Why I think Conan would be good for Elric.
Elric's main thing is loss of control over his own life. Be it that he is destined to be the world ender, or his sword killing everyone in his path, he is constantly subtly wishing for ways to regain agency. Be it freeing slaves on a whim, or refusing to allow a boy to be punished for choosing to help him, he used to try to do even the smallest thing that would allow even for a spec of catharsis.
Conan is the type who has his destiny firmly in his own hands. He'd rather die than be a slave, and he answers to no one. He is always the one who makes the calls, be it to help or be self serving. He gets into messes on his own most of the time, because he wants to obtain something or help someone.
Their first interaction was interesting to me. It was Conan who was frustrated with Elric's character and attitude, but Elric was at most indifferent with Conan, if not implicitly agreeing with his claims. But keep in mind, this Elric in continuity is before he sacks Imrryr and kills Cymoril, and he's still showing glimpses of cynicism and very subtle self hatred. When they depart, Elric leaves a small amount of wisdom to Conan, and vows to remember him. Conan also remembers Elric, as shown in a later story.
But while Elric's very existence is what goes against Conan's principles, Conan's own is something I feel like Elric subtly seeks to have. I don't mean as in being a barbarian, but being someone that doesn't care too much about the meaning of anything. While Conan has moments of being somber and introspective, he mostly just lets things go, he doesn't dwell in the past like Elric does. Elric's biggest prison is his own mind (and his black sword, of course).
Ignoring the stormbringer inevitability for a second (I'd seriously like for people to stop pointing that out to me, why are you guys gatekeeping Elric being doomed?), Conan has a strong potential to keep Elric grounded and out of his own self destructive mindset. He would absolutely call Elric out when needed, since very few people actually call Elric out on whenever he's wrong or hellbent on doing dangerous things. Elric needs a reminder to be present in the moment, and I think Conan would be good at that.
Elric is by no means good for Conan, I admit that. He has much better candidates for a partner, but for Elric, Conan'd be among those who could not only have a strong probability of surviving him, but actually leaving an impact on him in a good way.
