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| Lancer 1973, Art: Jeffrey Jones |
"The Stealer of Souls"
In brief: In order to raise a force to attack a fortress guarding the upstart sorcerer Theleb K'aarna, Elric recruits the remnants of his people, the Melnibonéans. As the stakes rise, Elric and Theleb K'aarna eventually use increasingly powerful sorcery to pit powerful wind and fire elemental forces against each other. In the end, Theleb K'aarna succumbs to forces he cannot withstand.
This story finds Elric’s gloomy nature tempered somewhat since the events of "While the Gods Laugh" (probably due to Moonglum’s company). Hewing closer to conventional sword and sorcery tropes, Elric has also become some kind of sexual magnet. Stormbringer continues to provide Elric with unnatural vitality, remedying his otherwise weak, pathetic physical state, especially after sucking out the souls of its victims (or alternatively, “sending them to hell”). Arioch is still only making the most noncommittal of appearances (if any, see notes below), but at least the wind elementals are given a bit more personality.
In some ways this story is structured similarly to “The Dreaming City”: a meeting of schemers, Elric’s lone visit to the stronghold of his enemy, a large-scale fortress attack, Stormbringer’s taking of a life against Elric’s will. However, the main villains Theleb K'aarna and Yishana are even more deliciously characterized, and it all ends on a more positive note than in the last couple stories, as befits its almost sardonic tone. If “The Dreaming City” was a minor key blues, “The Stealer of Souls” is a blues modulated to a major key tonality.
"Coupled with the Jungian symbols already inherent in any tale using direct mythic material, I used Freudian symbols, too. This was a cynical attempt and a rather vulgar attempt to make the series popular. It appeared to work. “The Stealer of Souls,” whatever else it may be, is one of the most pornographic stories I have ever written. In Freudian terms it is the description of, if you like, a night’s love-making. … the whole Elric saga has, in its choice of situations and symbols, very heavy sexual undertones. This is true of most sword-and-sorcery stories, but I have an idea that I may be the first such author to understand his material to this extent, to know what he’s using."
- Moorcock, "The Secret Life Of Elric Of Melniboné" (1964)Moorcock’s "pornographic" elements can be found during Elric’s battle with the soul-consuming “Quaolnargn” in Chapter 3:
“Stormbringer, the black hellblade, tingled under Elric’s hand, anticipating a new sword-quenching… He crouched warily, Stormbringer now in his grasp, the black metal quivering from point to pommel… Elric leapt high, holding his blade with both hands, and plunged it to the hilt into the demon’s soft and quivering back… His soul was being drawn from his body.” - "The Stealer of Souls""The Stealer of Souls" Synopsis
Chapter One
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| Lancer 1967, Art: Jack Gaughan |
Chapter Two
Elric considers asking for help from his former kinsman Dyvim Tvar who is leading a band of marauding Melnibonéan mercenaries nearby in the south. The next morning Elric rides out to them wearing the royal Actorios ring. When he meets Dyvim Tvar, he maintains that his attack on their mutual home of Imrryr four years ago had given the Melnibonéans an opportunity to become mercenaries before they had become completely weakened by decay. Dyvim Tvar agrees to help Elric in his campaign against Yishana and Theleb K’aarna, as one of his men had been killed at their hands.
Chapter Three
A creature named Quaolnargn (an "eater of souls" - it’s hard to say whether the title of the story refers to Quaolnargn or Stormbringer - probably both…) is summoned by Theleb K’aarna and ordered to slay Elric. While Elric and his Melnibonéan mercenary army are heading north towards Nikorn’s palace, the hopping, reptilian Quaolnargn attacks. As Elric feels his soul being consumed by the creature, he calls out to his patron god Arioch for help. Elric suddenly receives a burst of vitality (presumably from Arioch) and kills the creature. Theleb K’aarna then uses sorcery to spirit Elric to his lair and deprives him of Stormbringer. Left in a pathetically weakened state without the runeblade’s loaned vitality, Elric is mocked when brought before Yishana.
(Note: In Stormbringer, Sepiriz claims that it was not Arioch that had aided him, but Stormbringer's brother swords.)
Chapter Four
When Elric agrees to break his agreement with the Bakshaan merchant princes and spare Nikorn, Nikorn releases him. Stormbringer however, will not be returned to him. After weakly crawling back to Dyvim Tvar’s camp, Elric has Moonglum sneak into Nikorn’s castle and he retrieves Stormbringer (aided by an easily-persuaded Yishana). Reinvigorated, Elric then summonses Misha, Lord of the Wind elementals (the Lasshaar) to help him attack Nikorn's palace in the morning. Nonetheless, Dyvim Tvar is pessimistic about his own future.
