THE DARK GOD

Classification: Magic item;
    Pre-Cataclysmic era, Hyborian era

Creator: Unidentified Pictish sculptor

User/Possessors: Brogar and his tribe of Picts, Conan the Cimmerian; unidentified "evil" Picts; Thorfel the Fair, Thorgeir, other unidentified Vanirmen

First Appearance: Savage Tales I#4 (May, 1974)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Dark God was an effigy of Brule the Spear-Slayer, apparently linked to or housing his spirit.

    Carved of a stone not found anywhere in the British Isles or the known world, it was smooth and free from corrosion as if carved yesterday, and bore the perfectly engraved image of Brule himself, retaining his regal or even divine countenance. 

    The Picts revered and worshipped the statue, which seemed to possess an awareness of its surroundings. 

    It stood five feet tall and appeared to weigh enough so that two men could carry it with some difficulty, however it appeared to sense the intentions of those around it. 

    With those whom it considered a friend it would be be no heavier than if made of light wood or even near weightless, but against those with darker intent it seemed unyieldingly heavy, and even seemed to force itself from their grasps. 

    To its allies, the idol could allow a ship smooth sailing through stormy water, and the Dark Man could also cause weapons to shatter, either those weapons used against those it considered an ally or weapons striking the idol, leaving its surface unmarred. 

    It could apparently communicate as Brule the Spear-Slayer through the dreams of Pictish shamans to communicate with his people.

History:
(Wizard and Warrior - BTS) <Presumably somewhere around 19,000 BC> - A few hundred years before the reign of King Kull of Valusia, the Pictish warrior Brule the Spear-Slayer had as his ancestors a legendary hero or two, revered for feats of personal strength or wholesale murder. 

    These ancestors were deified by the Picts, perhaps in an effigy as Brule himself would one day be honored.

(Kull the Conqueror III#4/2 - BTS) <18,500 BC> - During the Pre-Cataclysmic Age, Brule the Spear-Slayer became chieftain of the Borni tribe and was a renowned Pict warrior in the Pictish Isles.

(Kull the Conqueror I#1-2; The Shadow Kingdom) <18,500 BC> - Brule later became the ambassador to the Kingdom of Valusia. Despite his hatred of the inhabitants of Atlantis and his reluctance to work alongside King Kull, the Atlantean having usurped the throne of Valusia, Brule and Kull overcame their mutual animosity and became close friends, overthrowing a plot by Serpent Men to conquer Valusia.

(Savage Tales I #4 - BTS) <18,500 BC> - Probably either later during the reign of Kull or following it, Brule the Spear-Slayer died under unrevealed circumstances.
    So revered he was by his Pictish countrymen that he was deified, reputedly becoming apotheosized as a god, with his soul residing within (or perhaps accessible via) the statue known as the Dark God. The idol would remain within the possession of and be worshiped by the Pictish people for thousands of years.

(Savage Sword of Conan I #8: The Hyborian Age, Chapter 2 - The Rise of the Hyborians; The Hyborian Age) <18,000 BC> - After the Great Cataclysm, the Pictish culture was decimated, with most of the surviving people needing to relocate to the Pictish Wilderness (also known as Pictland) in western Thuria during the Hyborian Age.

(Savage Tales I#4 - BTS) <10,000 BC> - The Dark God idol, the deified Brule, was worshipped by the Picts as their god and located in Pictland. This tribe of Picts was led by the chieftain Brogar. Evil Picts stole the effigy and fled north to Vanaheim, and Brogar and his warriors tracked them for months. Upon a seven league lake in Vanaheim, the evil Picts encountered a group of Vanirmen near the Isle of Swords, and all from both sides were slain in the subsequent battle, leaving only the Dark God adrift in the boat.

(Savage Tales I#4, Sword of Conan II#6 - BTS) <10,000 BC> - Conan the Cimmerian sailed across the stormy seven league lake in Vanaheim in pursuit of Thorfel the Fair , whose Vanirmen had abducted Mala, a beloved from his youth in Cimmeria. He found a vessel adrift and within it the bodies of several dead Vanir and Picts. He also recovered the idol of the Dark God from the vessel, and after noting how light the statue seemed, soon arrived at the Isle of Swords. 

    Despite Conan's hiding his vessel, two Vanir found it and returned with the Dark God to Thorfel. Conan watched in horror as Mala killed herself rather than allow herself to be wed to Thorfel by a captured priest of Mitra. The enraged Conan slaughtered many of the Vanirmen, the remainder of them being killed with the arrival of Brogar and his war party. Brogar thanked Conan for recovering their Dark God, the only god they had left, and the Picts depart by boat from the isle with the idol, taking with them Thorgeir, nephew of Thorfel, as captive. The Mitran priest told Conan that he may follow the Picts, to learn the secret of their dark faiths that sustained them.

(The Children of the Night - BTS, The Dark Man - BTS) <210 AD> - After his death in the third century, Bran Mak Morn, the high king of Pictdom and the last male descendant of Brule the Spear-Slayer, was deified by the Picts, reputedly becoming apotheosized as a god like his ancestor Brule, his soul residing within the statue carved in his likeness known as the Dark Man.

