I’d like to mention that I have nothing but respect for both Moorcock and Sapkowski. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both author’s works, and only because of that do I feel like I can accurately point out their flaws.
Moorcock is surprisingly generous about Sapkowski & I've never heard him get salty about it at all (his *fans* however are mighty protective & DEFINITELY get a bit agro about this!) He says that "We all get inspiration from different sources" the diference is Michael Moorcock isn't afraid to name his and give his inspirations their due (like the pulp "Zenith the Albino" & Pohl Anderson's "The Broken Sword" & "Three Hearts & Three Lions" among others. Whereas Sapkowski was part of the team that first translated Moorcock into Polish. Just saying. Oh & "The Conjunction of the Million Spheres" is from Moorcock too. And he's actually the one who started the modern usage of the term "Multiverse" the way we use it now. (OED references him.) He's remarkable in how kind to how many people rip him off & all he asks is credit, or at least a copy of the thing you made based on him. Think about Warhammer & how much mileage they've gotten from his eight arrows of Chaos alone! But he says you've got to keep moving into the future & not hold onto the past, so he doesn't sue. Definitely the bigger man. Thanks for the vid!
@@franklinroberts4837 I figured. I'm a fan & I'm trying to learn from his example. Besides, RU-vidr "Razorfist" is agro enough about this for any 10 of us. 😉
Michael Moorcock does well to be kind to other authors taking inspiration from his work as the seeds for the Eternal Champion are in "Three Hearts & Three Lions" and for Stormbringer in "The Broken Sword," both by Poul Anderson. The new is built upon the foundations of the old. Although I value originality highly, to me it matters more how an author develops and makes an idea his own than how he came to it. After all, there's always the possibility that I see an idea as original simply because I'm not familiar with the material that "inspired" it.
I appreciate his generosity towards people "borrowing" his stuff. Especially towards a company like Games Workshop who tend to sue and threaten anyone using "their" IP.
Mike is indeed quite generous with his work. The vast *vast* majority of legal actions taken that involve Elric are usually through Licensees who are protecting the value of said license. The most (in)famous of which is the whole "Deities and Demigods" dispute between Chaosium and TSR a-way back in the day. Moorcock is all-in-all a good creator, and we should take his lead with his generosity and willingness to lend his wisdom and experience to the next generation of creators. That, and he's been involved with some *BANGERS* of early Prog Rock, contributing to Hawkwind and Blue Oyster Cult (among others, keep an eye out, he'll pop up where you least expect him).
It’s a blessing the Elric saga has flown under the radar all these years. Elric has certainly been ripped off over the years; however, hollywood has not distorted it yet, and the series remains amazing and true to its origin. So many of our favorite story’s get ruined by becoming main stream and franchised.
If you are into heavy metal then there is a good chance you know about Elric. So many bands and songs dedicated to the character and Michael Moorcocks multiverse. I belive he has the largest number of songs about his work. Also a small nitpick, the souls that Stormbringer consumes aren't really destroyed but are trapped in the sword... forever!
@@Brocuzgodlocdunfamdogson As far as I remember the souls are stored in Strombringer but on consumption the persons life energy is drained and transfered to the sword itself and veilder. Also if Elric kills things that don't have souls... animals monsters etc, he still gets energy.
Reveal's I'm Elric and Chase the Sun's Sacred Storm are excellent and recent works. Also, Blessed Black is an artist with just one album that I know of which is based on Elric.
YES Moorcock was a musician and occasionally played with Blue Oyster Cult. His weird ass band Hawkwind also recorded an entire Elric album. Elric is metal AF.
That's my thinking as well. Moorcock hasn't historically been read by as many as Tolkein... but most of the people who created all the other fantasy stories since then DID read Moorcock... so the average Joe recognizes the Tolkein connections, but they don't recognize the Moorcock influences.
You mean in Games-workshop's Chaos lore , like everything from dark chaos gods , demons to the 8 pointed star of chaos which warhammer uses as one of its iconic mascot of originality were all plagiarised from Moorcock.
