Secrets of Conan the Barbarian, you say? There are secrets???

Yes -- in a manner of speaking. Herein lie little known facts about the movie that have been either forgotten or aren't widely known. Yes. Secrets.

Initially, this page will start small, but hopefully as time permits facts, details, and secrets will be added...

One of the most famous quotes, perhaps the most famous quote, from Conan is: "Conan! What is best in life?" "To crush your enemies -- See them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!"

As brilliant as director/writer John Milius is, he did not invent this dialogue. Who did? Was it taken from the Conan script by Oliver Stone that was rewritten by Milius? No, it came from a book. I know what you're thinking... a Robert E. Howard book, right? Wrong! Milius actually lifted it from a book by Harlod Lamb titled, GENGHIS KAHN: THE EMPEROR OF ALL MEN, pages 106-107:

One day in the pavilion at Karakorum he [Genghis Kahn] asked an officer of the Mongol guard what, in all the world, could bring the greatest happiness.

"The open steppe, a clear day, and a swift horse under you," responded the officer after a little thought, "and a falcon on your wrist to start up hares."

"Nay," responded the Kahn, "to crush your enemies, to see them fall at your feet -- to take their horses and goods and hear the lamentation of their women. That is best."

It is intersting to note also that Conan's loyal friend and fellow warrior in the movie is named "Subotai." One of Genghis's Khan's most trusted generals was named Subotai. He is famous for overrunning Russia and mercilessly slaughtering two large European armies with ease in Eastern Europe.

Disapointed? You shouldn't be. Genghis Kahn was greatly admired, and thought of as somewhat of a hero, by the creator of Conan, Robert E. Howard. Also, Howard once wrote that Harlod Lamb was one of his favorite writers. So it is in a way very apt that a quote from Lamb's GENGHIS KAHN would make its way into a Conan film.

(Many thanks go to Rusty Burke for first pointing out this info to me.)