# Raging Barbarians in Fiction?



## Cadence (Oct 6, 2020)

Does anyone have some favorite examples of protagonist Barbarians in fiction who regularly (or ever) use something like the D&D rage power?  Or is it usually minor characters or something the enemy does?

Conan and Fafhrd seem like the most famous "Barbarians". What are the best stories (if any) of them raging?

The only one I have is in Glen Cook's "Dread Empire" series, Bragi Ragnarson's father is known for his berzerker rages, and Bragi (the series most prominent character) has it happen once or twice.  But it isn't a regular thing and he's just more of a fighter.


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## Umbran (Oct 6, 2020)

I don't think the trope is particularly strong for main characters in modern age fiction.  I think it is more a callback to the legends of berzerkers.

However, in Lord of the Rings, King Theoden at the Battle of Pellenor fields is described, "_Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins."_

As for Conan, in _Queen of the Black Coast_: "The fighting-madness of his race was upon him, and with a red mist of unreasoning fury wavering before his blazing eyes, he cleft skulls, smashed breasts, severed limbs, ripped out entrails, and littered the deck like a shambles with a ghastly harvest of brains and blood." 

Other examples:  Literature / The Berserker - TV Tropes

I can think of several outside of fantasy literature.  Marvel Comics Wolverine and Hulk certainly qualify.  Pretty much any Red Lantern from DC.  Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde is a classic one in literature.


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## Sacrosanct (Oct 6, 2020)

Also, there are beserkers in the TV show VIkings, and countless documentaries about the Brits vs the Romans.


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## Ryujin (Oct 6, 2020)

I'm vaguely remembering someone in a novel raging in battle and not remembering anything until the battle was won, but drawing a blank. I know it wasn't in "Three Hearts and Three Lions" despite there being a similar scene in that, because Paladin, not barbarian. If I can remember it, I'll come back and post it too.

I think that my favourite is not actually borne of anger, but fear. An "urban barbarian." In "The Horseclans" series of books Geros Lahvoheetos is a gentleman's servant who, during an ambush, is sent off for help. He has no weapons training and considers himself to be a coward. They give him a mule and a spear. No armour. No one else to go with him, because no one else can be spared. Off he goes for help. A short distance along the road he comes upon three raiders who raise their weapons and move to attack, Out of terror he spurs him mule forward. Not being trained he swings his spear like a staff, forgetting that it has a bladed point, and cuts the throat of one of one, then rides right over another of the raiders, while accidentally jamming his spear into the third. He has no clear memory of this, since he's terrified and pretty much has his eyes closed through the whole incident.

When he returns with reinforcements his master, who thought that he was just going to be dying a little before the rest of them did, thinks that he has underestimated the "natural talents" of Geros. He's armed, equipped, and added to the common soldiery. Realizing that he needs to get a quick education or die quickly, he starts mastering his weapons. It doesn't help with the fear. In his first real battle his internal monologue is damning his luck, damning the enemy for making him fight, and damning himself for his own cowardice. This goes from an internal monologue to externally shouting, "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU!", which his fellows take to be his battle cry. Again, everything is pretty much just a blur of hoof beats, flashing metal, and blood; no real memory.

Along the way he's congratulated for his valour by his legendary captain (Billy the Axe). Geros can't accept the praise stating, with great embarrassment, that when the battle came, he pissed himself. All of the leaders present laugh at this and Geros is concerned that his cowardice is now in the open, for all to see. Billy reassures him that they weren't laughing at him, but rather because it's such a common thing. In fact [insert famous general's name here] would routinely crap himself when going into battle. Billy says that any man who isn't afraid when going into battle is a fool and not someone he'd want at his side.

So fear, not anger sparking a barbarian "rage."


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## billd91 (Oct 6, 2020)

Literary (of various forms) raging barbarians could include Cú Chulainn of Irish mythology and Sláine of 2000AD magazine and his own comics. Both experienced variations on warp spasms that could be handled by barbarian rage mechanics.


