“All that matters is that two stood against many”. This is also an example of free will because it’s going against odds. Free will controls destiny despite statistics and odds.
The old Conan movies are okay, but the original Rob Howard books are the best. Red Nails is my favorite. And if you like Conan, also check out Bran Mak Morn.
For one brief moment, as Rexor is about to slay Conan, Valeria comes back from the dead in glimmering, silver mail of a Valkyrie. She parries the fatal blow and blinds Rexor, sends her love to Conan, and is then gone just as quickly. Her character is phenomenal and this is absolutely one of the best scenes in the movie that ties her story in a neat little barbarian bow and couched in the lore they've set up for Conan. It was powerful in how succinct this was, and fulfills her claim back to when Conan was resurrected, where she promises to him, "If I were dead and you were still fighting for life, I'd come back from the darkness. Back from the pit of hell to fight at your side."
its from times when they knew how to do badass female characters unlike this woke mary sue era. Valeria saved Conans ass twice in that movie and nobody felt like theyre pushing some wokeism.
Conan's father thought steel was strongest, but he was wrong. Conan realized this when he broke his father's sword in Rexor's hand. Thulsa Doom thought flesh was strongest, but he was wrong. Conan realized this when he resisted Doom's gaze in the final scene. Conan learned through his life of struggles and the victory they brought that one's will is strongest. The Discipline of Steel.
Steel is whatever you can depend on. Something that does not break, doesn't decay, doesn't leave your side. Whether that is your will, or love, or friendship, none of it matters. You must find something dependable and recognize it before the end of your life. Then you will have solved the Riddle of Steel.
Thulsa Doom after he tells Conan that flesh is stronger shows him by having one of his cult women jump of the cliff. The power to control others is the real power I think Thulsa Doom was bragging about. At the end he fails to control/charm Conan who is again reminded that you can trust steel. Its like he had a flashback to when his father told him the riddle of steel. This snaps him out of the trance. He then takes Dooms head.
@@erikolep9450 The final scene showing Conan holding his father's broken sword and Thulsa's severed head in each hand symbolizes them each being wrong. The movie opening with the quote from Nietzsche: "That which does not kill us makes us stronger" was not some accident.
This makes me want to watch this movie again, it's been a very long time since I saw it. If you read Genghis Khan's story you will notice many similarities with Conan's. Before being Genghis Khan, he was named Temudjin and was captured at a young age after his clan fell apart. He was briefly enslaved as a child ( more than once according to certain sources ) and yet managed to unify Mongolia years later. Subotai was the name of his most important general and a good friend of his. Genghis Khan was extremely loyal to his allies just like Conan, he would engage in battles to help them and even gave them all the spoils of war afterwards on occasions. He had a very strong sense of justice and showed no mercy to those who betrayed him and even executed those who betrayed his own enemies. Finally, the famous "lamentation of their women" speech comes from Genghis Khan. Arnold was great as Conan because not only was his physical appearance fitting but he embraced the character fully.
@@TheFlamingPikeI think he was complimenting Conan, remarking how he handled the dangerous weapon with grace and without effort. When faced with men like that, we needed firearms to equalize war. Or else we’d live in fear of these men even today
As young boy pushing the plow in the backyard Saturday morning I was told “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!”
I've always liked William Smith, Conan's father. He was a very versatile actor in spite of the fact that most of his roles were as bad guys, or just the heavy.
@@oldgoat142 I'm not a dad myself, being unromantic and so on it's unlikely, but this is the sort of guy I respect as one. My dad was a bit hopeless in many ways, but never bad.
It's interesting how Conan understands Crom as part of the natural order of things rather than as some great figure to be beseeched for aid. Crom won't offer you help because he doesn't offer help, and that's because that's how he is; there's no use in getting angry about it. Sabuttai saying "what good is he then?" is a question Conan rightfully laughs at - because why _should_ Crom be of use to men?
It's a very ancient way of looking at gods - an idea both Robert Howard and his friend, Howard Lovecraft, liked to play with. In Lovecraft's world the gods are at best uninterested in the pathetic works of mortals, at worst unimaginably hostile. They were best avoided, and the less one knows about them the better. For Lovecraft's men of intellect, catching the smallest understanding of divinity would almost certainly lead to madness. Robert Howard's Conan, by contrast, is a murderous barbarian, very cunning and clever but also superstitious and with a terror of the supernatural. He wants nothing to do with the gods, considering them as fickle and as flawed as he was, and so got by on his own prowess. One can imagine petitioners from the ancient world seeking favor in the same way they might court a great king, but Conan would have none of it. He would one day make himself a king in his own right. And yet, for all his martial prowess and victories, he is like Gilgamesh, faced with the fact that no matter how often he wins, he will one day lose in the end. Nothing can save a mortal from mortality. And so Conan broods....
