Conan or Elric?

[Dark Jezter]

Conan, because he is the Pimp-Daddy of Power, the Real Man, and the baddest fighter to ever come down the pulp-pike.

Elric in fact seems quite the Anti-Conan - powerful sword, used drugs, physically weak normally, took souls for a deity, comparatively cerebral, etc.

Conan was the most independent son of a gun on the planet. He fought to live, to grow wealthy, to spend it all, and be restless again.

He would probably wrestle Stormbringer from Elric's hands, snap his spindly little neck, and probably take Stormbringer for himself - leastways till stormbringer started whining about Arioch, and then he'd probably bury it in some black-hearted sorcerer's belly, and walk on, looking for a weapon with no sass, a ready woman, and a pouch of gold.

Conan was to me what John Shaft was to others.

Exactly! Conan is the coolest fantasy hero ever to see print, Elric is a scrawny, angsty, drug-addicted, booding little sorcerer who is reliant upon a sentient sword.

Conan wins, hands-down.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

No, no I win.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I have not read the books so I will just ask.

Is Elric anything without his sword and drugs? Those are two things that are not a part of him but instead are tools. Elric used drugs it seems and wielded a great weapon.

Conan was in peak physical shape and was a weapon.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Is Elric anything without his sword and drugs? Those are two things that are not a part of him but instead are tools. Elric used drugs it seems and wielded a great weapon.

Elric is utterly helpless without the drugs or sword. Before he gets Stormbringer, he used drugs to make him fairly competent to wield a blade, probably as good as any skilled Melnibonean warrior, but without the drugs he could barely move.

With Stormbringer, his strength was god-like in nature.

Elric was, however, the most powerful sorceror of his world in addtion to weilding Stormbringer. Part of that was due to pacts made by his ancestors with elemental beings, but he was far more knowledge than anyone else in the world about such things.

 

[kenjib]

There is no Elric without Conan.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Can they be compared?

Conan was born in the 30s the time when pulp was king, Tarzan and John Carter, have been around for 10 plus years, Superman, Doc Savage and Conan are the new kids on the block, all the strong and powerful heros, the type America needs, the strenght is personal and inner. The plot simple; through strenght and will you will over come!

Elric is born in the 60s, one of the first new breed of heros, the anti-hero. He like Spider-man has issues and problems. He is weak and an outcast, he uses drugs and his strenght comes from his weapon, the fell blade Stormbringer. The plot; throught fell weapons you shall overcome but lay ruin to your world.

Okay, maybe I see too much but they really are apples and oranges.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

As much as I enjoyed the Elric yarns, they just don't have the power of the Conan stories. Think of "Red Nails," or the only actual novel howard wrote, Conan the Conqueror.

FYI, the D&D game was far more influenced by Howard than it was by Moorcock.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Emirikol]

Since we're on the subject, have there ever been any Computer games for Elric/Stormbringer?

jh

 

[Dark Jezter]

As much as I enjoyed the Elric yarns, they just don't have the power of the Conan stories. Think of "Red Nails," or the only actual novel howard wrote, Conan the Conqueror.

FYI, the D&D game was far more influenced by Howard than it was by Moorcock.

Cheers,
Gary

Actually, the only novel Howard wrote was The Hour of the Dragon, which was renamed to Conan the Conquerer by L. Sprague deCamp so that the title would fit in better with the other Ace/Lancer paperbacks, all of which had the word "Conan" in the title. For example, the other books in the series (which were mostly short story collections with the occasional full-length novel written by deCamp) were Conan of Cimmeria, Conan the Freebooter, Conan the Warrior, Conan the Buccaneer, Conan the Adventurer, et cetera.

 

[Soul]

As much as I enjoyed the Elric yarns, they just don't have the power of the Conan stories. Think of "Red Nails," or the only actual novel howard wrote, Conan the Conqueror.

FYI, the D&D game was far more influenced by Howard than it was by Moorcock.

Cheers,
Gary

Thats not entirely true... sure the first inspiration came from Conan, but Forgotten Realms was partialy inspired by Moorcock's work. When Ed Greenwood first concieved the Realms he based part of the original patheon on the gods of Elric's world... Arioch before it became a published setting was but one of the few Ed barrowed.