MovieChat Forums > Conan the Barbarian (1982) Discussion > Thulsa Doom at the end

Thulsa Doom at the end

posted 9 months ago by Aylmer (628)
8 replies | jump to latest

I always wondered what Thulsa's plan was at the end when he gives his big ending speech to his followers. He tells them that the "day of doom is here" and the torches they wield will "burn away the darkness", but I never quite got what he was getting at. I imagine that Milius was patterning Doom after Jim Jones and that the intent from Doom was to have all his followers set themselves on fire or something that evening so he could "start fresh" with a new crop, if he was even thinking rationally.

The cream of his army was just killed earlier that same day and he lost his most competent followers and possibly the most critical members of his organization. I imagine that Rexor and Thorgrim had been with him for decades and were devoted to his cause as well as trusted lieutenants and fighters. The loss of both of them was possibly devastating to him and his movement and he may have lost his mind to the point of wanting to kill off everyone around him, kind of like how Jones felt the walls closing in after his followers had murdered Leo Ryan at the airport.

Either that or he was initiating a plan he'd long held for them to go out into the world with their torches and set a bunch of things on fire, but I doubt that as their torches wouldn't have lasted more than a couple hours.

Or was there possibly some other interpretation of Doom at the end and what his plans were?

[–] TandyMan (11349) 2 days ago

Well you're blowing my mind here. I always just superficially saw him as over the top movie villain. But yeah. What was he doing? The parallels to Jim Jones have always been super obvious. A mass death event is probably what he had in mind. He'd probably resurrect again after a cocoon slumber and start all over. He might have even needed to harvest the souls of his followers for his magic spell.

[–] TandyMan (11349) 2 days ago

I always found it curious that Conan was the last slave to the wheel. No other replacements in all this time? No new kids? It suggests to me that Doom's empire was in decline already.

[–] Aylmer (628) 2 days ago

I think Thulsa kinda spelled it out when he spoke to Conan before sending him to the Tree of Woe. I gleaned that he had shifted tactics somewhat from steel to flesh, ie. Conqueror to Cult Leader. It made me think he was gradually phasing out taking land by force and enslaving people (such as Conan's village) and opting instead to infiltrating with his snake cult and building towers, influence, and subterfuge in city after city. This explains why Conan ended up being the final slave at the wheel as I think that whole side of Thulsa's business was just left to rot on the vine over time. I imagine that Red Beard character who was Conan's handler left with Conan because he noticed his paychecks diminishing over time or he was disenchanted with the new cult-like direction Thulsa's empire was moving in.

[–] TandyMan (11349) 2 days ago

Yeah, I think you got that right. There was probably a whole faction of disenfranchised warriors looking for new work out there. So it was Doom's earlier ways that ended up undoing him. Conan being the ultimate product of the old war machine, now free. Just a forgotten loose end.

[–] Aylmer (628) a day ago

I feel like over time I'm gradually realizing how John Milius's script is a lot more layered and clever than I originally gave it credit for... and I've probably seen this movie dozens of times.

I've tried writing just enough to realize how insanely hard it is. So much to mentally keep track of, but when things work and the narrative circles around to close a theme (like a good call-back in a comedy routine) it's a brilliant confluence of intellect and creativity.

[–] TandyMan (11349) 12 hours ago

I've attempted to be an author all my life. So many good ideas. But it's like impossible to sit down every day and finish them. I'm like both the petulant child and the annoying teacher making me do the work. And of course a cliche alcoholic. it's a huge mess. Doesn't help that it's harder than ever to make money doing it.

[–] thingmakersback (1444) 19 hours ago

I was never under the impression that the place where wheel was had been part of Doom's "empire". I figured that, like Doom later said, the pursuit of steel was something he had done years ago and had abandoned. Presumably the people he had used at that time were far away and unconnected to his cult.

Doom was not the leader of a really huge movement, he was busy at his stronghold to the south, controlling the minds of a growing cadre of potential assassins, planning to take over southern kingdoms, not a bunch of northern barbarians.

[–] agentalbert (3389) 21 hours ago

That's an interesting take on it. I've never thought of it as a Jim Jones style burn it all down, but more of a "never admit you're wrong" attitude. So his closest followers were killed? Snakes killed? Captive princess rescued? Cult leaders don't accept defeat, they just keep spewing the same and gather more. Right before he lost his head, Thulsa was probably supremely confident he could turn Conan and make him his new right hand man. But it works either way.

I love this movie so much, and it's always so disappointing to me the toned down approach of the next, and that we only got one real Conan movie of this type.