Almost as if he is just a myth, a metaphor, something to aspire too. Being non-religious myself I see a number of the mythological figures out there in that light.
@@DrCruel Could you perhaps recommend a very specific book/story by HPL that deals specifically with these questions you raise of divinity and madness? The output of both men is so massive one wonders where to start.
The segment from 1:21 to 2:34 is one of the best ecumenical discussions I've ever heard twixt two folk of differing beliefs. Each explains theirs, listens to the other's, and then they continue eating without rancor. Would that the WORLD could do as well, we'd be in a better place. And as for the ultimate prayer, that would be Conan's before the battle of the mounds at 3:11.
2:15 - can you imagine if all religious arguments played out like this one? i.e. "Wow - you make a great point - I guess I have to expand my horizons and question my deepest held beliefs" - we'd have 1000s of years of world peace...
The riddle of steel is about self reliance and not expecting others to help you that you stand on your own feet and that the few gifts granted to you in your life should never make you dependent upon it or others. It’s a common tribal tradition like for my people we have no word for thanks because everything you are given you have earned and no man who’s earned something should have to be thankful to another for giving what was already earned.
@@ariki9797 wrong , it IS will power and to never give up on your goal. Conan was near death/dead, without Valeriya, the Wizard and Sabooti WHO HELPED HIM, he would not accomplish his goal to getting REVENGE!
@@daneoman1000 That's got nothing to do with the riddle of steel which is a cultural story of the mythos related to fantasy cultural group of Cimmerians. The adventures of Conan himself has nothing to do with the riddle of steel that would be like claiming the bible was describing the adventures of Marco Polo.
@@ariki9797 No. It would be more aking to claiming that the bible was describing the adventures of Jesus. While Conan is in the diegesis certainly no messiah, to us the audience he is the window through which we are presented with the world and its mythos, values etc. - the riddle of steel included. I dare say that your answer to the riddle is your cultural insert, rather than something that can be gleamed from the works of Howard, unless you can present a supporting evidence. Tbh that's not something that's meant to degrade you in any way. The magic of books and fiction is to be able to make these personal inserts, to gleam our own personal truth of the presented story. But it will clash if you want to present it to the public consensus. I dare say you should seek to reconcile that and separate the private and public parts so as not to obscure truth from yourself.
Conan's father: the late William Smith, a greatly underrated actor and veteran. His speaking Russian in Red Dawn was from being a trained intelligence officer not from a studio language coach.
Thanks for getting Conan's rough chronology correct . The story takes place at the cusp of the steel age (after the bronze age) and his clan was respected because they had figured out how to forge steel . I saw a vid about Conan recently that blathered on about it being in the 'Medieval ages' and it irked me . They missed the mark by about 2000 years .
Friend Robert Wilson; but I laugh at your irksomenesses’ss when you know not the riddle? Neither you nor this channel nor the supplicants to the tits of the double headed snake of youtube & google truely understand! Tell me the beginning…not the ending! What is the riddle of steel?!
@SerDownOfHouseBad Correct ! It takes place in the late bronze age in and around Mesopotamia because they reference the ancient cities of Ur (Uruk) and Nippur .
@SerDownOfHouseBad Naw , Sumerians are from Sumer in Mesopotamia named as such because that is the language they spoke .That Atlantis observation is interesting , but I think it is meant more to show how old Tulsa Doom was more than the period of the story .
Honestly it's not implausible that someone invented steel that long ago and the technology or knowledge was just lost. Human progress has never been a linear upward movement, so things come, then get lost, then are rediscovered later.
0:01 Full quote: Fire and wind come from the sky, from the gods of the sky. But Crom is your god, Crom and he lives in the earth. Once, giants lived in the Earth, Conan. And in the darkness of chaos, they fooled Crom, and they took from him the enigma of steel. Crom was angered. And the Earth shook. Fire and wind struck down these giants, and they threw their bodies into the waters, but in their rage, the gods forgot the secret of steel and left it on the battlefield. We who found it are just men. Not gods. Not giants. Just men. The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. You must learn its riddle, Conan. You must learn its discipline. For no one - no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts. This you can trust.
The Spanish actor Jorge Sanz, who played the child Conan, says that he arrived late, accompanied by his mother, to the casting of Conan, and that the protagonist of the role had already been decided, but that the casting director, upon seeing him in the room, told him to come in and they gave him a test, and he was finally chosen.
"Even Conan's dad knew way back who not to trust. That got lost along the way." But he was completely wrong. The men, women, and beasts (dogs) of the village all fought against the enemy. Nobody betrayed his trust. But the sword he made was taken and used to kill his wife. The only thing that turned against them was the steel. Not only that, but the steel is what attracted the enemy in the first place.
