Movie Thulsa: An Adaptational Decay Of Most Adaptations Of Thulsa Doom And Thoth-Amon?

Sure, I can use Conan the Barbarian to berate Conan the Destroyer any day. Here's a review on Movie Thulsa - a beloved villain that's probably overrated. A careful analysis of Conan the Barbarian (1982) would reveal that Movie Thulsa was a Dirty Coward. Maybe, it's because the actor James Earl Jones wasn't an action actor. Cast any action actor such as Frank Langella (who portrayed a more evil Skeletor in Masters of the Universe) and get a Thulsa who could actually battle with Conan. Instead, Movie Thulsa was reduced to a Dirty Coward.

A careful analysis will show that Movie Thulsa is a coward 

At the beginning of the film, Movie Thulsa is shown to prefer to show up ONLY LATER. Movie Thulsa doesn't participate in the whack-a-villager game. Instead, you see his Rocksteady and Bebop minions namely Rexor and Thorgim do the job. Speaking of which, I wonder if Tang Lashor and Rattlor from She-Ra were partly inspired by them. Rexor would later become his high priest while Thorgrim is the dumb muscle. Movie Thulsa only shows up after his two not-so-smart henchmen finish the job. Fortunately, Movie Thulsa doesn't have to deal with Dregs from Conan the Adventurer. One can say that unlike Wrath-Amon - Movie Thulsa uses his smarts over brute force and isn't reliant on the Black Ring. 

However, Movie Thulsa is shown to be a Dirty Coward who prefers covert tactics. Movie Thulsa chose to hypnotize Movie Conan's mother before beheading her. We can credit Wrath-Amon for turning Cartoon Conan's parents into stone BY HIMSELF. Though, Wrath-Amon would've been outsmarted in an organizational battle. Later, Movie Thulsa starts doing his own twisted version of the Riddle of Steel. Movie Thulsa realizes that the pen is mightier than the sword. If Movie Thulsa can have mindless followers then he'll have supreme control over steel. The followers all carry a steel dagger called the Fangs of the Serpent. Movie Thulsa has armed guards with weapons of steel. Movie Thulsa understands that propaganda wins. 

Interestingly, the novelization puts in some deleted scenes. Conan gets captured after a failed attempt to infiltrate the Mountain of Power - the main headquarters of the serpent god's worship. Movie Thulsa demonstrates not one but TWO SUICIDES. A deleted scene from the 1982 film has a man stabbing himself. It was most likely removed due to time constraints. I wished the scene remained because it demonstrates Movie Thulsa's persuasiveness. However, Conan ends up criticizing Movie Thulsa as a coward who never fought in a one-on-one battle. That's after Movie Thulsa gloats about how his followers are more than ready to die in his service. The name is that Movie Thulsa is the Bringer of Death and why the helmet had a skull-shape insignia. 

Movie Thulsa would bring in another transformation. Conan, Valeria, and Subotain were about to attack the Mountain of Power. That's when Movie Thulsa becomes a serpent. It's possible that Movie Thulsa sensed danger. Back then, I assumed that Movie Thulsa simply did it as a ritual as the Nostalgia Critic would suggest. However, Movie Thulsa was always making his army fight for him That would prove a flaw since leaving Princess Yasimina behind would force him to go into battle. Movie Thulsa would also murder Valeria presumably to spite Conan. Why hit Valeria when he could hit Conan with that snake arrow? The writers probably wanted to retain supervillain stupidity even in an R-18 film.

After the Battle of the Mounds, the same pattern goes again. Movie Thulsa goes into the field but prefers to let Rexor and Thorgrim lead the batter. What's the point of going out to battle if he stays on the sidelines? After all is lost, Movie Thulsa tries to murder the princess just to spite Conan again. Movie Thulsa flees back after his plan fails. Movie Thulsa would later try to dispatch his army of soldiers to a massive attack. Some may interpret it as a suicide ceremony. The novelization presents that Movie Thulsa was calling for a massacre. Movie Thulsa would try to use hypnotic suggestions on Conan but was practically DEFEATED. Conan wounds Movie Thulsa with the broken Cimmerian sword (which Movie Thulsa used as a murder weapon against Conan's mother) and gets beheaded. Conan understood the power of flesh over steel. Conan had Valeria's selfless sacrifice to Yasimina's defection. Conan had Subotai still willing to protect the princess even with a leg injury.  

