Metaphysical forces in the fantasy stories of Michael Moorcock
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Law and Chaos are the dominant metaphysical forces in the fantasy stories of Michael Moorcock. Law and Chaos are in constant struggle, but they are kept in check by the Cosmic Balance, an even more powerful force for neutrality. The Eternal Champion acts to balance the advances of Law and Chaos as a servant of the Cosmic Balance, reincarnated or summoned to the worlds of the Multiverse where Chaos or Law is becoming dominant.[1]
The Elric series contains the most information about Law, Chaos, and the Balance, as well as the beings called the Lords of the Higher Worlds: the deities who serve and represent Chaos or Law.[1] This may be explained by three reasons. (1) Moorcock has written more about Elric than any other character. (2) Elric spends more time interacting with deities and cosmic forces because he is a powerful sorcerer. (3) The Lords of the Higher Worlds are more numerous in Elric's world or interact with it more frequently. In an episode mirrored in The Vanishing Tower and The King of the Swords, Elric meets another incarnation of the Eternal Champion, Corum Jhaelen Irsei, who explains to him:
There are many planes of existence. In some the Lords of Chaos are strong. In some they are weak. In some, I have heard, they do not exist at all.
In the world of Hawkmoon, for example, Chaos is powerful but is seldom personified. The Lords of the Higher Worlds appear mainly in the series about Elric and Corum.
Variations exist in the allegiance of intelligent races to Law or Chaos. In Elric's world, humans are naturally inclined towards Law and must pervert themselves to gain the assistance of Chaos, while the inhuman Melnibonéans feel a natural sympathy with Chaos. But in Corum's worlds, the humanoid Vadhagh as the creations of Law tend towards good. The Mabden (humans), though creations of Chaos, are capable of both good and evil without the manipulations of the gods.
In a letter to the fanzine Niekas in 1964, Moorcock said he took the idea of Law and Chaos being in conflict from the Zoroastrian cosmology, which describes a deity representing goodness and order (Ahura Mazda) in conflict with a deity representing evil and chaos (Ahriman).[1]
Chaos
Chaos (disorder, entropy) expresses the principle of possibility unfettered by rules. In general, magic and sorcery draw on the powers of Chaos because they break the laws of nature. The effects of Chaos can be beautiful, but left unchecked, they become too disruptive for life.
Pure Chaos stuff manifests in Stormbringer and "The Dream of Earl Aubec". It is swirling, constantly changing, multicolored matter with the power to melt and twist anything with which it comes in contact, including living flesh. Mortals find the sight of pure Chaos disturbing. Ironically, a realm controlled by Chaos becomes stagnant: the state of constant change lacks meaning, and eventually all possibilities are exhausted. Corum encounters a similar state of nature when he visits the realm of Xiombarg in The Queen of the Swords. In Stormbringer, when Chaos takes over much of the world, Elric and his companions observe that the sun is motionless and time seems to stand still.
Just as the Eternal Champion can be a servant of Law, though he is often more the servant of the balance, so Chaos also has its own champions. The most formidable is Prince Gaynor the Damned, known as the Eternal Enemy, formerly a servant of the Balance but condemned to suffering through eternal damnation, and seeks either redemption or revenge, depending on the story he is in. He is completely hidden in shining armour that constantly changes hue from gold to silver to blue and so on, emblazoned with the symbol of Chaos – an image of eight arrows, radiating in all directions from a central point, to represent the many possibilities Chaos offers.[1]
Elric's sword Stormbringer is a Chaotic being, but not a god; it is powerful enough to slay Chaos Lords, and apparently feels no bond of sympathy with them. It is typical of Chaos to be at war with itself.
Lords of Chaos
The Chaos Lords have the powers of gods but the behaviour, and often the appearance, of demons. When they appear at their worst, they deliberately inflict pain and suffering on mortals for amusement; even at best, they are not concerned with the harmful effects of their creations. The Revenge of the Rose openly portrays Arioch as insane. Sorcerers often gain power by entering into diabolical pacts with Chaos Lords. Mortals who ally with Disorder gradually become misshapen or corrupt.