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## Deset Gled (Oct 6, 2020)

Mr. Furious from Mystery Men.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

Godzilla?

Buffy (the Vampire Slayer)

Miss Piggy

River (Firefly)


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## Cadence (Oct 6, 2020)

Ryujin said:


> I think that my favourite is not actually borne of anger, but fear. An "urban barbarian." In "The Horseclans" series of books Geros Lahvoheetos is a gentleman's servant who, during an ambush, is sent off for help. He has no weapons training and considers himself to be a coward.




It's been 25 or 30 years since I read all of the Horseclans books.  I might have to see if I can find some of those again.  I remember bits and pieces, but not  of that character.





Deset Gled said:


> Miss Piggy




Now I want to do an Orc Barbarian and some amphibian race Bard...


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## Ryujin (Oct 6, 2020)

Cadence said:


> It's been 25 or 30 years since I read all of the Horseclans books.  I might have to see if I can find some of those again.  I remember bits and pieces, but not  of that character.




(Sir) Geros is first in book 4, I think; "A Cat of Silvery Hue."


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## MarkB (Oct 6, 2020)

Slaine from 2000AD.

The Hulk.

Sith from Star Wars gain strength from rage.

Kratos from God of War has a rage mechanic.


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## Morrus (Oct 6, 2020)

Hulk and Wolverine?


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## the Jester (Oct 6, 2020)

Hawk of May.


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## Bayushi_seikuro (Oct 7, 2020)

Deset Gled said:


> Mr. Furious from Mystery Men.
> 
> Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
> 
> ...



I'm not so sure I'd classify River as a raging barbarian.  She was more the hyper-competent killer.  Reminded me of the Machine from the novel Armor.


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## Wrathamon (Oct 7, 2020)

I would say maybe Ultra Man ... he gets all crazy when his chest starts flashing


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## Tonguez (Oct 7, 2020)

billd91 said:


> Literary (of various forms) raging barbarians could include Cú Chulainn of Irish mythology and Sláine of 2000AD magazine and his own comics. Both experienced variations on warp spasms that could be handled by barbarian rage mechanics.



Pat Mills who created Slaine was quite explicit that Slaine was based primarily (though not exclusively) on Cú Chulainn. 
Rage can indeed be used to model the Warpspasm but in the original story it was a monstrous transformation wherein Cú Chulainn would swell to many times his usual size; one eye would pop out of its socket and hang down on his cheek, and a gout of "poisonous" blood would shoot out of his forehead...


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## Bedrockgames (Oct 7, 2020)

I will let others quantify the instances of barbarian rage in literature. For me it has always been one of those abilities that felt right more than anything else

My favorite rage though is BlackAdder's Tim McInnerny foaming at the mouth in Erik the Viking


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## Dioltach (Oct 7, 2020)

Joe Abercrombie's Logen Ninefingers, when he becomes the Bloody Nine (and of course Lamb). Changes from an amiable and intelligent fighter into an unstoppable, bloodthirsty maniac. Years after his disappearance, one army scares another during battle just by mimicking his laughter.


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## Ryujin (Oct 7, 2020)

I forgot about Mark the Red in Zombie Orpheus Entertainment's 2002 film "The Gamers." "BLOOD, DEATH, AND VENGEANCE!"


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 7, 2020)

The Conan yarn, "The Phoenix on the Sword" (rejiggered from the Kull tale "By This Axe I Rule"), specifically springs to mind:

"With his back to the wall he faced the closing ring for a flashing instant, then leaped into the thick of them. He was no defensive fighter; even in the teeth of overwhelming odds he always carried the war to the enemy. Any other man would have already died there, and Conan himself did not hope to survive, but he did ferociously wish to inflict as much damage as he could before he fell. His barbaric soul was ablaze, and the chants of old heroes were singing in his ears."

The berserkers of various Norse sagas (Like Grettir's), spring to mind, though they are more often depicted as villainous figures.