Chapter Five
When Theleb K’aarna learns of Elric’s conjuring in the forest, he begins summoning elemental allies of his own: Kakatal and his fiery brethren. At dawn the Wind Giants’ lightning bolts face off in the sky against the Lords of the Flame, while Elric’s army approaches Nikorn’s castle from the ground. The Imrryrian army successfully breaches the castle gate, but Dyvim Tvar dies in the struggle. Inside the palace, Elric uses Stormbringer to smash through a sorcerous door and then executes Theleb K’aarna, now deranged from his attempts to summon sorcerous forces (he was not a Melnibonéan, after all).
Chapter Six
Elric tries to spare Nikorn as per his earlier agreement, but Stormbringer leaps out and kills the man anyways. Back in Bakshaan, the fearful villagers believe that Elric and his mercenary army will soon arrive to loot the city. They force the merchant princes to donate all of their riches as a peace offering to the feared albino and his army. When Elric and Moonglum eventually arrive, they rendezvous with Yishana at the tavern of the Purple Dove (a reunion promised in exchange for Yishana’s help in retrieving Stormbringer) and then depart.
"The Stealer of Souls" Multiverse Entry
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| Daw 1977, Art: Michael Whelan |
In brief: After Elric makes the acquaintance of the appealing Zarozinia, he and his friends are captured by the degenerate Orgs and prepared as sacrifices to the undead. Elric escapes this fate by calling on Arioch for help, and the undead (led by a skeleton zombie) eventually turn on the Orgs.
“'Kings in Darkness' I’d rather not deal with, since it was the worst of the series and, as I mentioned, written commercially. Therefore there is little of it which fits in with what I like to think of as the real content of the Elric series."
- Moorcock, "Elric", Niekas 8 (1963)
(James Cawthorn:) "I wrote the plot of it, certainly. And one or two of the bits of description that I used appeared in the story. The reason it never really worked as an Elric story is that it was meant originally to be a Conan story. The girl Zarozinia was added by Mike of course. Since the story, as it stood, would have been too short and too weak. It was intended as a very short Conan adventure, just a typical straight-forward kind of thing. Possibly because I know its origin l have never really felt that it works, and I know that Mike doesn’t either."
- James Cawthorn, Interview from “The Jewel in the Skull” 1979 graphic novel“Kings in Darkness” further softens Elric’s earlier much more sociopathic nature, and gives him an actual bride-to-be (who is not subsequently killed). The story eventually heads into a gothic crypt scene, and ends with a swashbuckling pulp finish. Although not the most outstanding of Elric stories, it did deliver a pretty cool Michael Whelan cover in the 1970s DAW set. There’s not much here in the way of a subtext though, and no real chances are taken with the genre, which is probably part of why Moorcock frowns upon this episode so much. As in “The Stealer of Souls” or the following story, there is no mention of the multiverse or the struggle between Law and Chaos.
"Kings in Darkness" Synopsis
Chapter One
In Nadsokor, City of Beggars, Elric and Moonglum are pursued by an unruly mob. They seek refuge in the odorous Forest of Troos lying inside necromantic Org. Legends relate that in ages past, the “Doomed Folk” of Org had unleashed unknown forces which had then caused sorcerous mutations to plague the area, with the Forest of Troos being the only remaining evidence of the episode. They come across a girl named Zarozinia, who asks them to take her home to Karlaak by the Weeping Waste. Elric is taken with her and they agree. In the night they fend off an attack by deformed Org-folk but lose their valuables. They decide to visit the king of Org to make a complaint.
Chapter Two
As the trio enter the citadel of Org, Elric protects them with a Melnibonéan invulnerability formula derived from Troo herbs. The Org ruler King Gutheran has his men attack, but the trio are unharmed, and then claim to be messengers from the gods. During a banquet, Gutheran’s blind brother Verkad sings a song about the “Three Kings In Darkness”, which refers to a third brother buried under the Hill of the King. While Zarozinia is forced to dance for the Orgs, Elric succumbs to drugged wine.
Chapter Three
Elric is chained on top of the Hill. Veerkad takes the bound Zarozinia towards a chamber under the Hill, planning to sacrifice her so that his dead brother will arise from the dead. At the top of the Hill, Elric is besieged by white ghouls (possibly Doomed Folk). Arioch’s lightning bolts free Elric from his bonds, allowing him to fight off the ghouls. Moonglum appears and they descend into the tunnels below the Hill in pursuit of Veerkad and Zarozinia. In the Central Tomb, before the giant mummy of the third king, Veerkad and Gutheran’s son Hurd (who had been following him) kill each other, satisfying the blood price for resurrection. Elric carries Zarozinia out of the chamber and heads back to the Org citadel to retrieve their horses.
(Note: Again, in Stormbringer, Sepiriz claims that it was not Arioch that had aided him, but Stormbringer's brother swords.)
