The Hero, Inverted

and the origins of Galahorn

Conan is unstoppable.

Conan was destined from birth to kill and conquer; he is not so much invincible as he is inevitable. His cause is worthy, his muscles are bulging, and his will indominable. Conan cannot be pushed back; he moves only forward.

Conan O Bárbaro is still available on DVD, grab it now

Galahorn of the Prötog is not Conan, of course.

Rather, he was inspired by the game Diablo, in which you can play as a rampaging Barbarian. The visceral experience of being an all-smashing, all-slaying 300-pound human gorilla is, to say the least, a power trip. And because the experience is unshackled from any moral cost - everything you’re killing is evil, so it’s okay! - you can even feel righteous while playing him.

You’re the protagonist, nothing can stop you from winning, and you are always right.

Prötog/protagonist. Am I not brilliant and subtle?

Anyhow, you could ask the Prötog where they come from, but I doubt their answers would satisfy. To them, the 4 directions of earth (and the 6 directions of the World Tree) mean nothing. The Prötog know only 2 directions: forward and back.

To go back would be wrong,

so Galahorn moves only forward,

as relentless and unfeeling as a hurricane.

And you’re in the middle of my article, buddy

So what do you do when the Protagonist views everyone else as evil?

How do you possibly reason with someone who cannot see your humanity (or much of anything, with a helmet like that)?

How do you stop the inevitable?

Galahorn: An Evolution

“Horns” first appeared in that lovely summer of 2020:

Pictured: Frodo hiding from the Nazgûl, apparently.

In this drawing - done with pen on paper - we saw Galahorn striding somewhere with great purpose. He went armed to the teeth, bearing a sword, shield, and axe, and he was built like a brick-house ogre.

I experimented with looks:

And then I painted this, and in doing so, built out the essential conflict of what would later become Quiet: Level One.

(For anyone wondering how I conceived of this image, I started with two squares moving in opposition:)

In just a few months, “Horns” had ditched the sword and shield in favor of a sharper purpose and a much, much bigger axe.

And then, about one year ago, he shed his baby fat and got… leggy.

And dynamic, suddenly.

Gone was the slow-witted ogre; suddenly, our villain got faster - not just physically, but mentally, able to move as quick as thought…

…which of course made him more dangerous than ever.

I was more or less where I wanted to be, design-wise. After simmering on the back-burner of my mind for a few years, “Horns” had been reduced to his key components: a horned helmet, a dynamic build, and a leering wolf for an axe.

“I don’t always smile, but when I do, it’s terrifying.”

All that was left was a name.

And then one day, my daughter was watching Bluey - as she’s done every day for what feels like the last ten thousand years - and Bingo named one of her chess pieces (the knight) “Galahop":"

Something about that name stuck, and after a few days, I realized why. Galahop was a play on Sir Galahad, who was King Arthur’s best friend and the finder of the Holy Grail. The name practically shouted “Hero.”

Gala… horn? Galahorn? Sounded really cool, but also… familiar. Where had I heard that name before?

Friends, brace yourself:

In Norse mythology, Gjallarhorn is a horn that will herald the beginning of Ragnarök, the death of the gods and the end of all worlds.

Oh, no big deal, Gjallahorn was just a herald of the apocalypse.

It was perfect. I ditched the Norse spelling (his axe, Rüna, was enough) and threw Horns a Gala. At last, he was ready for his debut:

Woops, nope, that’s just Conan again.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Jonah

Next week - Every Character has a Limit!