|
This article or section is a Stub about Lore. You can help AoCWiki out by expanding it.
|
|
|
The following sections are not a part of the original stories written by Robert E. Howard, but are derived from works created by other authors
|
Red Sonja is a character featured in the wider Hyborian Age mythos. Sonja was created by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith in 1973, partially inspired by Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino. She made her debut appearance in Conan the Barbarian #23 (1973).
Sonja lived with her family in a humble home within the Western Hyrkanian steppes. When she had just turned 17 years old, a group of cruel mercenaries killed Sonja's father, Ivor, her mother, and two younger brothers before burning down their home and all of its possessions. She survived, but was raped by the mercenary captain. Answering her cry for revenge, the red goddess Scathach appeared to Sonja, and instilled in her incredible skill in the handling of swords or other weapons on the condition that she would never lay with a man unless he defeated her in fair combat. Thus was born Red Sonja, the She-Devil of Hyrkania.
After Sonja's encounter with the bandits who murdered her family, she began training with the sword, hiring herself out as a sellsword to those who could pay her handsomely for her abilities. During these times, she encountered Conan, though the two of them clashed in personality. It was also during these times Sonja ran into the mercenary leader who was responsible for the destruction of her old life. Alas, he was the victim of bandits on the road. Driven mad by the tortures of the bandits, and not feeling any measure of revenge by killing the helpless man, she leaves him to die on the road.
Red Sonja and Conan cross paths several times later on, but again, their personalities usually cause them to be very short-lived allies.