I grew up reading Elric and Conan. Howard's original Conan was as dark as Elric, It was DeCamp and those guys that turned him into a good guy hero. Moorcock's Elric and Howard's Conan are the must reads of dark sword and sorcery.
Fuck yeah dude, it always gets on my nerves when people dismiss the Robert E Howard's Conan stories as "goody-two-shoes". They can be just as dark as Moorcock's stories, and to be blunt, I also think Howard was a better writer.
I am not certain that you could honestly say better. But rather different. They both tell a dark tale with decadent glee from various acute and obtuse angles. They shine with different light.
Nope, I can honestly say better; Howard was more versatile as a writer, and the volume of work he put out was for the most part consistently well written with very few duds in his career, whereas many things that Moorcock wrote from the 90s, and especially the 2000s were outright dogshit. His 60s, 70s and 80s stories, however, were very good.
I love both writers and like you grew up reading Howard's stories as well as Moorcock's stuff...including his sci fi work. Not sure if one writer is truly better than the other is better though...though one -- Moorcock -- is certainly more prolific. I think Moorcock regarded Howard as the Father of Sword and Sorcery novels and coined that term for the genre. . Sad thing about Howard is he died at age 30 after writing mostly short stories -- great stories to be sure -- but not too many full length novels.
What a great ending. I love Stormbringer. But the more I reread the saga, the more I appreciate the first book chronologically, which was my least favorite when I first read it.
SPOILERS!!!!! Elric & Melnibone are said to be Moorcock's reflection of the decline of the British Empire. A once great island nation that lorded over the world, conquered and spread its influence over it. The drug use and hedonistic laziness of its people are reflected in that he wrote the first stories in the 1960s and that is what he was seeing at that time in England. Elric was also the antithesis of Conan. One a strong man who came from nothing, & hated magic, to become a King. The other a physically weak but powerful sorcerer that was an Emperor and destroyed his Empire. I bet George RR Martin was definitely influenced by the Melniboneans in his creation of the Targaryens. I mean c'mon. The Dragon Isle vs Dragonstone. The use of Dragons! Magic! Incest for pure bloodlines. How long they both ruled! Etc. Great synopsis BTW!!! would love to see some movies or a series one day!
No two ways about Martin being influenced by Moorcock,remember when King Joffrey was thinkin of names for his new sword and some one from the crowd says Stormbringer?Jamie is Kingslayer Elric is Kinslayer?Dragon riders?even the Targarians are like albino Melniboneans,maybe just coincidence
But Melnibone literally controlled the entire world, at the same time, which Britain didn't. Though I guess the massive blood orgies with demon summonings were rare outside of Windsor too.
A pandimensional super entity that existed across all realities in some form. Also they only one to survive to the new world like the spawn of Jormungandr.
@@elewoo7131 best to read the Elric books in publishing order as the writing style and concepts evolve in that order. Adding in some Corum , Von Bek, Count Brass, etc after the initial Elric run before the later Elric books wouldn't be bad either. If you decide to dip in to Jerry Cornelius or the End of Time stories I would wait till you finish the core "Eternal Champion" series as the later Cornelius books are easier to follow and the End of Time stories have connections and revelations that are only relevant if you had a knowledge of the previous books.
Firstly, nice touch comparing early Moorcock to Frank Miller - why didn't I see that before ? I first discovered Michael Moorcock back in the mid 1970s when as an angsty teenager, I became an instant fan and now at 52, I'm still re-reading the Elric series. Great review dude, I'm sure Moorcock will be recognised one day as one of the greatest authors of swords and sorcery tales. He fully deserves it and Elric is, without a doubt his greatest creation. Personally, I like the earlier novels and stories rather than the 80s tales but the series as a whole is, I agree, a masterpiece. Back then, in the pre internet era, it was very frustrating trying to work out the chronological order of the stories especially since Moorcock never told anyone in which order to read them, until eventually, I guess, his publishers made him. When you can, check out the work of British illustrator Rodney Matthews. He is a long time friend of Moorcocks and his brilliant posters, done mainly in the late 70s beautifully illustrate many scenes from the Elric saga. Matthews also illustrated one book in collaboration with Moorcock and that is, Elric at the End of Time. This was a one-off project published in 1987 and includes lots of incredible illustrations. It was later released as part of a compilation novel with other Moorcock material but without illustrations. I mention it because you haven't included it in your list but I'm damned if I can tell you where it fits in. Cheers dude !
Elric's sword Stormbringer, also called the Black Blade, the Black Sword, and the Stealer of Souls,is a legendary soul-devouring runesword is fully sentient and has a malicious will of its own. It is one of two Black Swords in Elric's World, the other being Mournblade.
Read the series when I was a teenager in the early eighties. Still my favorite. It boggles my mind that it was never adapted into video games or a movie series. So much potential. The song black blade by blue oyster cult takes me back every time I hear it. 🤘👍
I had no clue this series existed before today, and even less clue how much the fantasy genre owes it. Like the idea of an evil soul eating sword or Chaos and Order being opposing forces coming from this saga at least in much of the Western Fantasy Tradition.
Every single fantasy trope started with Tolkien or Lieber with the exception of the anti hero and the multiverse from Moorcock. The Non fiction treatise "Hero with a thousand faces" was popular in Moorcock's youth and it compared mythologies all over the world and could definitely have influenced Moorcock's Eternal Champion, and maybe his multiverse.
Except that it's crap. Never liked Lieber's writing at all. Boring with unlikable characters. Like a bad buddy cop movie set in a marginally fantasy world.
Lord of the Rings was written in the 1940s and predates Elric which was initially created in 1961. Elric is clearly inspired by the Finnish mythological hero, Kullervo. Tolkien took inspiration from Kullervo and created Turin Turambar in the Silmarillion which was created in the 1920s. In the modern era The Witcher series and Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon take inspiration from Elric.
Many moons ago my aunt was getting rid of her books and I grabbed lot. Got to read all of Elric, Hawkmoon and Corum books as a kid, was very influential on me. Nice vid.
i read elric of melnibone when i was 17 in 1981 after that i read the rest of that series then the hawkmoon series and they were still all available at walden books i had bed slats on my wall holding these, everything i had read and bought from elric and hawkmoon to the corneilius chronicles also the conan series, all paperback lost them all in the divorce in 2000 tried to find them got a few lost those found a few others lost them amazon came along and i been buying those one by one depending on the cover art "i like the early covers" but i do have the hard covers and all the conans one hard cover conan the only one i know that has existed
I think the Corum books will give you a similar but less rage filled experience. The second trilogy is fantastic if you like Celtic mythology, it really bought the Celtic myths to life for me. The first series is more elf killing Vikings send the last elf to the world's of 60s psychedelia! If you read his Jerry Cornelius works you'll realise that Moorcock REALLY used to dig the psychedelic counter culture!
Well damn. You've convinced me, dude. I'm definitely gonna check out some of the Elric saga, as well as the Gormenghast books. I need more dark fantasy.