Chaos Lords are sometimes restricted from acting directly against humans. In The Queen of the Swords, for instance, it is said that Xiombarg (as all the gods) is not permitted to strike directly against others unless they attack her, and must instead act through intermediaries. At other times, they may act without prohibition (as, for example, when Elric calls upon the aid of Arioch; the god may attack mortals without hesitation). Similar limitations are probably placed upon the Lords of Law. They are also restricted in their ability to move between planes. For instance, Arioch must be summoned by Elric before he can manifest on Earth.
In the Elric series, there are many Chaos Lords, some more powerful than others, but the relationships between them are not always clear. In Corum's world, by contrast, there is a well-developed hierarchy of Chaos. The Fifteen Planes are divided into three groups of five planes, each governed by one of the three Sword Rulers, who are some of the "Old Gods": Arioch ("Knight of Swords"), Xiombarg ("Queen of Swords"), and Mabelode ("the Faceless", "King of Swords"). These gods also appear in the Elric series, but their character is slightly different. Arioch, the first Corum encounters, is the weakest of the three. He appears for much of the time as brutish, crude and direct, in contrast to his sophisticated, subtle nature as Elric's patron and perhaps less intelligent, though he also shows a different form to Corum. The crudity may be a result of interaction between him and the Mabden. Xiombarg appears as an unspeakably beautiful woman. She is more powerful and is more active in controlling and manipulating the planes under her control. However, when her anger is aroused, it leads to her downfall. Mabelode is most powerful of all. Much of his realm is constantly changing chaos-stuff. He appears as a literally faceless man bearing a golden sword.
The Sword Rulers have vassals; it is possible that similar relationships exist between the deities in Elric's world though this is not made explicit. Arioch's vassals include Urleh, a minor god of Chaos serving the sophisticated Mabden (humans) of Lwyn-am-Esh; and the Dog and the Horned Bear, the savage beast-gods of the barbarians. A former priest of Urleh tells Corum that these gods are omnipotent and omniscient only over their spheres of influence; the Dog and the Bear are knowledgeable chiefly about Mabden affairs. Mabelode has a host of Dukes of Hell under him, but the only one named is Duke Teer. He has a vaguely pig-like head and takes great pride in his "Castle Built of Blood".
Law
Law (order, extropy) provides order, structure, and justice to the world. Without it, nothing material could exist. Law appears friendly to life, but a realm controlled by Law alone becomes just as stagnant as one overrun by Chaos. In "To Rescue Tanelorn", the Realm of Law is a barren wasteland; without wrongs to right and injustice to correct, Law becomes meaningless. In The Dreamthief's Daughter, Law goes mad and tries to overrun the world. Ordinarily, however, Law is benevolent and beautiful in its perfect regularity.
Symbol of Law
During the time when most of the Eternal Champion cycle is set, Law is weak and is in fact banished from most mortal planes of existence. Elric must summon the White Lords to his plane by blowing the Horn of Fate. In Corum's realm, the destruction of first Arioch, then Xiombarg permits the return of Law. At the end, all gods are swept away leaving the races to make their own destinies.
Besides the Eternal Champion, Law has servants who aid Law by advising the Champion or in other ways. Myshella, the Dark Lady of Kaneloon, Empress of the Dawn, is a servant of Law in Elric's world. She serves Law by tempting or guiding heroes to pit their wills against pure Chaos, by which process the lands of Earth are extended. In The Quest for Tanelorn, Hawkmoon comes upon a unique "Gathering of the Wise", messengers of Law brought together from many planes. Present at the gathering are Sepiriz of Nihrain, who advises Elric in Stormbringer; Abaris of the Magi; Lamsar the Hermit, who guides Rackhir to the Grey Lords in "To Rescue Tanelorn"; the Warrior in Jet and Gold (who also appears in The Dragon in the Sword); Aleryon-a-Nyvish of the Temple of Law, a priest of Ilah in The Queen of the Swords; and the Silver Queen from Phoenix in Obsidian.
The Symbol of Law is a single Arrow of Law.