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## doctorbadwolf (Oct 7, 2020)

Umbran said:


> I don't think the trope is particularly strong for main characters in modern age fiction.  I think it is more a callback to the legends of berzerkers.
> 
> However, in Lord of the Rings, King Theoden at the Battle of Pellenor fields is described, "_Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins."_
> 
> ...



Isn’t it Eomir who goes berserk, at the sight of Eowyn “dead”? He goes wild and screams “Death! Death!” And the other Rohirrim cry out with him.


Bayushi_seikuro said:


> I'm not so sure I'd classify River as a raging barbarian.  She was more the hyper-competent killer.  Reminded me of the Machine from the novel Armor.



She’s definitely a D&D barbarian, IMO, who _are_ highly competent killers. She goes into a killer state and exceeds what is possible for other people while in that state.


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## Umbran (Oct 7, 2020)

doctorbadwolf said:


> Isn’t it Eomir who goes berserk, at the sight of Eowyn “dead”? He goes wild and screams “Death! Death!” And the other Rohirrim cry out with him.




The quote I gave was from the moment of the charge.

"_Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Éomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first éored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, *but Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young.*_"

The battle-fury thing is pretty clearly about Theoden in this passage.

And, Eomer does get a similar moment, but the description isn't quite as explicit - he could just be really freaking mad.  And this happens late in the battle, which would seem odd for the barbarian type, who usually leads with _RRRRarrghhhghh_!, so I didn't mention it.  And if we are going to interpret _everyone who ever gets angry in battle_ as a barbarian... that's a lot of barbarians.

That said, Eomer is of the same bloodline.  If you wanna call him berzerk, feel free.


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## doctorbadwolf (Oct 7, 2020)

Umbran said:


> The quote I gave was from the moment of the charge.
> 
> "_Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Éomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first éored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, *but Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young.*_"
> 
> ...



Eomer definitely went into a frenzy. There’s really no other interpretation of that scene, especially if you’re interpreting Theoden’s scene that way. 

As for the lateness of the scene in the battle, that’s a rather odd argument. Most berserkers I’ve read hold out on that state until things are dire. I can’t think of any who start battles in that state, except for actual D&D characters.


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## Cadence (Oct 7, 2020)

doctorbadwolf said:


> As for the lateness of the scene in the battle, that’s a rather odd argument. Most berserkers I’ve read hold out on that state until things are dire. I can’t think of any who start battles in that state, except for actual D&D characters.




It feels like a lot of fictional characters that Rage are better captured  by something like PFs alternate multi-class feats (one of them is getting to rage one round per day per level+con mod, takeable at 3rd) than having an entire class built around it.


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## Wishbone (Oct 8, 2020)

Achilles, anyone?


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## doctorbadwolf (Oct 8, 2020)

Cadence said:


> It feels like a lot of fictional characters that Rage are better captured  by something like PFs alternate multi-class feats (one of them is getting to rage one round per day per level+con mod, takeable at 3rd) than having an entire class built around it.



Eh, that sounds much less fun, which is vastly, overwhelmingly, more important than how well the rules model literary figures.


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## Umbran (Oct 8, 2020)

doctorbadwolf said:


> Eomer definitely went into a frenzy. There’s really no other interpretation of that scene, especially if you’re interpreting Theoden’s scene that way.




_shrug_.  He runs up to the front, and blows a horn and shouts a lot.  For me, I am not sure that really qualifies.  YMMV.



doctorbadwolf said:


> As for the lateness of the scene in the battle, that’s a rather odd argument. Most berserkers I’ve read hold out on that state until things are dire. I can’t think of any who start battles in that state, except for actual D&D characters.




The entire battle is dire.  The Rohirrim came with 6,000 cavalry, and are outnumbered 3 to 1 by the Hardrim alone.  Tolkien doesn't give a straight headcount of the forces Sauron has thrown at the city, but the conservative estimates based on what he does say throughout his texts is something like 45K bad guys on the filed.  Eomer is riding with 6K.  So, yeah, riding against trolls and oliphaunts and 45,000 orcs and men?  Doesn't exactly sound like a time to hold back.


