A young CONAN on his way to steal a jewel.

A young CONAN roams the city streets on his way to raid The Tower of the Elephant after a brawl in a tavern.

The lurid lights and drunken revelry fell away behind the Cimmerian. He had discarded his torn tunic, and walked through the night naked except for a loin-cloth and his high-strapped sandals. He moved with the supple ease of a great tiger, his steely muscles rippling under his brown skin.

From "The Tower of the Elephant"

Page 83. "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Loopydave .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

Meet CONAN in pirate garb

CONAN has sneaked in to the room where Zarono, Valenso and Strom are arguing. He steps out from behind a wall hanging and reveals himself to them.

The stranger was as tall as either of the freebooters, and more powerfully built than either, yet for all his size he moved with pantherish suppleness in his high, flaring-topped boots. His thighs were cased in close-fitting breeches of white silk, his wide-skirted sky-blue coat open to reveal an open-necked white silken shirt beneath, and the scarlet sash that girdled his waist. There were silver acorn-shaped buttons on the coat, and it was adorned with gilt-worked cuffs and pocket flaps, and a satin collar. A lacquered hat completed a costume obsolete by nearly a hundred years. A heavy cutlass hung at the wearer's hip.

From "The Black Stranger"
Page 786. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Meet CONAN as he is pursued by a band of Picts

We meet a wounded CONAN as he is pursued by a band of Picts.

For all his massive, muscular build he moved with the supple certitude of a panther. He was naked except for a rage twisted about his loins, and his limbs were criss-crossed with scratches from briars and caked with dried mud. A brown-crusted bandage was knotted about his thickly-muscular left arm. Under his matted black mane his face was drawn and gaunt, and his eyes burned like the eyes of a wounded panther. He limped slightly as he followed the dim path that led across the open space.

From "The Black Stranger"
Page 751. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Meet CONAN the young thief

Arus the night watchman finds the the strangled body of the emporium's owner on the floor, then sees a young CONAN standing further down the corridor.

Arus saw a tall powerfully built youth, naked but for a loin-cloth, and sandals strapped high about his ankles. His skin was burned brown as by the suns of the wastelands, and Arus glanced nervously at the broad shoulders, massive chest and heavy arms. A single look at the moody, broad-browed features told the watchman that the man was no Nemedian. From under a mop of unruly black hair smoldered a pair of dangerous blue eyes. A long sword hung in a leather scabbard at his girdle.

From "The God in the Bowl"
Page 734. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Meet King CONAN as viewed in a magic mirror

Xaltotun is brought back from the dead after 3,000 years to help CONAN's enemies defeat him. As they discuss there plans they bring up an image of King CONAN in a mirror.

It floated hazily, then leaped into startling clarity- a tall man, mightily shouldered and deep of chest, with a massive corded neck and heavily muscled limbs. He was clad in silk and velvet, with the royal lions of Aquilonia worked in gold upon his rich jupon, and the crown of Aquilonia shone on his square-cut black mane; but the great sword at his side seemed more natural to him than the regal accouterments. His brow was low and broad, his eyes a volcanic blue that smoldered as if with some inner fire. His dark scarred, almost sinister face was that of a fighting-man and his velvet garments could not conceal the hard, dangerous lines of his limbs.

From "The Hour of the Dragon"
Page 581-2. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

CONAN catches up with Valeria

CONAN follows Valeria after she flees the army they were fighting with together. When he catches up to her, she wheels around startled at his approach.

He was almost a giant in stature, muscles rippling smoothly under his skin which the sun had burned brown. His garb was similar to hers, except that he wore a broad leather belt instead of a girdle. Broadsword and poniard hung from his belt.

From "Red Nails"
Page 505. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Meet CONAN as he saves a stranger from a Pict archer

A young man meets CONAN after he has killed an archer laying in wait to ambush him.

The stranger was clad like himself in regards to boots and breeks, though the latter were of silk instead of leather. But he wore a sleeveless hauberk of dark mesh-mail in place of a tunic, and a helmet perched on his black mane. That helmet held the others gaze; it was without crest, but adorned with by short bull's horns. No civilized hand ever forged that head-piece. Nor was the face below it that of a civilized man: dark, scarred, with smouldering blue eyes, it was a face untamed as the primordial forest which formed its background. The man held a broadsword in his right hand, and the edge was smeared with crimson.
"Come out," he called, in an accent unfamiliar to the wayfarer. "All's safe now. There was only one of the dogs. Come out."
The other emerged dubiously and stared at the stranger. He felt curiously helpless and futile as he gazed on the proportions of the forest man- the massive iron-clad breast, the arm that bore the reddened sword, burned dark by the sun and ridged and corded with muscles. He moved with the dangerous ease of a panther; he was too fiercely supple to be a product of civilization, even of that fringe of civilization that composed the outer frontiers.

