Between the time
when the oceans drank Atlantis...
...and the rise of the sons of Aryas...
...there was an age undreamed-of.
And unto this, Conan...
...destined to bear
the jeweled crown of Aquilonia...
...upon a troubled brow.
It is I, his chronicler,
who alone can tell thee of his saga.
Let me tell you of the days...
...of high adventure.
Fire and wind come from the sky...
...from the gods of the sky,
but Crom is your god.
Crom lives in the earth.
Once giants lived in the earth, Conan.
And in the darkness of chaos...
...they fooled Crom and took
from him the enigma of steel.
Crom was angered and the earth shook.
Fire and wind struck down the giants
and threw their bodies in the water.
But in their rage, the gods forgot
the secret of steel...
...and left it on the battlefield.
And we who found it...
...are just men.
Not gods. Not giants.
Just men.
The secret of steel has always
carried with it a mystery.
You must learn it, little Conan.
You must learn its discipline.
For no one,
no one in this world can you trust.
Not men, not women, not beasts.
This you can trust.
Kill that one!
The ashes were trampled
into the earth...
...and the blood became as snow.
Who knows what they came for?
Weapons of steel or murder?
It was never known,
for their leader rode to the south...
... while children went north
with the Vanir.
No one would ever know that my lord's
people had lived at all.
His was a tale of sorrow.
Sit here.
Sit here!
He did not care anymore.
Life and death...
...the same.
Only that the crowd would
be there to greet him...
...with howls of lust and fury.
He began to realize
his sense of worth.
He mattered.
In time, his victories
could not easily be counted.
He was taken to the East...
...a great prize,
where the war masters...
...would teach him
the deepest secrets.
Language and writing
were made available...
...the poetry of Khitai,
the philosophy of Sung.
And he also came to know
the pleasures of women...
...when he was bred
to the finest stock.
But always there remained
the discipline of steel.
My fear is that my sons
will never understand me.
We won again!
This is good.
But what is best in life?
The open steppe.
Fleet horse.
Falcons at your wrist.
And the wind in your hair.
Wrong!
Conan, what is best in life?
To crush your enemies, see them
driven before you...
...and to hear the lamentation
of their women.
That is good.
Go. Go. You're free.
Go.
It has been surmised that perhaps
my lord was like a wild animal...
...that had been kept too long.
Perhaps.
But whatever, freedom...
...so long an
unremembered dream, was his.
Crom.
There's warmth and fire.
Do you not wish to warm yourself
by my fire?
They said you would come.
From the north,
a man of great strength.
A conqueror.
A man who would someday be king
by his own hand.
Who would crush the snakes
of the earth-
Snakes? Did you say snakes?
What is it you seek?
A standard.
A symbol.
Perhaps on a shield.
Two snakes, coming together.
Facing each other...
...but they're one.
With a sun and a moon below.
Black sun, black moon.
Yes.
There's a price, barbarian.
Zamora.
The crossroads of the world.
You will find...
...what you want...
...in Zamora!
Oh!
Crom!
Food.
Food!
I have not eaten for days.
And who says you will?
Give me food so I have strength
when the wolves come.
Let me die not in hunger...
...but in combat.
Who are you?
I am Subotai, thief and archer.
I am Hyrkanian,
the great order of Kerlait.
Why are you here?
Dinner for wolves.
What gods do you pray to?
I pray to the Four Winds.
And you?
To Crom.
But I seldom pray to him.
He doesn't listen.
What good is he then?
It's just as I've always said.
He's strong. If I die,
l have to go before him...
...and he will ask,
what's the rule of steel?
If I don't know it,
he will cast me away.
That's Crom, strong on his mountain.
My god is greater.
Crom laughs from his mountain
at your Four Winds.
My god is stronger.
He is the everlasting sky.
Crom lives underneath him.
Civilization, ancient and
wicked. Have you seen this before?
No. Let's waste no time.
-It's good.
-We don't know how long it was there.
Stink!
Does it always smell?
How does the wind get in?
How about two snakes...
...coming together over a black sun?
A magnificent standard.
The only ones I know are Set's
in those cursed towers.
They've spread to every city.
Two years ago, it was a snake cult.
Now, everywhere.
They are deceivers.
They murder people in the night.
I know nothing.
Hey.
Black lotus. Stygian. The best.
It better not be Haga.
I would sell Haga to a slayer?
-A pittance to protect you from evil.
-I am evil.
They're all sluts.
He's dead already.
Can you believe that? Huh?
You're too big to be a thief.
Come. Let's leave this place.
Looking for snakes?
They live in the Tower of the Serpent.