@@TheMisterGuy Thats what makes the movie cool. Theres a dialectic between 2 conclusions to the riddle of steel, proposed by Thulsa and Conans father, that it is either the hand or the blade that has true power (something we can see today as man vs machine). And it ends on an existential note that it is in fact the spirit/will that has power over both body and tool, but Conan had to go through his adventures to learn that, not just listen to the influences in his life. Its pretty cool that there is that thematic through line
Will. The will to not be broken or defeated. The will to endure. The will makes flesh strong, and by extension of that it is will that makes steel strong. It is by force of will that Conan went from being a slave to eventually becoming a king
From being a slave to having slaves. Changing the title of said slaves doesn't mean they aren't enslaved. I.E. indentured servants, plebs, serfs..etc..
@@lastofthebest5102 It's in your own speech. You can be king of slaves and be a slave still, you are either the most refined or their champion. What matters is the cast. I think people get caught up on the term king as say, the penultimate figure before godhood. As if to say that because you were proposed the crown, it keeps you from having to wipe after yourself. Again, to _be_ a king is to represent something people can get behind, whether it be gold or blood. In the same respect, there are many terms for it as well- mayor, governor, lord. The last being closest to a sovereign and not just a duty Belzebub, literally ruler of flies. It's a designator of someone who can't hold living men, but has many of their corpses to rule over
Every character got the riddle of steel wrong, Conan's dad thought it was the steel itself, Thulsa Doom thought it was the flesh that wielded it, many think the concusion of the movie shows its the will and intention rather than the flesh or the metal, but thats not the answer either. Steel on its own is a lump of metal, flesh without intention will never lift the sword and all the will in the world is nothing without the physical capacity, followers or tools to act on it. The true answer to the riddle is the combination of all three, the will to pursue a course of action, the physical capacity to carry it out and the tools to enable that action to be successful.
@@tonbog1053 From the black isles was brought spices and herbs and a secret breading for which to season yon chicken here for with thou doest. So sayeth the great god kentuckomog.
The small conversation between Conan and Sabutai might be my favorite scene. Just two newly met people sharing a meal, and having a jab at each others gods without conflict
Funny how they wrote a scene where two strong theives/ killers could sit down over a meal and talk religion without killing each other buy in the real world much weaker men & women can't talk religion, politics or sexuality without being canceled or start an argument.
its strange it wasn't but in 2018 I was doing this with convicts republicans and ect as a liberal dem now after 2020 the dems can't even talk about censorship they just shut you down and call you a right winger even if you've been on the left since 8
@@roderickarnold1412 How is that Stalinesque? If anything it's about as anti-Stalin, a man who removed means from so many for political and ideological reasons no matter what ideology he claimed to follow (it certainly wasn't Marxism if we go by how Marx defined it and how Stalin acted to disenfranchise and oppress the people), as you can get. It's the attitude of someone who would fight against Stalinism or any authority that tried to disenfranchise one's family and community.
When you learn what Oliver stone wrote for this script and how a lot of it was thrown out (for good reason), you will recognize what a miracle this movie really is. A triumph of filmmaking.
Ironically, when Rexor fights Conan at the end, using the sword his father makes in the opening credits and which he points to in the monologue, it breaks, allowing Conan to kill him. So, he actually couldn't trust it.
You got it right my man, the riddle of steel didn't apply to his sword, it applied to his friends who are far greater than a piece of steel ever could be
could look at this way, you can trust the sword since the sword is Conan's by birthright and it failed on purpose to allow Conan to be victorious. The sword was his ally and never betrayed him.
I was a member of a re-encactment society and spoke to members who made our weapons and I do not think swords of that type were meant to smashed into each other more stabbing and hacking.
And then... Conan resolve the riddle of steel, transforming the steel into a partnership with James Cameron and steel skeletons with lots of economic proffits in every franchise lmao.
I did a 4 year boilermaker apprenticeship on the wheel…. errrr sorry radial overhead stack-plate drill…of pain back in the 80’s then went on to work as a blacksmith for a time… I know the answer to the riddle
Father was saying that Conan can trust his own work. A man can place his trust in what he has wrought. It happens to be a steel sword. Place not your trust in overseas industries.
Valeria was a True Babe, she was heartbroken by Conan and still saved him from Crucifixion, AND warded off the demons during the healing process, AND Valkrie status?! Say no more.
It requires flesh to wield it. Without Steel, flesh can still survive and struggle. Without Flesh, steel just sits there and can do nothing. You respect steel and it will never let you down. It will always be at your side. If you take steel for granted it can become weak and brittle. When Flesh and Steel come together respectfully, a man can achieve whatever he desires. For good, or for bad.
But Crom DID listen, and Conan did smite his enemies with great vengeance, drinking their blood, and feasting upon the flesh of their women and children... WAIT, NO CONAN, THAT'S TOO FAR! DAIL IT BACK, BRO, PLEASE?!!
