Barbarian Hero: Difference between revisions

[[File:00016634 7324.jpg|link=Conan the Barbarian|frame|Enemies crushed? Check. Driven before you? Check. Lamentations of their women? Check.]]

 

 

[[Loin Cloth|Loin cloths]], [[Heroic Build|taut rippling muscles]], oiled back, [[BFS|impressive weapons]], [[Beard of Barbarism|the beard of a grizzly bear.]]

Part [[Truth in Television]] before modern age, [[Right for the Wrong Reasons|for less than intuitive reasons]]: usually "civilized" urban classes, despite having guaranteed access to better food, schooling and military training, suffered dearly for other flaws of lesser affluent societies than ours. Such as inbreeding pushed to ridiculous levels from King (out of choice) to commoners (out of lack of affordable transport to seek a mate outside village or city) and chronic diseases due to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions (like tuberculosis, dysenteria or skin diseases). The barbarian might have had a nasty, brutish and short life due to everyday violence and the need to provide for himself in face of danger, but at least he was far from everyday filth and crowding.

 

 

 

 

* Guts from ''[[Berserk]]'' definitely has a lot of Conan in him, especially in his younger days (Griffith has more than a little [[The Elric Saga|Elric of Melnibone]] in ''him'', thus covering the whole spectrum). [[Word of God]] is that Guts is more directly based on Rutger Hauer's character in the movie ''[[Flesh and Blood]]'' (more mercenary than barbarian). Either way, [[Unstoppable Rage|don't piss him off if you value your life]].

** Conan more often than not ''was'' a mercenary, so it's not like you can't have two for the price of one.

 

* [[Red Sonja]]

* [[Claw The Unconquered]]

* A monologue describing Marv in ''[[Sin City]]'' mentions he'd probably be right at home in a role like this. Unfortunately, Marv had the rotten luck of being [[Born in the Wrong Century]] where barely civilized, gigantic muscled men with honour codes and propensities for violence are in less demand.

** Also, Frank Miller himself has described Marv as "Conan in a trench coat", making him a rare modern-era barbarian hero.

 

* D'Leh from ''[[10,000 BC]]''.

* Amathea (Lana Clarkson) from ''Barbarian Queen'', but not in the sequel.

* ''[[Yor, the Hunter from the Future]]''. [[Crowning Music of Awesome|He's the MAAAAA-AAN!]]

* Dar from ''[[The Beastmaster]]''.

 

* There's a lot of these in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'':

** Cohen the Barbarian is a [[Deconstruction]]: as he was never defeated but also can't hold down a steady job as king of any of the kingdoms he conquered, is still barbarian hero-ing [[Badass Grandpa|in his eighties]]. His Silver Horde included an eclectic bunch of [[Badass Grandpa|ancient-but-still-mighty]] warriors, and an aged geography teacher.

** Nijel the Destroyer, who is over six feet of rippling skin and bone with long underwear under his loincloth.

** The entire race of Nac Mac Feegle, with the possible exceptions of the [[Warrior Poet|gonnagle]] and the [[Team Mom|kelda]].

** There's even a [[Bad Guy Bar|bar]] for them in Ankh-Morpork, where [[Bar Brawl|brawls]] have a scoring system, and calling yourself "[Name] the Invincible" is [[Tempting Fate|considered a form of suicide]].

* [[Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser|Fafhrd]] in Fritz Leiber's stories, although he's kind of a subversion since he was trained as a skald (a singer of poetry) among the [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] of Vikings he came from and thus has a higher voice and more sensitivity than most of these characters.

* Grignr from ''[[The Eye of Argon]]'' (if we use a rather loose definition of 'literature'.)

* Almost every [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Alom]] feudal lord in Yulia Latynina's Wei Empire cycle. Especially from the Whitefalcon line, which gives us two especially awesome and Badass Barbarian Heroes - Marbod Whitefalcon in "100 Fields" (who once slaughtered the population of a castle from ''the inside'', while unarmed and ''naked'') and Kissur Whitefalcon (see the [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] entry under literature) in "Wizards and Ministers" and "the Insider".

* [[Beowulf]] from both the myths and [[The Movie]], although he's actually relatively civilised and wears lots of pretty armour.

* ''The Death Dealer'', a novel series based on a series of [[Frank Frazetta]] paintings.

