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Plot Summary

Conquest (1983) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language
1983 · 88 mins · Italian
JustWatch #6,374 103
Directed by
Lucio Fulci
Starring
Andrea Occhipinti, Jorge Rivero, Conrado San Martín, Gioia Scola, Sabrina Siani, Violeta Cela

In a realm outside of time, a terrifying challenge arises. A young man wielding a magical bow and arrows sets out on a perilous quest across an enchanted land, determined to purge the darkness. He allies with an outlaw to confront a malevolent witch who seeks to seize the bow for her own evil purposes.

On this page (6)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 What happens: full plot
  3. 3 Plot questions answered
  4. 4 Movie threads
  5. 5 Movies like Conquest
  6. 6 Every angle

Where to watch

Where to Watch Conquest (1983)

Where can you watch Conquest? Stream, rent or buy it in the US, including on Amazon Prime Video, Midnight Pulp and Philo: current JustWatch availability with up-to-date prices.

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Full plot summary · contains spoilers

What Happens in Conquest: Full Plot Summary

The whole story of Conquest (1983) explained, from the opening scene to the final frame: every key event, every twist and what it all adds up to. Read it as a quick recap before the sequel, to check a scene you missed, or to finally understand what really happened.

A youth named Ilias leaves his paradise home for the wilderness, his father marking the rite of passage by gifting him a magical bow that will test his courage and resolve. In a land where small tribes are preyed upon by hostile creatures, Ilias’s journey soon places him in the path of danger and wonder. The masked leader Ocron watches from the shadows as a faceless youth with a powerful bow dares to strike, and she dispatches her troopers to hunt this newcomer down.

A band of Ocron’s marauders moves to seize the bow and capture Ilias, but they are thwarted when the outlaw Mace crashes into their camp, delivering a brutal beatdown that sends the attackers fleeing. With fierce survival instincts and a growing sense of camaraderie, Mace teams up with Ilias on a quest to purge the land of evil. During a rough training session, Mace kills a random hunter as they test the bow’s power, and together they desecrate the hunter’s camp by stealing his game, a grim reminder of the price of combat.

The danger escalates when Ocron dispatches Fado to capture Ilias and the bow. The two travelers press on, resting for the night among a tribe sheltered in cave walls, where they offer a fresh animal kill as a peace offering. There, Ilias recognizes a young girl from earlier in the journey—Ayana—and the two youths drift closer before fate intervenes. Masked attackers strike again, killing the girl and abducting Ilias, along with the bow. Mace tracks the kidnapper’s camp and wades into a bloody confrontation to rescue Ilias, restoring a flicker of hope amid the encroaching threat.

In the lair of Ocron, Fado is punished for failing to capture the bow, burned on a giant hot plate as a stark warning. Ocron calls forth the Great Zora, a spirit that inhabits the body of a white wolf. She offers herself, body and soul, to Zora if he can kill Ilias, raising the stakes of the struggle and hinting at darker forces at play.

Meanwhile, Mace grows wary, doubting their ability to challenge Ocron and choosing to escort Ilias as far as the sea. Their path runs along a landscape thick with danger, and a swarm of tiny poisoned arrows erupts from the shrubbery, injuring Ilias and beginning a rapid deterioration of his condition. The two press on to a coastal meadow where a rare plant can cure the poison; Mace sails the coastline with Ilias to reach safety, while he adventures ashore to confront undead beings and a spectral double of himself—the double is revealed to be Zora, and then it vanishes again, leaving questions in its wake.

The plant heals Ilias, but the experience leaves him disenchanted with the mission, and he begs to return home with Mace, who refuses to claim the bow as his own. No sooner do they part than a swarm of cobweb-covered monsters descends, binding Mace to a wooden cross and demanding Ilias’s whereabouts. Ilias returns in a blaze of archery to save his companion, yet Mace falls from the cross into the sea as rescue unfolds. In a remarkable turn, an army of super-intelligent dolphins gnaws at the ropes and frees him, washing him ashore while Ilias arrives with a renewed sense of purpose to stand beside him and continue the fight against Ocron.

That very night, Ilias is seized and dragged into a subterranean lair by monsters. Mace follows, engaging in a fierce chase through twisting caverns until he finds Ilias hanging upside down, his head severed. Zora returns with Ilias’s head and the bow, delivering both to Ocron as a grim payoff to the ordeal. Mace kindles a funeral pyre for Ilias, and the boy’s spirit speaks within him, guiding him to anoint himself with the ashes to inherit a power Cronos granted to Ilias—the bow becomes his to wield.