If you like LOTR, try The Children Of Hurin, a Dark Fantasy novel that Tolkien wrote but never got published until his son edited and published it in 2007. Also The Silmarillon.
might sound like but these were written in the 1960's not 1996 if anything george rr martin is copying or taking artistic ideas from reading these books, these are about an anti hero not of a family of tyrants and killers
@Bryson Reins You're kind of right. He definitely was inspired by Elric and Melniboneans, he just added the Normans conquering England to the mix. It's still better than what The Witcher did lol
@@Ζήνων-ζ1ι I feel like the one true thing the Witcher ripped off from elric is the conjunction of Spheres concept , I love both but tbh in my own personal opinion its unfair that some people legitimately just call the witcher a rip off of Elric , which isn't true , Geralt has similarities with him but in the end is a completely different character who stands on his own , and ofc as a I mentioned, the conjunction of spheres , is total plagiarism. But discounting the incredible lore and universe of the Witcher as a rip off is kindof unfair imo , anyways great vid !
A most excellent commentary. I couldn't imagine a better summary of the series if I tried. One minor note of no consequence: The title of the second novel is "The Sailor on the Seas of Fate" not "The Sailor on the Seven Seas of Fate." --- no offense intended. Just a dyed in the wool Moorcock fan here, setting the record straight.
I'd hardly say that the Elric stories have been forgotten. Within the past ten years or so, new collections of the Elric stories have been published. True, Moorcock's works might not be as popular as they once were, but his influence is still prevalent. Now if you want an author who *really* deserves to be better known, check out Poul Anderson. Heck, he's the one who actually created the whole "order vs. chaos" conflict (Three Hearts and Three Lions) and the hero wielding an evil sword (The Broken Sword).
Glad you did this video. It and Razorfist's video gave me the ample motivation to get into the books. Both the stories and the impact of Michael moorcock (unfortunate name) are vastly interesting.
This is a well thought out opinion. However, one must consider the central power of the eternal champion series, i.e. the"Rune Staff" Arioch in many ways is as much a pawn of the Rune Staff as the champion him self. Time and again one finds examples of Elric calling on the powers of chaos to serve order. Moreover, "Stormbringer" is merely one of many incarnations of "The Black Sword" it's as much a tool of the Rune Staff as the champion him self but without conscience.
Drizzt had a conscience. Elric was intrigued by the concept of a conscience. Very, very *very* different things that made the characters go on completely different paths. Elric has done shit Drizzt wouldn't even consider (also Drizzt wasn't the only drow with a conscience, Zack and, to some extent, one of his sisters before getting brainwashed, did have some semblance of good in them, Elric was literally alone, even Cymoril was kind of a cunt and didn't even think twice on sacrificing slaves, and she was the nicest Melnibonean) Malus Darkblade is a little closer as an stand in. Only that his bouts of dedency from time to time are given to another character. And Elric's relation with Stormbringer is far superior than Malus' with Tzarkan.
Excellent! Read Protector by Larry Niven if you like classic stuff. The writing is not as powerful as Moorcock but the concepts are awesome! Asimov's Foundation is great as is Herbert's Dune. Pern ... There aer sooo many!
Truly amazing video, man! I've personally read all of the Elric books, and you really hit the nail on the head. Here's to hoping you help spread the word of this fantastic series!
You're quite wrong about Stormbringer being the first such sword in the fantasy genre. Moorcock outright admitted he borrowed the concept from Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword" and its Hrunting, while Poul Anderson himself took inspiration in medieval sagas.
I just found out about this character and book saga. Thanks for making this video! I'm hyped to read it now. NB! I rly appreciate your cursing. I can relate to this shit.
Because Elric can dream the Dream of a Thousand Years with drugs, he is the closest to an immortal of any of Michael Moorcock's champions. It is explained in a later Elric story (can't remember the name) that he has lived many, many lives because of his dreaming. I tried to calculate how old he could have been and depending on how old he really is on his home plain, he is way over 1.5 million years old . This is how he learned his sorcery and became the most powerful sorcerer on his plain. Read The Dream Thief's Daughter, The Skrayling Tree, and The White Wolf's Son!
I used to play the Stormbringer RPG. Loved it... It was my first taste of dark fantasy... I actually started playing the game before reading any of the books.
Just finished the first book. Elric seems masochistic, in a way, as far as his decisions go at the end. Seems like he either wants to be wrong about his people or wants to just die because he isn't.
2:20 they're not super long lived species (like an elf). True. But the empire lasted 10,000 years and he's only emperor #428ish. Do some math. The first book talks a bit about their entertainment and projects. They can last decades, if not longer. While ours- a few weeks? a few months? Sure, people have hobbies that they put down and pick up for years, that's different. To nurture and raise humans to sing a single tone each, to create a symphony...We're talking the lifetime of a human. That's the span of a single project. One of the emperors, or in her case empress, ruled for 600ish years. Emperor/Empress often doesn't end with a natural death. I'm guessing they live much longer than 600 years. That might be "middle aged" for all we know. So do they live practically forever like an elf? no. Is it "super long", my subjectivity thinks 600+ years is pretty darn long. Let's not leave everyone w/ the impression they're just human 2.0, they're much much more than that. But they lack morals. Which is why their decadence isn't even decadent. It's just a tuesday fun thing. In any event, that lack of morals, the endless pursuit of self-fulfillment and lack of control (for $99 a year you can get anything delivered in just 2 days! sometimes the same day! and we'll throw in free movies, music, some books if you can still bear to read, all with a smile) is their downfall. The TV series that's supposed to be negotiated (which often falls through, goes into a coma for half a dozen years, then rises temporarily to tease us) probably will fall far short of the books for many reasons.
I read these in my childhood. We're talking like 10, 11 years old. Also read anything else related to his eternal champion multiverse - Corum, Dorian hawkmoon, count brass, etc. And many the comic books as well, and some of the later books.. I enjoy Witcher and game of thrones, but there is so much clear connective tissue between those and these earlier works... To say that elric was an influence on those is to understate it Always been a bummer to me that we've never gotten proper animated or TV treatments of this. I'm sure there's a lot of reasons for that but it's still a bummer
Excellent review. It's been many years since I read it and I have just lent it to my son to read. The criticism of the early books is warranted in some respects, but that I think is a symptom of the times - I believe that some of the stories he wrote when editor of an SF magazine and it shows in the writing. It was also a symptom of MM's mental state after an unhappy relationship breakdown, that's where a lot of the anger came from -it was not present in Hawkmoon as he was much more settled by then, hence a major theme in that was family. As for the 80's stuff, I didn't enjoy that so much. As you say, the anger was missing and he also indulged in a little allegory that was not so subtle - one of the characters names was an anagram of Thatcher and it was clear he loathed her( As did I).
Read elric and fahferd and others as they were the foundations of dnd. Read back in the 70s. Might want to read Roger zelazny... Especially Lord of Light, Amber series, etc...
I always figured Gaynor was John Dakar/Erekose as he was the only one who directly thwarted the balance. As he gave a world ceded to chaos to the forces of law.
