The Children of the Night
core short fiction 1931 Conan / Kull / Bran Mak Morn
Record
| First published | 1931 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | short fiction |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 2.85 (98 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| Page count | 34 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781406572827 |
| Internal chronology | 3 |
Synopsis
Rather than featuring Bran Mak Morn directly as a living character, this story elaborates on the surviving cult devoted to him long after his death, tracing how a secret society in a much later era, closer to Robert E. Howard's own contemporary world, continues worshipping the ancient Pictish king as an idol and object of dark veneration centuries after his historical reign ended. The tale demonstrates the enduring, unsettling reach of Bran's legend and supernatural influence, showing how a once-mortal king of a nearly vanished people was gradually transformed by his remaining followers into a figure of genuine religious dread. As with several other entries in Howard's Bran Mak Morn cycle, the story is less concerned with Bran's own actions than with the long historical shadow his memory casts over those who still, secretly, keep faith with him.
Where it sits
- Universe: Conan / Kull / Bran Mak Morn
- Series: Bran Mak Morn (lifetime-published stories) core; position 3 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Robert E. Howard
Notes
- From the series record (Bran Mak Morn (lifetime-published stories)): The 5 Bran Mak Morn stories Howard sold and saw published in his own lifetime (all Weird Tales, 1927-1932), per a dedicated Howard-scholarship bibliography (reh.world). 'The Lost Race' (Bran mentioned only as legend; the protagonist is a Gael, Cororuc) and 'The Children of the Night'/'The Dark Man' (in-story framing device narrators, not Bran himself) are included per that same scholarship source's own classification of the Bran Mak Morn cycle -- Worms of the Earth and Kings of the Night are the only 2 with Bran as the story's own on-page protagonist. 'Kings of the Night' (Weird Tales, November 1930) is a crossover: Kull of Atlantis (admitted separately this same run) is summoned via time-travel magic as a guest character to help Bran fight the Romans.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Bran Mak Morn (lifetime-published stories): position 3 of 5: previous Kings of the Night (1930) · next The Dark Man (1931)
- Internal chronology, within Conan / Kull / Bran Mak Morn: position 5 of 7: previous Kings of the Night (1930) · next The Dark Man (1931)
Sources
- The World of Robert E. Howard: Bran Mak Morn
- Wikisource: Weird Tales, Volume 9, Issue 1 -- The Lost Race
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bran_Mak_Morn
← Conan / Kull / Bran Mak Morn dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.