The Twilight of the Grey Gods

"The Twilight of the Grey Gods The Grey God Passes"
Author	Robert E. Howard
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Turlogh Dubh O'Brien
Genre(s)	Low Fantasy short story
Published in	Dark Mind, Dark Heart
Publication type	Anthology
Publisher	Arkham House
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Publication date	1962

The Twilight of the Grey Gods, also known as The Grey God Passes, is a short story by Robert E. Howard that blends history and fantasy. Published posthumously in 1972, the first appearance of the story was in a collection titled Dark Mind, Dark Heart, edited by August Derleth.^[1]

The tale is a fictionalized version of the Battle of Clontarf recast in Howard's views, with doomful vision and fantasy elements. While the historical facts of the battle are accurate, they are not the most important parts of the story. The protagonist is Turlogh Dubh O'Brien, a recurring character of Howard's who is an outcast from Brian Boru's own clan.

Howard also wrote a version of this story, called Spears of Clontarf, with the fantastic elements removed. This version first saw print in a chapbook in 1978.^[2]

Plot introduction

The core of the story, as indicated by the title, is the end of the influence of supernatural beings from our world with the victory of Christian King Brian over the heathen Vikings. Among the Irish dead is a fey prince whose own death will cause the death of his fairy lover, a metaphor for the waning away of all the Sidhe. Odin himself makes an impressive and doomful appearance, making the battle a Götterdämmerung. This is more Wagnerian in tone than the utter end of the world predicted for Ragnarök, though it is indeed the end of a world.

Style

While little known, this story can be regarded as a turning point in the timeline of Howard's universe. While even in his stories that take place in incredibly ancient times, the horror, supernatural and Cthulhu mythos elements are seen as survivals from older, more horrible epochs. It can be perceived that in stories that take place later, such elements are viewed as even more horrible and abnormal. (Compare the view of the supernatural in the Kull or Conan the Barbarian stories, with that in the Solomon Kane tales or in The Black Stone or The Children of the Night for instance.) The notable exception being Worms of the Earth where, in the fourth or fifth century, even a hard bitten hero like Bran Mak Morn finds horror beyond his ability to stand.

Adaptations

The story was adapted by Marvel Comics as a Conan story in Conan the Barbarian #3 ("Twilight of the Grim Grey God", Feb 1971).

Footnotes

↑ Works of Robert E. Howard, The Grey God Passes, retrieved 16 August 2007
↑ Works of Robert E. Howard, Spears of Clontarf, retrieved 16 August 2007

Works by Robert E. Howard

Adventure

El Borak	"Blood of the Gods" "The Coming of El Borak" "The Country of the Knife" "The Daughter of Erlik Khan" "Hawk of the Hills" "The Lost Valley of Iskander" "North of Khyber" "Son of the White Wolf" "Three-Bladed Doom"

Fantasy

Conan	"Beyond the Black River" "Black Colossus" "The Black Stranger" "Cimmeria" "The Devil in Iron" "Drums of Tombalku" "The Frost Giant's Daughter" "The God in the Bowl" "The Hall of the Dead" "The Hand of Nergal" "The Hour of the Dragon" "Iron Shadows in the Moon" "Jewels of Gwahlur" "The People of the Black Circle" "The Phoenix on the Sword" "The Pool of the Black One" "Queen of the Black Coast" "Red Nails" "Rogues in the House" "The Scarlet Citadel" "Shadows in Zamboula" "The Snout in the Dark" "The Tower of the Elephant" "The Vale of Lost Women" "A Witch Shall be Born" "Wolves Beyond the Border" "Xuthal of the Dusk"

Solomon Kane	"The Right Hand of Doom"

Kull	"By This Axe, I Rule" "Exile of Atlantis" "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune"

Bran Mak Morn	"The Children of the Night" "Worms of the Earth"

Comedy

Sailor Steve Costigan	"Alleys of Peril" "Blow the Chinks Down!" "Breed of Battle" "The Bull Dog Breed" "Champ of the Forecastle" "Circus Fists" "Dark Shanghai" "Fist and Fang" "General Ironfist" "Night of Battle" "The Pit of the Serpent" "Sailor's Grudge" "The Sign of the Snake" "The Slugger's Game" "Sluggers on the Beach" "Texas Fists" "The TNT Punch" "Vikings of the Gloves" "Waterfront Fists" "Winner Take All"

Breckinridge Elkins	"A Gent from Bear Creek"

Horror

John Kirowan	"The Children of the Night" "The Haunter of the Ring" "The Black Stone"

Other

Other stories	"Almuric" "Black Canaan" "Pigeons from Hell" "Post Oaks & Sand Roughs" "The Shadow of the Vulture" "Skull-Face" "The Sowers of the Thunder" "The Twilight of the Grey Gods"

Other characters	Cormac Fitzgeoffrey James Allison Red Sonya Dark Agnes de Chastillon Steve Harrison Turlogh Dubh O'Brien Kirby O'Donnell The Sonora Kid

Poetry	Echoes from an Iron Harp (1972)

See also	List of works by Robert E. Howard List of poems by Robert E. Howard "The Hyborian Age"

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