This short story by [[Robert E. Howard]] is one of his mixes of history and fantasy was never published when the author was alive. Its first apparition in printing was in 1962, in a collection titled ''Dark mind, Dark Heart'' edited by [[August Derleth]]  

The tale revolves around a fictionalised version of the [[Battle of Clontarf]], but recast in Howard's views, with doomful vision and fantasy elements. While the historical facts of the battle are true to history, as known by Howard, they are not the most important parts of the story. the main protagonist is [[Turlogh Dubh O'Brien]] , an outcast from [[Brian Boru]]'s own clan, and a recurring character of Howard's always appearing in stories with fantasy or horror elements.

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

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 (Howard story)|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.

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[[Category:Robert E. Howard]]