I'm glad Elric is still being remembered. I have all the stories bound in hard back books. 4 volumes including The Fortress of the Pearl, The Revenge of the Rose, The Dreamthief's Daughter, The Strayling Tree, and The White Wolf's Son.
Another perfect Elric inspirational is Berserk Manga, Griffith is pretty Elric and Guts is depressed Elric with the strength and muscular of Conan the Barbarian, hilariously both Elric and Conan had a crossover once in a Marvel comic.
@@kingpiye7060e even Miura said he inspired by both Conan the Barbarian and Elric of Melnibone, the God Hands are similar to Lords of Chaos except weaker, closest is Arioch the Duke of Hell, he the most powerful and comically pervasive sadistic deity that tormented Elric throughout his journey since Elric was his champion to bring Chaos to victory and Elric refused to be slave to the Great Game. The Idea of Evil and it philosophy mirrored the Balance, an entity that hold the multiverse together and it has an Eternal Champion to kept both Chaos and Law in check without the Balance there would be no Multiverse, no Idea of Evil, the Berserk universe Mankind would just make another. The Stormbringer constantly demanding Elric to give in to his dark side, kill everything and everyone matters not foes or friends which something Elric desperate fighting against similar to Guts constantly fighting against his darker side that constantly torments Guts to embrace bloodshed and carnage, Stormbringer sword strengthen through sucking souls of Elric enemies but stronger when killed Elric loved ones something Elric hated but can’t live without Stormbringer, Dragonslayer strengthen through the blood of demons but it is Guts have faced his own demon and heavily depends on his sword. Heck even some of Berserk theme and Griffith goal are similar to Elric desired for a one true God to embrace and feels over eternal anarchy and Chaos, Griffith become a God Hand and bring the demonic forces to the material realm, while Elric destroyed the world so that Balance can be restored and allow the Gods of Law to rebuild the world anew. Another one of Griffith mirrored are Elric two nemesis his cousin Yrrkoon a handsome spiteful envy Melnibonean prince that got a hot for Cymoril his sister and Elric first lover, Yrrkoon desired to be the new ruler of Melnibone and bring it back to the cruel and sadistic era as it were before even willingly to be a Chaos pawn just to get what he want, and Jagreen Lern a ruler of Pan Tan that replace Elric as the Chaos new Champion responsible for many of Elric friends deaths and tons of massacre and human sacrifices to ensure Chaos demonic Lords victory over the Gods of Law, he mocked Elric for his “conscience”, tortured him and abducted Elric new wife and turned her into a hellish Chaos spawn worm thing just to screwed Elric further, and he responsibility to bring an end to Elric world.
I'm a big fan of Corum, another one of Morcock's eternal Champs. I just finished Reading the first Elric Book a couple days ago. That shit still holds up.
Elric's people's connections to old, forgotten gods and sources of power made the character and world so much more striking. The idea that this dying people were once so powerful, yet could/would not save themselves, made Elric that much more sympathetic of a character. He was even more so the last of his kind and that much more tragic of a hero.
Hawkwind worked closely with Michael Moorcock to produce the album/stageshow "Chronicle Of The Black Sword". Which is really rather good as concept albums go.
For completionists you may want to check out, both Time of the Hawklords book and Hawklords album. MM wrote it with Michael Butterworth (some say his input was rather limited), characters are based on the band members in a post apocalyptic London, wielding their instruments as weapons. While some members of Hawkwind did a one off album calling themselves Hawklords at that time too (1978).
The live album from that tour was AWESOME! So many great albums by Hawkwind, great live performances released too, but beware of bootlegs of dubious quality. I would say that Chronicle Of The Black Sword is my favorite live album by Hawkwind after Space Ritual.
Great video. I’m currently reading The Legend of Drizzt Do’Urden novels by R.A. Salvatore about a dark elf who has forsaken the evil ways of his people. He has white hair, gray skin, is a master swordsman and has a magical Panther companion :)
The Drow were a creation of Gary Gygax for the DnD campaigin in Grey Hawk. They were behind the Giants invasion in the first three modules, then you go on to meet the Drow, something I never did. The Drow city has a similar name to Melnibone, so the influence is clear for me.