In my case, I think Movie Thulsa's Dirty Coward moments result from him becoming TOO DEPENDENT on his followers. Movie Thulsa could've used his ability to become a serpent and try and strangle Conan. Movie Thulsa could've turned his head into a serpent AND spit venom at Conan. There's a lot of cool stuff that Movie Thulsa could've done to win. Instead, the movie made him a Dirty Coward like most real-life cult leaders. 

However, other versions of Thulsa Doom (and also Thoth-Amon) were really able to go toe-to-toe against Conan

Most adaptations of Thoth-Amon (who gradually ascended as Conan's greatest enemy) can fight Conan one-on-one. Thoth-Amon was a deadly sorcerer even without the Serpent Ring of Set. True, Thoth-Amon relied on the Serpent Ring of Set for many spells BUT he was still cunning. Thoth-Amon served Ascalante as a slave but got his dangerous ring back. Thoth-Amon also defeated the Black Ring organization EVEN WITHOUT THE SERPENT RING OF SET. Thoth-Amon clashed against Conan even in a one-on-one battle in many adaptations. 

Most adaptations of Thulsa Doom were actually more evil versions of "Skeletor". I used to think Conan fought Skeletor in the comic book covers. Instead, it was the villain Thulsa Doom that Conan fought. Thulsa Doom was a skull-headed sorcerer who would give Skeletor a run for the latter's money. Thulsa Doom wouldn't be impressed with Movie Thulsa's lack of action. Thulsa Doom went into battle not just against Conan. Thulsa Doom was the primary antagonist of Conan's great ancestor, Kull the Conqueror. Thulsa Doom had many years of experience, which made him potentially more dangerous than Thoth-Amon. Even Thoth-Amon feared Thulsa Doom for good reasons. 

Did Conan the Adventurer poke fun at Movie Thulsa? 

Ram-Amon's downfall was that he decided to create a henchman TOO POWERFUL for him to control. Ram-Amon decided to turn a monitor lizard into the henchman that would overthrow him. One must wonder though how Wrath-Amon came to be BEFORE Conan only changed how events happened. My opinion of Wrath-Amon's original ascent without Conan's time travel is this. Ram-Amon most likely created Wrath-Amon to become the perfect general but this general stole his Black Ring when he least expected it. In the comics, Thoth-Amon lost his ring to a thief. Wrath-Amon probably stole the ring while Ram-Amon was sleeping to kick-start the series. Conan's traveling in time only altered the way Wrath-Amon was born. If only Ram-Amon had Rexor and Thorgim to help him then he wouldn't need to create Wrath-Amon from a Gila monster.

Ram-Amon preferred to let his Serpent Men do the fighting for him. Ram-Amon would eventually capture Conan and his friends but through covert tactics. Ram-Amon used Purple Lotus to knock them and had them delivered to the serpent god Set's site. Ram-Amon preferred to disguise himself as Dregs and have Conan dispose of his rebellious creation Wrath-Amon. Ram-Amon preferred to use magic and ran off when things weren't in his favor. Ram-Amon fled even leaving Set the god he so served with fervor behind. Ram-Amon could've shown himself in Conan and the Young Warriors but never did. I believe Ram-Amon could've been the main villain for that sequel with Mesmira. 

Ram-Amon's weakness was that he depended too much on his underlings. That's what would've given Wrath-Amon the advantage. Wrath-Amon was a brute force enforcer before becoming Set's new high priest. Ram-Amon would depend too much on deceit as well to win the day. Pretty much how Movie Thulsa would depend on deceit to further Set's agenda into the world.