Tree of Woe
Thulsa condemns Conan to die on the Tree of Woe. The parallels with the crucifixion of Jesus are obvious. Thulsa even explicitly says: 
Death symbolism is everywhere:
The Tree of woe is a dead-standing tree in a middle of a barren desert…
…. and vultures gather around Conan.
At the bottom of the Tree we can see the skeleton of a previous victim.
Despite being nailed to the Tree ( another parallel with Jesus)…
… Conan is still a fighter and in a role reversal he bites and kills a vulture.
Conan is symbolically refusing Death.
Despite being in an awful position not all is bad for Conan. The moon, a symbol of change and rebirth, appears.
After the moon comes Sun, a symbol of goodness and life. 
With Sun comes Subotai, Conan’s friend. Conan is saved from the Tree of Woe, but his rebirth is not yet over.
Conan’s fight with spirits
We hear thunder, a symbol of divine or in this case spirit presence. The sky turns to a hellish red colour and the fight for Conan begins.
Interestingly, the Wizard flees like a coward leaving Valeria and Subotai to fend of the spirits. Conan survives and makes a full recovery.
We get to see just how much Valeria cares for Conan. She says she is willing to pay whatever price for Conan’s recovery. And then, when the fight is over she says: “All the gods, they cannot sever us. If I were dead and you were still fighting for life, I’d come back from the darkness. Back from the pit of hell to fight at your side.”
Prophetical words?More about that in the next part of this analysis.
Somehow I doubt that Conan would say those words to Valeria. It seems to me that he values his revenge against Thulsa to be more important than his relationship with Valeria.
During the sword practice Conan looks at his hand a few times. Is he thinking about the miracle of his rescue or about Thulsa’s statement that the flesh is stronger than the steel?
Raid on the Mountain of Power
As the trio approaches the back entrance of Thulsa’s lair we get to see fires in the mountain.
And the back entrance is lit a hellish red colour. It looks like they have arrived to hell.
Inside we can see yet more evidence of the Cult’s depravity. They are cooking a stew of human meat.
They infiltrate the inner chamber of the Mountain.
Here we can see the final evidence of Thulsa’s evil. He is not even human.
The battle begins:
It seems that Thulsa somehow sensed danger and slithered away only to reemerge once the battle is over. He tells Rexor to help Thorgrim but himself doesn’t really do much to help Thorgrim.
Is he actually psychically weak? Remember, in the opening battle at Conan’s village he only showed up when the fighting was over. I believe that Thulsa is a weakling that uses others to do his fighting for him .
Did you notice the princess hissing like a snake at Valeria? It seems that she is beginning to loose her humanity.
Also, notice how Conan and Subotai leave Valeria to be the last one to exit the cave? Not very gentlemanly of them.
Thulsa uses his sorcery to kill Valeria with a snake-arrow. This could be interpreted as him using a phallic symbol to kill a woman he doesn’t like. More about that in later post.
Valeria’s funeral and the Battle at the mounds will be analysed in the next post.
THE OTHER SCENE 
The Skeleton at the base of the Tree of Woe I didn’t notice before. Thanks for pointing it out.
What I noticed there was the passing of many days, Conan was nailed to that tree for a good long while, so it’s no wonder he was on Death’s Doorstep when Subotai found him, and why Valeria would have to pay such a steep price for saving him later.
Though I see his sword practice, and really looking at his hands (I think the wrists were covered from here on out) as something of an epiphany. His realisation of what wields the steel, and what Wills the Hand – something he’ll appreciate later methinks.
Though I see Conan as having managed to put aside his quest for vengeance – if only for a little while – her line about while Good Thieves could steal a Princess and be gone before she was missed, but not a vengeful one being a potent one for me.
Split Pea and Hand Soup, Milius Jokingly called it in the DVD Commentary.
Doom’s Snake Transformation? As I said earlier, during one particular shot we may have seen his True Face – depending on how much of the Novel which was based on an earlier script made it into the movie itself – but it represented for me far more than his inhumanity. It was the second of three instances when you see clearly the lack of value he placed on his Human Followers, given that upon realising the danger he was in, he fled the scene in a manner that assured his own safety, abandoning the Princess Yasimina in the process.
One thing though. At the time the three were leaving, Valeria wasn’t carrying the Princess. Conan or Subotai were, while she covered their rear, and they I believe trusted her to do that. To keep the guards off their backs while they dealt with the enthralled Princess. A level of trust that does appear to be very rare in this Hyborean World.
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