From "Beyond the Black River"
Page 432. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Meet CONAN as he climbs up a cliff.

CONAN is trying to discover the whereabouts of an ancient treasure. We are introduced to him as he is scaling a cliff face.

He came of a race of hillmen, accustomed to scaling forbidding crags, and he was a man of unusual strength and agility. His only garment was a pair of red silk breeks, and his sandals were slung to his back, out of the way as were his sword and dagger.
The man was powerfully built and supple as a panther. His skin was bronzed by the sun, his square-cut black mane confined by a silver band about his temples. His iron muscles, quick eyes and sure feet served him well here, for it was a climb to test these qualities to the utmost.

From, "Jewels of Gwahlur"
Page 393 "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Daniel Scott Gabriel Murray .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

CONAN: "a picturesque figure..."

We meet CONAN, leader of teh kozaks as he approaches an island where he believes the beautiful Octavia has escaped from her master and is in need of rescue.

The man in the boat was a picturesque figure. A crimson scarf was knotted about his head; his wide silk breeches, of flaming hue, were upheld by a broad sash which likewise supported a scimitar in a shagreen scabbard. His gilt-worked boots suggested a horseman rather than a seaman, but he handled the boat with skill. Through his widely open white silk shirt showed his broad muscular breast.
The muscles of his heavy bronzed arms rippled as he pulled the oars with an almost feline ease of motion. A fierce vitality that was evident in each feature and motion set him apart from common men; yet his expression was neither savage nor somber, though the smoldering blue eyes hinted at ferocity easily wakened. This was CONAN, who had wandered into the armed camps of the kozaks with no other possession than his wits and his sword, and who had carved his way to leadership among them.

From "The Devil in Iron"
Page 269-70. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

CONAN the young but well travelled

CONAN's clothing shows off the extent of his travels:

His horned helmet was such as worn by the golden-haired Aesir of Nordheim; his hauberk and greaves were of the finest workmanship of Koth; the fine ring mail which sheathed his arms and legs was of Nemidia; the blade at his girdle was a great Aquilonian broadsword; and his gorgeous scarlet cloak could have been spun nowhere but Ophir.

From "Queen of the Black Coast"
Page 239. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Meet CONAN as he runs for a ship

We meet CONAN as he boards a ship to escape his pursuers, and the captain looks him over.

He saw a tall powerfully built figure in a black scale-mail hauberk, burnished greaves and a blue-steel helmet from which jutted bull's horns highly polished. From the mailed shoulders fell a scarlet cloak, blowing in the sea-wind. A broad shagreen belt with a golden buckle held the scabbard of the broad sword he bore. Under the horned helmet a square-cut black mane contrasted with smouldering blue eyes.

From "Queen of the Black Coast"
Page 237. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Savage/mad CONAN to the rescue

The beautiful Olivia has just been cornered by the evil Shah Amurath from who's vile clutches she has recently escaped. She think all is lost, when a stranger appears.

Olivia, staring up from the ground, saw what she took to be either a savage or a madman advancing on Shah Amurath in a manner of deadly menace. He was powerfully built, naked but for a girdled loin-cloth, which was stained with blood and crusted with dried mire. His black mane was matted with mud and clotted blood; there were streaks of dried blood on his chest and limbs, dried blood on the long straight sword he gripped in his right hand. From under the tangle oh his locks, bloodshot eyes glared like coals of blue fire.

From "Shadows in the Moonlight"
Page 210. "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

Meet CONAN in chains

CONAN is captured by the Captain of the Guards. They try and arrest him he is so drunk that he runs into a wall and knocks himself out. CONAN is then first described to us when Murilo comes to him with a proposition.

Even in the dim light of the dungeon, the primitive power of the man was evident. His mighty body and thick-muscled limbs combined the strength of a grizzly with the quickness of a panther. Under his tangled black mane his blue eyes blazed with unquenchable savagery

From "Rogues in the House"
Page 189. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

Meet CONAN as he joins a pirate ship

This is how CONAN is introduced after he swims up to and climbs on board the pirate ship Wastrel. Sancha the captain's woman is on deck,

She sat up, her gaze fixed on a rail, over which, to her amazement, a dripping figure clambered. Her dark eyes opened wide, her red lips parted in an O of surprise. The intruder was a stranger to her. Water ran in rivulets from his great shoulders and down his heavy arms. His single garment- a pair of bright crimson silk breeks- was soaking wet, as was his gold-buckled girdle and the sheathed sword it supported. As he stood at the rail, the rising sun etched him like a great bronze statue. He ran his fingers through his streaming black mane, and his blue eye lit as they rested on the girl.

