Thus begins this epic tale of survival and revenge.ĭespite its being something of a fantasy genre gore-fest, Conan the Barbarian is a surprisingly good film. Conan, looking up and into the face of Thulsa Doom as his decapitated mother falls beside him, is not about to forget either the visage or standard of his mother’s murderer in a hurry. Slowly turning, as though to walk away, he suddenly swings back in her direction, removing her head with the very sword we had seen Conan’s father forging through the opening titles, now taken as loot from his mauled corpse. Thulsa Doom, without a word, hypnotises Conan’s fiercely defensive mother with his big, beautiful eyes, so that she lowers her sword and relaxes, in a sort of trance. The scene is a masterful combination of sad music, pathos and lingering stares. Flanked by his two stalwarts, Thorgrim and Rexor – Norse metal-heads never looked so good – Thulsa Doom removes his horned helmet, revealing a noggin that seems curiously moulded to the shape of said headwear. Having, with his warband, raided and wiped out Conan’s village, Thulsa Doom approaches Conan’s poor mother, who stands defending her young son. He first appears on the screen in the opening scenes of the film, in the frozen wastes of the Cimmerian north. Thulsa Doom had a mesmerising stare, an enchanting voice, and a wonderful way with words. Played by James Earl Jones, with long black hair and a frighteningly square helmet fringe, decked out in chunky, adorned black leather armour, armed not only with two murderous, serpentine swords, but also with the voice of Darth Vader, he was certainly something to behold. The leader, chief priest and guru of an ancient cult of snake-worshippers, he was a fearsome warrior, a demagogue, a philosopher, and a downright murderous son of a serpent. A god of sorts, with the ability to change himself into a giant snake, Thulsa Doom was more than a thousand years old. Thulsa Doom was, and still remains, an absolutely splendid villain. The soup, ultimately, was mild by comparison, and when I came to see the movie, perhaps on account of the gore being rather stagey and over the top, I enjoyed it thoroughly.Īnd there, before me, for the first time, was Thulsa Doom! Funnily enough, I misheard him and thought he had said a “suit”. Gus, who had already seen the film, warned me of a scene with a soup made of human body parts. Before going, I was terrified of being made to feel unwell by reports of gore and bloodshed, for I was pretty squeamish at that age and couldn’t bear the sight of blood. I first saw the film at the cinema at the age of ten with my brother and my best friend Gus. Thulsa Doom was, what my mother would call, the evil baddie in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan. Of all the villains who populated the books, comics, films and role-playing games of my youth, one figure stands head and shoulders above them all: Thulsa Doom.
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