The Riddle of Steel is central to the plot of John Milius's 1982 movie, Conan the Barbarian. "Crom is strong! If I die, I have to go before him, and he will ask me, 'What is the riddle of steel?' If I don't know it, he will cast me out of Valhalla and laugh at me." ~Conan the Barbarian Flesh grows weak. Steel becomes brittle. But the will is indomitable.