Lords of Law
The White Lords of Law are much less developed than the Lords of Chaos. Most of the stories are set in a cosmic cycle when Chaos is most powerful. When they appear, the Lords of Law are usually more benevolent than the Chaos Lords, who are seductive – but also sinister, and prone to losing their temper. Also, mortals who meet with the Lords of Law are wise to remember that what benefits the gods does not always suit the aims of mortals.
Donblas is the only Lord of Law to appear in Elric's world. In Corum's world, there are three chief Lords of Law, corresponding to the three Sword Rulers. The first is Arkyn, counterpart to Arioch. When first met, his powers are weak and he has difficulty manifesting in Corum's plane and appears as an indistinct but tall figure. When his powers return, he appears as a gigantic (as tall as the sky) handsome figure. He is the creator of the Vadhagh, his favourite race. There is a brief reference to "Lord Shalod" (the ruler of the second five planes of the Corum mythos), presumably the counterpart to Xiombarg, but he is not described. A counterpart to Mabelode is not named. Like the Chaos Lords, the Lords of Law have their vassals. The only vassal deity of Law named is Ilah, a servant of Arkyn.
One of the others Lords of Law (or, in that case, one of the Ladies) mentioned through the Von Bek's saga is Miggea, the Mad, Duchess of Dolwic. Taking the shape of a beautiful lady in full armor, riding a white wolf as a mount, she represents degeneration of Law, which is utter destruction of all worlds corrupted by Chaos, i.e. all worlds. She is one of the main antagonists in The Dreamthief's Daughter, bringing as a lackey the Eternal Enemy, Gaynor, to try to destroy Tanelorn and killing Elric to obtain Stormbringer. Her name is an anagram of Maggie, the diminutive of Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The Cosmic Balance maintains the balance of power between Law and Chaos by keeping both sides from overstepping the rules of war. It rarely manifests directly, but when it does (as in Stormbringer, The Queen of Swords, and The Quest for Tanelorn) it appears as a great pair of scales suspended in the sky. In The Queen of the Swords, it also manifests to pass judgment between two Lords of the Higher Worlds. The Balance is the power most beneficial to life, which needs a mixture of Law and Chaos to exist. It is also the agent of Fate.
The Runestaff is a sentient object associated with the Balance, as Stormbringer is associated with Chaos.
The Grey Lords appear in the story "To Rescue Tanelorn", where it is said that they "are pledged neither to Law nor to Chaos, but will sometimes help either side if the whim takes them". The Grey Lords take pride, ironically, in their humility. These purposefully neutral gods are gods of the Balance and caretakers of Tanelorn, the city of the Balance.
Eternal Tanelorn exists in all planes of the Multiverse. It is neutral in the war between Law and Chaos, so it serves as a place of rest and retreat for tired heroes. As a general rule, they can only find the city after a long and difficult search. Its inhabitants are happy and productive because they are free to pursue their own interests instead of the desires of gods. People in Tanelorn feel intense peace.
The fate of Law, Chaos, and the Balance is revealed in The Quest for Tanelorn, in which the history of one cycle of the Multiverse is concluded during the Conjunction of the Million Spheres. After defeating the sorcerers Agak and Gagak, Hawkmoon and Erekosë reach Tanelorn where they meet the Runestaff and Stormbringer in humanoid forms. Hawkmoon learns that the Black Sword and the Black Jewel are two aspects of the same creature. At the beginning of the Great Cycle, powerful smiths (the Chaos Engineers) created the Sword, the Jewel, the Runestaff, and finally the Balance to preserve Order between Law and Chaos, especially to limit the power of Stormbringer.
Erekose takes up the Black Sword and destroys the Balance; then Hawkmoon smashes the Jewel with the Runestaff, which breaks. Thus, the last symbols of Authority are destroyed, leaving humanity free to make its own fate, but Erekose is also killed by the release of power. Hawkmoon is the last surviving incarnation of the Eternal Champion, and with all gods dead, his function as Champion is ended.
The "Sword Trilogy" introduces two beings who are beyond even the balance, Kwll and Rhynn, also known as the "Lost Gods". The only thing that binds them is their brotherhood. In the King of Swords it is they who first destroy Mabelode and his Dukes of Hell, then the gods of Law as well.