Every dog has it's day-As far as Elric thinking "one day" humanity would destroy them-Just not today. I always agreed more with Yyrkoon about how they should ride out on their DRAGONS and remind the Young Kingdoms who their Daddy was-I think they could have ruled another 10,000 years had Elric had Yyrkoons conscience-Would have been a total different story then though. I think everyone should read the series-They will all be amazed at how every other fantasy writer ripped off Moorcock-especially the Witcher. I'm a big Witcher fan, don't get me wrong but, don't change the fact there would be NO Witcher if not for the Elric saga. Great Vid!
People call Elric’s saga dark fantasy. I call it heavy metal fantasy. This and ASOIAF are my favorite fantasy epics. Elric of Melnibone, the first Daw book, has more to say about the human condition than most fantasy epics in their entirety
1:10 Whether or not anything was ripped off from the Elric saga by anything/anyone else is frankly inconsequential. That's how art and culture work. I as an artist, steal from those before and around me. That's what we do. Everything you love now is made up of things that are stolen in the same manner, some more apparent than others. 6:15 I feel like this is pretty relevant for today, in the heat of today's political environment. All this multiverse talk makes me wonder why the Elric saga isn't more popular, when things like Legend of Zelda and Rick and Morty are in vogue. And the art that Whelan provided for the DAW books was fantastic. I was really surprised to find as little as I did. Kinda makes me want to make art inspired, if not directly, by these stories.
I too am surprised by how little I find of the Elric Saga, even from conducting a simple Google search. I’ll type in certain characters and places from the saga and Google doesn’t give me anything even remotely resembling this series. Even Wikipedia is very sparse in its detail on the subject. I think someone would have to put out a television series or film about it that becomes popular for it to gain relevance online. But this kind of material is difficult to display on screen without it looking ridiculous what with all the strange, inhuman creatures and alternate planes of existence.
@The Bright Lord Tbf alternate timelines can constitute or make a multiverse in a few cosmologies. Anyway this is an older comment and honestly it’s too nitpicky and irrelevant to Skull’s comment lol. Ignore it plse
I'm going to need to reread those cuz I remember reading them in my early twenties and I must have been spacing out when I did it cuz I remember struggling through them and not comprehending 90% of what I read
This sounds like a series I would enjoy. One issue I had with trying to read something like Shadow of the Torturer was that it felt too slow with no real reason to keep reading. But this sounds like something I would dig.
if you have a kindle or alexa and you buy a version on there, your alexa can read it. the voice isn’t human and seems kinda flat but it’s still the same i guess
Eternal Champion the whole series is a brilliant work.Elric in particular and bits of him being ripped off in various movies,marvel in particular,Storm breaker rather than Stormbringer,God's of law,Chaos the cosmic balance ect.Been reading Moorcock's stuff since the early 70s,oh also Dancers at the end of time is also a masterpiece
I think you under estimate Mrth Moorcock,it's even more amazing when you read the whole of the champion eternal series it all interweaves,Moorcock's imagination is sheer brilliance.Also the Adam Warlock character when Jim Stalin took it over in the Magus saga relies heavily on Moorcock's work but to his credit Stalin did state that he was influence and an actual fan of Moorcock
Forgive me, I'm still new to fantasy and replying to your video way late to the party. The Melniboneans sound a lot like the Valyrians of A Song of Ice and Fire. Dragon Lords, supreme steel, dark magic that laid the foundations of empire, and of course, the last scions in the main story line. I never knew The Witcher and Elric of Melnibone connection.
How many novels are their in the series? Including all the multiverse titles? I remember reading one a number of times when I was a child called "The warhound and the world's pain" at least I think that was the title.
The War Hound... was a different series, usually called Von Bek after the family that are the protagonists in the three novels. Moorcock brings the Von Beks into his Eternal Champion later.
Elric was possibly the first Fantasy Anti -Hero. Though I don't know the Chronology of Moorcock's Characters Hawkmoon is an anti-hero so is Erikose and Corum too. Who came first?
Animals with different parts is not nearly as Fed up as when one of the upstart human wizards (Theleb Karna or Jalern Green or some such shite) turns his woman into a worm with a human face? I seem to remember that she commits suicide via Stormbringer.
Hi, I know its been a while since this cool video has been out, and months since it's last activity but if someone wanted to start reading Mr. Moorcock's books on Elric, which one should one start with? Apologies in advance for my ignorance in the matter! My little brother, RIP read these books a long time ago and would like to re visit these wonderful works of art. Thank you for your time and great video, and to whoever replies. PEACE
Elric of Melnibone is generally the one that you should start with, as it is a sort of origin story for the character, and Stormbringer! should be the last one. What you read in between is up to you.
The most common read is through this internal chronology: (I) Elric of Melniboné (1972) Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 The Fortress of the Pearl (1989) (II) The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (1976) Book One: "Sailing To the Future" Book Two: "Sailing To the Present" Book Three: "Sailing To the Past" Elric at the End of Time (1984) (III) The Weird of the White Wolf Prologue: "The Dream of Earl Aubec" (original title: "Master of Chaos") (May 1964) Book One: "The Dreaming City" (June 1961) Book Two: "While the Gods Laugh" (October 1961) Book Three: "The Singing Citadel" (May 1967) (IV) The Vanishing Tower (original title: The Sleeping Sorceress) (1971) Book One: "The Torment of the Last Lord" Book Two: "To Snare the Pale Prince" Book Three: "Three Heroes With a Single Aim" The Revenge of the Rose (1991) (V) The Bane of the Black Sword Book One: "The Stealer of Souls" (February 1962) Book Two: "Kings in Darkness" (August 1962) Book Three: "The Flame Bringers" (alternative title: "The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams") (October 1962) Epilogue: "To Rescue Tanelorn" (December 1962) (VI) Stormbringer Book One: "Dead God's Homecoming" (June 1963) Book Two: "Black Sword's Brothers" (October 1963) Book Three: "Sad Giant's Shield" (February 1964) Book Four: "Doomed Lord's Passing" (April 1964) Then: Chronology uncertain: "The Jade Man's Eyes" (1973) "Elric: Return to Melniboné" (1973) "The Lands Beyond the World" (1977) The Dreamthief's Daughter (2001) The Skrayling Tree (2003) The White Wolf's Son (2005) "Black Petals" (2008) "Red Pearls" (2010) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melnibon%C3%A9#Publishing_history
Grant Morrison reminds you of Moorcock because grant Morrison took liberally from Moorcock characters and stories. King Mob is just Jerry Cornelius after all and the Invisables just a JC story.
@@IvanKroloCroGeek0424 yeah I know. I'm just pointing out the fact that the guy who wrote the "poster book" on your typical fantasy story wrote something more in line with works such as ASOIAF, The Black Company, and The Elric Saga.
