Conan the Barbarian: scene from Tower of the Elephant

A scene from the Conan the Barbarian story "Tower of the Elephant" by Robert E. Howard that I animated some years ago. This is a great little story by Howard. If you only know Conan from the movies, reading the original stories would probably surprise you--richly-textured, creative, and more complex than most people might expect.

[@H3zzard]

Nice to see a Conan universe that doesn't revolve around random Arnold noises!

[@Auroratrek]

LOL--an artistic choice! (and that I thought it might be a bad idea to try to fake an Austrian accent 😉)

[@randalscott7224]

Conan's only encounter with an alien if I recall correctly. Its existence in the tower was rather wretched and sad. Great animation as usual! 👍

[@Auroratrek]

LOL--I guess I never thought of it that way, but that's true. Is Conan really science fiction? ;-)

[@grogtrain8139]

Finally.....someone does Conan correctly.....and sticks to REH's wonderful stories.

[@Auroratrek]

I've never understood why nobody has ever done a faithful adaptation of any of the original Conan stories. I may have to revisit this someday and do it myself! ;-)

[@whiteeye9584]

@@Auroratrek well savage conan is good

[@szynkacz1069]

I really liked this story - fight in the tavern, sneaking up to Yara's place, and Conan feeling sadness for this alien-elephant's fate. Glad to see REH's original stories are still remembered!

[@Auroratrek]

Tower of the Elephant is a true standout story. It’s so annoying that they never use Howard’s actual stories for the movies or television.

[@grahamturner1290]

Splendid, by Crom! ⚔️

[@libraeotequever3pointoh95]

Crom does not care. :-D

[@grahamturner1290]

@@libraeotequever3pointoh95 good point. 😊

[@Auroratrek]

@@grahamturner1290 Then to h3ll with Crom! 😉

[@grahamturner1290]

@@Auroratrek 😂

[@grogtrain8139]

A little H.P. Lovecraft flavor in that story, probably from REH's letter exchanges.

[@Auroratrek]

True. And considering REH's prolific output and short life, when did he find time to write letters??

[@barryon8706]

If I get the time to read I might give that a try, thanks!

[@Auroratrek]

Most of the Conan stories are just short stories, and a fun read, so not a big time commitment.

[@davidnicholson4136]

It seems that Conan was not so much a barbarian as he was a pirate with a good moral compass :-) I like him already. I'm guessing that the movie script writers made Arnie's character more grunt and less Alibaba.

[@Auroratrek]

Conan is often compared to a "panther" in the original stories--not bear-like, or even like a tiger--but a panther: fast, strong, and smart.

[@davidnicholson4136]

@@Auroratrek Like my football team :-) Good to see you back.

[@Auroratrek]

@@davidnicholson4136 Thanks, great to be back!

[@whiteeye9584]

@@Auroratrek he was best of the best he was the strongest fastest and inteligent of all hyborians

[@DJRonnieG]

I've never watched Conan but I do intend on doing so soon, possibly before the weekend concludes. As for the animation above, it's of the quality that I've come to expect from Auroratrek, but I am curious why 4:3 aspect ratio was chosen.

[@Auroratrek]

I'll confess that I'm such a Conan nerd that I could never fully enjoy the movies because I wanted to see the written stories adapted. And the 4:3 aspect ratio is because I animated this waaay back in 2011 when things were still 4:3, and only recently came across it on an old hard drive and realized I had never posted it!

[@ErickArtmann]

how cool. I saw the "short" first and commented there. this story gives an itch to make animation. Have you ever thought about developing the complete fanfilm project?

[@Auroratrek]

Thanks! I think it would be fun, and certainly there is such great source material. The issue might be copyright. As you can see on this channel, I had started a Star Trek-based series with my own original characters and stories, but it got shut down along with other fan productions when Paramount lowered the boom on further fan films after one production tried to profit off of their "fan" production that had well-known paid actors etc. Fortunately, Paramount grandfathered films already in production, so I was able to finish my second episode, but I'd be afraid to put that much work into a Conan animation only to have to shelve it, which would be the right of the copyright owners. That said, it looks like the copyright for Conan expires in 2028, so maybe in a couple of years...

[@ErickArtmann]

@@Auroratrek Yes! i watched your original star trek aurora over ten years ago and have followed it ever since, and i consider it one of, if not the best star trek fan film. about Conan, that's it. it's a pity that none of the feature films, let alone official animations, has been concerned with fidelity!

[@Auroratrek]

@@ErickArtmann Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed Aurora as well. We had a lot of fun with that, too. I've seen rumors that there was supposed to be a Conan TV series from Netflix (I think) but nothing definitive. That still only one step--they'd have to commit to the source material.

[@aglimmerofhope5321]

Hope y'all find the time to commit to this. Would love to see AT's take on the material. #MakeConanFunAgain 😄👍 All the best 🤍& ☮

[@Auroratrek]

Thanks! Maybe someday in the future--it would be fun!