The spell preparation system in the 1998 video game Magic and Mayhem operates by combining magical ingredients with "talismans" characterized by Law, Chaos or Neutrality.[4]
Moorcock's conception of Chaos also heavily inspired Games Workshop in the creation of its Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 fictional settings.[5] Notably, however, they only briefly used Moorcock's conceptions of Order or the Balance.[6] The descriptions of Chaos, of the eight-pointed star, of the Chaos Lords, the strange multicolored hues of energies, mutations and warping of matter and flesh, and so forth found in the Warhammer settings are all derived directly from Moorcock's works.
Corum Jhaelen Irsei is the name of a fictional fantasy hero in a series of novels written by Michael Moorcock. The character was introduced in the novel The Knight of Swords, published in 1971. This was followed by two other books published during the same year, The Queen of Swords and The King of Swords. The three novels are collectively known as the "Corum Chronicles trilogy" or "the Chronicles of Corum". Both The Knight of the Swords and The King of the Swords won the August Derleth Award in 1972 and 1973 respectively. The character then starred in three books making up the "Silver Hand trilogy", and has appeared in other stories taking place in Moorcock's multiverse.
Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worked as an editor and is also a successful musician. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné, a seminal influence on the field of fantasy since the 1960s and '70s.
Elric of Melniboné is a fictional character created by English writer Michael Moorcock and the protagonist of a series of sword and sorcery stories taking place on an alternative Earth. The proper name and title of the character is Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné. Later stories by Moorcock marked Elric as a facet of the Eternal Champion.
Stormbringer is a magic sword featured in a number of fantasy stories by the author Michael Moorcock. It is described as a huge, black sword covered with strange runes, created by the forces of Chaos with its own will. It is wielded by the doomed albino emperor Elric of Melniboné. Stormbringer makes its first appearance in the 1961 novella The Dreaming City. In the four novellas collected in the 1965 book Stormbringer, the sword's true nature is revealed.
The Eternal Champion is a fictional character created by British author Michael Moorcock and is a recurrent feature in many of his speculative fiction works.
The Symbol of Chaos originates from Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories and its dichotomy of Law and Chaos. In them, the Symbol of Chaos comprises eight arrows in a radial pattern. In contrast, the symbol of Law is a single upright arrow. It is also called the Arms of Chaos, the Arrows of Chaos, the Chaos Star, the Chaos Cross, the Star of Discord, the Chaosphere, or the Symbol of Eight.
The History of the Runestaff is an omnibus collection of four fantasy novels by Michael Moorcock, consisting of The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God's Amulet, The Sword of the Dawn, and The Runestaff. Charting the adventures of Dorian Hawkmoon, a version of the Eternal Champion, it takes place in a far-future version of Europe in which the insane rulers of the Dark Empire of Granbretan are engaged in conquering the continent. Written between 1967 and 1969, it is considered a classic of the genre, and has proven highly influential in shaping subsequent authors' works.
The Chronicle of the Black Sword is the fourteenth studio album by the English space rock group Hawkwind, released in 1985. It spent two weeks on the UK albums chart peaking at #65. The album is based upon the adventures of Elric of Melniboné, a recurring character in the novels of science fiction author Michael Moorcock, a long-standing associate of the group, who contributes lyrics to one track on the album.
The Eternal Champion is a fantasy novel by Michael Moorcock. First published in 1970, it is an expanded version of a novella of the same title that introduced the hero known as both John Daker and Erekosë. The novella was first published in the anthology magazine Science Fantasy #53 in 1962. Along with expanding the original story, the novel make some minor changes to narration and scenes, and also includes references to other short stories by Michael Moorcock. The Eternal Champion is the first in a trilogy of novels known as the Erekosë series. The sequel novels are Phoenix in Obsidian (1970), also published as The Silver Warriors, and The Dragon in the Sword (1987).
The Swords Trilogy is a series of fantasy novels by Michael Moorcock about Corum Jhaelen Irsei, an aspect of the Eternal Champion. It consists of three books published in 1971: The Knight of the Swords, The Queen of the Swords, and The King of the Swords. In the UK the trilogy has been published under the titles The Swords of Corum, Corum, and most recently Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe. The Swords Trilogy is the original title in the US where it has more recently been published as Corum: The Coming of Chaos. It is followed by a second trilogy about Corum, The Prince with the Silver Hand.
