Cromulus wrote:

I think Arnold's narration was done and the commentary detail is an excellent fact to prove it, definitely. He's not going to remember a line he didn't film or rehearse a lot over 20 years ago! But the official word was... As late as 1982, in the "Cinefantastique" magazine, they still said the finished movie would open with Arnold's narration. There was no mention of Mako's. This was a last minute change by the studio. The studio big wigs that screened the movie felt Arnold's german voice was too strong and wanted it changed or dropped before it was released. The release date was changed 3 times before it was finally released in May 14th, 1982. Its original release date was December 1981! Mako's narration, although a bit cut up and shorter and slightly altered for obvious reasons, is basically the same as Arnold's. The "living the life of an athlete" line was to be part of the gladiator narration. Milius really wanted to have Arnold's voice-over instead of Mako's. That was always the original vision. In the commentary, Arnold also joked with the idea of having to redo the movie with his narration...

Cromulus wrote:

In the article "Cinematic Response" published in "Amra (Swordplay and Sorcery) - Vol.2 #71", William Stout writes: "In fact, the bearded Conan only appears in the first minutes of the film. This is King Conan, reflecting on his past." So this, my friend, is how CONAN opened up as King Conan on the throne, no ifs, no ands, or buts about it! What I believe is the case is that the bearded older King Conan appears at the beginning of the film as the narrator of course opening and setting up the film, and the beardless young King Conan appears at the end with his armor showing setting up the next installment as his rise to the throne of Aquilonia.