I.        The Outcast of the O’Briens

     When Howard fans talk about Robert E. Howard’s heroic fantasy heroes, the Big Four immediately come
to mind:  Conan of Cimmeria, King Kull, Solomon Kane and Bran Mak Morn.  But there is a fifth, easily equal
to any one of the Big Four, who is often overlooked by Howard fans.  I’m referring to Turlogh O’Brien of the
Clan na O’Brien.  I believe the reason for this oversight is the fact that there has never been an individual
volume collecting all the O’Brien tales.  Granted it would be a slim volume, but there is enough material for
a book.
     Turlogh O’Brien appeared a little over a year before Howard’s first Conan yarn, “The Phoenix on the
Sword.”  In 1930, Popular Fiction Publications, which published Weird Tales, started a companion magazine
named Oriental Stories.   Drawing upon his vast knowledge of history, Howard began writing tales of the
Crusades for this publication.  Popular was planning another magazine, Strange Stories, and it was to this
title that Howard sold two O’Brien stories.  However, a legal dispute with McFadden Publications over the
magazine’s name led to an abandonment of the project.
     The two O’Brien tales, “The Gods of Bal-Sagoth” and “The Dark Man” appeared in the October and
December 1931 issues of Weird Tales, respectively.  “The Gods of Bal-Sagoth” was actually the sequel to
the “Dark Man,” but for some unknown reason was published first.  These were the only two O’Brien stories
published during Howard’s lifetime.
      As was the case with many of his heroes, Howard left O’Brien and moved on to other characters,
notably Conan of Cimmeria.  But he did leave behind some unpublished stories featuring the outcast of the
O’Briens.
   The next story to be published was “The Grey God Passes” (also known as “Twilight of the Grey Gods”) in
Arkham’s Dark Mind, Dark Heart (1962), which was rejected by Weird Tales in late 1931.  In this particular
story, O’Brien plays only a minor part, but emerges at the end as perhaps the most interesting character.
      In 1975 an unfinished O’Brien tale, “The Shadow of the Hun” was published by George Hamilton in one
of his limited edition booklets.  Also appearing in the booklet is an Untitled Fragment (“The Dane came in
with a rush . . .”).  The fragment is short (1600 words) and does not go beyond setting up the premise for
the story.
   The last of the O’Brien stories published was “Spears of Clontarf” (the non-fantastic version of “The Grey
God Passes”), which also appeared in one of Hamilton’s chapbooks in 1978.  Howard did try to sell “Spears
of Clontarf.”  In the Summer of 1931, he submitted the story to Strange Tales and Argosy; both publications
rejected it.  
   Before we explore the individual stories, let’s take a look the character of Black Turlogh O’Brien.  Here is
how Howard describes him in “The Dark Man”:

Six feet one inch he stood, and the first impression of stillness faded on closer inspection.  He was big but trimly
molded; a magnificent sweep of shoulders and depth of chest.  Rangy he was, but compact, combining the
strength of a bull with the lithe quickness of a panther . . .  Black he was as to hair, and dark of complexion.  
From under heavy black brows gleamed eyes of volcanic blue.


    In that same story is a description of O’Brien’s famous axe:

Single-edged it was, with a short three-edged spike on the back and another on top of the head.  Like the
wielder, it was heavier than it looked.  With its slightly curved shaft and the graceful artistry of the blade, it
looked like the weapon of an expert – swift, lethal, deadly, cobra-like.

    Now that we know what O’Brien looks like and what type of weapon he wields, what about his
background?  Well, like most of Howard’s characters, he’s got quite a colorful and bloody past.  It’s easy to
pick up gleanings and hints such as:

Turlogh grinned bleakly.  “Once I was a chief in an island far to the west called Erin.  My king was an ancient
man and very wise, and his name was Brian Boru.  But the king fell in a mighty battle with red-bearded sea-
rovers called Danes, though his people won the battle.  Then followed a time of feud and intrigue and the spite
of a woman and the jealousy of a kinsman cast me forth from my clan, an outlaw to starve on the heath.” (“The
Shadow of the Hun”)

    And:

In those days of clans, when a man’s own kin cast him out he became a son of Ishmael with a vengeance.  All
men’s hands were against him.  The fisherman had heard of Turlogh Dubh – a strange, bitter man, a terrible
warrior and a crafty strategist, but one whom sudden outbursts of madness made him a marked man, even in
that land and age of madmen.  (“The Dark Man”)

    It is this strange madness that appeals to me the most.  In the O’Brien tales there is a somber mood in
which he thrives.  He is in his element in these dark, brooding word-pictures Howard has painted so well.  
Whether O’Brien is in a berserker rage slaying men like a bloody reaper of death, or if he is waxing
philosophically on the fates of men and civilization, he is a powerful character that seems to leap off the
page and into full-blown life.  I believe the Turlogh O’Brien tales are some of Howard’s best work and only
wish he had written more of this character.  Now, let’s take a look at the O’Brien stories.

