The Skeleton

Is Crom the skeleton in the cave?
Conan's father tells Conan, Crom lives in the Earth and when the skeleton moves when Conan takes his sword, Conan says ''Crom''.

I think it would be cool if a CROM PS2 game was made with the voice a famous hollywood actor. I think Sean Connery would make a excellent choice for the voice of Crom.

It's my understanding that the remains in the crypt are that of an Atlantean King or General. Also, he looks to be a giant. Compare the skeleton's size to that of Conan's, including how big the sword looks in the skeleton's hands compared to Conan's...

And Conan's use of the word "Crom" is akin to cursing (or taking his god's name in vain). It's just an exclamation, imo.

Totally with Nexus. If you look to the tomb you will see a representation of Atlantis behind the skeleton on the wall. The Sword (Basil Poledouris score is named "Atlantean Sword") shows also the sinking of Atlantis. This part is inspired from a short story by Sprague de Camp giving the Atlantean origin of the tomb and content.

http://www.conancompletist.com/EN/crypte01.htm

When i first saw CONAN, i honestly thought the skeleton was Crom. It could had been him.

Still i think a CROM PS2 game would be good.

Crom is supposed to live on(/under ?) a montain in Cimmeria (probably covered by snow), not just a simple mound or tumulus. Conan says his name because he is surprised by finding such a fine sword in this excellent state. He says "Crom" earlier too when the sorceress flies away in the form of fire.

It could be Crom, as its left deliberately ambiguous and mystical, its really for the audience to decide. It can be some ancient race of giants(titans?Atlanteans?) or in fact the physical early remains of a god, or both.

Crom comes off as earth deity, associated with Mounds and Mountains throughout the picture. The underlying message of Conan is really Divine Destiny, with Crom loaning Conan his sword to crush the Serpent of the Underworld, or atleast his earthly minions( Thulsa Doom). Also later on we see Valeria realizing that it was Conan's destiny to wield the Sword of Vengeance, or so she thought. Later on find out that Valeria sits by the side of Crom, and possibly she was to be reincarnated.

Neither the "Thing in the Crypt" or Crom, come across as fantastical or evil. Howard's Crom was in fact a cruel and evil deity who delighted in torment. Conan in the books often swore by other gods, like Mitra(whom in Hour of the Dragon ect, Conan has more incommon with and well serves).

Now before anyone gets angry for the cause I said Christianzied up there, Milius was extremely influenced by the Troubadour stories and songs, he in fact opens up his 2nd Draft with one such passage. Also the Aryan god, Mithra, was in fact the official diety of the Roman Empire before Christianity, and many infact think it was combined into the faith and/or that Jesus himself may of belonged to a local cult.


Mithras
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithras

Cromulus The Destroyer wrote:

It could be Crom, as its left deliberately ambiguous and mystical, its really for the audience to decide. It can be some ancient race of giants(titans?Atlanteans?) or in fact the physical early remains of a god, or both.

Although it's only ambiguous if one hasn't listened to the 'Director's commentary' on the DVD (See Protoplasme's link above), Milius directly identifies the remains as that of an "Atlantean General".

Of course the viewer is free to disregard ANY info, in favor of their own ideas... *shrugs*

Nexus6 wrote:

Although it's only ambiguous if one hasn't listened to the 'Director's commentary' on the DVD (See Protoplasme's link above), Milius directly identifies the remains as that of an "Atlantean General".

Milius says a few things which often didn't add up on that commentary too. So in all honesty, I personally really wouldn't take his word alone, and 20 years later to boot. He also mentioned Thulsa Doom's look as being Atlantean as well if you remember.

Another thing is the Cimmerians were direct descendants of the Atlanteans, which would resonate to any Conan fan immediately.

Kull is supposed to be Conan' forebear and the Oliver Stone script also mentions Kull and his battle against Set many ages before. His script is far more Lovecraftian and Howardian, in terms of fantasy and magical, but it gives excellent insight into Thulsa Doom(also great plausibility as to why he's fighting a Kull nemesis which Howard purist complain about) and Conan's true calling/destiny.