The next morning, Mace faces Ocron in her lair, and the bow shoots from her grasp into his hand. He confronts all of Ocron’s werewolves with a flurry of magical arrows, and one shot shatters her mask, revealing the ghoul beneath the human façade. Ocron dies, her corpse transforming into a wolf that gallops away into the wilderness alongside Zora. With the shadow of evil receding, Mace resolves to carry forward Ilias’s mission and continue the fight to rid the land of darkness.

Last updated: November 29, 2025 at 00:46

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Plot questions answered

Conquest Plot Explained: Your Questions Answered

The questions people ask most about Conquest (1983): what happens in the confusing scenes, why the characters do what they do, the twists, hidden details and what the ending means. Each answer contains spoilers.

Q1

Why does Ilias leave his paradise home?

Ilias leaves his paradise home as part of a rite of passage. His father gifts him a magical bow to test his courage and resolve, marking his transition from childhood into adulthood. This tradition sends him into a dangerous world where tribes are preyed upon by hostile creatures.

Foreshadowing: The bow Ilias receives will become the central object of conflict throughout the entire story.

  • rite of passage
  • magical bow
  • Ilias father
  • coming of age
Q2

Why does Ocron want the magical bow so badly?

Ocron wants the magical bow because it is a powerful weapon capable of purging evil from the land. As a malevolent witch seeking to maintain her grip on the realm, she knows that possessing the bow would grant her immense power and eliminate any threat posed by those who would use it against her.

Foreshadowing: Ocron's obsession with the bow is established early when she dispatches troopers to capture Ilias immediately after seeing him use it.

  • Ocron
  • magical bow
  • witch
  • evil intentions
Q3

What is Zora and what is its connection to the white wolf?

Zora is a great spirit summoned by Ocron from a supernatural realm. It inhabits the body of a white wolf, serving as a powerful ally in her dark quest. When Ocron invokes Zora, she offers herself body and soul in exchange for killing Ilias, demonstrating the spirit's immense power and the depth of her commitment to destroying the bow's wielder.

Foreshadowing: Zora appears multiple times throughout the story, including as a spectral double of Mace, showing its ability to shapeshift.

  • Zora
  • white wolf
  • spirit
  • supernatural powers
  • shapeshifter
Q4

Why does Mace kill a random hunter during training?

Mace kills a random hunter during a training session to demonstrate the bow's lethal power. This brutal act serves as a grim reminder of the price of combat and establishes Mace's survivalist mentality. Together they then steal the hunter's game, further emphasizing the harsh realities of their dangerous journey.

Foreshadowing: This early display of violence sets the tone for the relentless succession of violent confrontations that follows.

  • Mace
  • hunter
  • training
  • violence
  • survival
Q5

Why does Ilias want to go home after being healed?

After being poisoned and cured by the rare plant, Ilias becomes disillusioned with the mission. The trauma of the poisoning, combined with the constant danger and loss he has experienced, causes him to beg Mace to return home. He has lost his taste for the perilous quest and yearns for the safety of his paradise home.

Foreshadowing: This moment of weakness is short-lived, as Ilias is soon captured and killed, preventing any return to his former life.

  • Ilias
  • healing plant
  • disillusionment
  • cowardice
  • retreat
Q6

How does Mace inherit the bow's power after Ilias's death?

After Ilias is decapitated by Zora, Mace builds a funeral pyre for his fallen companion. Ilias's spirit speaks to him from within the flames, guiding Mace to anoint himself with the ashes. This ritual transfers the power that Cronos granted to Ilias, allowing Mace to wield the magical bow.

Foreshadowing: The transfer of power was foreshadowed when Ilias received the bow from his father as a test of courage, Mace must now prove himself worthy.

  • Mace
  • Ilias death
  • inheritance
  • Cronos power
  • magical bow
  • ashes
Q7

Why does Ocron transform into a wolf at the end?

When Mace shatters Ocron's mask with a magical arrow, the ghoul beneath the human façade is revealed. Upon her death, her corpse transforms into a wolf that runs away alongside Zora the white wolf. This suggests that Ocron was either a werewolf or was somehow linked to the supernatural wolf spirit she had summoned.

Foreshadowing: Ocron's association with Zora, the wolf spirit, and her use of werewolves as her army hinted at this lupine nature.

  • Ocron
  • wolf transformation
  • werewolf
  • mask
  • ghoul
Q8

What is the significance of the intelligent dolphins saving Mace?

An army of super-intelligent dolphins gnaws through the ropes binding Mace to a wooden cross and frees him from the cobweb-covered monsters. This miraculous rescue washes him ashore, allowing Ilias to find him and renew their partnership. This seemingly fantastical element underscores the magical nature of the world.

