I’m a “Swords and Sorcery” geek. I can’t remember when it started; that file is buried pretty deep in the archives. I do remember getting into Fantasy literature sometime in late elementary school, though. A lot of kids were reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. I have come to appreciate Tolkien’s work -A LOT- since then, but at the time, it didn’t really work for me. I had a hard time getting past the first scene, with all the dwarves showing up unannounced and wrecking the place. I just found it annoying. Had I gotten past that part as a 10 year old, I think I would have become a Lord of the Rings fanboy from the get-go. But as it was, I had to leave Dwalin, Balin, Fili, Kili, (Silly, Billy, and Willy-Nelly, et al.) to cool their heels on the bookshelf for a few years.
I did, however, find a series that absolutely caught my eye: Michael Moorcock’s Elric saga. Elric is easily Moorcock’s most well known character. Literary scholars like to put fantasy into various sub-genres or categories. They throw out terms like “High Fantasy,” “Low Fantasy,” “Epic Fantasy,” etc. This particular series meets the criteria for just about every category. It has a vast, rich setting, world changing ramifications, and complex characters, like those from Tolkien or J.K. Rowling. It also offers as much action as any of Robert Howard’s Conan, or Fritz Leiber’s Lankmar series. So it really is a hybrid. However, I never really worried about fantasy categories as a kid. I just liked the character.
They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. No truer words can be said about Emperor Elric of Melnibone (you go ahead and try to pronounce it…Melna BONE, Mel NEB a NEE, Melna bow NAY? Whatever.) When I first read it, I found it totally cool. He’s a bad-ass fighter, and a sorcerer. He carries a possessed magic sword. And he has a faithful sidekick who sticks with him through to the end. And the paperback cover artwork by Michael Whelan is fantastic.
As I am re-reading the series for the 3rd (maybe it’s the 4th?) time, I am seeing so much more. The plot is simpler than I had remembered it, and at the same time, the underlying philosophical concepts run much deeper. He is a perfect example of a character suffering an existential crisis. And he almost defines the tragic hero, who is literally damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t.
I am thoroughly enjoying the series. I even dug out the old comic series I bought back in high school. I know the stories have inspired both tabletop and video games. There have been new tales added to the mythos by other authors; an excellent compilation of such new stories is “Tales of the White Wolf.” Geralt of Rivia (the title character of the Netflix series The Witcher) appears to be heavily inspired by Elric of Melnibone. I personally think the Games Workshop’s Dark Elves draw from Melnibonian culture to the extreme. Although the Elric character predates the Dark Elves by 5 years, GW would probably claim that Moorcock preemptively stole their intellectual property – that’s just how they roll. There have even been whispers for years about a live action movie, but nothing has come of it yet. Only time will tell.
Until then, I’ll continue to return to the original. It’s just too good to simply collect dust on the shelf. If you are looking for a Swords & Sorcery treat, Elric certainly deserves a try.
-Toph