                                                                  II.        The Grey God Passes

   This story is about the famous battle at Clontarf where the Gaels broke the back of the Danes, but
lost their king, Brian Boru,  in the process.  Also present in this tale as the supernatural element is a
mysterious one-eyed Grey God, who is Odin, the Norse god of war and death (he’s also the god of poetry
and wisdom).  The epic battle occurred in 1014 near Dublin and legend has it occurring on Good Friday,
which added the mystique of the life and death struggle.  The main protagonist is Conn who sounds like a
distant descendant of Conan as far as appearance and actions are concerned.  Even though O’Brien
himself only plays a small part in this tale, he clearly dominates the scenes he appears in and manages to
save the day by injecting his own style of death-dealing:

But the frenzy of the slaughter was on Black Turlogh; froth flecked his lips and his eyes were those of a
madman.  “The Devil take Malachi!” he shouted, splitting a Dane’s skull with a stroke like the slash of a tiger’s
paw.

       It is interesting to note that Athelstane the Saxon, the man who would become O’Brien’s sword-brother
in later years, is mentioned as being with the Danes.  After the furious battle, when the Grey God is passing,
it is O’Brien who states:

“The Grey God passes, and we too are passing, though we have conquered.  The days of the twilight come on
amain, and a strange feeling is upon me as of waning age.  What are we all, too, but ghosts waning into the
night?”

      “The Grey God Passes” was originally rejected by Farnsworth Wright in December 1931 and
should be classified as minor.  The supernatural element, which was added to “Spears of Clontarf” to make
it marketable to Weird Tales, is rather weak and Howard’s description of how each character dies seems to
drag on the pace of the story.  While certainly not one of Howard’s better efforts, it’s still Howard and worth
a read.

                                                                          III.        The Dark Man

     In this tale, O’Brien sets off to rescue Moira, a sort of Irish princess, who has been captured by Viking
raiders led by Thorfel the Fair.  Turlogh alone knows where the raiders are hiding out and he sets out in a
fisherman's boat only to come upon an island where a strange battle has taken place.  O’Brien finds Danes
locked in death-grips with strange, small dark men, and in the midst of this carnage stands a statue molded
after the small men.  Before returning to his boat, O’Brian pauses to reflect on the carving and the mayhem
at his feet:

“You were a king once, Dark Man,” he said to the silent image.  “Mayhap you were a god and
reigned over all the world.  Your people passed, as mine are passing.  Surely you were king of the Flint People,
the race whom my Celtic ancestors destroyed.  Well, we have had our day, and we are passing, too.  These
Danes who lie at your feet – they are the conquerors now.  They must have their day – but they two will pass.”

      As you’ve probably noticed, there is an underlying theme in the O’Brien stories of a changing of the
guard – the passing of one race or civilization and the emergence of another.  Howard uses this device
quite a bit, notably in the Conan stories where there’s a dead or dying civilization around ever corner.
Turlogh decides to take the statue with him as he continues his journey.  The odd idol has a mystic quality
that seems to guide and subtly aid O’Brien in his quest throughout the story.
     Finally, O'Brien arrives at his destination and leaves the boat and statue to seek out the longhouse
of Thorfel.  Momentarily, several Vikings find the statue and carry it to their lair.
     O’Brien finds the house and silently enters to observe Thorfel at the head of a huge table trying to
force Moira to marry him.  Thorfel has even kidnapped a terrified priest to perform the ceremony.  The Dark
Man is present as well, having been brought in from the beach.  The girl refuses to wed Thorfel and
plunges a dagger into her breast before the startled Vikings and the priest.  And O’Brien goes quite mad:

“Lamb Laidir Abu!”  The war cry of the O’Briens ripped through the stillness like the scream of a wounded
panther, and as men whirled toward the shriek, the frenzied Gael came through the doorway like the blast of
wind from hell.  He was in the grip of the Celtic black fury beside which the berserk rage of the Viking pales.  
Eyes glaring and a tinge of froth on his writhing lips, he crashed among the men who sprawled, off guard in his
path.