"I've seen guns fail. I've seen swords fail. I want something that won't fail"--Jim Bowie, _The Iron Mistress_ , 1950 novel by Paul Wellman. 1952 movie with Alan Ladd.
This movie is a masterpiece, and if you do not think so, THEN THE HELL WITH YOU!!!!!
"The gods grant us life and free will. Everything else is up to us." -- Conan (book version).
“All that matters is that two stood against many”. This is also an example of free will because it’s going against odds. Free will controls destiny despite statistics and odds.
@Harupert Beagleton What if I program free will into it? Check mate, pal.
The old Conan movies are okay, but the original Rob Howard books are the best. Red Nails is my favorite. And if you like Conan, also check out Bran Mak Morn.
@@robinfrederick3020 Bran Mak Morn kicks immense ass and is way more interesting than I expected
@@Rhugor Robert E. Howard is an incredibly underrated writer despite so many knowing adaptions of Conan, few know or read the originals.
One of the best movies and absolutely the best soundtrack ever
By far one of the best fantasy barbian movies of all time. never gets old
Peak Arnold. Who else could have done it?
I don't even know how they made these kinds of movies.
They are almost magical.
THE best barbarian movie. In the top 5 action films of all time. This one was lightning in a bottle.
For one brief moment, as Rexor is about to slay Conan, Valeria comes back from the dead in glimmering, silver mail of a Valkyrie. She parries the fatal blow and blinds Rexor, sends her love to Conan, and is then gone just as quickly.
Her character is phenomenal and this is absolutely one of the best scenes in the movie that ties her story in a neat little barbarian bow and couched in the lore they've set up for Conan.
It was powerful in how succinct this was, and fulfills her claim back to when Conan was resurrected, where she promises to him, "If I were dead and you were still fighting for life, I'd come back from the darkness. Back from the pit of hell to fight at your side."
simp
I had the goosies
That story is as beautiful as it is savage.
Was dope
its from times when they knew how to do badass female characters unlike this woke mary sue era. Valeria saved Conans ass twice in that movie and nobody felt like theyre pushing some wokeism.
"And if you do not listen, then to hell with you!"
I need to start ending my prayers like this, not like they ever worked anyway.
That was when Crom turned to Valeria and was like, "Ok, I like this man! If he needs help, he gets ONE MOMENT of aid."
Conan's father thought steel was strongest, but he was wrong. Conan realized this when he broke his father's sword in Rexor's hand.
Thulsa Doom thought flesh was strongest, but he was wrong. Conan realized this when he resisted Doom's gaze in the final scene.
Conan learned through his life of struggles and the victory they brought that one's will is strongest. The Discipline of Steel.
Word
Steel is whatever you can depend on. Something that does not break, doesn't decay, doesn't leave your side. Whether that is your will, or love, or friendship, none of it matters. You must find something dependable and recognize it before the end of your life. Then you will have solved the Riddle of Steel.
Thulsa Doom after he tells Conan that flesh is stronger shows him by having one of his cult women jump of the cliff. The power to control others is the real power I think Thulsa Doom was bragging about. At the end he fails to control/charm Conan who is again reminded that you can trust steel. Its like he had a flashback to when his father told him the riddle of steel. This snaps him out of the trance. He then takes Dooms head.
@@erikolep9450 The final scene showing Conan holding his father's broken sword and Thulsa's severed head in each hand symbolizes them each being wrong.
The movie opening with the quote from Nietzsche: "That which does not kill us makes us stronger" was not some accident.
@@brized Ok I never noticed that until now....good point/understanding symbols
There isnt a man who doesnt get goosebumps from this.
nor woman
@@SamusKerrigan hear their lamentations
This makes me want to watch this movie again, it's been a very long time since I saw it. If you read Genghis Khan's story you will notice many similarities with Conan's. Before being Genghis Khan, he was named Temudjin and was captured at a young age after his clan fell apart. He was briefly enslaved as a child ( more than once according to certain sources ) and yet managed to unify Mongolia years later. Subotai was the name of his most important general and a good friend of his. Genghis Khan was extremely loyal to his allies just like Conan, he would engage in battles to help them and even gave them all the spoils of war afterwards on occasions. He had a very strong sense of justice and showed no mercy to those who betrayed him and even executed those who betrayed his own enemies. Finally, the famous "lamentation of their women" speech comes from Genghis Khan.
Arnold was great as Conan because not only was his physical appearance fitting but he embraced the character fully.
Yup. The "lament" segment was right out of the "Secret History of the Mongols". Literally.
Conan also freely quotes Genghis Khan, when answering the question what is best in life
And when you see Schwarzenegger wielding that sword like it was a cheer leader's baton you begin to understand why firearms were invented.
@@minarchist1776 You go ahead and make a video showing us how it's done, champ.
@@TheFlamingPikeI think he was complimenting Conan, remarking how he handled the dangerous weapon with grace and without effort. When faced with men like that, we needed firearms to equalize war. Or else we’d live in fear of these men even today
As young boy pushing the plow in the backyard Saturday morning I was told “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!”