Ivan Krolo a version of the children of Hurin is in the simirillion and is based on The Kalevala which is based on Finnish oral tradition. Some form of dark fantasy has been around since the beginning of story telling
I loved the original books. However, I recently got the Elric audiobook and it has 4 novels Elric, Fortress of the Pearl, Sailor on the Seas of Fate and Weird of the White Wolf. I was unimpressed with Fortress of the Pearl. It just dragged on and on. Characters constantly repeating things over and over. It was terrible. I eventually just skipped it and went to Sailors.
They mostly came out during the pulp era in single printings so many didn't survive and due to random single reprints from random publishers getting a matched set is even harder. Later they were collected in hardcover then "Eternal Champion" omnibus editions but again smaller runs with diffrent reading orders depending on where they were released so if you lost one you needed that exact limited omnibus edition to replace it and it would be out of print in favor of some new set. I had 30 books that were never returned to me including the original 2 hardcover Elric Saga collections with jackets. These 2 books would cost me two to three Thousand dollars US to replace those editions from library resells. Your best source for these books would be bulk fantasy book lots as many of the pulp era paperbacks and a goodly number of the omnibus editions can be found there. The Pyat Quartet is nearly impossible to complete as only Byzantium and Carthage seem to get sold. The rest like "End of time" and "Jerry Cornelius" seem easy to grab but the main enternal champion books are a pain. I just got a great condition replacement for Von Bek for under $10 so they are still out there.
After watching YMS debunk the idea that The Lion King ripped off Kimba - do check it out if you have the time - I'm very reluctant to call almost anything a rip off for vague resemblances. As YMS might ask like he did in his video: does The Witcher offer the same experience as The Elric Saga? I don't know, but I doubt it. And no. I don't think TLK ripped off Kimba. Most resemblances are coincidental at best. And he even found an even older comic that predated Kimba and compared it to the manga/anime to prove his point that it was all click bait nonsense.
Even though Elric is not forgotten just yet, he still isn't as well known as he used to be, and that needs to be rectified. I'm getting pretty sick of how Dark Fantasy is now associated with Martin's grimy pessimistic series, which is dark because the author has a fetish for rape, incest and broken relationships, not as consequence of the story. Dark Fantasy should steer more towards the likes of Michael Moorcock and Clark Ashton Smith, and avoid the likes of A song of Ice and Fire and The Witcher altogether.
Only in the sense that Geralt directly lifts some of Elric's visual characteristics and the nickname "The White Wolf". The actual structures of the stories have almost nothing to do with each other in terms of formvor content.
Aragorn and Legolas predate Elric. But Jon Snow and Geralt and the Targaryens are def influenced from elric. That being said elric is influenced heavily from Conan and Tolkien.
@Danilo Radovic In the novel Stormbringer I think I remember perhaps it was Stormbringer, it's multiple incarnations, kills and absorbs the soul of Arioch and when Elric grabs the sword it pours that massive power into him nearly killing him. But it has been a long time since I have read that, the '80s.
The story tone is neither brooding nor edgy. Elric the hero suffers much but does not fall into spirals of self-loathing regret. Rather he channels his frustrations into hot-blooded revenge exacted brutally.
I grew up reading Elric and Conan. Howard's original Conan was as dark as Elric, It was DeCamp and those guys that turned him into a good guy hero. Moorcock's Elric and Howard's Conan are the must reads of dark sword and sorcery.
Fuck yeah dude, it always gets on my nerves when people dismiss the Robert E Howard's Conan stories as "goody-two-shoes". They can be just as dark as Moorcock's stories, and to be blunt, I also think Howard was a better writer.
I am not certain that you could honestly say better. But rather different. They both tell a dark tale with decadent glee from various acute and obtuse angles. They shine with different light.
Nope, I can honestly say better; Howard was more versatile as a writer, and the volume of work he put out was for the most part consistently well written with very few duds in his career, whereas many things that Moorcock wrote from the 90s, and especially the 2000s were outright dogshit. His 60s, 70s and 80s stories, however, were very good.
I love both writers and like you grew up reading Howard's stories as well as Moorcock's stuff...including his sci fi work. Not sure if one writer is truly better than the other is better though...though one -- Moorcock -- is certainly more prolific. I think Moorcock regarded Howard as the Father of Sword and Sorcery novels and coined that term for the genre. .
Sad thing about Howard is he died at age 30 after writing mostly short stories -- great stories to be sure -- but not too many full length novels.
Anyone who likes Elric and Conan should give the Kane novels by Karl Edward Wagner a go.
" i was a thousand times more evil than Thou"
What a great ending. I love Stormbringer. But the more I reread the saga, the more I appreciate the first book chronologically, which was my least favorite when I first read it.
Stormbringer by my side, is trembling by the thought of sucking out the the soul of a Witcher.
Greetings from the Rubinthrone of Melnibone.
Can someone give me the order to read it
SPOILERS!!!!!
Elric & Melnibone are said to be Moorcock's reflection of the decline of the British Empire. A once great island nation that lorded over the world, conquered and spread its influence over it. The drug use and hedonistic laziness of its people are reflected in that he wrote the first stories in the 1960s and that is what he was seeing at that time in England.
Elric was also the antithesis of Conan. One a strong man who came from nothing, & hated magic, to become a King. The other a physically weak but powerful sorcerer that was an Emperor and destroyed his Empire.
I bet George RR Martin was definitely influenced by the Melniboneans in his creation of the Targaryens. I mean c'mon. The Dragon Isle vs Dragonstone. The use of Dragons! Magic! Incest for pure bloodlines. How long they both ruled! Etc.
Great synopsis BTW!!! would love to see some movies or a series one day!
No two ways about Martin being influenced by Moorcock,remember when King Joffrey was thinkin of names for his new sword and some one from the crowd says Stormbringer?Jamie is Kingslayer Elric is Kinslayer?Dragon riders?even the Targarians are like albino Melniboneans,maybe just coincidence
Hawkmoon not Elric.
@@pmcgxenophon Actually Elric too. They are all the eternal champion and linked after all.
Granbretan from the Hawkmoon saga is a far less thinly veiled commentary on the decline of the British empire.
But Melnibone literally controlled the entire world, at the same time, which Britain didn't. Though I guess the massive blood orgies with demon summonings were rare outside of Windsor too.
Killer video, man. I'm honored if mine helped or inspired yours in anyway.
It got me interested in all things Moorcock related :)
The Rageaholic I read the Eric comics that titan put out and they were amazing. Thank you for showcasing Eric.
I've only read cormic of the silver hand or some thing like that. I liked it and need to read Elric!
The Corum books are repetitive. If you read the first book, there really is no need to read the other two. The Elric books are excellent.
I'll tell you right now bud, they should be paying you for the videos made on the subject
And Stormbringer was not just an evil, sentient sword that fed on souls. It was a demon incarnated as a sword.
th-cam.com/video/B9FDGnY6PBM/w-d-xo.html
A pandimensional super entity that existed across all realities in some form.
Also they only one to survive to the new world like the spawn of Jormungandr.
