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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8340044" data-attributes="member: 42582">Yes he is! This is the whole theme of The Scarlet Citadel and The Hour of the Dragon!Also, upthread [USER=12731]@CapnZapp[/USER] said that S&S doesn't involve moral heroes. But in most of the REH Conan stories Conan chooses to sacrifice his own self-interest (eg treasure he might take) to do the right thing as that is framed in the story (eg The Tower of the Elephant; Jewels of Gwahlur). I know you don't want the thread to be about defining the S&S genre, and so I won't make this post too long. But as I see it the main contrast between S&S and JRRT-ish fantasy is that the former is modernist, even sometime existentialist - it presents the world as inherently lacking in value, and it is the action of the protagonists that imposes truth and meaning on the world - whereas JRRT-ish fantasy is conservative - it posits a world laden with meaning, and the path of heroism is identifying that meaning and having the faith and courage to act in accordance with it.That's why paladins fit right into heroic fantasy - the hand of providence is ever-present! - whereas S&S only has magicians and evil high priests. (REH's Conan has the occasional hint of a beneficent priest of Isis or Mitra. I think if those hints were taken any further, it would undermine the basic ethos of the stories.)</blockquote>