After 29 Years of Hollywood Failure, This Golden-Age Fantasy Hero Finally Gets the Adaptation They Deserve — Gaming

After 29 years of Hollywood fumbling him, this hero from fantasy’s golden age gets the adaptation he deserves. Of the many sub-fields of fantasy, the “sword and sorcery” genre is one of the most popular, and it is almost largely due to one author: Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian.

While Conan may be Howard’s best-known character, he in fact created many more. None of them would achieve the same name recognition that Conan did, but their adventures are well worth reading. Much like his contemporary, H.P. Lovecraft, Howard built a consistent universe, with its own cosmology and history. In Howard’s fantasy stories, savage warriors fight their way against equally inhospitable environments. Howard’s other great characters include the Puritan swordsman Solomon Kane, Red Sonya, scourge of the Ottoman Empire and Kull the Conqueror. It is this last hero that is arguably Howard’s best.

First appearing in the August 1929 issue of Weird Tales magazine, in a story called “The Shadow Kingdom,” Kull predated Conan by three years. This has led many to dismiss Kull as a “Conan” prototype, but the truth is the two characters could not be more different. Despite debuting later, Conan became more popular, leading to film adaptations, as well as appearances in other media. Kull has not received similar treatment, only appearing in a poorly received 1997 film starring Kevin Sorbo. Now, a new novella shows Hollywood how to properly bring Kull to life.

A Compendium of Enchanted Cinema How Well Do You Know Fantasy Movies? “Magic always comes with a price.”

🪄SpellsWingardium Leviosa

🐉BeastsHere be dragons

👑KingdomsLong live the king

⚔QuestsThe hero’s journey

🔮MagicWhat lies ahead

Across the Harry Potter films, the boy wizard is rarely without his loyal companion — a snowy owl gifted to him by Hagrid on his eleventh birthday. What is the owl’s name?

✓ Correct! Hedwig — the snowy owl Harry receives in The Philosopher’s Stone — becomes one of his most beloved companions. Errol is the Weasleys’ ancient, accident-prone owl; Pigwidgeon is Ron’s tiny hyperactive owl; and Crookshanks is Hermione’s ginger cat — not an owl at all.

✗ Not quite! The answer is Hedwig. Errol is the Weasleys’ clumsy family owl, Pigwidgeon is Ron’s tiny owl from later books, and Crookshanks is Hermione’s cat. Hedwig is the snowy owl Hagrid buys Harry for his birthday — even getting her own leitmotif from composer John Williams.

In Rob Reiner’s 1987 cult classic The Princess Bride, the farm boy Westley answers Buttercup’s every demand with the same three words — which she comes to realize actually mean “I love you.” What does he say?

✓ Correct! “As you wish” is Westley’s signature line — and the film’s emotional core. “Inconceivable!” is Vizzini’s catchphrase (prompting Inigo’s famous “You keep using that word…”). The other two were never in William Goldman’s script — the whole point is that three plain words carry all the meaning.

✗ Not quite! The answer is “As you wish.” “Inconceivable!” belongs to the Sicilian Vizzini. Buttercup slowly realizes that Westley’s endlessly repeated “As you wish” is really his way of saying “I love you” — one of the most quoted lines in fantasy cinema.

The 2006 Spanish-language masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth blends a fascist-era fairy tale with the grim reality of post-Civil War Spain, featuring the nightmarish Pale Man. Which director created this dark fantasy?

✓ Correct! Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed Pan’s Labyrinth, designing the Faun and the eyeless Pale Man himself. He’d later win Best Director and Best Picture for The Shape of Water. Cuarón directed Prisoner of Azkaban; Almodóvar is Spain’s great melodramatist; Rodriguez is del Toro’s close friend but made Sin City and Spy Kids.

✗ Not quite! The answer is Guillermo del Toro. Alfonso Cuarón (a fellow “Three Amigos” of Mexican cinema) directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Pedro Almodóvar makes Spanish melodramas, and Robert Rodriguez made Sin City. Del Toro’s creature designs in Pan’s Labyrinth are now iconic.

In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), the four Pevensie children first stumble into the snowy land of Narnia by passing through what object?

✓ Correct! It’s a wardrobe — it’s right there in the title. Lucy hides inside during a game and finds the snow and lamppost of Narnia beyond the fur coats. A magical painting actually appears in the sequel, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; the mirror and well are red herrings from other fantasy tales.

✗ Not quite! The answer is a wardrobe — literally named in the title. Lucy Pevensie pushes past the coats and steps out into snowy Narnia by the lamppost. (A magical painting does pull the children into the sea in the later film The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — but not here.)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) made Oscar history as the first fantasy film to win Best Picture, sweeping every category it was nominated in. How many Academy Awards did it take home?

✓ Correct! Return of the King won all 11 of its nominations — tying Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997) for the all-time record, and becoming the first (and so far only) fantasy film to win Best Picture. Remarkably, it earned zero acting nominations yet still swept the board clean.

✗ Not quite! The answer is 11 — a perfect clean sweep. Return of the King tied Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most Oscar wins ever and broke fantasy’s long Best Picture drought. Fellowship of the Ring won 4 and The Two Towers won 2; the finale took everything it was nominated for.

In the swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean films, Johnny Depp earned an Oscar nomination playing a swaggering, kohl-eyed pirate captain reportedly inspired by Keith Richards. What is the character’s name?

✓ Correct! Captain Jack Sparrow — Depp’s loose-limbed, rum-soaked performance earned a surprise Best Actor nomination for The Curse of the Black Pearl. Will Turner is the blacksmith hero (Orlando Bloom), Davy Jones is the tentacle-faced villain (Bill Nighy), and Hector Barbossa is the mutinous rival captain (Geoffrey Rush).

