews" and all that. Of course, I may not be remembering accurately either, at least as to the dialogue. It's been a long time since I've picked up one of my Conans for reading.

 

One thing to realize though, is that men that live and work in a low tech, low income culture will most often be very hard and lean with very little body fat. That, of course, is the world of Conan of Cimmeria as portrayed by Robert E. Howard. Living in the time that he did, Howard probably knew a lot of hard, tough men and they quite likely weren't bulked up at all.

 

Okay, 'nuff said. Just like to touch base with reality on occasion.

[Novem99]

Let me guess: this is Skyrim related because there are Conan mods available here? :wink:

 

Kidding aside. I've started reading the Conan stories by Howard and in the stories I've read so far he's described as having truly a tremendous physique so I have to disagree here. I don't think Arnold has (had) too many muscles for playing Conan.

[Adipose]

Let me guess: this is Skyrim related because there are Conan mods available here? :wink:

 

Kidding aside. I've started reading the Conan stories by Howard and in the stories I've read so far he's described as having truly a tremendous physique so I have to disagree here. I don't think Arnold has (had) too many muscles for playing Conan.

 

Lol! Got it in one. I wasn't kidding about the original illustrations, though I did point out that the pics frequently weren't supported by the text of the books. Between Arnie and Vallejo, Conan's always gonna be a muscle bound tank. Howard didn't actually write all that many when compared to the later books in the series, many of which were written by well established authors in the genre. I'm not at all positive, but I think names like Heinlein or Sprague de Camp got involved. Those are old names now but they were big when I was growing up. Howard also created the character of King Kull. Not a bad read. Rather different approach than we find today.