Chapter Four
As Elric retrieves Stormbringer and his treasure from Gutheran’s Great Hall, the Dead King From the Hill (a skeletal zombie) suddenly bursts in, with a zombie army behind him. As the zombie army kills Gutheran’s men, the Dead King attacks Elric. Moonglum helps Elric destroy the zombie king with oil and fire. As they depart, Org collapses from the fire. Elric considers that with his newfound Troos herbs (and his feelings for Zarozinia) he may no longer need Stormbringer to sustain him.
"Kings in Darkness" Multiverse Entry
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| Art: James Cawthorn, 1993 |
In brief: Elric infiltrates a migrating horde of Eastern barbarians in order to free a fellow sorcerer. After this is accomplished (with the aid of the feline deity Meerclar), Elric calls on a few reawakened Melnibonéan dragons to incinerate the horde.
“No comments, either, on “The Flame Bringers”—although I enjoyed writing the Meerclar bit and the last sequence with Elric on the back of the dragon. This, I think, is nothing much more than an adventure story, though it serves to show up Elric’s weakness in that the moment things get tough he’s seeking his sword again. Also the last bit where the sword returns is a hint of the sword’s “true” nature.”
- Moorcock, "Elric", Niekas 8 (1963)Just a few random thoughts:
- The Flame Bringer’s scimitar-wielding Eastern horde is probably modelled on the Mongolian Golden Horde, led by Batu Khan, Genghis Khan’s grandson.
- Gashtek’s horde is made up of half a million warriors, a force so great it actually causes Moonglum to fear the end of civilization. It seems to be kind of a stretch, but he seems to fear the horde more than the Lords of Chaos themselves.
- Elric’s inhuman moral compass seems further habilitated here, as he is revolted by the cruelty displayed by barbarians in Gorjhan (which I would have thought to be tame compared to Melnibonéan arts of torture).
- The appealing Meerclar, Lord of the Cats, is the second higher being (after Misha the wind elemental) to have significant dialogue in one of Elric’s adventures. His sweetly sardonic tone would later be heard again coming from higher lords such as Arioch.
“…although he was possessed of superhuman strength, all the power seemed to have left the sword so that it was only as useful as an ordinary blade. Still fighting, he relaxed his body and felt the power leave him, flowing back into Stormbringer. Again the runeblade began to whine and thirstily sought the throats and hearts of the savage barbarians.” - "The Flame Bringers""The Flame Bringers" Synopsis
Chapter One
Three months have passed since the events of “Kings in Darkness”. Elric lives happily with Zarozinia in Karlaak. However, when Moonglum learns that an Eastern horde of barbarians (led by Terarn Gashtek, the titular “Flame Bringer”) have destroyed Eshmir, he rides back to Karlaak to warn Elric of their approach. Gashtek also holds the eastern sorcerer Drinij Bara in his power, since he has captured the black and white cat carrying the sorcerer’s immortal soul. Elric forms a plan to infiltrate the horde in order to liberate the eastern sorcerer. He also sends a messenger southwest to seek out Dyvim Slorm, Dyvim Tvar’s son.
Chapter Two
After a brief scuffle in the Weeping Wastes, Elric and Moonglum are brought to Gashtek’s camp where they are recruited into his army. At a feast, Drinij Bara is brought in and forced to conjure some visual imagery at Gashtek’s behest. Afterwards, Elric makes contact with Drinij Bara and offers his aid.
Chapter Three
At the city of Gorjhan, Gashtek forces Drinij Bara to conjure a demon (Dag-Gadden the Destroyer) to help him smash the city walls and conquer the city. Elric and Moonglum try to capture the cat containing Drinij Bara’s soul, but they are instead imprisoned by Gashtek. However, Elric is able to summon Stormbringer and breaks free of his bonds. He then calls on the ancient being Meerclar of the Cats to help retrieve Bara’s soul from the missing cat. Once Drinij Bara is made whole again, he uses sorcery against Gashtek’s warriors. Gashtek kills Drinij Bara with an arrow. Elric sees Imrryrian dragons in the sky, which Dyvim Slorm has awakened in order to help Elric fight the Flame Bringer’s horde. Elric slays Gashtek and then leads the Melnibonéan dragons against the barbarian horde, easily eradicating them with their fiery venom. Disgusted with the violence and his continued dependence on the hell-blade, he throws Stormbringer away. However the runeblade flies back to the armory at Karlaak, awaiting Elric’s return to Zarozinia.
"The Flame Bringers" Multiverse Entry
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| Ariel The Book of Fantasy 3, Art: Tim Conrad |
In brief: After a sorcerer sends Elric to the realm of Chaos with his final curse, Elric must use his wits to provide the Lords of Chaos with something they cannot create themselves. This turns out to be a duplicate of Elric himself, representing the paradox of human intelligence.
