The Children of the Night

Introduction

“The Children of the Night” is a 1931 short story by Robert E. Howard within the Cthulhu Mythos. Accepted by Weird Tales circa October 1930 and published in the April/May 1931 issue, it earned Howard $60. The piece reflects Lovecraft’s influence via letters—particularly remarks on witch-cults and “little people,” themes Howard also develops in “Worms of the Earth.”

The story opens in John Conrad’s artifact-crammed study, where six men—Conrad, Clemants, Professor Kirowan, Taverel, Ketrick, and the narrator John O’Donnel—debate anthropology, race prehistory, and forbidden lore (Von Junzt’s Nameless Cults, the Necronomicon). O’Donnel describes the group as Anglo-Saxon, save for Ketrick, whose slightly Mongoloid-seeming, amber, oblique eyes and faint lisp unsettle him despite Ketrick’s documented “pure” lineage—an unease that foreshadows the tale’s clash between civilized veneer and atavistic survivals.

From the letters:

In a letter to HPL (#143) Howard writes:

By the way, I recently sold Weird Tales a short story, “The Children of the Night” in which I deal with Mongoloid-aborigine legendry, touch cryptically on the Bran-cult, and hint darkly and vaguely of nameless things connected with Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, Tsathoggua and the Necronomicon; as well as quoting lines from Flecker’s9 “Gates of Damascus” and lending them a cryptic meaning which I’m sure would have astounded the poet remarkably!

Lovecraft liked the story and told Howard in a letter. Circa June 1931, we learn from another letter (#169) to Lovecraft:

I’m glad you liked “Children of the Night”. Some remarks of yours in your letters regarding the Mongoloid aborigines gave me many of the ideas. As regards my mention of the three foremost weird masterpieces — Poe’s, Machen’s and your own — it’s my honest opinion that these three are the outstanding tales. Though I consider your “Dunwitch Horror”, “Horror at Red Hook” and “Rats in the Walls” quite worthy of ranking alongside Poe and Machen, also.

And later (letter #220), circa mid-October 1932 we learn:

By the way, you mentioned that my “Children of the Night” got a mention in the O. Henry Memorial prize annual. What is this annual, and is it possible for me to get a copy of it? The reason I ask, is I gather it’s something of a boost to get mentioned in it, and it’s just possible that I might be able to boost myself with an editor sometime. Any information you can give me about this business will be greatly appreciated.

O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1931, edited by Blanche Colton Williams, included “The Children of the Night” among “Stories ranking second.”

Short summary:

In Conrad’s artifact-packed study, Conrad, Professor Kirowan, Clemants, Taverel, Ketrick, and John O’Donnel argue over racial prehistory and cryptic cult survivals. Conrad displays a sinister flint mallet; Ketrick, whose oblique amber eyes unsettle O’Donnel, test-swings it and accidentally strikes O’Donnel’s head. O’Donnel’s consciousness snaps into a past life as Aryara, an Aryan warrior who awakens in a primeval forest to find his hunting band butchered by the Children of the Night—stunted, reptile-suggestive troglodytes. In a berserk counter-raid, Aryara slaughters scores before dying under their clubs and knives.

O’Donnel awakens in Conrad’s study, instantly attacking Ketrick, whom he now views as a living atavism—tainted by the ancient, reptilian strain. Restrained by the others, O’Donnel records his certainty: time sometimes “meshes,” revealing prior lives; the Children predated Picts in Britain; and Ketrick bears the old brand. He vows to hunt and kill Ketrick on the moors, even at the cost of his own life, to keep faith with his “tribe.”

Characters:

  • John O’Donnel – First-person narrator. Struck by the flint mallet, he relives a past life as Aryara and returns convinced that Ketrick is an atavistic throwback he must destroy.
  • Aryara – O’Donnel’s ancestral self: a bronze-age Aryan warrior who battles the troglodytic Children of the Night and dies in a last, berserk stand; invokes the smith-god Il-marinen.
  • John Conrad – Erudite host and collector of occult curios; his study houses Nameless Cults, the Necronomicon (in translation), and the Neolithic mallet that triggers O’Donnel’s vision.
  • Professor John Kirowan – Skeptical scholar (part of Howard’s recurring duo with Conrad). Debates race/prehistory; ultimately witnesses O’Donnel’s violent outburst.
  • Clemants – Taciturn writer/editor (of The Cloven Hoof); introduces the living “Bran” cult rumor and broader hints of lingering dark survivals.
  • Taverel – Witty salon participant; a foil in the bookish debates on occult literature and anthropology.
  • Ketrick – Polite, aloof guest marked by amber, slightly slanted eyes and a faint lisp; after the mallet strike, O’Donnel identifies him as a reptilian atavism and vows to kill him.
  • Children of the Night – Prehistoric, stunted, serpent-suggestive race dwelling in domed burrows and tunnels; speak in a hissing tongue; slaughter Aryara’s band and are massacred in his counter-attack.
  • Bran Cult (allusive) – A hinted modern survival venerating the Dark Man (Bran Mak Morn); cited by Clemants via Von Junzt, linking the salon’s discourse to older, darker strata.
  • Von Junzt & the Black Book – Author and tome (Nameless Cults) repeatedly referenced; emblem of forbidden knowledge threading the study talk and the tale’s Mythos texture.

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