The Barbarians 1987

In a vivid, heroic fantasy world, the peaceful traveling troupe known as the Ragnicks faces a brutal assault from the tyrant Kadar, who seizes their queen Canary and drapes the realm in fear. Canary’s quick wits enable her to hide a powerful magic ruby—the lucky jewel that fuels the Ragnicks’ mystic heritage—before Kadar can claim it. With Canary in danger, the fate of the tribe hangs in the balance, and the ruby’s light becomes a beacon of hope for those longing to restore balance to their land.

Two young twins, Kutchek and Gore, rise from the same cradle of hardship, their strength sharpened by years of bondage after they bite off two of Kadar’s fingers in a desperate act of defiance. Kadar uses this act as a cruel bargaining chip, imprisoning the brothers and offering them freedom only if Canary agrees to become his bride. The stars seem to dim for a moment, but the twins’ resolve hardens into a vow: they will not yield to tyranny. Separation fragments the family, and each grows into a formidable force, scarred by years of servitude yet tempered by an unbreakable bond of kinship and purpose.

When the brothers reach adulthood, Kadar forces them into a deadly arena duel, their faces concealed behind harsh metal helmets. The clash is brutal and intimate, the crowd roaring as the two young men circle each other with the discipline of seasoned fighters. In a flash of recognition, Gore manages to lift Kutchek’s helmet, revealing the familiar face beneath. The moment of truth binds them together once more, and they escape the fortress with Canary still in peril and under the tyrant’s watchful eye. The brothers—now fierce through hardship and experience—reconnect with their old tribemates, who have endured a long, painful era since Canary’s capture, and they are joined by Ismene, a thief jailed by the Ragnicks who becomes an ally in their quest for justice.

Ismene leads the trio toward weapons and aid, guiding them to a trading post where a humorous yet humbling arm-wrestling contest ends with a rough lesson in patience and restraint. Undeterred, they slip into the palace with a plan to reach Canary, discovering that she remains imprisoned and tormented by Kadar’s regime. Canary, however, urges the brothers to recover the ruby from the Forbidden Land—a perilous journey guarded by legend and fear. The path to this realm winds through secrecy, old magic, and the treacherous habits of those who would seize power for themselves, including China, Kadar’s sorceress, who insists on extracting information by any means.

China seeks the ruby’s power for herself, and she relentlessly pursues the gem through the palace’s corridors and into the Forbidden Land. Her plan backfires spectacularly when the dragon that guards the ruby devours her entourage, a grisly reminder that treachery against the Ragnicks cannot go unpunished. The brothers, with Ismene’s cunning and the tribe’s ancient wisdom guiding them, gather magical weapons from a hidden tomb and press on into the Forbidden Land to face the dragon in a climactic test of courage.

In the heart of the dragon’s lair, the brothers strike with fearless precision, felling the beast and reclaiming the ruby from its gut. They entrust the gemstone to Ismene to carry back to the Ragnicks, while they prepare for the final assault on Kadar. The looming confrontation arrives as Kadar, newly aware of China’s treachery, storms the Forbidden Land with Canary by his side. Canary, at the end of her tether, channels the ruby’s ancient magic to compel Kadar to kill her—an act that also summons Kutchek and Gore back into the fray. The two brothers confront the tyrant, and in a brutal, decisive moment, they drive their swords through his chest, ending his reign of terror.

With Canary dead, the ruby’s magic seems to falter, turning to stone before Ismene’s unwavering resolve breathes life back into it. The ruby’s resurgence signals a rite of passage for the Ragnicks: a new queen must be chosen by placing the ruby in the candidate’s belly button, where it will anchor her to the tribe’s lineage. No candidate yet proves worthy, until Ismene steps forward. In a revelatory moment, she unveils herself as Kara, one of the Ragnicks’ closest tribemates who had long since left to forge her own path. The ruby remains secured, and with the brothers returned to their people and Canary’s shadow finally lifted, the Ragnicks reclaim their life of travel, performance, and celebration, renewed by the courage, cunning, and kinship that carried them through their darkest days.