(Image Source: Universal Pictures)
The new Conan the Barbarian animated series seems poised to fix the biggest mistakes of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. Some fans of the 1980’s fantasy films took offense to the announcement of the Queen of the Black Coast show by Genndy Tartakovsky. However, these complaints ignore the character’s long history and his roots.
While best known today through the Schwarzenegger movies, Conan the Barbarian has existed for nearly a century. Pulp legend Robert E. Howard wrote 21 stories detailing his exploits from 1932 to 1936. This includes the novelette “Queen of the Black Coast,” in which Conan finds his first love in the pirate captain Bêlit. It is this story that shall serve as the heart of the new Prime Video series.
(Image Source: Titan Comics / Alex Horley)
Most fans of Conan the Barbarian were pleased by this news. Earlier efforts to make adult animated series or movies based on the fantasy icon came to nothing. The closest was an early 2000’s adaptation of Howard’s “Red Nails”, which got as far casting voice actors before running out of funding. However, a contingent of fans of the Schwarzenegger movies ran riot over the Queen of the Black Coast announcement.
Their chief complaint was that the series was said to center around the romance between Conan and Bêlit. It was their contention that the series should be action-focused. However, others complained about the preview poster, which depicts Conan wearing gold earrings. Ignoring that gold earrings are historical pirate garb, the Schwarzenegger movies were also based around romance and largely inspired by “Queen of the Black Coast.”
Why Queen of the Black Coast is essential to Conan’s story
(Image Source: Titan Comics / Doug Braithwaite)
Most fans of Robert E. Howard consider “Queen of the Black Coast” to be the first truly definitive Conan the Barbarian story. The plot finds Conan fleeing a death sentence and jumping on a ship about to set sail. He talks his way into a job as a guard and is soon tested as the ship is raided by the Tigress – flagship of the infamous Bêlit. Luckily for Conan, the pirate queen sees a kindred spirit in him. She offers him a post as her first mate, and for three years they share a bed and adventure.
Conan, as envisioned by Howard, is a more philosophical character than the one played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Granting the filmmakers had to work around Schwarzenegger’s thick Austrian accent, the original screenplay also painted Conan the Barbarian as a man of few words. This stands in stark contrast to the eloquent hero of Queen of the Black Coast. In one of the story’s most famous scenes, Bêlit questions Conan regarding his beliefs regarding the gods and the afterlife. Conan shows considerable intelligence in his answer, while being far too practical to waste time navel-gazing. “I love, I slay, and am content,” he concludes. This foreshadows the climax of the final chapter, in which Bêlit defies death and the gods to save the man she loves.
(Image Source: Universal Pictures)
The irony of the Schwarzenegger fans’ complaints is that romance and “Queen of the Black Coast” informed both Conan the Barbarian movies. While another Conan love interest, Valeria, was substituted for Bêlit, she likewise returns from the dead to protect her lover. This carries over into Conan the Destroyer, with Conan working for a sorceress in exchange for Valeria’s resurrection. Given that, and Genndy Tartakovsky’s earlier series Primal being a tribute to Robert E. Howard, Conan the Barbarian: Queen of the Black Coast may be the most accurate Conan adaptation ever.
