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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7762110" data-attributes="member: 6873517">Conan probably is, at least to some degree. I don't think he's a direct REH insert but he's clearly exploring themes that REH found personally appealing, such as the pull between civilization and barbarism. Beyond that he certainly draws on the "tall tales" of the frontier along with the adventure stories that REH grew up on, such as The Three Musketeers. Superheroes come out of the same basic roots at roughly the same time, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro" target="_blank">Zorro</a> being a good example of a "masked avenger" precursor, along with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring-heeled_Jack" target="_blank">Spring-heeled Jack</a>. But not all high power characters in adventure stories are. I once heard an interview with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Cornwell" target="_blank">Bernard Cornwell</a>, author of many books but most notably the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpe_(novel_series)" target="_blank">Sharpe</a> series. Someone asked him, more or less, whether Richard Sharpe was a Mary Sue. Cornwell pretty much shot that down with "Oh no, not at all. His personality is not like me at all and he commits cold-blooded murder in the very first story!" Sharpe isn't as omni-competent as Conan, and would be a good example of a multiclassed fighter/barbarian translated to a modern setting his propensity for rage, though Patrick Harper would probably be a pure barbarian.</blockquote>

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