Despite its great size, a friend of mine actually used to think the giant in the cave was King Kull, but I said that giant looked to have reddish hair, whereas Kull's was Black. But think there was some sorta axe laying near the Giant's body though, along with the sword.

In the movie, when Conan is cleaning the sword, why did the Skeleton move? I heard in the orginial screenplay, the skeleton was originally going to come alive and take on Conan is single combat.
In the film, all the skeleton does, it's hand moves and then it head drops, the helmet falls off...

This is not in any known script that I am aware of. Summer/Thomas script I never read, so maybe its there? Dan, whats your source of this, or are you just speculating?

Maybe because that moment is inspired from "The Thing In The Crypt" written by Sprague de Camp in which the skeleton actually fights to get his sword back ?

Chrysagon wrote:

Maybe because that moment is inspired from "The Thing In The Crypt" written by Sprague de Camp in which the skeleton actually fights to get his sword back ?

Yes, ^THIS^.

Dan wrote:

In the movie, when Conan is cleaning the sword, why did the Skeleton move? ...all the skeleton does, it's hand moves and then it head drops, the helmet falls off...

It moved because Conan disturbed it. The "pose" that the skeleton was situated in was precarious. Like a house of cards, touch one at the bottom & the whole thing collapses (that's an extreme example, but it's the same idea).

Protoplasme wrote:

http://www.conancompletist.com/EN/crypte01.htm

It looked cool, but you can tell from this picture that it was woefully oversized, that sword is a toothpick and handle way to thin and puny to have been practical for that giant.

In this picture, everything appears more in scale:



http://www.conancompletist.com/img/photos/D07/conan_D07_230.jpg

I am reminded of a quote from Homer,

"On the earth there once were giants,"
Greek poet Homer wrote in 400 B.C

Cromulus The Destroyer wrote:

It looked cool, but you can tell from this picture that it was woefully oversized, that sword is a toothpick and handle way to thin and puny to have been practical for that giant.

You don't know the fighting style of the ancient atlantean giants. They could have had a legionary roman fighting style, Probably what for Conan is a two handed sword, for the giant is a one handed one. It's not so small, think about roman or viking swords. They are short and makes dealy stabbing wounds, combined with a shield.

Quote :

The Roman soldiers would march on the enemy in a line with their huge shields and their little swords. If they were able to stay in formation, and it seems like most of the time they were, they could defend themselves and each other from most weapons with the huge shields, and just march over anyone in their path with their quick stabbing attacks to the body or head.

One stance I have seen is of a roman soldier crouched in a low stance and using his sheld to block a downward slash (or perhaps to get under his enemy's guard) and then using the gladius to stab towards the stomach area. I've also read descriptions of the face wounds caused by the gladius, so it was probably also used to stab over the shield. Overall most of the close combat seems to revolve around the scutum (shield) and maintaining their formation.

Sadly there's only one atlantean weapon, and Conan didn't look for other artifacts in the tomb, so we could figure how the atlantean martial arts could have been.

But the general is only a giant compared with modern humans, but in his time, his size was normal. A normal tall man with a short sword.

I'm not sure, just guessing. I'm not an expert in weapons at all.

If that were the case, then it would still be in proportion to the hand that wields it.

Is it just me or doesn't the sword on this pic looks funny ?



I mean, to me it doesn't look exactly like the Atlantean sword we all know and love, does it ?

Einar wrote:

Is it just me or doesn't the sword on this pic looks funny ?



I mean, to me it doesn't look exactly like the Atlantean sword we all know and love, does it ?

Yes, I discussed that with MightymcT, when I first showed him that very same pic. We thought it was either some kinda temp/or stuntsword, or alternate early Atlantean.

I've got that picture of Conan taking the sword form the skeleton in a second-hand book on Arnold Schwarzenegger and all his films from Stay Hungry - Terminator 2.

This is very helpful, Dan !

I too have this picture on a... Wait a minute, no I don't ! But I have other books with other pics in them... Including Conan pics. But no Jessica Biel ones. Man, wouldn't she be great as Red Sonya ?

I can play Kalidor!

Jessica Biel and Ben Stiller for "Something About Red Sonja" 2009.