* Speaking of [[Frank Frazetta]], the 'modern' depiction of barbarian hero with rippling muscles and oily long hair is essentially his creation, [http://frankfrazetta.org/viewimage.php?loc=frank_frazetta_thebarbarian.jpg especially thanks to a cover he painted for Robert E. Howard's Conan], copied and/or referenced often by many others afterwards.

* Parodied, like so many other Fantasy tropes, in [[Mary Gentle]]'s ''[[Grunts!]]''. Lord Blond Wolf, is a northern barbarian; complete with wolf-fur boots and cloak, huge blond braids and a [[BFS|really big]] [[An Axe to Grind|axe]]. However, he's only 2' 7".

 

* ''[[BeastMaster]]''

* Heracles from [[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'', and Xena from ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]''.

 

* [[Manowar]] loves this trope.

* [[Rhapsody of Fire]] has the Nordic Warrior in their Emerald Sword Saga.

 

* [[Older Than Dirt]]: Enkidu from ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh]]''. Even Gilgamesh qualifies (despite not technically being a "barbarian" since he came from what was then the most civilized culture on Earth—which wasn't very, back then), especially when he goes out on his [[Walking the Earth|wilderness journey]].

* [[Greek Mythology|Heracles]]. (Though as with Gilgamesh it's worth remembering that as the [[Half-Human Hybrid|son of Zeus]] and Queen Alcmene of Thebes he has a civilized background in the myths. He ends up wearing the skin of the Nemean Lion later in life not just because it looks cool, but because it's arguably better armor than he could get otherwise.) But he carries a club instead of a blade.

* Arguably [[Badass Israeli|Samson]], one of the [[The Bible|Judges of Israel]]. Among his exploits were killing lots of enemies bare-handed, ripping apart a lion bare-handed (and then eating the honey of the bees that took up residence in the carcass of said lion), burning down enemy fields by tying torches to the tails of foxes, killing hundreds of Philistines with just the jawbone of an ass (and then dropping a Bond-style one-liner immediately afterward), picking up the gates of an enemy city and just walking off with them, and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|finally]], [[Redemption Equals Death|collapsing a heathen temple, killing hundreds of Philistines along with himself as one final act of holy badassery.]]

 

** In 4th Edition Barbarian is one of the "Primal" classes, making it more spiritual in nature, as well as giving some "magical" gimmicks; a high level barbarian may literally turn into a ''volcano''.

* As ''[[Exalted]]'' is [[Trope Overdosed]], there must of course be examples of this. The most prominent is Yurgen Kaneko, the Bull of the North. Yurgen was an old barbarian warlord who followed the ways of his people and walked out into a snowstorm when it became clear he was getting too old for the battlefield... and while out there, he was chosen by the Unconquered Sun to be one of his great heroes and kick ass in his name. Right now, he's currently giving the Realm one hell of a hard time defending its holdings.

** First Edition suggested that the vast, ''vast'' majority of [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|Lunars]] were such heroes, devoted to smashing the pillars of decadent civilization and bringing humanity back into the toughened fold of the world. [[Fanon Discontinuity|This did not meet with much popularity]], so it merely became ''a'' option for Lunars trying to find an alternative to the extant model of society (and it says a bit that the signature Lunar who's biggest on barbarism, Ma-Ha-Suchi, is just using his "experiment" as a reason to get back at the world 'cause he's not the prettiest anymore).

* ''Barbarians of Lemuria'' lives by this trope.

 

* ''[[Rastan]]'' is one of the most well-known and archetypical arcade examples, though there are plenty more.

* Both Player Characters in ''[[Magic Sword]]'', although Player 1 (Alan) moreso.

** To be fair, 99% of what the Black Whirlwind does is apparently done under the influence.

* Many [[Atari ST]] games in the late '80s and early '90s had barbarian protagonists, with ''Targhan'', ''Torvak the Warrior'', and ''[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Barbarian]]'' being prime examples.

** Subverted in the case of [[Castlevania: Lords of Shadow|Gabriel Belmont]]. He was originally intended as one, but Hideo Kojima advised the production team to refine him to appeal to players better.

* Minsc from the ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' series.

* Gogan, from ''[[The Legendary Axe]]'' for the [[TurboGrafx-16]].