Foreshadowing: The dolphins appear at a crucial moment of despair, demonstrating that even in a dark world, there are forces willing to aid the heroes.

  • dolphins
  • rescue
  • magical creatures
  • Mace captivity
Q9

Why does Ocron burn Fado alive?

Ocron burns Fado on a giant hot plate as punishment for failing to capture Ilias and the bow. This brutal torture serves as a stark warning to all her subordinates about the consequences of failure. The execution demonstrates Ocron's ruthlessness and the high stakes surrounding the pursuit of the magical weapon.

Foreshadowing: This public execution establishes the extreme measures Ocron will take to obtain the bow and maintain control.

  • Fado
  • punishment
  • torture
  • Ocron cruelty
  • example
Q10

Why does Mace refuse to claim the bow initially?

When Ilias begs to return home and asks Mace to take the bow, Mace refuses. This reflects his initial belief that the bow belongs to Ilias as part of his rite of passage. Mace sees himself only as a protector and companion, not as the bow's rightful owner. Only after Ilias's death does Mace accept the bow through the ritual of the ashes.

Foreshadowing: Mace's refusal sets up his eventual acceptance of the bow as a meaningful inheritance rather than mere theft.

  • Mace
  • magical bow
  • refusal
  • ownership
  • character arc
Q11

What happens to Ayana and why is her death significant?

Ayana is a young girl Ilias recognizes from earlier in their journey. After they rest among her cave-dwelling tribe, masked attackers strike and kill Ayana while abducting Ilias and stealing the bow. Her death serves as a tragic reminder of the violence that plagues the land and motivates the heroes to continue their quest against Ocron.

Foreshadowing: Ayana's death represents one of many losses Ilias experiences, culminating in his own decapitation.

  • Ayana
  • death
  • tribe
  • abduction
  • motivation
Q12

Why does Zora appear as Mace's spectral double?

During the coastal journey, Mace encounters undead beings and a spectral double of himself. This double is revealed to be Zora, the great spirit, demonstrating its shapeshifting abilities. The encounter foreshadows Zora's eventual role in Ilias's death and adds to the supernatural mystery surrounding the spirit.

Foreshadowing: Zora's ability to appear as Mace explains how it could later capture and kill Ilias while disguised or unnoticed.

  • Zora
  • spectral double
  • shapeshifter
  • undead
  • supernatural

Movie threads

More Movies Like Conquest, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes Conquest tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Grimdark Fantasy Quests like Conquest

Bleak and perilous adventures where victory comes at a terrible personal cost. If you liked the brutal, high-intensity world of Conquest, explore more movies like it. This thread features similar dark fantasy stories with fast pacing, heavy emotional weight, and bittersweet endings, where heroes face savage challenges in mystical, perilous realms.

  • grim
  • brutal
  • savage
  • perilous
  • epic
  • sorrowful
  • Tone: dark, bleak, grim
  • Pacing: fast, relentless
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative follows a classic hero's quest structure but subverts it with a consistently dark tone. The protagonist journeys through a hostile world, facing monstrous foes and moral compromises, often culminating in a victory that feels more like survival than triumph, marked by significant loss.

Why they belong together: These movies are grouped by their shared commitment to a bleak aesthetic, high-stakes violence, and the emotional heaviness of their journeys. They prioritize atmosphere of dread and the physical/emotional cost of adventure over traditional heroic fulfillment.

Movies with Tragic Heroic Sacrifice like Conquest

Stories where a protagonist's ultimate victory is defined by their final, noble sacrifice. For viewers who appreciated the sacrificial ending of Conquest, this section finds similar movies where the hero's journey concludes with a poignant death for a cause. These films share a heavy emotional weight, dark tone, and themes of friendship and survival tested by ultimate choices.

  • sorrowful
  • tragic
  • determined
  • epic
  • heavy
  • bittersweet
  • Tone: dark, sorrowful, heavy
  • Pacing: steady, building to climax
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative arc builds towards a climax where the central conflict can only be resolved through the protagonist's death. The story carefully develops the character's relationships and motivations, making their final act of sacrifice feel both inevitable and emotionally devastating, leaving a legacy rather than a living hero.

Why they belong together: These films are united by their central thematic focus on sacrifice as the pinnacle of heroism. They share a heavy emotional weight, often a dark or bittersweet tone, and deliver a powerful, cathartic punch by concluding with the hero's death.

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Movies Like Conquest

Similar movies to Conquest: the same genre, themes or kind of story. Each one comes with its own plot summary, timeline and ending explained.

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Every angle

Conquest (1983) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

Everything about Conquest in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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