Can someone give me the order to read it
@@elewoo7131 best to read the Elric books in publishing order as the writing style and concepts evolve in that order. Adding in some Corum , Von Bek, Count Brass, etc after the initial Elric run before the later Elric books wouldn't be bad either.
If you decide to dip in to Jerry Cornelius or the End of Time stories I would wait till you finish the core "Eternal Champion" series as the later Cornelius books are easier to follow and the End of Time stories have connections and revelations that are only relevant if you had a knowledge of the previous books.
Firstly, nice touch comparing early Moorcock to Frank Miller - why didn't I see that before ? I first discovered Michael Moorcock back in the mid 1970s when as an angsty teenager, I became an instant fan and now at 52, I'm still re-reading the Elric series. Great review dude, I'm sure Moorcock will be recognised one day as one of the greatest authors of swords and sorcery tales. He fully deserves it and Elric is, without a doubt his greatest creation.
Personally, I like the earlier novels and stories rather than the 80s tales but the series as a whole is, I agree, a masterpiece. Back then, in the pre internet era, it was very frustrating trying to work out the chronological order of the stories especially since Moorcock never told anyone in which order to read them, until eventually, I guess, his publishers made him.
When you can, check out the work of British illustrator Rodney Matthews. He is a long time friend of Moorcocks and his brilliant posters, done mainly in the late 70s beautifully illustrate many scenes from the Elric saga. Matthews also illustrated one book in collaboration with Moorcock and that is, Elric at the End of Time. This was a one-off project published in 1987 and includes lots of incredible illustrations. It was later released as part of a compilation novel with other Moorcock material but without illustrations. I mention it because you haven't included it in your list but I'm damned if I can tell you where it fits in. Cheers dude !
Elric's sword Stormbringer, also called the Black Blade, the Black Sword, and the Stealer of Souls,is a legendary soul-devouring runesword is fully sentient and has a malicious will of its own. It is one of two Black Swords in Elric's World, the other being Mournblade.
I'm just getting into Elric, I'm finding it incredible so far!
If it inspired Legacy of Kain, I'm in.
And the Witcher
Read the series when I was a teenager in the early eighties. Still my favorite. It boggles my mind that it was never adapted into video games or a movie series. So much potential. The song black blade by blue oyster cult takes me back every time I hear it. 🤘👍
itll soon be made a series afaik
Have you listened to Chronicles of the Black Sword by Hawkwind? It's an Elric concept album by the kings of British psychedelia.
Veteran of a thousand psychic wars by BOC was also written by MM (the lyrics).
so it can growwwwwwww growwwwwwwwww
Growwwwww
Growwwwwwwwww
@@kalebproductions9316
You can really tell too.
Those lyrics are almost a signature, that's how quintessentially Michael Moorcock they are.
I had no clue this series existed before today, and even less clue how much the fantasy genre owes it. Like the idea of an evil soul eating sword or Chaos and Order being opposing forces coming from this saga at least in much of the Western Fantasy Tradition.
Another great fantasy legend to read would be Fritz Lieiber's "Fafherd and the Grey Mouser" series.
Another underground classic, absolutely!
Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane books!
Yep and one of Moorcock's influences
Every single fantasy trope started with Tolkien or Lieber with the exception of the anti hero and the multiverse from Moorcock.
The Non fiction treatise "Hero with a thousand faces" was popular in Moorcock's youth and it compared mythologies all over the world and could definitely have influenced Moorcock's Eternal Champion, and maybe his multiverse.
Except that it's crap. Never liked Lieber's writing at all. Boring with unlikable characters. Like a bad buddy cop movie set in a marginally fantasy world.
Lord of the Rings was written in the 1940s and predates Elric which was initially created in 1961. Elric is clearly inspired by the Finnish mythological hero, Kullervo. Tolkien took inspiration from Kullervo and created Turin Turambar in the Silmarillion which was created in the 1920s. In the modern era The Witcher series and Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon take inspiration from Elric.
Many moons ago my aunt was getting rid of her books and I grabbed lot. Got to read all of Elric, Hawkmoon and Corum books as a kid, was very influential on me. Nice vid.
Yeah, lucky, Corum was my favorite!
should have wrote many moonglums ago
Lucky bastard. Razorfist introduced me to the best character of all time
That's what happened to me too - an aunt turned up with a carrier bag of old paperbacks with crazy 60s psychedelic covers and my life changed!
i read elric of melnibone when i was 17 in 1981 after that i read the rest of that series then the hawkmoon series and they were still all available at walden books i had bed slats on my wall holding these, everything i had read and bought from elric and hawkmoon to the corneilius chronicles also the conan series, all paperback lost them all in the divorce in 2000 tried to find them got a few lost those found a few others lost them amazon came along and i been buying those one by one depending on the cover art "i like the early covers" but i do have the hard covers and all the conans one hard cover conan the only one i know that has existed
I think the Corum books will give you a similar but less rage filled experience. The second trilogy is fantastic if you like Celtic mythology, it really bought the Celtic myths to life for me.
The first series is more elf killing Vikings send the last elf to the world's of 60s psychedelia!
If you read his Jerry Cornelius works you'll realise that Moorcock REALLY used to dig the psychedelic counter culture!
I came here from the Dungeon Synth artist called "Elric". Interesting to know that Bowie was a Moorcock fan. Shame about the pun there.
LOL
Well damn. You've convinced me, dude. I'm definitely gonna check out some of the Elric saga, as well as the Gormenghast books. I need more dark fantasy.
Check out Clark Ashton Smith. His are some of the best Dark Fantasy stories ever written.
If you like LOTR, try The Children Of Hurin, a Dark Fantasy novel that Tolkien wrote but never got published until his son edited and published it in 2007. Also The Silmarillon.
Who said Gormenghast?
Gormenghast is brilliant, but not really dark Fantasy.
Moorcock is a Rockstar God among authors. Somehow he is humble.
white silver hair, dragon riding warrior, dark magic..... nothing of that sound like the Valyrian
Brian Mcbrian
The Valyrians also wield magical black-steel blades, although Valyrian steel does not suck up the souls of those it kills.
might sound like but these were written in the 1960's not 1996 if anything george rr martin is copying or taking artistic ideas from reading these books, these are about an anti hero not of a family of tyrants and killers
@@richardmcginnis5344 schooled these GoT plebs.
@Bryson Reins
You're kind of right. He definitely was inspired by Elric and Melniboneans, he just added the Normans conquering England to the mix. It's still better than what The Witcher did lol
@@Ζήνων-ζ1ι I feel like the one true thing the Witcher ripped off from elric is the conjunction of Spheres concept , I love both but tbh in my own personal opinion its unfair that some people legitimately just call the witcher a rip off of Elric , which isn't true , Geralt has similarities with him but in the end is a completely different character who stands on his own , and ofc as a I mentioned, the conjunction of spheres , is total plagiarism. But discounting the incredible lore and universe of the Witcher as a rip off is kindof unfair imo , anyways great vid !
Great stuff my man! Totally gonna read it! Thanks!