Still one of the most epic movie openings of all time.
I've always liked William Smith, Conan's father. He was a very versatile actor in spite of the fact that most of his roles were as bad guys, or just the heavy.
And he plays a legitimately good dad in this.
@@TheGroundedAviator Yes he does.
@@oldgoat142 The sort we all hope to be.
@@TheGroundedAviator Absolutely, and that is done one day at a time, because you won't get that day back.
@@oldgoat142 I'm not a dad myself, being unromantic and so on it's unlikely, but this is the sort of guy I respect as one.
My dad was a bit hopeless in many ways, but never bad.
You know you're a badass when a young Aku was your chronicler.
🤣 very nice 👍
Wow, I didn't remember how incredibly epic and beautiful this movie was.
I know! It really drags you in. There's something that pulls at me everytime I give it a watch.
It's interesting how Conan understands Crom as part of the natural order of things rather than as some great figure to be beseeched for aid. Crom won't offer you help because he doesn't offer help, and that's because that's how he is; there's no use in getting angry about it. Sabuttai saying "what good is he then?" is a question Conan rightfully laughs at - because why _should_ Crom be of use to men?
It's a very ancient way of looking at gods - an idea both Robert Howard and his friend, Howard Lovecraft, liked to play with. In Lovecraft's world the gods are at best uninterested in the pathetic works of mortals, at worst unimaginably hostile. They were best avoided, and the less one knows about them the better. For Lovecraft's men of intellect, catching the smallest understanding of divinity would almost certainly lead to madness. Robert Howard's Conan, by contrast, is a murderous barbarian, very cunning and clever but also superstitious and with a terror of the supernatural. He wants nothing to do with the gods, considering them as fickle and as flawed as he was, and so got by on his own prowess. One can imagine petitioners from the ancient world seeking favor in the same way they might court a great king, but Conan would have none of it. He would one day make himself a king in his own right.
And yet, for all his martial prowess and victories, he is like Gilgamesh, faced with the fact that no matter how often he wins, he will one day lose in the end. Nothing can save a mortal from mortality. And so Conan broods....
@@DrCruel Well said.
And yet Crom sends the girl back to aid him.
Almost as if he is just a myth, a metaphor, something to aspire too. Being non-religious myself I see a number of the mythological figures out there in that light.
@@DrCruel Could you perhaps recommend a very specific book/story by HPL that deals specifically with these questions you raise of divinity and madness? The output of both men is so massive one wonders where to start.
That movie is so much deeper and better than people do give credit to it.
Why don't they make movies like this anymore 😕
🇮🇱🤔
And great soundtracks like the one that Basil Ponederous (sp)?? wrote for this movie
@@JOECURR1488 yes they have controlled this industry pretty much since it first started among banking media and so on
@@nelliethursday1812 the music sets the tone for the film...if it doesn't work than neither does the movie...you ever see the wall?
@@courtneygillespie no I haven't seen the wall do you recommend that i do i am always looking for a good movie
The segment from 1:21 to 2:34 is one of the best ecumenical discussions I've ever heard twixt two folk of differing beliefs. Each explains theirs, listens to the other's, and then they continue eating without rancor. Would that the WORLD could do as well, we'd be in a better place. And as for the ultimate prayer, that would be Conan's before the battle of the mounds at 3:11.
2:15 - can you imagine if all religious arguments played out like this one? i.e. "Wow - you make a great point - I guess I have to expand my horizons and question my deepest held beliefs" - we'd have 1000s of years of world peace...
I've watched this movie more than 30 times and still love it. Not one second wasted.
Krom let her come back from Valhalla for one more fight. Well played, Krom, well played.
“Her?”😂 what a simp….
@@MrJackal43 The official term is "girlie man." Go get some strudel for your waifu, girlie man.
"Her" is Valeria you morons. Crom has most excellent taste in valkyries.
@@williambodin5359 Her? hehehe couldn't help myself
@@MrJackal43 it's MAM!
Steel rusts.
Flesh ages.
But nothing diminishes Will.
how about a nice little piece of alzheimers?
@@janbernad4729 Or torture. Or depression.
Years of relentless torture, might.
Except despair. Yeah... went too soon too far...
Will diminishes as you age, so nah.
One of my all time favorite movies. Top 5 for sure.
Such a brilliant movie! Such great scenes!
Flesh grows weak, steel becomes brittle, but the will is indomitable....
The answer to the riddler. Will power is the true strength. It makes you fight even when steel and flesh has been broken.
and powers a pretty green ring . . ..
The riddle of steel is about self reliance and not expecting others to help you that you stand on your own feet and that the few gifts granted to you in your life should never make you dependent upon it or others. It’s a common tribal tradition like for my people we have no word for thanks because everything you are given you have earned and no man who’s earned something should have to be thankful to another for giving what was already earned.
