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Showing posts with the label Norse Picture Stones

Odin's cameo in Conan The Barbarian.

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Director John Milius filmed a sequence in Conan The Barbarian (1982 CE) where usurper King Osric (Max Von Sydow) gets assassinated by his own bodyguards who turn out to be Thulsa Doom's secret court agents! Note the backdrop of both these scenes contains tapestries that are Viking picture stone adaptations , the first being from  Stora Hammers Stone I: [second panel down, right side.] And the second being Odin from the Andre III picture stone: [on Sleipnir, upper right] The metaphysical implication being that Odin is claiming King Osric for Valhalla using this final conflict, which is along the lines of what happens to many kings & heroes in the Sagas. Except this storyline gets cut as the ending voiceover says Princess  Yasimina gets returned to her father (and the novelization adds that Conan is offered Yasimina, and essentially the kingdom of Zamora by marriage, but refuses Osric) and Conan instead goes adventuring in the West, with just the tapestries' edges only fleet