Elric is OG albino anti-hero and I love the enthusiasm displayed in this wicked video.
A most excellent commentary. I couldn't imagine a better summary of the series if I tried. One minor note of no consequence: The title of the second novel is "The Sailor on the Seas of Fate" not "The Sailor on the Seven Seas of Fate." --- no offense intended. Just a dyed in the wool Moorcock fan here, setting the record straight.
Blood and Souls, for my Lord Arioch!
I read this saga 45 years ago and I'm just re-reading it now. Timeless. Epic. Awesome. Just words that spring to mind.
I’ve started reading the Elric series, I love your analysis. Gainor sounds like an interesting character.
I'd hardly say that the Elric stories have been forgotten. Within the past ten years or so, new collections of the Elric stories have been published. True, Moorcock's works might not be as popular as they once were, but his influence is still prevalent.
Now if you want an author who *really* deserves to be better known, check out Poul Anderson. Heck, he's the one who actually created the whole "order vs. chaos" conflict (Three Hearts and Three Lions) and the hero wielding an evil sword (The Broken Sword).
Dude, fuck yeah! Poul Anderson is underrated and underappreciated it's criminal.
Glad you did this video. It and Razorfist's video gave me the ample motivation to get into the books. Both the stories and the impact of Michael moorcock (unfortunate name) are vastly interesting.
This is a well thought out opinion. However, one must consider the central power of the eternal champion series, i.e. the"Rune Staff" Arioch in many ways is as much a pawn of the Rune Staff as the champion him self. Time and again one finds examples of Elric calling on the powers of chaos to serve order. Moreover, "Stormbringer" is merely one of many incarnations of "The Black Sword" it's as much a tool of the Rune Staff as the champion him self but without conscience.
one of the band inspired is / was THE HAWKWIND
The first volume of the elric saga just arrived a few days, I'm 5 chapters in. I'm really loving it
Thanks for sharing. Elric is one of my favorites.
Blue Oyster Cult did an awesome song “Black Blade”
Moorcock also wrote the lyrics for the BOC song Veteran of Psychic Wars.
@@ericisprobablyfullofshit7797And "The Great Sun Jester" on Mirrors
Melniboneans are also the basis of the Drow (and Drizzt = Elric).
Drizzt had a conscience. Elric was intrigued by the concept of a conscience. Very, very *very* different things that made the characters go on completely different paths. Elric has done shit Drizzt wouldn't even consider (also Drizzt wasn't the only drow with a conscience, Zack and, to some extent, one of his sisters before getting brainwashed, did have some semblance of good in them, Elric was literally alone, even Cymoril was kind of a cunt and didn't even think twice on sacrificing slaves, and she was the nicest Melnibonean)
Malus Darkblade is a little closer as an stand in. Only that his bouts of dedency from time to time are given to another character. And Elric's relation with Stormbringer is far superior than Malus' with Tzarkan.
Baldurs gate on ps2?
@@TheBayzent did he? he was pretty crushed by his own conscience even by the fortress of the pearl and sailor on the seas of fate
@@psalter872 not just that, but hes there too lol
Excellent! Read Protector by Larry Niven if you like classic stuff. The writing is not as powerful as Moorcock but the concepts are awesome! Asimov's Foundation is great as is Herbert's Dune. Pern ... There aer sooo many!
BLOOD AND SOULS!!! BLOOD AND SOULS FOR MY LORD ARIOCH!!!
Truly amazing video, man! I've personally read all of the Elric books, and you really hit the nail on the head. Here's to hoping you help spread the word of this fantastic series!
Yes! The Elric stories are so awesome! And the other heroes he meets....great stories!
You're quite wrong about Stormbringer being the first such sword in the fantasy genre. Moorcock outright admitted he borrowed the concept from Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword" and its Hrunting, while Poul Anderson himself took inspiration in medieval sagas.
I just found out about this character and book saga. Thanks for making this video! I'm hyped to read it now.
NB! I rly appreciate your cursing. I can relate to this shit.
Because Elric can dream the Dream of a Thousand Years with drugs, he is the closest to an immortal of any of Michael Moorcock's champions. It is explained in a later Elric story (can't remember the name) that he has lived many, many lives because of his dreaming. I tried to calculate how old he could have been and depending on how old he really is on his home plain, he is way over 1.5 million years old . This is how he learned his sorcery and became the most powerful sorcerer on his plain. Read The Dream Thief's Daughter, The Skrayling Tree, and The White Wolf's Son!
I used to play the Stormbringer RPG. Loved it... It was my first taste of dark fantasy... I actually started playing the game before reading any of the books.
Just finished the first book. Elric seems masochistic, in a way, as far as his decisions go at the end. Seems like he either wants to be wrong about his people or wants to just die because he isn't.
I read it when I was 14... 40 years ago.
2:20 they're not super long lived species (like an elf). True. But the empire lasted 10,000 years and he's only emperor #428ish. Do some math. The first book talks a bit about their entertainment and projects. They can last decades, if not longer. While ours- a few weeks? a few months? Sure, people have hobbies that they put down and pick up for years, that's different. To nurture and raise humans to sing a single tone each, to create a symphony...We're talking the lifetime of a human. That's the span of a single project. One of the emperors, or in her case empress, ruled for 600ish years. Emperor/Empress often doesn't end with a natural death. I'm guessing they live much longer than 600 years. That might be "middle aged" for all we know. So do they live practically forever like an elf? no. Is it "super long", my subjectivity thinks 600+ years is pretty darn long. Let's not leave everyone w/ the impression they're just human 2.0, they're much much more than that. But they lack morals. Which is why their decadence isn't even decadent. It's just a tuesday fun thing. In any event, that lack of morals, the endless pursuit of self-fulfillment and lack of control (for $99 a year you can get anything delivered in just 2 days! sometimes the same day! and we'll throw in free movies, music, some books if you can still bear to read, all with a smile) is their downfall.
The TV series that's supposed to be negotiated (which often falls through, goes into a coma for half a dozen years, then rises temporarily to tease us) probably will fall far short of the books for many reasons.
I read these in my childhood. We're talking like 10, 11 years old.
Also read anything else related to his eternal champion multiverse - Corum, Dorian hawkmoon, count brass, etc.
And many the comic books as well, and some of the later books..
I enjoy Witcher and game of thrones, but there is so much clear connective tissue between those and these earlier works... To say that elric was an influence on those is to understate it
Always been a bummer to me that we've never gotten proper animated or TV treatments of this. I'm sure there's a lot of reasons for that but it's still a bummer
Excellent review. It's been many years since I read it and I have just lent it to my son to read. The criticism of the early books is warranted in some respects, but that I think is a symptom of the times - I believe that some of the stories he wrote when editor of an SF magazine and it shows in the writing. It was also a symptom of MM's mental state after an unhappy relationship breakdown, that's where a lot of the anger came from -it was not present in Hawkmoon as he was much more settled by then, hence a major theme in that was family. As for the 80's stuff, I didn't enjoy that so much. As you say, the anger was missing and he also indulged in a little allegory that was not so subtle - one of the characters names was an anagram of Thatcher and it was clear he loathed her( As did I).