@@ariki9797 wrong , it IS will power and to never give up on your goal. Conan was near death/dead, without Valeriya, the Wizard and Sabooti WHO HELPED HIM, he would not accomplish his goal to getting REVENGE!
@@daneoman1000 That's got nothing to do with the riddle of steel which is a cultural story of the mythos related to fantasy cultural group of Cimmerians. The adventures of Conan himself has nothing to do with the riddle of steel that would be like claiming the bible was describing the adventures of Marco Polo.
@@ariki9797 No. It would be more aking to claiming that the bible was describing the adventures of Jesus. While Conan is in the diegesis certainly no messiah, to us the audience he is the window through which we are presented with the world and its mythos, values etc. - the riddle of steel included.
I dare say that your answer to the riddle is your cultural insert, rather than something that can be gleamed from the works of Howard, unless you can present a supporting evidence.
Tbh that's not something that's meant to degrade you in any way. The magic of books and fiction is to be able to make these personal inserts, to gleam our own personal truth of the presented story. But it will clash if you want to present it to the public consensus. I dare say you should seek to reconcile that and separate the private and public parts so as not to obscure truth from yourself.
After all these years... that line "Do you want to live forever?" lives with me and in me. The answer is no, but, I'm enjoying living now.
1:06 "...This you can trust."
That is why I endeavor to always have a sword at my side. My trusty sword!
Conan's father: the late William Smith, a greatly underrated actor and veteran. His speaking Russian in Red Dawn was from being a trained intelligence officer not from a studio language coach.
Conan, what is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of their women. 🗡️
Oh my god I cried at the end of this movie. This is a true masterpiece in my opinion.
Thanks for getting Conan's rough chronology correct . The story takes place at the cusp of the steel age (after the bronze age) and his clan was respected because they had figured out how to forge steel . I saw a vid about Conan recently that blathered on about it being in the 'Medieval ages' and it irked me . They missed the mark by about 2000 years .
Friend Robert Wilson; but I laugh at your irksomenesses’ss when you know not the riddle? Neither you nor this channel nor the supplicants to the tits of the double headed snake of youtube & google truely understand! Tell me the beginning…not the ending! What is the riddle of steel?!
@SerDownOfHouseBad Correct ! It takes place in the late bronze age in and around Mesopotamia because they reference the ancient cities of Ur (Uruk) and Nippur .
@SerDownOfHouseBad Naw , Sumerians are from Sumer in Mesopotamia named as such because that is the language they spoke .That Atlantis observation is interesting , but I think it is meant more to show how old Tulsa Doom was more than the period of the story .
Honestly it's not implausible that someone invented steel that long ago and the technology or knowledge was just lost. Human progress has never been a linear upward movement, so things come, then get lost, then are rediscovered later.
@SerDownOfHouseBad Conan is a Cimmerian, not a Sumerian
The riddle of steel is having balls of steel to wield it. This you can trust.
0:01 Full quote:
Fire and wind come from the sky, from the gods of the sky. But Crom is your god, Crom and he lives in the earth. Once, giants lived in the Earth, Conan. And in the darkness of chaos, they fooled Crom, and they took from him the enigma of steel. Crom was angered. And the Earth shook. Fire and wind struck down these giants, and they threw their bodies into the waters, but in their rage, the gods forgot the secret of steel and left it on the battlefield. We who found it are just men. Not gods. Not giants. Just men. The secret of steel has always carried with it a mystery. You must learn its riddle, Conan. You must learn its discipline. For no one - no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts.
This you can trust.
The way he looks at his father is how any son should to a great father
Killer movie. I read the books, this movie is not the books but true to the course.
"Do you want to live forever?"
Yes, getting old is a bit disconcerting.
You have the same line in starship troopers...also the same music composer
@@idan_R Actually it was first attributed to Sergeant Major Daniel Daly at the Battle of Belleau Wood in 1918.
'MacCloued! There can be only one!"
"I'D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR!!!"
The Spanish actor Jorge Sanz, who played the child Conan, says that he arrived late, accompanied by his mother, to the casting of Conan, and that the protagonist of the role had already been decided, but that the casting director, upon seeing him in the room, told him to come in and they gave him a test, and he was finally chosen.
@@brettsoyars4341 I guess you have no idea what Spain is like: we are white . . .
Even Conan's dad knew way back who not to trust. That got lost along the way.
Yes now we let those furry beasts into our homes
"Even Conan's dad knew way back who not to trust. That got lost along the way."
But he was completely wrong. The men, women, and beasts (dogs) of the village all fought against the enemy. Nobody betrayed his trust. But the sword he made was taken and used to kill his wife. The only thing that turned against them was the steel. Not only that, but the steel is what attracted the enemy in the first place.