Comments: Based on the Dark Man story by Robert E. Howard;
    adapted to Marvel by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Pablo Marcos, Frank McLaughlin, and Vince Colletta

     The Bran Mak Morn story The Dark Man was never directly adapted into Marvel Comics, but was freely adapted as a Conan story in Savage Tales#4, 1974. Conan replaced Turlogh Dubh O'Brien, Mala replaced Moira, and the Dark God (an apotheosized Brule) replaced the Dark Man (an apotheosized Bran). Other characters (Brogar, Thorfel the Fair) and locations (Isle of Swords) may have similar names, but the Hyborian age and 11th century versions are distinctly different beings..

For the chronology of Conan,
Conan left Cimmeria shortly after his "fifteenth birthday" (Conan the Barbarian #48, 1975).
Conan killed Thorfel at age 19, "four winters" (Savage Tales I#4, 1974) after leaving Cimmeria at age 15.
Conan killed Thorgeir at age 29, "ten humiliating years" (Savage Sword of Conan II#6, 2019) after Conan was age 19.

This profile was completed 9/10/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20^th anniversary 's celebratory event.

Profile by Wolfram Bane and Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Dark God has no known connections to:

• Dark Gods, foes of Thor--Thor II#1 (July, 1998)
• Dark Gods, worshipped by Psyklop--Incredible Hulk II#140 (June, 1971)
• Dark Gods, worshipped by Belasco--Uncanny X-Men I#143 (March, 1981)
• Dark Man, aka Bran Mak Morn--The Dark Man by Robert E. Howard (1931)
  
• or any other "Dark" or "God" characters

Thorfel the Fair (Hyborian Age)      Thorfel the Fair (not to be confused with Thorfel the Fair from the 11th century) was the leader of a band of Vanir raiders headquartered on the Isle of Swords upon a seven league lake in Vanaheim circa 10,000 BC.      Four winters after Conan had left the village of the Snowhawk Tribe in Cimmeria, Thorfel and his raiders attacked it, abducting Mala, a childhood friend of Conan. Returning to the Isle of Swords, Thorfel also had a priest of Mitra abducted to wed him to Mala. Upon the nearby stormy lake, a group of his Vanirmen battled a group of Pictish warriors, resulting in all on both sides slain and the idol the Dark God being left adrift in the boat. Conan sailed across the lake in pursuit of Thorfel, finding the vessel and recovering the idol, and then soon arriving at the Isle of Swords. Despite Conan hiding his vessel, two Vanir found it and returned with the Dark God to Thorfel, who had recently been dreaming of short, dark men stealing on the island, now believing the dream to be of the idol.      Conan approached the encampment but watched in horror as Mala killed herself rather than allow herself to be wed to Thorfel. The enraged Conan slaughtered many of the Vanirmen, including Thorfel by throwing a sword through his neck.      The remainder of the Vanir were killed with the arrival of Brogar and his war party. Brogar thanked Conan for recovering their Dark God, the only god they had left, and the Picts departed by boat from the isle with the idol, taking with them Thorgeir, nephew of Thorfel, as captive. The Mitran priest told Conan that he may follow the Picts, to learn the secret of their dark faiths that sustained them.  --Savage Tales I#4, Sword of Conan II#6 (BTS) Note: As discussed in the comments, the story in Savage Tales I#4 was an adaptation of REH's "The Dark Man," so there's a Thorfel the Fair playing a similar role in the two stories about 11,000 years apart. --Snood

images: (without ads)
Kull the Conqueror III#4/2, page 2, panel 2 (Brule)
Savage Tales I#4, page 7, panel 6 (Dark Man, front of boat)
Savage Tales I#4, page 8, panel 1 (Dark Man, side of boat)
Savage Tales I#4, page 8, panel 4 (Dark Man with Conan)
Savage Tales I#4, page 13, panel 2 (Dark Man, side on table)
Savage Tales I#4, page 13, panel 7 (Dark Man, top on table)

Appearances:
Kull the Conqueror I#1 (June, 1971) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Ross Andru (pencils), Wally Wood (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Kull the Conqueror I#2 (September, 1971) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Marie Severin (pencils), John Severin (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Savage Tales I#4 (May, 1974) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation), Gil Kane (pencils), Neal Adams (pencils, inks), Pablo Marcos, Frank McLaughlin, Vince Colletta (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan I#8: The Hyborian Age, Chapter 2 - The Rise of the Hyborians (October, 1975) - Robert E. Howard (original story), Roy Thomas (adaptation, editor), Walter Simonson (pencils, inks)
Kull the Conqueror III#4/2 (February, 1984) - Alan Zelenetz (writer), Ernie Chan (pencils), Joe Rubenstein (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Savage Sword of Conan II#6 (August, 2019) - Meredith Finch (writer), Luke Ross (pencils, inks), Mark Basso, Martin Biro, Ralph Macchio (editors)

Bibliography:
Carter, Lin and Howard, Robert Ervin. "Wizard and Warrior" (1967)
Howard, Robert Ervin. "The Children of the Night" (1931), "The Dark Man" (1931), "The Hyborian Age" (1936), "The Shadow Kingdom" (1929)

First Posted: 09/12/2021
Last updated: 09/10/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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