Love the mythology of Elric, esp the old gods. The idea that all this came in prehistory or even multiverse.
Read elric and fahferd and others as they were the foundations of dnd. Read back in the 70s. Might want to read Roger zelazny... Especially Lord of Light, Amber series, etc...
Discovering this now with the release of the new sexy omnibus editions. sold. will pick them up.
read this back in 80;s. this ans amber chronicles of amber were my major influemces growing up
I always figured Gaynor was John Dakar/Erekose as he was the only one who directly thwarted the balance.
As he gave a world ceded to chaos to the forces of law.
Every dog has it's day-As far as Elric thinking "one day" humanity would destroy them-Just not today. I always agreed more with Yyrkoon about how they should ride out on their DRAGONS and remind the Young Kingdoms who their Daddy was-I think they could have ruled another 10,000 years had Elric had Yyrkoons conscience-Would have been a total different story then though.
I think everyone should read the series-They will all be amazed at how every other fantasy writer ripped off Moorcock-especially the Witcher. I'm a big Witcher fan, don't get me wrong but, don't change the fact there would be NO Witcher if not for the Elric saga. Great Vid!
People call Elric’s saga dark fantasy. I call it heavy metal fantasy. This and ASOIAF are my favorite fantasy epics. Elric of Melnibone, the first Daw book, has more to say about the human condition than most fantasy epics in their entirety
th-cam.com/video/B9FDGnY6PBM/w-d-xo.html
Asoiaf and the Witcher for me. Currently reading Elric.
1:10 Whether or not anything was ripped off from the Elric saga by anything/anyone else is frankly inconsequential. That's how art and culture work. I as an artist, steal from those before and around me. That's what we do. Everything you love now is made up of things that are stolen in the same manner, some more apparent than others.
6:15 I feel like this is pretty relevant for today, in the heat of today's political environment.
All this multiverse talk makes me wonder why the Elric saga isn't more popular, when things like Legend of Zelda and Rick and Morty are in vogue. And the art that Whelan provided for the DAW books was fantastic. I was really surprised to find as little as I did. Kinda makes me want to make art inspired, if not directly, by these stories.
Turbo Lich Legend of Zelda isn't really a multiverse....sort of.
I too am surprised by how little I find of the Elric Saga, even from conducting a simple Google search. I’ll type in certain characters and places from the saga and Google doesn’t give me anything even remotely resembling this series. Even Wikipedia is very sparse in its detail on the subject.
I think someone would have to put out a television series or film about it that becomes popular for it to gain relevance online. But this kind of material is difficult to display on screen without it looking ridiculous what with all the strange, inhuman creatures and alternate planes of existence.
@@twilightzoneseinfeld alternate timelines yes but no multiverse there are three timelines that start from ocarina of time
@The Bright Lord Tbf alternate timelines can constitute or make a multiverse in a few cosmologies.
Anyway this is an older comment and honestly it’s too nitpicky and irrelevant to Skull’s comment lol. Ignore it plse
that book series influenced so many things like Warhammer fantasy and 40 k
I have to re read, last time was in the navy in 1988 ish, wonderful, that sword is a monster though
I'm going to need to reread those cuz I remember reading them in my early twenties and I must have been spacing out when I did it cuz I remember struggling through them and not comprehending 90% of what I read
I liked Dancers at the End of Time. :)
This sounds like a series I would enjoy. One issue I had with trying to read something like Shadow of the Torturer was that it felt too slow with no real reason to keep reading. But this sounds like something I would dig.
Too bad I can't find it on audiobook anywhere.
if you have a kindle or alexa and you buy a version on there, your alexa can read it. the voice isn’t human and seems kinda flat but it’s still the same i guess
The sailor on the seas of fate audiobook is on TH-cam
How frakking awesome would that have been-David Bowie playing Elric onscreen. Water from the moon.
JAMES
subbed after this video, stoked to read this now
Eternal Champion the whole series is a brilliant work.Elric in particular and bits of him being ripped off in various movies,marvel in particular,Storm breaker rather than Stormbringer,God's of law,Chaos the cosmic balance ect.Been reading Moorcock's stuff since the early 70s,oh also Dancers at the end of time is also a masterpiece
I think you under estimate Mrth Moorcock,it's even more amazing when you read the whole of the champion eternal series it all interweaves,Moorcock's imagination is sheer brilliance.Also the Adam Warlock character when Jim Stalin took it over in the Magus saga relies heavily on Moorcock's work but to his credit Stalin did state that he was influence and an actual fan of Moorcock
Can someone give me the order to read it
Forgive me, I'm still new to fantasy and replying to your video way late to the party. The Melniboneans sound a lot like the Valyrians of A Song of Ice and Fire. Dragon Lords, supreme steel, dark magic that laid the foundations of empire, and of course, the last scions in the main story line. I never knew The Witcher and Elric of Melnibone connection.
Definitely an influence on GOT. Melbinonians=Valyrians.
Ian FG Bloodraven = Elric
How many novels are their in the series? Including all the multiverse titles? I remember reading one a number of times when I was a child called "The warhound and the world's pain" at least I think that was the title.
The War Hound... was a different series, usually called Von Bek after the family that are the protagonists in the three novels. Moorcock brings the Von Beks into his Eternal Champion later.
Love the video. Ill try to check out the series
The Problem is you can't find it anywhere
Elric was possibly the first Fantasy Anti -Hero. Though I don't know the Chronology of Moorcock's Characters Hawkmoon is an anti-hero so is Erikose and Corum too. Who came first?
The Bright Empire an elongated time version of the Byzantium Empire?
Nah, there were fantasy anti-heroes before Elric. Robert E. Howard made a career writing them.
Animals with different parts is not nearly as Fed up as when one of the upstart human wizards (Theleb Karna or Jalern Green or some such shite) turns his woman into a worm with a human face? I seem to remember that she commits suicide via Stormbringer.
this is where chaos comes from
Hi, I know its been a while since this cool video has been out, and months since it's last activity but if someone wanted to start reading Mr. Moorcock's books on Elric, which one should one start with?
Apologies in advance for my ignorance in the matter! My little brother, RIP read these books a long time ago and would like to re visit these wonderful works of art.
Thank you for your time and great video, and to whoever replies. PEACE
Elric of Melnibone is generally the one that you should start with, as it is a sort of origin story for the character, and Stormbringer! should be the last one. What you read in between is up to you.