@@TheMisterGuy Thats what makes the movie cool. Theres a dialectic between 2 conclusions to the riddle of steel, proposed by Thulsa and Conans father, that it is either the hand or the blade that has true power (something we can see today as man vs machine).
And it ends on an existential note that it is in fact the spirit/will that has power over both body and tool, but Conan had to go through his adventures to learn that, not just listen to the influences in his life.
Its pretty cool that there is that thematic through line
Two pagan barbarians having a theological debate while feasting on an animal they killed over an open fire with bare hands is the greatest thing ever.
Will. The will to not be broken or defeated. The will to endure. The will makes flesh strong, and by extension of that it is will that makes steel strong. It is by force of will that Conan went from being a slave to eventually becoming a king
From being a slave to having slaves. Changing the title of said slaves doesn't mean they aren't enslaved. I.E. indentured servants, plebs, serfs..etc..
correct!
@@lastofthebest5102 It's in your own speech. You can be king of slaves and be a slave still, you are either the most refined or their champion. What matters is the cast.
I think people get caught up on the term king as say, the penultimate figure before godhood. As if to say that because you were proposed the crown, it keeps you from having to wipe after yourself.
Again, to _be_ a king is to represent something people can get behind, whether it be gold or blood. In the same respect, there are many terms for it as well- mayor, governor, lord. The last being closest to a sovereign and not just a duty
Belzebub, literally ruler of flies. It's a designator of someone who can't hold living men, but has many of their corpses to rule over
Crom bids you entry to Valhalla
Will makes flesh strong
Will gives life to steel
That child actor is a flawless casting of a young Arnie.
_”……and if you disagree…..den da HELL with you!”_
"HA! CROM LAUGHS AT YOUR FOUR WINDS!"
I miss movies like this!
sabbuttai and conan - their conversation is a slow realization. with the sky in the background, crom, the god of the sky - they both share one domain
May Crom welcome James Earl Jones today on 9/9/24.
JAMES EARL JONES you gigantic chad
Every character got the riddle of steel wrong, Conan's dad thought it was the steel itself, Thulsa Doom thought it was the flesh that wielded it, many think the concusion of the movie shows its the will and intention rather than the flesh or the metal, but thats not the answer either. Steel on its own is a lump of metal, flesh without intention will never lift the sword and all the will in the world is nothing without the physical capacity, followers or tools to act on it. The true answer to the riddle is the combination of all three, the will to pursue a course of action, the physical capacity to carry it out and the tools to enable that action to be successful.
Crom is like the dad that watches as his kid shoves a fork in a light socket.
RIP William "Big Bill" Smith. Veteran, bodybuilder, professional actor, OG badass!
Greatest film ever made.
0:51 "We're just ... normal men. We're just innocent men!"
I pray to THEE God, loved this scene, stuck with me since being a little skrot.
That kid actually could pass for a young Arnold
That kid was mesmerized by the old mans acting all he had to do was let his natural feelings flow. Made for a great scene.
You could see how this was a great influence for Games Workshop when they were creating Warhammer. Then they killed it with Age of Sigmar.
End Times never happened for me~
And AoS is awesome.
Im sure Conan could get along with the Darkoath
Note how there are Chaos Warriors in this?
That reflexion of no one remembering who was good and bad is the the sad speech of people who are just unjustifiable.
I still get chills when Valeria makes makes her spectral intercession.
Basil poledouris composed an epic soundtrack for an epic movie
2:48 inspired me to say "yes" this exact way when responding in the affirmative
Well ok but tell us many times you caught a punch in the mouth immediately thereafter. 😃
Still the perfect movie!
Bellissimo questo freme Conan piccolo mi ricorda me con mio padre che non c'è più rip🙏
Ah the riddle of steel. But roast chicken that tastes good? That is the greatest riddle.
One must ask Krom for these ways of the chicken
@@tonbog1053 From the black isles was brought spices and herbs and a secret breading for which to season yon chicken here for with thou doest. So sayeth the great god kentuckomog.
Hunger is the best of all spices.
I still love it when he tells Crom “to hell with you”
For some reason I just really like 1:54. Him saying "If" I die as opposed to when.
great opening.....father son talk....
The father son moment always makes me wanna quit my job and be a steelsmith
This was so well done.
As to trusting Steel ... yes - his father's sword broke - but - even broken - he killed people with it.
.
Valeria!! Odins.Valkyrie! Crom!!!! Crom under the.Earth/Tartarus!!.
1:05-1:19 My brother and I would always recite this part to each other.
"Flesh is Stronger" -- Darth Vader
He was bred to the finest stock of women
Well, he was quite a sword swinger so there's that going for him!
The small conversation between Conan and Sabutai might be my favorite scene. Just two newly met people sharing a meal, and having a jab at each others gods without conflict
I've always told my chidden....."not beasts, not gods not this!" Believe in yourself and you will overcome!
