Category: Fantasy

Happy Orctober

Well, we are now well into my favorite month of the year. October has SO much going for it. First, it’s the beginning of Autumn. The weather gets a little bit cooler, so I can actually wear some of my clothes that have long pants and sleeves. (Although I grew up in a state that had 4 different seasons, I currently reside in the southwest, where any sub – 100 degree day is a treat!) I take the doors off my Jeep at just about every opportunity.

Secondly, it’s football season, so there’s a game to look forward to on Sundays. And Monday nights. And sometimes Wednesdays. And every Thursday night. And occasionally a Tuesday or Friday. And if you like high school or college football, Fridays and Saturdays count, too. Basically, there’s always a football game somewhere.

Halloween is just around the corner – another HUGE perk for October! That means I’ll be catching up with my old movie friends, Boris K, Bela L and Lon C, Jr off and on throughout the month. And I’ll play the “Ballad of the Headless Horseman” from Disney’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (the Thurl Ravenscroft version, of course,) at least 3 or 4 times this month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwx3q0gBc70

Samuel Adams releases its best offering of the year – the elixir of the fall gods- Octoberfest! I look forward to it every year. It starts making select appearances in late August or early September, but by now, it’s everywhere. And sometimes, it’s even on sale!

And then, there’s the final thing on my list. (There’s a lot more about October that’s cool, but I’m ending my list with this one.)

ORCTOBERFEST

Yes, you read that correctly. ORC-toberfest. Fantasy and gaming nerds probably know exactly what it is I’m referencing, but for those NOT in the know, it is a celebration of all things ”Greenskin.” Orcs and goblins get their own month. Probably for no better reason than “Orc” sounds like “Oc,” but that’s ok. If we had a month called “Gorvuary” we would celebrate Dwarves. Sorry, Gimli – you win some, and you lose some.

Most sources credit J.R.R.Tolkien with creating the orcs. (Actually, HE gave credit to Morgoth in The Silmarillian, but that’s a story for another day.) Orcs have been adapted and re-imagined in Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, World of Warcraft, and Games Workshop’s Fantasy games. (They spell it “Orks” in the sci-fi settings. They’re the same guys, but with crude futuristic weapons instead of crude antique weapons.)

I haven’t played Warhammer Fantasy Battle (or Warhammer 40K, for that matter) in many years. Truth be told, I wasn’t really a big tabletop wargamming guy. I just like painting toy soldiers, and Games Workshop have made a lot of really cool ones over the years. Since then, a lot of creators have designed excellent models. I had my 3D resin printer running on overtime earlier this year, and I have a horde of greenskins just itching for a fight. I have about 90 goblins, and 25 or so boar mounted orcs, printed, and awaiting completion. I’ve made it my goal to complete the army this October..

Now, I said it’s my GOAL to complete them. That’s really not accurate. It’s more of a cool sounding idea that is highly unlikely to come to fruition. I’ll actually do a little bit toward it.  I’ll paint a few, and look at them for a while,  and then re-shelve the project for a few weeks, until I again proclaim that I’ll finish it. But that’s ok. It’s the thought that counts. I thought about it. So that counts.

So, here goes – lift your Sam Adams, and make a toast to the special fantasy guests of the month…

“WAAAAAAAAAGH!”

–Toph

A Return to Melnibone

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

Michael Moorcock’s Elric (comic issue #1, 1983)
Paperback series, circa 1977