Conan the Barbarian is a film about a young barbarian's quest to avenge his parents' deaths. The story is set in the fictional Hyborian Age, thousands of years before the rise of modern civilization.[2] The film opens with the words, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger", a paraphrasing of Friedrich Nietzsche,[nb 1] on a black screen followed by a voice-over that establishes the film as the story of Conan's origin.[1][4] "A burst of drums and trumpets" accompanies the forging of a sword,[2][nb 2] after which the scene shifts to a mountain top, where the swordsmith tells his young son Conan about the Riddle of Steel, an aphorism on the importance of the metal to their people,[6][7] the Cimmerians.[8]
The Cimmerians are massacred by a band of warriors led by Thulsa Doom. Conan's father is killed by dogs, and his sword is taken by Doom to decapitate Conan's mo…