Red Sonja - Prototypes: Red Sonja Vs. Red Sonya

Prototypes: Red Sonja Vs. Red Sonya

The character was loosely based on Red Sonya of Rogatino in Robert E. Howard's short story "The Shadow of the Vulture" (The Magic Carpet, January 1934), in which the character, Red Sonya, was a sword-and-pistol-wielding supporting character of the late Renaissance, which Roy Thomas rewrote as a Conan story for Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian #23 (1973). Thomas also somewhat based Red Sonja on another Howard character, Dark Agnes de Chastillon, a sword woman in 16th-century France.