Aragorn vs Conan the Barbarian

[Ptrvc]

So, going to note that Aragorn has armor. Not sure how much armor Conan has in the book (i'm pretty sure there are some versions of him with armor, somewhere).

1. Book Aragorn is a guy who fights his way across a battlefield at the head of an army, stops for a chat, then fights his way back across the battlefield, again from the front of the army, always in the thick of it. He doesn't take a single wound, and has enough gas left in his tank at the end of the day (yes, this is a battle that takes hours and hours) to go running around doing errands, back and forth from the city to the camp, in the night. He splits iron helms in half (possibly partly due to his sword, mind). He's 90 years old and has spent the bulk of that time running around DOING stuff like being a ranger, murdering orcs, training with Noldor, etc (so loads of skill and experience). Thaaaaat's about all we have on him with regards to his fighting ability.

Don't know how that stands up to book Conan.

Conan generally wears as much armor as is available and appropriate to climate and situation. Probably a bit more advanced than what Aragon wears from memory.

[Ptrvc]

Ok, third try, thanks all for your advice on saving post before posting. I appreciate it.

So Book Conan, born on a battlefield, fought his first war at 15 in the Cimmerrian sacking of the Aquilonian city of Venarium, thief at 18, mercenary, pirate and adventurer for the next 20+ years, becomes King of Aquilonia by the strength of his arm and quickness of his wits, rules for 20 years, facing rebellion and war and abdicates at 60 plus to travel the Western Ocean for one last adventure.

I looked up bunch of feats yesterday collected by a redditor named u/conancimmerian and gonna focus on those feats since they are sourced with citations if anyone wants them. This will be a briefer essay than the ones i lost to the forum yesterday and thursday.


So lets start with Book Conan's strength.

Still strong enough to kill men with single punches to the head after years of softer living as a king. Earlier in his life, he lifts a chunk of rock his height and width and tosses it three feet, uproots a small tree, cuts thru chainmail armour and steel helms with a mundane blade, kills a hyena by ripping out its throat and kills another by crushing its skull with his sword pommel, snaps iron chains and bars with his hands, and broke the neck of an ox.

His best strength feat is lifting a 40 foot ur-anaconda entirely off the ground. Since 30 foot anacondas weigh in the region of 500 pounds, thats a world class feat imo.

There are fewer good speed feats, he is described as being faster than a jungle cat, moves faster than the POV character can see on multiple occasions, and dodges an arrow after it has been fired at him.

in terms of combat skill, Conan is rivalled by but never defeated by a single opponent. He defeats the greatest swordsman by presentation on Hyboria, as well as other named and capable swordsmen. He fights and defeats multiple warriors at time, though often with help, but his best feat is a battle where it takes 100 soldiers to take him down. He has a wall behind him and fights for his life, and is thigh deep in enemy dead before he falls. He survives and is captured.

In terms of durability, he takes hits from demons and giants capable of killing men with single strikes and keeps on trucking, falls a 100 feet off a cliff face, and survives a crucifixion. He also suffers the death strikes of a Mythos shadow creature and lives.

He's killed demon spawn, ape men, giant spiders and snakes, wizards, fought mythos creatures, and men by the score.

He's also a genius with languages, a skilled swimmer and climber and has a will capable of resisting mystic hypnosis and the mind control spells of the wizards of the age.

So all this makes him the greatest hero of the Hyborian Age. I still put him below Aragorn, who has some great feats as mentioned by Sharp and others. But it's close. 6/10 or 7/10 to Aragorn i guess. But Strider will feel it in the morning even if he wins. Fitting since both are heirs of the Atlantean refugees of their world.

Comic Conan and composite Conan is an entirely different kettle of fish. Strong enough to wrestle a rhino, fights for days without sleep, takes hits from dragons breath, and sasses Victor Von Doom at his own dinner table. I dont think Composite Aragorn has enough gun.

This is great all I'd add is that when Conan cuts through armor Howard makes a point that this is an abnormal feat of strength and often describes the damage this does to the weapon. Meaning it's a legit feat of strength and not a Sir Arthur Dayne Skewers a man through the thickest part of his armor but can't cut through Ned Stark's leather Vambrace situation.