Domine is an Italian band formed in 1983. The power metal group from Florence, who began releasing demo tapes in 1986, got some attention with their first album, Champion Eternal, released in 1997. Domine went on to release four more albums, touring Europe and playing at many festivals. They have been linked to heroic fantasy and sword and sorcery writers like Michael Moorcock and Robert E. Howard for their lyrics related to the Elric of Melniboné and Conan the Barbarian novels.
Emperor of the Black Runes is the fourth album by Domine. It was recorded in May 2003 and released under Japanese label Avalon in February 2004.
This is a bibliography of the works of Michael Moorcock.
Stormbringer is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game published under license by Chaosium. Based on the Elric of Melniboné books by Michael Moorcock, the game takes its name from Elric's sword, Stormbringer. The rules are based on Chaosium's percentile-dice-based Basic Role-Playing system.
In Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 fictional universes, Chaos refers to parasitic entities which live in a different plane of reality known as the Warp or Immaterium in Warhammer 40,000 and as the Realm of Chaos in Warhammer Age of Sigmar. The term can refer to these warp entities and their influence, the servants and worshippers of these entities, or even the parallel universe in which these entities are supposed to reside. The most powerful of these warp entities are those known as the Chaos Gods, also sometimes referred to as the Dark Gods, Ruinous Powers, or the Powers of Chaos. Similarities exist between the Warhammer idea of Chaos and the concept of Chaos from Michael Moorcock's Elric saga, which also influenced D&D's alignment system. Further similarities can be seen with the godlike extradimensional Great Old Ones of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft's stories.
Elric of Melniboné is a 1972 fantasy novel by Michael Moorcock. It is the first original full-length novel to feature Elric, the last emperor of the stagnating island civilisation of Melniboné who wields the cursed, soul-drinking sword Stormbringer.
Erekosë is a heroic warrior in different fantasy adventure stories by English writer Michael Moorcock. The character repeatedly assumes different forms and identities during adventures across Moorcock's multiverse. He first appeared in the 1962 novella The Eternal Champion, which was later expanded into a novel of the same title in 1970. The book became the first of the Erekosë book series, which includes the novels Phoenix in Obsidian and The Dragon in the Sword. The Erekosë canon The Swords of Heaven, the Flowers of Hell, is a graphic novel plotted by Moorcock that was scripted and illustrated by Howard Chaykin. In Moorcock's novels The Vanishing Tower and The King of the Swords, Erekosë is described as a man with "jet black skin", often wearing a bear-skin cloak.
Stormbringer is a 1965 novel written by Michael Moorcock and featuring the character Elric of Melniboné.
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate is the second Elric book by Michael Moorcock. It is chronologically the third in the series.
References
1 2 3 4 Mark Scroggins, Michael Moorcock: Fiction, Fantasy and the World's Pain. McFarland, 2015 ISBN9781476624174 (pgs. 10, 28-9)
↑ Cogburn, Jon (2012). "Beyond Chaotic Good and Lawful Evil?". In Cogburn, Jon; Silcox, Mark (eds.). Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy: Raiding the Temple of Wisdom. Open Court. pp.29–47. ISBN9780812697964.
1 2 Wenskus, Otta (2017). ""Soft" Science Fiction and Technical Fantasy: The Ancient World in Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactical and Dr Who". In Pomeroy, Arthur J. (ed.). A Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome on Screen. Wiley Blackwell. pp.452–454. ISBN9781118741351.
↑ Pat Harrigan, Matthew G. Kirschenbaum (editors), Zones of Control: Perspectives on Wargaming. MIT Press, 2016 ISBN026233495X (p. 611)
↑ Condensed Chaos: Phil Hine, New Falcon Publications, 1995
↑ Nozedar, Adele (2008). The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols: The Ultimate A-Z Guide from Alchemy to the Zodiac. HarperCollins UK. p.49. ISBN9780007264452.
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