From "The Pool of the Black One"
Page 163-4. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

 Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Memed .
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

CONAN in the desert

We meet CONAN on the verge of death in a barren desert,

CONAN the Cimmerian stared out over the aching desolation and involuntarily drew the back of his powerful hand over his blackened lips. He stood like a bronzed image in the sand, apparently impervious to the murderous sun, though his only garment was a silk loin-cloth, girdled by a wide gold-buckled belt from which hung a sabre and a broad bladed poniard. On his clean-cut limbs were evidence of scarcely healed wounds.

From, "The Slithering Shadow"
Page 134 "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

 Artwork displayed with the kind permission of the artist, Marc Gosselin.
Please check out his web page HERE for more of his work.

Meet the soon to be, General CONAN.

Princess Yasmela goes in to the street to find the man whom the god Mitra says will help her. As she waits CONAN comes down the street,

The approaching figure went not furtively, like a thief, or timidly, like a fearful traveller. He strode down the nighted street as one who had no need or desire to walk softly. An unconscious swagger was in his stride, and his footfalls resounded on the pave. As he passed near a cresset she saw him plainly- a tall man in the chain-mail hauberk of a mercenary.

From "Black Colossus"
Page 112. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.


Yasmela watches CONAN closely as the return to her palace,

From the corner of her eye she watched him as they went down the street together. His mail could not conceal his hard lines of tigerish strength. Everything about him was tigerish, elemental, untamed. He was  alien as the jungle to her in his difference from the debonair courtiers to whom she was accustomed.

From "Black Colossus"
Page 113. The Complete Chronicles of CONAN.

I mean come on...
"His mail could not conceal his hard lines of tigerish strength."
His muscles were visible through his armour?? :-)
What a guy!

CONAN in black plate mail.

King CONAN stands as the lone survivor of an ambush that saw his host of 5,000 men slaughtered by 30,000. As the victors move in to capture King CONAN, we see a,

...grim iron-clad figure looming among the dead. Before the savage blue eyes blazing murderously from beneath the crested, dented helmet, the boldest shrank. CONAN's dark scarred face was darker yet with passion; his black armour was hacked to tatters and splashed blood; his great sword red to the cross piece.

From "The Scarlet Citadel"
Page 46. "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

CONAN, meet the youthful thief

We meet a young CONAN in a tavern, where he is trying to find out more about the Tower of the Elephant

He saw a tall, strongly made youth standing beside him. This person was as much out of place in that den as a gray wolf among the mangy rats of the gutters. His cheap tunic could not conceal the hard, rangy lines of his powerful frame, the broad heavy shoulders, the massive chest, lean waist and heavy arms. His skin was brown from outland suns, his eyes blue and smoldering; a shock of tousled black hair crowned his broad forehead. From his girdle hung a sword in a worn leather scabbard.

 From "The Tower of the Elephant"
Page 80. "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

Splendour is no match for vitality

CONAN is taken prisoner through a combination of ambush, deception and sorcery. He is brought before his gloating, enemies, Tsotha the evil sorcerer, and the silk wearing, divan lounging Kings, Strabonus and Amalrus. They try and impress him with their wealth and opulence, but it is to no avail.

In strong contrast stood CONAN, grim, blood-stained, naked but for a loin-cloth, shackles on his mighty limbs, his blue eyes blazing beneath the tangled black mane that fell over his low broad forehead. He dominated the scene, turning to tinsel the pomp of the conquerors by the sheer vitality of his elemental personality, and the kings in their pride and splendour were aware of it each in his secret heart.

From "The Scarlet Citadel"
Page 49. "The Complete Chronicles of CONAN"

The First Description of CONAN

King CONAN sits in a richly decorated room.

Behind an ivory, gold-inlaid writing-table sat a man whose broad shoulders and sun-browned skin seemed out of place among those luxuriant surroundings. He seemed more a part of the sun and winds and high places of the outlands. His slightest movement spoke of steel-spring muscles knit to a keen brain with the co-ordination born of a fighting-man.

From "The Phoenix on the Sword"
Page 25-6 "The complete Chronicles of CONAN"