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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteveC" data-source="post: 9607779" data-attributes="member: 9053">I was just watching something very political (which I won't go into here) but the author took a big aside to talk about the book and movie Shane. This is one of the movies that gets referenced very often over time, it even made it into Logan.The idea is that there is a need for a character like Shane, a dangerous man but also a good one, to deal with the evil men who are out on the frontier. In turn, that leads to civil society. But the important point is that the brutal outsider who is necessary can't stay in society once the violence is over. This is a part of so many literary tropes, right down to the Hero's Journey.I suppose that's why you see so many antiheroes, who have to be dragged kicking and screaming to save the day, either die in the process or have to move on. They are necessary to create a better world that they themselves can't share in. I think of the Operative in Serenity as a great example, although he's a villain of course but he understands he's not going to live in the world he's building.I think there's something primal in that type of story. It's existed as long as there has been a civil society and a frontier or a border. Honestly, that's why reports of Conan's death are greatly exaggerated. If we were to have this same conversation in ten years (and hey, I'd love to do it, not sure if I'll even be alive then) I suspect that people would still point to Conan being irrelevant, but the stories they'd say are relevant would be almost completely different. I'm confident that the books we're reading today and are the current big thing won't be ten years from now. And Conan will still be here. I know we've had this discussion before. So if I'm around in 10 years, and Enworld is still a thing, I'll start a new thread on it.</blockquote>

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