"The Last Enchantment was meant to be the final Elric story. It was written in 1962, only a short while after the first had appeared in magazine form and before I wrote what was to become Stormbringer. I gave the story to Ted Carnell for his magazine Science Fantasy but he didn’t want a “last” Elric story. He persuaded me to write some more novellas and in his capacity as my agent sent "The Last Enchantment" to America, where it was rejected. Some fifteen years later Ted’s successor, Les Flood, came across the story and returned it to me. It eventually appeared in Ariel magazine in the U.S. in 1978, illustrated by Tim Conrad."
- Moorcock, Sojan Introduction, 1983Moorcock places this story's chronology between "While the Gods Laugh" and "Kings in Darkness", but I find it also works very well as a prologue to Stormbringer, since it reintroduces the struggle for a Cosmic Balance between Law and Chaos to Elric's saga. Additionally, this nice change of pace is kind of a "portrait of the Chaos Lords at home", away from the cosmic battlefield. In contrast to the next episode's apocalyptic events, here the Chaos Lords are essentially "holding court". It also demonstrates the seemingly omnipotent power of these Chaos entities as they remold reality to their whims, a power seen in later tales for more comedic effect.
"The paradoxical games played in the story are all in some way prefiguring later stories and also The Dancers At The End Of Time. Chaos enjoys paperboard paradox (in itself boring). While Law permits no paradox at all (also sterile). A world in balance is a world permitting both a degree of congruity plus a degree of paradox."
- Moorcock, Imagine #22, 1985Almost uniquely during this period, "The Last Enchantment" demonstrates Elric's great intelligence. With so many adventures resolved in a symphony of blood-letting and/or spell-crooning, it's easy to forget that Melniboné was known for its highly developed culture (understandably, possession of a screaming hellblade usually made reasoned debate more of a secondary tactic). Among his own people Elric had been regarded as a scholar and in a later novel (The Dreamthief's Daughter), Oona flatly describes Elric as a "genius".
Finally, Castle Kaneloon will soon reappear in "Master of Chaos" (1964), a story featuring the Law Champion Earl Aubec (the Sojan story "The Castle of Kandoon", does not seem to be related, aside from a similarity in spelling).
“The Last Enchantment” Synopsis
A desperate, ruined man named Siletah Slorg is pursued by whispering entities ("the Hungry Whisperers") which have been set upon him by his kinsmen. In vain, he calls out to his patron Chaos Lord Teshwan for aid. Elric appears on the scene but also disdains to provide aid or sympathy. Outraged, Slorg promises to ask Lord Teshwan to give him enough strength to curse Elric with his “last enchantment”. Elric is skeptical of this threat, but his mind is changed the next morning when he finds himself suddenly transported to a barren alien landscape. This strange area reminds Elric of the Caverns of Chaos, which he had sailed through while questing for the Dead Gods' Book ("While the Gods Laugh"). Now, as back then, the domination of Chaos in the area seems to negate Stormbringer's power, and the runeblade is unable to provide Elric with any vitality.
Elric meets a traveler apparently headed to a place called Kaneloon for the “Rites”. He tells Elric that this landscape is so barren because the Lords of Chaos are resting "before re-forming the world into a fresh variety of patterns." The man abruptly disappears as a green palace materializes in the distance.
At the entrance to the palace, Elric sees the eight-arrowed Chaos Sign and a red giant. Allowed entry, he reaches a banquet hall where nine sardonic figures are seated. These Lords of Chaos (including Teshwan), are gathered at Palace Kaneloon for the Time of the Change, and threaten Elric with eternal damnation unless he can suggest a “new concept/joke” to them. Despite their ability to remold reality, they are unable to create anything original.
“Only the Greatest Power, of which we know little more than do humans, can create fresh conceptions. The Greatest Power holds both Law and Chaos in perpetual balance, making us war only so that the scale will not be tilted too far to one side. We wish not for power—only for variety. Thus every time we weary of our domain we let our old creations fade and conceive new ones." - “The Last Enchantment”After the Chaos Lords demonstrate a psychedelic pageant of their own surreal creations, Elric is also given the power to create, so that he may provide "a joke and a paradox". He subsequently creates a replica of himself. At first puzzled, the Chaos Lords soon realize that both Chaos and Order are present in this construct’s mind - a paradox. This is a great joke, because the best joke is a simple statement of truth. Having satisfied the Chaos Lords' challenge , Elric is returned to his world and continues on towards Bakshaan.
"The Last Enchantment" Multiverse Entry
Next Chapter: Elric: Stormbringer
(Previous Chapter: Elric: While the Gods Laugh)
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| Mayflower, 1968, Art: Bob Haberfield |
