A thoughtful barbarian

While surfing around, I found this passage from one of the best of the Conan stories written by Robert E. Howard.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."
Robert E. Howard - Queen of the Black Coast

This is why no fantasy character can compare to Conan.. If some other writer had written this, it would be considered high prose, but since it was only a pulp fiction writer who created bloody characters it was pretty much ignored. Thankfully, R.E. Howard is being rediscovered thanks to the fact that geeks are now ruling the entertainment industry. It is about time! Now get out there and read some Howard!