The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock
The Elric Saga is a six-volume fantasy series centered around Elric of Melniboné, the last emperor of the ancient and powerful Bright Empire. The story unfolds in a richly imagined world where Elric, characterized by his albino appearance and unusual sensitivity, grapples with his role as a ruler amidst the decline of his civilization. He possesses formidable sorcerous powers and wields the cursed black sword, Stormbringer, which consumes the souls of the slain, granting him strength but also binding him to a dark fate. The narrative explores themes of identity, destiny, and the struggle between Law and Chaos as Elric seeks freedom and answers about his existence.
Throughout the saga, Elric faces betrayal from his cousin Yyrkoon, who desires the throne, leading to conflicts that culminate in tragic consequences, including the loss of loved ones. As Elric's journey progresses, he forms complex relationships with various women, and his last love, Zarozinia, sacrifices herself to empower him in a final confrontation against the Lords of Chaos. Ultimately, Elric's quest is marked by recurring themes of despair, the nature of power, and the inescapable pull of his own fate, culminating in a haunting conclusion that questions the essence of good and evil. The series is notable for its rich character development and philosophical undertones, making it a seminal work in the fantasy genre.
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The Elric Saga
First published:The Elric Saga (parts 1 and 2, 1984), which includes Elric of Melniboné (1972; U.S. title, with cuts, The Dreaming City, 1972), The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (1973), The Weird of the White Wolf (1976), The Vanishing Tower (1971, also published as The Sleeping Sorceress), The Bane of the Black Sword (1977), and Stormbringer (1965, rev. 1977); Elric at the End of Time (1984); The Fortress of the Pearl (1989); and The Revenge of the Rose: A Tale of the Albino in the Years of His Wandering (1991)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Fantasy—heroic fantasy
Time of work: Undefined
Locale: Earth and an alternative dimension
The Plot
Stormbringer, the first novel in the Elric Saga to be published, was actually the last of the series according to internal chronology. It was first published serially by the British magazine Science Fantasy (1963-1964). The single volume Stealer of Souls (1963) was expanded, with the addition of stories from the separately published collection The Singing Citadel (1970) and the return and revision of the omitted portions of Stormbringer, into the six-volume saga. The Fortress of the Pearl is an additional adventure that occurs between the events narrated in Elric of Melniboné and The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Revenge of the Rose apparently occurs between the events of The Vanishing Tower and The Bane of the Black Sword.
The Elric Saga tells the story of Elric, last emperor of the Bright Empire of Melniboné, whose inhuman race has ruled their world for ten thousand years. It is, even in its decline, more than a match for the human upstarts of the Young Kingdoms. These strange people inhabit the Dragon Isle, on which rests their only settlement, Imrryr, the Dreaming City of unearthly beauty and unimaginable horror.
Elric has the dual misfortune of being an albino, which causes him some physical weakness, and being so unusually intelligent and sensitive—for a Melnibonean—that he has a conscience and is capable of both pity and remorse, an anomaly that raises questions about his fitness to rule a people who create orchestras from the dying screams of tortured slaves. Loudest among Elrics critics is his greedy cousin Yyrkoon, who lusts after the throne and the power of bygone days. Elric has great inner strength and sorcerous powers, which Yyrkoon discovers when he attempts to usurp the Ruby Throne and is resoundingly defeated.
The battle ends triumphantly for Elric, but it is a victory that costs him dearly, because he must invoke the aid of the demon-god of Melniboné, Arioch of Chaos. This act sets in motion events that lead to his worlds destruction in a final battle between the supernatural forces of Law and Chaos. Particularly important in this regard is his acquisition of the black runesword Stormbringer, in reality a demoniac entity of monstrous evil that devours the souls of people and gods alike, giving their strength to Elric and so creating an unholy addiction from which he never completely recovers.
Elric unwisely leaves his kingdom in the hands of Yyrkoon to quest for freedom and for answers to his peoples identity, hoping to free them from their own degeneracy and from the whims of the Lords of Chaos. While he is abroad, Yyrkoon successfully usurps the throne and recovers the other black sword, Mournblade.
Meanwhile, Elric endures a series of adventures with the disturbing import that he is not and never will be master of his own destiny. Returning in secret to Melniboné, he discovers that his beloved cousin Cymoril has been placed in an enchanted sleep by Yyrkoon. Frustrated in his attempts to awaken her and rejected by his own people, Elric organizes the fleets of the Young Kingdoms to sail against Melniboné. He succeeds in sacking the city but fails miserably in his real purpose. Yyrkoon confronts him with Mournblade, and the two black swords possess their wielders. Cymoril awakes during the fight, and Yyrkoon flings her toward Elric. She dies horribly as Stormbringer drinks her soul. Elric kills Yyrkoon, but the damage is done.
After the sack of Imrryr, the raider fleet is attacked and destroyed by the vengeful Melniboneans. Only Elric’s ship escapes, by sorcerous means, in an apparent betrayal of those men who had trusted him (though he really could not save them). The despairing Elric now wanders the world, still seeking the truth and freedom he is denied, though he continues to involuntarily fulfill his destiny. He makes a powerful and elusive enemy in Theleb Kaarna, sorcerer of Pan Tang. His quest for vengeance occupies a considerable portion of the saga and ends with hard-won and somewhat equivocal success: The vampiric runesword takes Theleb Kaarnas soul only after much destruction, including the death of Myshella, the Dark Lady of Castle Kaneloon, Elric’s first new love after the death of his cousin.
During the saga, Elric falls in love with several women. His last and greatest love, his human wife Zarozinia, impales her Chaos-altered body on Stormbringer to give Elric the strength he needs to destroy the Lords of Chaos in the final battle. After the defeat of Chaos, Elric again flings away Stormbringer, only to have the black blade fly from the ground and impale him. The sword then transforms into a demoniac being, standing over the fallen albino and saying, “Farewell, friend! I was a thousand times more evil than thou!”