✗ Not quite! The answer is Captain Jack Sparrow. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is the earnest blacksmith, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) is the squid-faced sea villain, and Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is the cursed rival. It was Depp’s Sparrow — modeled partly on Keith Richards — who earned the Oscar nod.

Jim Henson’s 1986 musical fantasy Labyrinth features a teenage Jennifer Connelly navigating a maze to rescue her baby brother from the flamboyant, wild-haired Goblin King Jareth. Which rock legend played Jareth?

✓ Correct! David Bowie played Jareth, writing and performing the film’s songs including “Magic Dance” and “As the World Falls Down.” Tim Curry famously played the demon Darkness in another Ridley Scott fantasy, Legend (also 1985-86). Jagger and Sting are rock icons but never donned Jareth’s glittering cape and wild wig.

✗ Not quite! The answer is David Bowie. Tim Curry played the towering devil Darkness in the rival fantasy Legend around the same time. Bowie not only starred as Jareth the Goblin King but composed and sang the soundtrack — “Magic Dance” remains the film’s signature number.

In the 1984 classic The NeverEnding Story, the young warrior Atreyu journeys across the dying realm of Fantasia and befriends a furry, dog-faced luckdragon who carries him through the skies. What is the luckdragon’s name?

✓ Correct! Falkor (Falkor the luckdragon) is the friendly, scale-and-fur covered dragon who aids Atreyu and Bastian. Artax is Atreyu’s horse, lost heartbreakingly in the Swamp of Sadness; Gmork is the wolf-like servant of The Nothing; and Bastian is the real-world boy reading the story who is ultimately drawn into it.

✗ Not quite! The answer is Falkor. Artax is Atreyu’s beloved horse (the Swamp of Sadness scene scarred a generation), Gmork is the menacing wolf-beast serving The Nothing, and Bastian is the bullied boy reading the book. Falkor is the soaring luckdragon — one of fantasy cinema’s most cherished creatures.

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Archmage of the Silver Screen — or still lost in the labyrinth?

Kull the Conqueror Gets His Due in The Undoomed Man

In the new novella Kull: The Undoomed Man, by Adam Rose, the hero embarks on one of his grandest adventures to date. Set early in Kull’s career, before he became King of Atlantis, the story follows the hero as he hunts a mysterious and fearsome creature simply called the “Beast of Skull Mountain.” In exchange, Kull, still a slave at this point, will be granted his freedom.

During his expedition, Kull meets Orgon, a bounty hunter also on the trail of the Beast. After realizing they have common ground, the two are beset upon by bandits, but it soon becomes clear their attackers are slaves of the Beast. Now, Kull must not only ally himself with someone he barely knows, but also fight demons and the Beast itself.

Rose's other credits include the noir/kaiju mashup graphic novel Huge Detective.

The novella is part of a series called The Heroic Legend Series. Published by Titan Books, it is a series of novellas, initially released as ebooks, featuring new stories by some of today’s top authors that shine a light on the amazing characters created by Robert E. Howard. Adam Rose, the writer of The Undoomed Man, has written for both comics and movies. A lifelong fan of Robert E. Howard, Rose is currently working on a Conan comic. His deep knowledge of the Howard canon serves him well with The Undoomed Man.

Adam Rose Captures Perfectly Everything That Makes Kull Great

Rose Mixes the Action and Philosophy That Comes with a Good Kull Story

Kull: The Undoomed Man is not only a worthy addition to the character’s lore, it is also a grand tribute to Robert E. Howard. Rose treats Kull with reverence and respect, drawing heavily on Howard’s original ideas for the character. Kull is far more introspective than Conan and Howard’s other characters, and this shows throughout The Undoomed Man. In one scene, Kull ruminates on his eating habits, and how they reflect his philosophies on life. This one scene, which might seem trivial to most readers, signifies Rose’s grasp of the character.

That is not to say The Undoomed Man is all talk and no action. Howard wrote some of the best fight scenes in literature, ones that practically leap off the page and sear themselves into the reader’s brain. Kull was a deep thinker, but he was also a world-class fighter and swordsman. These qualities are on display in The Undoomed Man. The clashes between Kull and the Beast of Skull Mountain are particularly intense.

The Undoomed Man also hands Hollywood a ready-made blueprint for a great live-action Kull movie.

The Undoomed Man also hands Hollywood a ready-made blueprint for a great live-action Kull movie. Kull’s aforementioned 1997 cinematic outing with Kevin Sorbo flopped at the box office and with fans, currently holding a 21 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Part of the reason the film failed with fans was that it was a rewritten Conan movie. The filmmakers substituted Kull for Conan, with no regards for the differences between the two, leading to a disjointed and confusing movie. Rose’s The Undoomed Man, on the other hand, is firmly grounded in the tradition Howard established.

Now, Kull Needs a Good Live-Action Movie, and The Undoomed Man Shows Hollywood How It Is Done

Robert E. Howard’s characters continue to inspire readers, nearly 100 years after they were first published. Conan continues to star in comics and novels, and a new film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is rumored to be in production. Solomon Kane received a live-action movie in 2009 as well. There are still, however, many great Howard characters in need of a faithful live-action adaptation. Kull the Conqueror deserves this treatment more than any others. Hardly a Conan rip-off, Kull holds vast on-screen potential, and Adam Rose shows Hollywood how it's done in the new novella Kull: The Undoomed Man.

Kull: The Undoomed Man is available as an ebook from Titan Books!