What martial arts does Conan The Barbarian know?

Conan The Barbarian is a classic hero story that was originally written by author Robert. E Howard in the 1970s. However, it wasn’t until the 1982 movie featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger that the Conan story really blew up. From then onwards, it has become culturally mainstream and we can all agree that Conan The Barbarian is one of the coolest heroes around.

For this article, we shall be looking at what martial arts Conan The Barbarian uses whilst in combat. Before continuing, we should stress that these martial arts aren’t literal. What we mean by this is that certain martial arts don’t exist within the Conan timeline or universe. In other words, don’t take this too seriously. At the same time, it’s fun to put names on Conan’s fighting style and the techniques he uses.

Conan The Barbarian knows Kendo

If Conan has one main, distinct fighting style then it’s most likely Kendo. This is because he uses a longsword style of fighting which is synonymous with Kendo. In Kendo, it’s impossible to handle the shinai stick without using both hands. Whilst in battle, Conan uses a sword that needs both hands to maneuver it. Basically, Conan fights using a Kendo style.

In most of his battles, this is what Conan is comfortable with and if possible, he’ll almost always elect to use a longsword of his weapon of choice. This gives him decent reach and due to his superhuman strength, he’s also able to yield it with little difficulty. Combined with skill and technical ability, this makes Conan a decent swordsman who has clearly practiced his sword work for many years. This isn’t surprising though, considering his barbarian lifestyle.

Conan The Barbarian knows Kyudo

In the big scheme of things, Kyudo isn’t really known about. This is because it’s a pretty old martial art and didn’t gain much traction outside of Japan. However, we also know that Conan uses archery at times which is what Kyudo teaches. Specifically talking, we’re on about the use of the bow and arrow. In the classic ‘Prayer to Crom’ scene, Conan uses a bow and arrow to strike one of his enemies.

Here, he shows pinpoint precision and it looks like an instant kill. What’s more impressive is that this takes place with his enemy riding a horse. Obviously, shooting a moving object at pace is not easy – yet Conan did it with ease. As a general rule, it’s fair to say that Conan favors his sword as his main form of weaponry. Still, when fighting from distance he is also skilled with Kyudo and archery.

Conan The Barbarian knows Kalaripayattu

Kalaripayattu is an ancient Indian martial art that is also pretty obscure these days. One of its most interesting aspects though is the use of shields. Generally, most martial arts won’t use shields – and even those that use weapons don’t commonly use shields either. Typically, Kalaripayattu also uses short swords too, but usually Conan pairs his shield with an ax instead.

The point of this is that whilst he loses the distance and power of the longsword, he gains a defensive shield. In certain circumstances and environments, this is better than using a sword. If the fight takes place in close quarters then a longsword loses its effectiveness. So, from here you may want to opt for something like an ax and shield. Kalaripayattu also focuses on athleticism too, such as high jumping and dynamic body movements. This is something that helps Conan during his fights.

Does Conan know any martial arts without weapons?

Arguably the consensus of the Hyborian Age is that most fighting is done without using your hands. This makes sense where combat is common as weapons make for a more effective way of fighting. It wouldn’t make sense to turn up to a knife fight without a weapon. This explains why for the most part, Conan uses weapons as otherwise, it would put him at an unfair disadvantage.

However, there are a few small examples where Conan doesn’t always use his weapons whilst fighting. When fighting the snake cult in the 1982 movie, Conan uses grappling a couple of times. The first is during a fight in the main hall, where he successfully hits a Sumi Gaeshi variation on his opponent. In this fight, Conan’s enemy lunges toward him, and Conan reacts by placing his feet on his hips. Conan then performs a backward roll to gain the dominant, top position.

In the same venue, he also kills a giant snake. Here, he stabs the snake through its mouth with his sword. Most impressively though, Conan manages to control the snake with a front headlock. In BJJ and catch wrestling, this is often called the Bulldog choke and can be used to choke people unconscious. Due to the size of the snake, this isn’t possible so Conan instead uses it as a detaining procedure rather than a choke.

Conclusion

Overall, Conan The Barbarian is undoubtedly a skilled martial artist. It goes without saying that his specialty involves using the longsword, but he’s also comfortable with archery too. Although there’s not much to go on, it looks like he does have a background in grappling too, and is fairly athletic.

Having said this, there is no evidence that Conan uses striking martial arts such as Karate or Muay Thai which means he could be more well-rounded. At the same time, due to his incredible strength and power, you still wouldn’t want to fight Conan – regardless of how what fighting style he elected to use.

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