An extended scene of single combat takes up the rest of the second part. Always eager for a good fight, he agrees to lead the Northmen.įirst he has to defeat the new leader of the Northmen, Wulfhere, who is resistant to Kull taking charge. Kull thinks the whole things is a detailed dream. He also wears a gem in his crown that was given to Brule by Kull in a ring, and from Kull’s perspective, that happened the previous night. Bran is descended from Brule and resembles him strongly. At first Kull thinks Bran is his friend Brule. Preceded by a lengthy speech about time being an illusion, he brings Kull forward in time to help with the battle, with Kull appearing to walk out of the rising sun. The ancient Druid priest Gonar promises help. Unless Bran finds them a king to fight under, “a king neither Pict, Gael, or Briton”, they will desert to the Romans.

The problem is that the king was killed in a skirmish with Roman scouts, and his remaining men say his death released them from the oath. Their king swore and oath that he would aid Bran against the Romans in one battle, and in return Bran would build him ships for the survivors to get home.

The northmen were defeated by Bran when they tried to invade. With the Celts and Picts are a group of Northmen. In the first, the Picts and their allies are awaiting a battle with an invading Roman legion the following morning. The viewpoint character here is Cormac na Connacht, “a prince of the isle of Erin.” This allows the reader to gain a fresh perspective of the hero and is particularly useful with a series character whose identity has been well established. The advantage to this approach is that we get to see how other characters view the hero. This is a device he’s used before, especially in some of the Conan stories. Howard uses the trick of telling his tale from the point of view of a supporting character, albeit a crucial one. This is essentially a Bran Mak Morn story in which Kull has a supporting role, although many elements of the Kull series can be seen. They’re together because they appear in the same story. This is the next to last post about Kull and the first about Bran Mak Morn.

Bran mak morn the last king