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## MarkB (Oct 8, 2020)

Rage mechanics in CRPGs often work as a reservoir you build up during combat, either generally or by getting hurt, and then get to unleash.

As a couple of for-instances, in the PS4 God of War game you get to choose when to enter Rage mode once you're charged up, so you can save it for pivotal moments, while in Mad Max it triggers as soon as it's charged up, making it the brutal capstone to most combats.


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## Cadence (Oct 8, 2020)

doctorbadwolf said:


> Eh, that sounds much less fun, which is vastly, overwhelmingly, more important than how well the rules model literary figures.




I should print this out and hang it up as a poster whenever I go to work on tweaking game mechanics.


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## doctorbadwolf (Oct 8, 2020)

Cadence said:


> I should print this out and hang it up as a poster whenever I go to work on tweaking game mechanics.



I had to remind myself yesterday as I was thinking about how magic works in my system. In theory I love the idea of making magic work a lot like thaumaturgy and potion making in the Dresden Files books, but in reality it would probably be much too complicated and add little to the game, so magic will be described a lot like that, but most magic will just be a skill check or two, depending on complexity. 

I am gonna make “big magic” rituals more complex thought essentially solving a puzzle to build the ritual. I figure that kind of magic can afford to be less immediate and “push button to fire missile”.


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## doctorbadwolf (Oct 8, 2020)

Umbran said:


> _shrug_.  He runs up to the front, and blows a horn and shouts a lot.  For me, I am not sure that really qualifies.  YMMV.
> 
> 
> 
> The entire battle is dire.  The Rohirrim came with 6,000 cavalry, and are outnumbered 3 to 1 by the Hardrim alone.  Tolkien doesn't give a straight headcount of the forces Sauron has thrown at the city, but the conservative estimates based on what he does say throughout his texts is something like 45K bad guys on the filed.  Eomer is riding with 6K.  So, yeah, riding against trolls and oliphaunts and 45,000 orcs and men?  Doesn't exactly sound like a time to hold back.



He definitely goes berserk. I’ve literally never seen anyone ever argue otherwise before, because it’s very clear.


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## Dioltach (Oct 8, 2020)

Just remembered another: Prince Jalan, from the _Red Queen's War_ trilogy by Mark Lawrence. Complete with blackouts and no memory of what happened while he was raging. Bonus points for normally being an utter coward.


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## zarionofarabel (Oct 9, 2020)

My memory fails me, but I vaguely remember a dwarf from one of the FR novels. He wore armor covered in spikes. He was a battlerager.


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## Richards (Oct 9, 2020)

zarionofarabel said:


> My memory fails me, but I vaguely remember a dwarf from one of the FR novels. He wore armor covered in spikes. He was a battlerager.



That would be Thibbledorf Pwent, from the Drizzt Do'Urden novels by R. A. Salvatore.  Good call.

Johnathan


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## Dioltach (Oct 9, 2020)

I've tried my very best to banish the _Iron Tower_ trilogy by Dennis L. McKiernan from my memory, but apparently it hasn't worked. I've just remembered a character called Danner Bramblethorn, or something, who went beserk a few times.


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## TheSword (Oct 9, 2020)

Perrin Aybara from the Wheel of Time enters battle with a blood fury and feels the wolf take over. The flame and the void could also be seen as a kind of battle trance... ignoring external distractions like pain or weakness... or mercy.

Khal Drogo from GOT definitely fights in a rage. You see that when he has the duel with his retainer over Mirri Maz Duur. Spitting and roaring about how he’s going to rip the other guys face off. Ignoring the damage of wounds just like a raging Barbo.

Drogo is probably the best known archetypal  barbarian recognizable in the last decade I would say.


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