Poul Anderson spells out Conan's world view for us. I imagine that this is consistent with the character as presented by Robert E. Howard. Conan cares nothing for fine distinctions between Stygian commoners on the one hand and their "'...overbearing nobles and fanatical priests...'" (p. 119) on the other.
"In his world view, apart from fierce immediate loyalties, the hand of every man was against every other man. At best there was truce, for practical reasons and always fragile. That did not mean that individuals could not share work, trade, enjoyment, liking, respect. He had been sorry to kill certain men in the past, though he lost no sleep afterward. Strife was the natural order of things." (pp. 119-120)
If there is ever any "Judgment" of human actions, then everyone will have to be judged in accordance with the perspectives and values that had made sense to him. Conan's experience teaches him that every man's hand is against every other and that strife is natural but how does he conduct himself within that world view? He is loyal and honourable. Dominic Flandry's mentor, Max Abrams, said that virtues amount to loyalty. See The Wisdom Of Max Abrams. For Flandry's loyalties, see Loyalty.
Conan should heed class conflicts. He might find allies among commoners against nobles and priests. A heroic fantasy novel by Poul Anderson raises such issues.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I doubt it, what you said about "class conflicts." Most ordinary people won't care much who governs as long as whoever might be the "nobles" in a particular state are not too terribly incompetent. The "nobles" of the US and the UK are the office holders in the major political parties. To say nothing of how so many people don't even bother to vote!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
There is overt class conflict in Britain right now. Many people (wrongly) don't vote because they perceive it as making no difference. When a vote visibly does matter, like with the Scottish Independence Referendum, voters turn out in big numbers.
Paul.
Daris asks what harm these poor toilers have ever done to anyone and makes the point that:
"The common Stygians are the first victims of their own overbearing nobles and fanatical priests." (XII, p. 119)
These are potential allies of Conan and the Taians.
Note the failure of the international socialist movement to halt either World War -- the labor parties all voted for war, or were completely marginalized if they didn't.
At seventh and last, people usually put ethnicity, language and religion first.
Unfortunately, yes. We have to work on that "usually," though.
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