savage and mystical world, replete with gore and brutal slayings, satisfied the reader's fantasies of being a "powerful giant who lives by no rules but his own". From the 1960s, Conan gained a wider audience as novels about him, written in imitation of Howard's style by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, were published. Frank Frazetta's cover art for these novels cemented Conan's image as a "virile, axe-wielding, fur-bearing, cranium-smashing barbarian". John Milius, the film's director, intended the film's Conan to be "a Northern European mythic hero". Danny Peary described Conan as "muscular, majestic, brainy, yet with ambivalent scruples". Don Herron, a scholar on Howard and his stories, disagreed, noting that the personality of Conan in the film differs greatly from that of the literature. The Conan in the books detests restrictions to his freedom and would have resisted slavery in a violent fashion, whereas the film version accepts his fate and has to be freed. Robert Garcia's review of the film in his American Fantasy magazine states, "this Conan is less powerful, less talkative, and less educated than Howard's". The female lead, Valeria, has her roots in two strong female characters from Howard's Conan stories. Her namesake was Conan's companion in "Red Nails", while her personality and fate were based on those of Bêlit, the pirate queen in "Queen of the Black Coast". According to Kristina Passman, an assistant professor of classical languages and literature, the film's Valeria is a perfect archetype of the "good" Amazon character, a fierce but domesticated female warrior, in cinema. Rikke Schubart, a film scholar, said Valeria is a "good" Amazon because she is tamed by love and not because of any altruistic tendencies. Valeria's prowess in battle matches that of Conan, and she is also depicted as his equal in capability and status. The loyalty and love she displays for Conan makes her more than a companion to him; she represents his "possibilities of human happiness". Her sacrifice for Conan and her brief return from death act out the heroic code, illustrating that self-sacrificing heroism brings "undying fame". Valeria's name is spoken in the film only after her death. Milius based Conan's other companion, Subotai, on Genghis Khan's main general, Subotai, rather than on any of Howard's characters. According to film critic Roger Ebert, Subotai fulfills the role of a "classic literary type—the Best Pal." He helps the barbarian to kill a