The second movie

[Jonathan]

Quick question... in Conan the Destroyer, of what race were Malak and Bombatta, respectively? I just ask out of curiosity (though I do intend to make a conniving thief character, and am using Malak as a starting point...). Thanks!

 

[JamesMishler]

Malak is a Hebrew name, so that would suggest Shemite, but Malak certainly didn't appear to be Shemite. Most likely Kothite, with a mix of Shemite and Hyborian ancestry.

Bombatta was, as far as I could tell, a made-up name vaguely African sounding. Wilt Chamberlain was, of course, African American. I'd say Zembabwei or one of the tribes of the southern Black Kingdoms; maybe even a far-wandering Southern Islander.

 

[Jonathan]

As for Malak, that's kinda what threw me off. I had hoped that they'd include the movie character names in the 'sample' name sections for each race. Ah, well.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Bombaatu]

Bear in mind that Malak, whatever his ethnic origin, grew up in Shadizar and has extensive family there. Culturally, he is Zamoran, thru and thru.
(we *are* talking about the annoying little guy with the two knives and the penchant for swallowing jewels, are we not?).

Bombatta I would place from one of the Southern black kingdoms. Given his size and fighting skill, I would guess he was at one point a gladiatorial slave that somehow won his freedom and gained a position of authority in Shadizar.

 

[Jonathan]

Yup, that's the Malak I know and love. Well, always wanted to play as a character, anyways (most of my PCs tend to be heroic... with an exception to perhaps White Wolf's Aberrant game...)

 

[Jason Durall]

Does the Robert Jordan novelization give any clues about their cultural backgrounds?

 

[Jonathan]

Dunno, but I think the movies were supposed to be combinations of various Conan tales. I could be wrong, but I remember somebody telling me that once.

 

[Evilschemer]

The first movie had bits of the The Thing in the Crypt, Tower of the Elephant, and an homage to Queen of the Black Coast. The second movie had an homage to Thak the Ape-Man from Rogues in the House. That's all I remember. There might be more in the second movie.

 

[Jonathan]

Enter the man who might've been the one to tell me that once.

 

[Bregales]

The first movie had bits of the The Thing in the Crypt, Tower of the Elephant, and an homage to Queen of the Black Coast. The second movie had an homage to Thak the Ape-Man from Rogues in the House. That's all I remember. There might be more in the second movie.

The evil socerer who turned into the ape man was called Thoth-Amon too. I have no idea where the Malak character came from, I believe that he was originally supposed to be Subotai but maybe Gerry Lopez didn't want to be part of it. There's some dialogue (the camel scene) that this Malak shouldn't know about but Subotai would. Who knows. As for Bombaata, there was a character so named in the story "Hawks Over Shem" who's a Kushite Captain of the Guard, so I'd guess that's what Wilt's character was based on. Oh hey, come to think of it, King Akhirom's father was a Shemite called Azumelek in the same story, so maybe that's where Malak came from.

 

[Evilschemer]

I just read "A Witch Shall be Born" and I can now add the crucifixion to the tree and the killing of the vulture as being another element inspired from the original stories.