The most common read is through this internal chronology:
(I) Elric of Melniboné (1972)
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
The Fortress of the Pearl (1989)
(II) The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (1976)
Book One: "Sailing To the Future"
Book Two: "Sailing To the Present"
Book Three: "Sailing To the Past"
Elric at the End of Time (1984)
(III) The Weird of the White Wolf
Prologue: "The Dream of Earl Aubec" (original title: "Master of Chaos") (May 1964)
Book One: "The Dreaming City" (June 1961)
Book Two: "While the Gods Laugh" (October 1961)
Book Three: "The Singing Citadel" (May 1967)
(IV) The Vanishing Tower (original title: The Sleeping Sorceress) (1971)
Book One: "The Torment of the Last Lord"
Book Two: "To Snare the Pale Prince"
Book Three: "Three Heroes With a Single Aim"
The Revenge of the Rose (1991)
(V) The Bane of the Black Sword
Book One: "The Stealer of Souls" (February 1962)
Book Two: "Kings in Darkness" (August 1962)
Book Three: "The Flame Bringers" (alternative title: "The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams") (October 1962)
Epilogue: "To Rescue Tanelorn" (December 1962)
(VI) Stormbringer
Book One: "Dead God's Homecoming" (June 1963)
Book Two: "Black Sword's Brothers" (October 1963)
Book Three: "Sad Giant's Shield" (February 1964)
Book Four: "Doomed Lord's Passing" (April 1964)
Then:
Chronology uncertain:
"The Jade Man's Eyes" (1973)
"Elric: Return to Melniboné" (1973)
"The Lands Beyond the World" (1977)
The Dreamthief's Daughter (2001)
The Skrayling Tree (2003)
The White Wolf's Son (2005)
"Black Petals" (2008)
"Red Pearls" (2010)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melnibon%C3%A9#Publishing_history
Can’t wait to see the movie. But we need to change Elric to a black woman.
Yes, but a trans black woman with white body paint and a white wig.
in the sleeping sorcerous Elric does try to kill himself but a goddess of Law stops him.
It’s always stormbringer. He was but a vessel to carry the narrative for the great reset.
Grant Morrison reminds you of Moorcock because grant Morrison took liberally from Moorcock characters and stories.
King Mob is just Jerry Cornelius after all and the Invisables just a JC story.
Soul Calibur (Soul Edge) whole game series came from inspiration by Stormbringer
Tolkien wrote a Dark Fantasy novel titled The Children Of Hurin.
Which didn't see release until 2007, well past the point you could consider it a major starting point on early dark fantasy.
@@IvanKroloCroGeek0424 yeah I know. I'm just pointing out the fact that the guy who wrote the "poster book" on your typical fantasy story wrote something more in line with works such as ASOIAF, The Black Company, and The Elric Saga.
Ivan Krolo a version of the children of Hurin is in the simirillion and is based on The Kalevala which is based on Finnish oral tradition. Some form of dark fantasy has been around since the beginning of story telling
I loved the original books. However, I recently got the Elric audiobook and it has 4 novels Elric, Fortress of the Pearl, Sailor on the Seas of Fate and Weird of the White Wolf. I was unimpressed with Fortress of the Pearl. It just dragged on and on. Characters constantly repeating things over and over. It was terrible. I eventually just skipped it and went to Sailors.
Elric really reminds me of Guts from Berserk
Why guts is not a albino
A dark fantasy sword and sorcery anti-hero who uses a powerful sword to defeat his enemies.
Jep! 👍 Anna,Christine,Tinja&Markku
Guts from berserk is a combination of elric and Conan most people won't realize that cuz not a lot of people read the series
Why are copies of these books - 2nd hand copies included - so expensive?
They mostly came out during the pulp era in single printings so many didn't survive and due to random single reprints from random publishers getting a matched set is even harder.
Later they were collected in hardcover then "Eternal Champion" omnibus editions but again smaller runs with diffrent reading orders depending on where they were released so if you lost one you needed that exact limited omnibus edition to replace it and it would be out of print in favor of some new set.
I had 30 books that were never returned to me including the original 2 hardcover Elric Saga collections with jackets. These 2 books would cost me two to three Thousand dollars US to replace those editions from library resells.
Your best source for these books would be bulk fantasy book lots as many of the pulp era paperbacks and a goodly number of the omnibus editions can be found there.
The Pyat Quartet is nearly impossible to complete as only Byzantium and Carthage seem to get sold.
The rest like "End of time" and "Jerry Cornelius" seem easy to grab but the main enternal champion books are a pain.
I just got a great condition replacement for Von Bek for under $10 so they are still out there.
By Arioch ! Why I see this video just now (sorry for my english) !
After watching YMS debunk the idea that The Lion King ripped off Kimba - do check it out if you have the time - I'm very reluctant to call almost anything a rip off for vague resemblances. As YMS might ask like he did in his video: does The Witcher offer the same experience as The Elric Saga? I don't know, but I doubt it.
And no. I don't think TLK ripped off Kimba. Most resemblances are coincidental at best. And he even found an even older comic that predated Kimba and compared it to the manga/anime to prove his point that it was all click bait nonsense.
Even though Elric is not forgotten just yet, he still isn't as well known as he used to be, and that needs to be rectified. I'm getting pretty sick of how Dark Fantasy is now associated with Martin's grimy pessimistic series, which is dark because the author has a fetish for rape, incest and broken relationships, not as consequence of the story. Dark Fantasy should steer more towards the likes of Michael Moorcock and Clark Ashton Smith, and avoid the likes of A song of Ice and Fire and The Witcher altogether.
LAU TZU AND THE BUDDHA, THE TAO IS THE MIDDLE PATH BETWEEN ALL EXTREMES. SEE ARISTOTLE'S GOLDEN MEAN AND HAPPINESS
SEE STOICS AND HAPPINESS
Clearly stormlight archive inspiration piece
Yes, it is worth a read... but most stop reading in the middle, when Stormbringer shows it´s fatality. :(
1. The Witcher DEFINITELY plagiarized Elric. without a doubt lol
2. should warn people about spoilers
3. decent overview
Only in the sense that Geralt directly lifts some of Elric's visual characteristics and the nickname "The White Wolf". The actual structures of the stories have almost nothing to do with each other in terms of formvor content.
Aragorn and Legolas predate Elric. But Jon Snow and Geralt and the Targaryens are def influenced from elric. That being said elric is influenced heavily from Conan and Tolkien.
Why do people keep talking about The Witcher? What about the Targaryens? White haired F-ers riding dragons and waving big black swords around?
In the last book he absorbs the soul of Arioch with Stormbringer and it's a shit ton of power, way more than he can handle.
@Danilo Radovic In the novel Stormbringer I think I remember perhaps it was Stormbringer, it's multiple incarnations, kills and absorbs the soul of Arioch and when Elric grabs the sword it pours that massive power into him nearly killing him. But it has been a long time since I have read that, the '80s.
3 words: Legacy of Kain
“One of the originals, if not the original anti-hero in fiction.”
You might not have meant this literally, but that is absolutely not true.
now what I want to know if it's as brooding as I am led to believe
or edgy. is it brooding/super edgy
The story tone is neither brooding nor edgy. Elric the hero suffers much but does not fall into spirals of self-loathing regret. Rather he channels his frustrations into hot-blooded revenge exacted brutally.
You sold me
Elric of Melniboné & Conan the Barbarian rock 🤘