      What follows is one of Howard’s most violent action sequences.  While O’Brien is ripping through the
Vikings, small, dark men, who are Picts, arrive to retrieve their god – the statue of Bran Mak Morn.  More
fighting ensues before O’Brien beheads Thorfel.  Of the Viking party, only two survive: the priest and
Athelstane the Saxon.  The Picts and a battered and bloody O’Brien, the latter with Moira’s body, leave the
island and the ruins of the longhouse behind them.  
     “The Dark Man” is one of Howard’s most reprinted tales, always showing up in Bran Mak Morn
collections.  It’s also one of his best; if I could give someone only one Howard story to read (other than a
Conan story), it would be this one.  In the “The Dark Man,” Howard captures all the elements that make him
the greatest fantasy and adventure writer of all: a lost race, a girl in danger, a villain in dire need of killing
and enough blood and gore to fill buckets.

                                                               IV.        The Shadow of the Hun

     Probably following the events chronicled in “The Dark Man,” O’Brien captures a Danish galley called The
Raven and re-names her Crom’s Hate.  He then proceeds to make life miserable for the Danes by raiding
their longhouses and sinking their ships.  O’Brien’s crew consists of masterless men and outlaws.  He
holds them together by the sheer strength of his will and by their fear of him, as this passage indicates:

When he gave an order a man obeyed instantly or drew his weapon as swiftly.  For the penalty for disobedience
or hesitancy was an instant dashing out of the mutineer’s brains beneath the savage chieftain’s axe.  Men who
followed Turlogh O’Brien in the days before his outlawry would have gaped at him now as he stood on the blood-
stained poop of Crom’s Hate, eye ablazing and axe dripping, yelling commands to his motley horde in a voice that
was like the yell of a panther.

        Finally, the Danes trap O’Brien and sink his ship in a hard-fought battle:

Men died like flies along the rails where axes shattered helm and skull and swords broke in mailed bosoms.  But
the Scotch mate sought Turlogh where he slashed and hacked like a blood-hungry demon, and yelled: “The
seas will tear us apart at any instant and Crom’s Hate is sinking under our feet!”
“Lash them together!”  yelled Turlogh, eyes ablaze and foam flecking on his lips, his latent madness burst all
bounds.  “Lash them together rail to rail and we’ll drag these swine to Hell with us!  We’ll sink together and slay
while we drown!”

      So the two ships sink together, with the only survivor being O’Brien, who is taken from the sea by the
Finns.  After staying with them for awhile, he wanders a bit, fighting with some tribes against the Norsemen
before moving southward into the Near East.
     While in this area, he saves a boy named Somakeld from a group of Turks and befriends him.  The boy is
a member of a tribe called the Turgoslavs, who are being threatened by the Turks.  Their some-times allies
the Tartars don’t seem interested in aiding them against the Turks.  O’Brien accompanies the boy to his
village and agrees to help the chief, Hroghar Skel, in the coming battle with the Turks.
     At this point the unfinished story ends, leaving the reader to write his own ending.  This tale had all the
promise of a fine O’Brien adventure and it’s a shame Howard never finished it.

                                                               V.        The Gods of Bal-Sagoth

     Returning from his adventures in the Near East, the French ship which carries O’Brien is attacked by a
Viking galley.  All the crew is slain except for O’Brien who is captured, but spared by Athelstane the Saxon.  
While O’Brien is helplessly tied to the mast of the ship, a raging storm throws the vessel onto a reef.   
Coming to the trapped Gael’s rescue, Athelstane cuts O’Brien’s bounds and the two escape the sinking
craft.
     The hapless heroes are soon washed up on the shore of an unknown island, being the only survivors of
the ship's crew.  O’Brien promptly wants to battle Athelstane to the death, but before they can exchange a
blow, a frantic girl and the giant bird chasing her interrupt their fight.
The pair of warriors slay the beast and learn from the girl they have washed up on the Isle of the Gods.  On
the island is Bal-Sagoth, the remains of the world’s oldest kingdom.
     The girl, Brunhild, is a Viking princess who was marooned when her kidnappers’ ship sank.  With her fair
skin and blonde hair, the people of Bal-Sagoth thought her to be a goddess.  She eventually became the
ruler of Bal-Sagoth, with the help of an evil priest named Gothan. Later she turned on the priest and forced
him from power.  But Brunhild fell into disfavor with the people and Gothan seized the day, overthrowing
her and leaving her stranded in the jungle to be eaten by the giant bird.  
Playing off an old legend about men of iron who come from the sea, Brunhild returns to the city to regain
her throne.  Athelstane and the new ruler, a puppet of Gothan named Ska, battle it out until the Saxon
triumphs and Brunhild is restored to power.
     O’Brien and Athelstane are taken to quarters next to Brunhild’s chambers; Athelstane sleeps while O’
Brien dozes off.  Suddenly, a hideous creature attacks O’Brien and nearly strangles him:

Even as he sank into semi-consciousness, his falling hand struck something his numbed fighting-brain
recognized as the dirk Athelstane had dropped on the floor.  Blindly, with a dying gesture, Turlogh struck and
felt the fingers loosen suddenly.  Feeling the return to life and power, he heaved up and over, with his assailant
beneath him.  Through red mists that slowly lightened, Turlogh Dubh saw the ape-man, now encrimsoned,
writhing beneath him, and he drove the dirk home until the dumb horror lay still with wide staring eyes.

      The Saxon awakens and the two crash into Brunhild’s chambers to find her in the clutches of a giant,
human-like creature.  Athelstane mortally wounds the monster and follows it into a maze of underground
chambers.  O’Brian goes after him with Brunhild following close behind the pair of warriors.
O’Brien finds Athelstane who tells him that the dying creature had killed Gothan, who lay dead at their feet.  
Brunhild enters the chamber and gloats over the body of her dead rival.  However, her joy is short lived
when a giant statue falls on her, crushing the blonde goddess of Bal-Sagoth.
     Our two heroes have little time to reflect on these violent events, as they are soon fighting for their
lives against Gothan’s allies.  They make their way to the surface only to discover the city under attack by
Red Indians.  Quickly deciding neither side would have any qualms about killing them, they run for the
shoreline.  On the beach they find an Indian canoe and row out to a Spanish warship.  The ship’s captain,
Don Roderigo del Cortez, tells them he is off to kill Moorish Corsairs and asks the pair to join him.
The Saxon and the Gael watch the ruins of Bal-Sagoth burn in the distance while O’Brien, who has brought
away the emblem of kingship muses:

“Aye – a kingdom of the dead – an empire of ghosts and smoke.  I am Ard-Righ of a phantom city – I am King
Turlogh of Bal-Sagoth and my kingdom is fading in the morning sky.  And therein it is like all other empires of
the world – dreams and ghosts and smoke”

      With those melancholy words the series ends.  This after Howard has taken you on a rollercoaster ride,
hauling you up a steep hill and then dashing you down the other side at breakneck speed.  With so much
happening so fast (especially toward the end), I wish Howard had slowed the pace a bit, but that’s his
trademark – headlong action.

                                                                  VI.        Waning into the Night

     Perhaps someday we will have a volume of the Turlogh O’Brien tales, hopefully with first rate
illustrations.  But that’s wishful thinking on my part; more likely they will get folded in with the Cormac Mac
Art stories.  In the meantime, you’ll have to a little work to locate all the O’Brien stories.
Both “The Dark Man” and “The Gods of Bal-Sagoth” were recently published in Wildside’s The People of the
Dark (2005).  “The Dark Man” also appears in Del Rey’s Bran Mak Morn: The Last King (2005) and “The Gods
of Bal-Sagoth” is in Bison’s The Black Stranger and Other American Tales (2005).  You can find “Spears of
Clontarf” in Wandering Star’s The Ultimate Triumph (1999).   “Twilight of the Grey Gods” (aka “The Grey God
Passes”) appears in Baen’s Eons of the Night (1996).   “The Shadow of the Hun” is in all the editions of The
Sword Woman, last published in 1986.  However, copies are usually listed on eBay.   As for the Untitled
Fragment (“The Dane came in . . .”), it has only been published in fan publications; the only one still in print
is REH: Two-Gun Raconteur #4.
     Despite having to round up all the O’Brien stories from various anthologies, I believe you will find it well
worth the effort.  The tales of the outlaw Gael are fine examples of Howard’s creative genius and some of
his best efforts.  The sounds Howard describes for us are so incredibly real: O’Brien’s panther-like yell, his
deadly axe crunching though a Dane’s horned helm, the grunts and cries of fighting and dying men, a
twelve foot tall prehistoric bird crashing through the jungle.  All sounds that ring so resounding clear
through the pages like echoes from Bal-Sagoth.

Copyright 2006 by Damon C. Sasser
Echoes from Bal-Sagoth
by Damon C. Sasser
REH: Two-Gun Raconteur
The Definitive Howard Journal