Funny how they wrote a scene where two strong theives/ killers could sit down over a meal and talk religion without killing each other buy in the real world much weaker men & women can't talk religion, politics or sexuality without being canceled or start an argument.
If someone's religion or politics is based on the deprivation of means to those who I love, I will not be peaceful with them.
@@casacara and that's the reason why mankind is doomed.
its strange it wasn't but in 2018 I was doing this with convicts republicans and ect as a liberal dem now after 2020 the dems can't even talk about censorship they just shut you down and call you a right winger even if you've been on the left since 8
@@casacara Okay, Stalin
@@roderickarnold1412
How is that Stalinesque? If anything it's about as anti-Stalin, a man who removed means from so many for political and ideological reasons no matter what ideology he claimed to follow (it certainly wasn't Marxism if we go by how Marx defined it and how Stalin acted to disenfranchise and oppress the people), as you can get. It's the attitude of someone who would fight against Stalinism or any authority that tried to disenfranchise one's family and community.
This movie makes my heart swoon.
For those who know, Conan is about much more than just medieval fantasy.
It was actually in the time before BC not medieval times. Just after the Bronze Age.
When you learn what Oliver stone wrote for this script and how a lot of it was thrown out (for good reason), you will recognize what a miracle this movie really is. A triumph of filmmaking.
Two people stand against many that's all that matters whether we're good or bad
1:22 onwards……now that’s the way to have a civilised and good natured theological debate 😂
I Heard this theory about trust early in my younger life . After 40+ years I can say with confidence .... steel can betray you also .
Ironically, when Rexor fights Conan at the end, using the sword his father makes in the opening credits and which he points to in the monologue, it breaks, allowing Conan to kill him. So, he actually couldn't trust it.
_Conan_ could trust it.
You got it right my man, the riddle of steel didn't apply to his sword, it applied to his friends who are far greater than a piece of steel ever could be
@@leadfarmer4058 And, according to Thulsa Doom, it also applies to a cult of mind-controlled thralls who will kill themselves upon command.
could look at this way, you can trust the sword since the sword is Conan's by birthright and it failed on purpose to allow Conan to be victorious. The sword was his ally and never betrayed him.
I was a member of a re-encactment society and spoke to members who made our weapons and I do not think swords of that type were meant to smashed into each other more stabbing and hacking.
And then... Conan resolve the riddle of steel, transforming the steel into a partnership with James Cameron and steel skeletons with lots of economic proffits in every franchise lmao.
I did a 4 year boilermaker apprenticeship on the wheel…. errrr sorry radial overhead stack-plate drill…of pain back in the 80’s then went on to work as a blacksmith for a time… I know the answer to the riddle
Valeria: “The odds aren’t in his favor. Can I go back and help him?”
Crom: “Yeah go ahead. Why not? This is one helluva battle!”
Great scenes... should read the original books... great movie
Well yea I do, WITH YOU ! XD
awh those were the more enjoyable times for their rhythm and simplicity ;)
Father was saying that Conan can trust his own work. A man can place his trust in what he has wrought. It happens to be a steel sword. Place not your trust in overseas industries.
Valeria was a True Babe, she was heartbroken by Conan and still saved him from Crucifixion, AND warded off the demons during the healing process, AND Valkrie status?! Say no more.
It requires flesh to wield it. Without Steel, flesh can still survive and struggle. Without Flesh, steel just sits there and can do nothing. You respect steel and it will never let you down. It will always be at your side. If you take steel for granted it can become weak and brittle. When Flesh and Steel come together respectfully, a man can achieve whatever he desires. For good, or for bad.
I love how Conans father taught him self reliance
I wish that everyone could have a father that teaches like this …
But Crom DID listen, and Conan did smite his enemies with great vengeance, drinking their blood, and feasting upon the flesh of their women and children... WAIT, NO CONAN, THAT'S TOO FAR! DAIL IT BACK, BRO, PLEASE?!!
Haha
Lol🤣 It's okay, Mr. Henderson. I get the gist of what you're saying
"What is best in life ... "
@@DrCruel To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
@@redpyramid9697 Not as easy to achieve that American Dream as it used to be. We don't even know what a woman is anymore.
"I've seen guns fail. I've seen swords fail. I want something that won't fail"--Jim Bowie, _The Iron Mistress_ , 1950 novel by Paul Wellman. 1952 movie with Alan Ladd.
"No man must die without his body reached the maximum beauty and perfection that exercise and discipline can provide"
- Greek proverb.
ah yes charles manson passing down his sage wisdom to a young t-5000
This started everything
I love this bit. This is in the intro to the punk song "riddle of the steel" by Zig Zags
That was the time when the Austrian Steiermark dialect made its mark on the international movie scene. 🤣😂
its such a good monologue that everyone ignores the dog shit blue screen of the sky