From the December 1931 issue of WEIRD TALES, this is a slightly violent adventure of Turlogh O'Brien escorting about a hundred Vikings to Valhalla. It is so similar to the Cormac Mac Art story, "Night of the Wolf" (which went unpublished during the author's lifetime) that I wonder if Bob Howard got the Cormac story back with a polite rejection slip and in a burst of resentful anger rewrote it into "The Dark Man". This time however, he added a borderline supernatural element in theform of the haunted statue of Bran Mak Morn, since the WEIRD TALES editor liked to have a touch of, well, Weird in his Tales.
The two stories are otherwise pretty similar. An outcast Irish berserker sets out to rescue a captive and slaughter a colony of Vikings, while the Picts join in the fun. Cormac was aiming to free aman from the Norsemen (he turned out to be the rightful king), while Turlogh is determined to save a precious young Irish maiden that those awful Vikings have dared to abduct. In both cases, the hero takes on a large party of the enemy in their stronghold and both times, a tribe of Picts take it into their heads to wipe out the Northerners and spare the Celt.
These are Robert E. Howard's version of Picts, by the way. Their existence and appearance might not be supported by archaeologists ohistorians, but it doesn't really matter... these dark, gnarled little savages are just so cool, they deserve their place in the story. By this time in Howard's version of history, they have been reduced to a dwindling race whose days are numbered (you're not likely to run into any of these guys today).
Turlogh and Cormac are two of Howard's less interesting characters, being straightforward killing machines filled with overwhelming hatred that blots out any other emotion. ("Turlogh Dubh - a strange, bitter man, a terrible warrior and a crafty strategist but one whose sudden bursts of strange madness made a marked man, even in that land and age of madmen.") Kull had his metaphysical puzzles, Solomon Kane had a crusading spirit, Francis X. Gordon had an idealistic political mission, Breckenridge Elkins had matrimonial aspirations. All Turlogh and Cormac want to do is go into a red rage and slaughter Vikings; these two and a few other Howard characters are near-psychotic maniacs who are only heroes because the author sympathizes with their Celtic identity. Significantly, both Cormac and Turlogh are outcasts and outlaws even from their own barbaric clans.
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... keep reading on reddit ➡https://twitter.com/ESPNRittenberg/status/1478545103476211715
got flamed for this opinion on trektwit, wondering if the public opinion is the same on reddit!
The discussion on another thread about Worf crossing over to DS9 got me thinking about Barclay crossing into Voyager, which was fine, but also kind of forgettable.
I think Cadet Nog would’ve worked on Voyager, but I’m not sure about the timing and that would mean losing out on his Dominion War story arc, which was fantastic.
https://twitter.com/espnrittenberg/status/1473712208005709829?s=21
He's gotta be one of the toughest characters in Star Trek.
Between his Cardassisan arrest and his "20 years" in prison it's amazing he's still sane.
Definitely one of my favorite characters!
It’s reported that Tiffany and Co make 1 Larry O’Brien trophy each year which is then owned by the winning franchise. But as regularly seen on his Instagram, LeBron James appears to have 4 at his home. My question is did LeBron pay to have real replicas made or do they make extra for star players to have? And then in theory would Tiffany make ones for anyone who can pay, or does the NBA have to approve?
Has been added to the ballot of the SNL Hall of Fame! Although he was only on the writing staff for four years he left a legacy. Is that legacy enough to get him into the Hall? Check out the episode and make up your mind here: https://link.chtbl.com/conanobrien
EDIT: Link is fixed.
https://preview.redd.it/9r8l3737ka881.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=e169adaadab9a3776ed4621052521a4dc11d3d61
I suppose an alternate explanation for this is the whole eugenics thing, but still. I think it's a neat little wrinkle in the evolution of their friendship. Going from being a competitive rivalry to a more cooperative companionship is a neat little expression of their changing relationship, and downright wholesome if you ask me.