Said to have riches without end
and the greatest jewel of all...
...the Eye of the Serpent.
Chew it slowly. It's the good stuff.
-You are not a guard.
-Neither are you.
We're thieves like yourself.
-Come to climb the tower.
-You don't even have a rope.
Two fools who laugh at death.
Do you know what horrors
lie beyond that wall?
No.
Then you go first.
-What could smell so bad?
-Do you want to live forever?
That one is the high priest,
second only to Thulsa Doom.
They say Thulsa Doom's
I'll see what's here. Look below.
Kill them!
Do you want to live forever?
All manner of pleasures
and diversions were indulged.
Wealth can be wonderful.
But you know, success can
test one's mettle...
...as surely as
the strongest adversary.
They were taken to the hall
of King Osric, the Usurper.
Once a powerful Northman
like my lord...
...but now old and sotted.
These are the thieves
you requested.
I thought there were three.
Our companion died in the gardens.
Lions ate him.
Lions ate him?
The lions ate him!
You know what you've done?
Rexor himself has come before me,
threatened me, the king.
What daring! What outrageousness!
What insolence! What arrogance!
I salute you.
Thulsa Doom. I've chafed for years
at this demi-god.
Snakes in my beautiful city.
To the west, Nemedia, Aquilonia.
To the south, Koth, Stygia.
Snakes! Everywhere these evil towers.
You alone have stood up to
their guards. And what are you?
Thieves!
You see this?
They call it the Fangs of the Serpent.
And this one was thrust
into a father's heart...
...by his very son.
And my own daughter has fallen
under this Thulsa Doom's spell.
Is there a dagger such as this
in her hand for me?
She follows him as a slave...
...seeking for the truth of her soul...
...as if I couldn't give it to her.
As we speak,
my daughter travels east...
...to Thulsa Doom and
his mountain of power.
She is to be his!
Steal my daughter back!
Take all you can carry.
There's more. There's much more.
Enough to become kings yourselves.
There comes a time, thief,
when the jewels cease to sparkle...
...when the gold loses its luster...
...when the throne room
becomes a prison...
...and all that is left is
a father's love for his child.
To hell with Thulsa Doom.
He's evil.
A sorcerer who can summon demons.
His followers' only purpose
is to die in his service.
Thousands of them.
This mountain of power where he lives
is said to be impregnable.
I have talked to Subotai
and he agrees.
Let's take what we have
while we live.
I have never had so much as now.
All my life l've been alone.
Many times I've faced my death
with no one to know.
I would look into tents
of others in the dark...
...and l would see figures
holding each other.
But I always passed by.
You and I, we have warmth.
That's so hard to find in this world.
Please. Let someone else pass by
in the night.
Let's take the world by the throat,
and get what we desire.
The children of Doom.
Doom's children.
They told my lord the way
to the mountain of power.
They told him to throw down his sword
and return to the earth.
Ha!
Time enough for the earth
in the grave.
Once, great men lived here.
Giants, gods.
Once, but long ago.
It was here that I met my master.
It was no accident.
Nor is it mere chance
that I am the teller of his tale.
Hey!
I'm a wizard, mind you.
This place is kept by powerful gods
and spirits of kings.
Harm my flesh and you will have
to kill the dead.
Can you summon demons?
Yes!
I strike at you.
I summon demons more ferocious
than all in hell!
Mounds have been here
since the time of the Titans.
Kings buried in them, great kings.
Domains once glittered like
the light on the windy sea.
Fire won't burn there. No fire at all.
That's why I live down here
in the wind.
You care for these places?
I sing to them,
on nights when they wish.
I sing of the tales
of battles, heroes...
...witches and women.
Nobody bothers me down here.
Not even Thulsa Doom.
Do flowers grow here?
Flowers?
Flowers.
You're not a pilgrim, are you?
Oil the sword and feed the horse.
Have you ever ridden
one of those before?
No!
Warrior, what are the flowers for?
For a girl.
-Where are you going, brother?
-I'm afraid.
Afraid to bare yourself?
Why?
You're so big and well-grown.
You should be proud of your body.
How can you reach emptiness
without knowing your own body?
Could we talk over there
where the others cannot see?
Why, yes, brother. Of course.
I'm afraid and I'm shy.
Is this your robe, your priest's robe?
Yes, it's all I have.
Good.
That's all you'll ever need.
What do you see?
Infinity.
Good.
I see you.
I have watched you.
For 1000 years
I have watched you.
Who among you still fears death?
Who will not face emptiness?
Infidel!
I wish to speak to you now.
Where is the Eye of the Serpent?
Rexor says that you gave it to a girl.
