THE BARBARIAN (Earth-7)

Biography 

Origin

 He was born in a remote village in Cimmeria, as part of a nomadic people who believed in the art of war and glory. Conan learned to wield swords even before he could speak, as his father was the group’s skilled blacksmith. 

 Upon reaching adolescence, Conan was preparing for his first war, when the peoples of that mountainous region united to form an alliance, in order to jointly plan an expedition to dismantle the Venarium fortress that was being built within Cimmerian territory.

 The war was bloody and brutal, and it introduced Conan to what he would come to know as death, when his father was claimed by it right on the battlefield. At the end of the conflict, Conan found himself weakened and trapped inside a cavernous complex, from which he lacked the strength to climb to the exit. Exploring the narrow, natural path formed by the rocks, he arrived at a sort of underground cavern filled with thick, choppy water.

 Those large, undulating walls seemed to have been carved by millennia of erosion, and at the center of that icy floor stood a sort of totem—a porous stone with a sword embedded in it. Conan quickly seized the sword, and as the weapon detached from the rock, it brought with it a slime and a biological effect, reacting as if it were alive.

Early Life

 Finding the cave’s exit underwater, Conan was reborn as he surfaced from a river, now clutching in his hands what appeared to be the Necrosword—a weapon older than time and more intelligent than its owner, which presented itself as an extension of his desires and aspirations. When asked what his heart yearned for, the Barbarian replied with nothing more than “war and justice”; the duality of those words marked the symbiotic relationship forming between warrior and weapon, one that would now do anything to fulfill its master’s desires.

 Determined to leave Cimmeria after his father’s death, he set off alone toward the north, encountering along the way other nomadic groups who welcomed him, and curious onlookers who pursued him because of his origins as a Cimmerian barbarian, believing that the Cimmerians had been massacred after the war against Venarium.

 His journey came to an end when he became involved in a skirmish with the army of Hyperborea, after being questioned about the origin of his unusual weapon, which they so desperately sought to acquire. Conan fought alone for two days straight against a large portion of the troops, but found himself weakened by exhaustion; this was the key to his surrender to the group and his subsequent transport to Hyperborea as a captured prize.

The Barbarian

 Hyperborea kept Conan as a slave for the next few weeks, while he hid the ancient artifact known as the Necrosword in his chest so it would not be stolen. Exposed in the public square, crucified and teetering between life and death, Conan came to be called the “Barbarian” by the soldiers who patrolled his prison, but he only discovered the reason for his captivity when the time for negotiation arrived.

 Conan was to be sold to the glorious King of Aquilonia, Numedides, who sought a ruthless and beastly warrior like him to lead the conquest of peoples he called “savages,” starting with the Aesir, who had been protected by another equally ruthless warrior.

Freedom

As he was led away by Numedides like a caged and chained animal, Conan found himself thirsting for the power and sense of justice he would gain by killing his tormentor, but he remained focused as he heeded the influence of Necrosword, who urged him to wait for the right moment before attacking, since this would prove that he is no longer a warrior like the others, but the best among them.

 When he was finally set loose on the battlefield, Conan found himself in a frozen landscape, where Numedides was no longer to be found; now it was his soldiers who held control over their Barbarian, and they pushed him toward the king’s greatest enemy.

 Leading the Aesir army, the large, opulent man with fair hair and missing an eye introduced himself as Odin Borson, the living avatar of the Father God, and approached Conan with his spear to free him from his chains. Already very weak, Conan thanked him for the help and joined forces with the warrior ally to decimate the soldiers who had brought him there.

 As they introduced themselves, Conan found himself able to understand Odin’s language through the connection of the Necrosword, and explained the reason for his stay. Odin stated that Aquilonia and other imperial powers were targeting the peoples of the region they called “barbarians,” but that they were mistaken in underestimating their efforts and ideals.

Conan was invited to stay with the Aesir, but chose instead to continue alone toward the south, as he believed he had to wait for the right moment to attack Aquilonia, and also felt he had much to gain by living as a mere barbarian in those lands, since the sense of justice—which was uncommon there—burned fiercely in the hero’s heart.