* Played with in ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years]]'': The Man In Black is a toweringly ''huge'' man, [[Lightning Bruiser|very strong with very high HP]], [[Heroic Build|extremely muscular]], a [[Badass Long Hair]], who wears only a [[Man in a Kilt|kilt]] [[Walking Shirtless Scene|and cowl]] and wields a [[BFS]]—heck, said BFS is even called the [[Shout-Out|Cimmerian]] [[Conan the Barbarian|Blade]]. However, since he is also {{spoiler|Golbez, [[Anti-Villain]] of the previous game and Cecil's brother}}, he is [[Genius Bruiser|extremely intelligent]], [[Magic Knight|highly proficient in magic]], and at heart a [[Nice Guy|very good man]].

* In the 1987 side-scrolling fighting game ''Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior'' the player controls a barbarian hero on a quest to save a beautiful princess from an evil wizard.

* Ax Battler from ''[[Golden Axe]]'', with [[expy]]s Stern Blade in ''Revenge of Death Adder'' and Kain Grinder in ''Golden Axe III''.

* Barbarian is a playable class in the MMORPG ''[[Age of Conan]]''. Interestingly, this game makes the barbarian a rogue class with stealth skills rather than a brawling warrior archetype like most games do, as Conan was a thief in a lot of his stories.

* Rose Sub in ''[[Trio the Punch]]'' is practically a [[Captain Ersatz]] of Rastan.

 

* The short-lived ''Barbarian Moron'' series, pretty much [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].

 

* In ''[[American Barbarian]]'', the title hero and his family.

* In ''[[Exiern]]'' Typhon-Knee was a typical loin cloth wearing, sword-swinging, over muscled, misogynistic barbarian hero and fully committed to living down to the stereotype. However in the first few panels of the strip a run-in with the [[Card-Carrying Villain|Evil Wizard]] Faden gave him a [[Gender Bender]] and now as Tiffany she is struggling to reconcile her views of women and previous adventuring with her new state. It does seem that being a woman has bumped her IQ up a few points though.

 

* Parodied in ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]'', where the main character is a wimp (with a wimpy name) and prefers not to fight, though the image is accurate.

** Played straighter with his little sister Fang. Who is not a monkey!

* ''[[Thundarr the Barbarian]]''.

* Darkwolf in ''[[Fire and Ice (animation)|Fire and Ice]]'' is a straight example of the trope.

* [[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe|He-Man]] is a strange variation. He spends half the time as a [[Conan the Barbarian]] type hero and the other half in his secret identity as Prince Adam, who's closer to [[King Arthur]] than to this trope. He switches back and forth with a [[Captain Marvel]] type transformation, "[[By the Power of Grayskull]]", and fights alongside other Barbarian heroes in the [[Cyberpunk]] Barbarian Arthurian World that is Eternia. However, his sister, [[She-Ra: Princess of Power|She Ra Princess of Power]], has basically no trace of this trope. Claims that He-Man was based the Conan movie are false.

* ''[[Superman]]'' actually became one of these briefly in the episode of ''[[Justice League]]'', 'Hereafter,' after having been transported to [[After the End|the distant future]], where humanity had long since been wiped out, {{spoiler|with only [[Immortality|Vandal]] [[The Atoner|Savage]] remaining}}. A red sun hung in the sky, rendering Superman [[De-Power|powerless]], leaving him to venture forth through the wilderness with only his natural strength (which is still nothing to sneeze at), his wits, a sword he forged himself from an iron bar, and a pack of wolves that followed him once [[Asskicking Equals Authority|he killed their former pack leader]].

* Parodied in ''[[Word Girl]]'' with the villain Nocan the Contrarian, a barbarian warrior who speaks in opposites.

 

* [[Alexander the Great]] bears more then a few traces of this trope. His personal hero was Achilles, his goal in life was to [[Glory Seeker|win glory]] and become known as [[Badass|a mighty warrior]] (his own words). And his conquests look less like a monarch carrying out a carefully planned [[Realpolitic]] and more like a raider on a rampage, or even like a [[Great White Hunter]] on a safari. On the other hand he was cultured and trained by the best scholars. His teacher was [[Aristotle]], in fact; and whenever he found any interesting items on his conquests, he would send them back to his teacher to study.

* Most prominent Viking warriors qualify.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Dark Age Europe]]

[[Category:Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]]