Probably for a mere
night's pleasure?
What a loss.
People have no grasp of what they do.
You broke into my house,
stole my property...
...murdered my servants and my pets.
And that is what grieves me the most.
You killed my snake.
Thorgrim is beside himself with grief.
He raised that snake
from the time it was born.
You killed my mother. You killed my
father. You killed my people!
You took my father's sword.
Ah! Must have been when l was younger.
There was a time, boy,
when I searched for steel.
When steel meant more to me
than gold or jewels.
The riddle of steel.
Yes! You know what it is,
don't you, boy?
Shall I tell you?
It's the least I can do.
Steel isn't strong, boy.
Flesh is stronger.
Look around you.
There, on the rocks.
That beautiful girl.
Come to me, my child.
That is strength, boy.
That is power.
The strength and power of flesh.
What is steel compared to
the hand that wields it?
The strength of your body...
...the desire in your heart.
I gave you this.
Such a waste.
Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe.
Crucify him.
He said you were a wizard.
Do the gods owe you any favors?
There are dangers, but I see you care
little for those.
-The spirits here ask a heavy toll.
-Then I will pay them.
Drink.
Sometime soon, perhaps tonight,
they'll try to take him.
-And if they succeed-
-If they succeed, you'll follow.
No!
Stop!
They're gone!
They're gone!
All the gods, they cannot sever us.
If I were dead and you still fighting
for life, I'd come back...
...back from the pit of hell
to fight at your side.
The old man says the
Mountain of Power is hollow.
Thulsa Doom is in the mountain.
What else does he say?
That in the back of the mountain,
there's a gorge.
Many caves. A thief could get in
there, steal the princess...
...and be off before she's missed.
Good thieves could do that,
but not vengeful ones.
Only the girl.
We kill Thulsa Doom another day.
Agreed?
Conan?
So this is paradise!
Princess.
Get them!
Come on!
You.
Help him.
The infidel defilers...
...shall all drown in lakes of blood.
Now they will know why they
are afraid of the dark.
Now they will learn
why they fear the night.
Seek.
The wizard.
I told him I would pay the gods.
Hold me.
Kiss me.
Kiss me.
Let me breathe my last breath
into your mouth.
I'm so cold.
So cold...
Keep me...
...warm.
Keep...
...me...
Fire won't burn up there.
No fire at all.
Why do you cry?
He is Conan, Cimmerian.
He won't cry.
So, I cry for him.
He will kill you.
He has seen your fires.
He will come for me,
and when he does, he will kill you.
I remember days like this when my
father took me to the forest...
...and we ate wild blueberries.
More than 20 years ago.
I was just a boy of four or five.
The leaves were so dark and green then.
The grass smelled sweet
with the spring wind.
Almost 20 years of pitiless combat.
No rest, no sleep like other men.
And yet the spring wind
blows, Subotai.
Have you ever felt such a wind?
They blow where I live too.
In the north of every man's heart.
It's never too late, Subotai.
No.
It would only lead me back here
another day.
In even worse company.
For us, there is no spring.
Just the wind that smells fresh
before the storm.
Where did you get this stuff?
The dead.
The gods are pleased with you.
They will watch the battle.
-Are they going to help?
-No.
Then tell them to stay out of the way.
Crom...
...I have never prayed to you before.
I have no tongue for it.
No one, not even you, will remember
if we were good men or bad.
Why we fought or why we died.
No.
All that matters is that two
stood against many.
That's what's important.
Valor pleases you, Crom,
so grant me one request.
Grant me revenge.
And if you do not listen,
then to hell with you.
-That's how we do it.
-I did it. With my spear!
Do you want to live forever?
Doom!
Don't leave me! My lord!
No, don't kill me!
Father!
The purging is at last at hand.
Day of doom is here.
All that is evil,
all that have eyes...
...your parents, your leaders.
Those who would call themselves
your judges.
Those who have lied...
...and corrupted the earth.
They shall all be cleansed.
You, my children, are the water...
...that will wash away
all that has gone before.
In your hand you hold my light...
...a gleam in the eye of Set.
This flame will
burn away the darkness...
...burn you away to paradise!
My child.
You have come to me, my son.
For who now is your father
if it is not me?
Who gave you the will to live?
I am the wellspring
from which you flow.
When I am gone...
...you will have never been.
What will your world be without me?
My son.
My son.
So, did Conan return the wayward...
...daughter of King Osric home.
And having no further concern...
...he and his companions sought
adventure in the West.
Many wars and feuds did Conan fight.
Honor and fear were heaped
upon his name.
In time, he became a king...
...by his own hand.
This story shall also be told.