@@franklinroberts4837 Been a fan for oh, 35 years. Met RA Salvatore at NYCC a few years ago, had my OG copy of the Crystal Shard, and from 15 feet away the man knew it was a first edition and commented on it. Hell, originally they were thinking about using Drizzt for the cameo char in the D+D movie but went with the paladin char instead. I would have flipped in the theater!
Geralt also has above-human physiology at base so that's another difference. You might as well say the Targaryens are based on Elric, at least they're more into the whole human sacrifice thing. And dragon ancestry. Actually, the Targaryens might be based on Elric.
GRRM is on record saying that the Targaryen's backstory was an "homage" to Elric. When Mike was in talks to have BBC make a version of Elric about 3 years ago it had got further than any previous attempt.. then ep 1 of House of the Dragon was advertised and they pulled out. Specifically said "everyone will assume WE copied THEM". Mike rolled his eyes and counted to ten. cool news is apparently Hawkmoon is progressing well.
I'm 60 this year and Moorcock really rocked my reading world when I was lent the first Elric book as a 13-year-old, and discovered they were even better when I was/am in the correct mind set. (He even wrote my fave Hawkwind song Coded Languages). All I can say is thank god Hollywood and the rest have forgotten all about his work because the thought of what they would do to the Eternal Champion does not bare thinking about. (At least the attempt at a Jerry Cornelius movie back in the 1970s that I can't remember the name of just now was suitably weird.) The ideas and society in those books like Corum and Hawkmoon (or of the many others in his work) really would not work in today's entertainment world where ID politics and having the correct ideological footing come before telling a good story with really well-developed complex characters and good dialogue!
What the fuck are you talking about in that last sentence? Elric fits in like a glove, his stories are racially diverse as all get out from the jump and his entire backstory is an attempt to better himself and redeem his people of a legacy of conquest, slavery, and terror, in the end choosing to destroy Melniboné and living as a cursed outcast instead of restoring an empire on which the sun never sets. Motherfucker's entire character starts out at grappling with benefitting from a legacy of imperialist oppression and trying to be a better person than what the culture he was raised in molded him to be, his life ruined by a sword that embodies violence and gain at the expense of others, doomed to walk the earth bringing upheaval and change as an agent of the Holy Balance and often in conflict with tyrants and oppressors. He's also literally disabled and has lifelong clinical depression. Elric is everything you express disdain for on modern media personified, just very well done and long before its time. A faithful modern Elric adaptation would generate nonstop rage on boomer Uncle Facebook and on some level you know it.
Sapkowski has written a compedium about fantasy called Rękopis Znaleziony w Smoczej Jaskini (A manuscript Found in a Dragon Cave). Which includes his must read list of fantasy. An guess what? Elric Saga is on that list.
Hy Franklin, thank you for this hommage. I am 56 years old and I read the 6 novels in the 1980s. They gave me so much. I just hope Netflix will not blow them.
Wait, what?!? Also, know if the show is a straight adaptation of the Elric novels? Or will it include other aspects of the Champion? Though it may be considered blasphemous, Corum is actually my favorite aspect🤷🏻
@@Brocuzgodlocdunfamdogson Not blasphemous at all. I prefer Corum and Jhary to Elric and Moonglum. Elric gets all the fame, but I've seen plenty who, like us, prefer Corum. Corum's tales are somewhat less depressing, has Jhary and Whiskers, deals with the Champion Eternal concept more than the others and Corum fights gods. What's not to love?
I think they bought the rights / options whatever the term is, but plans were shelved as Witcher was deemed more recognised and profitable. MM is more an influence than someone who is directly adapted I guess. After all, has anyone seen "The Final Program"- film of his first Jerry Cornelius book?
The Elric influence must be everywhere because the titular D of Vampire Hunter D also has a symbiotic relationship with a soul sucking hand that has a mind of its own and is often fighting against his own darker nature (the hand is a douche and doesn't care). That all sounds an awful lot like Elric inspiration.
Or the Berserk manga where Griffith looks exactly like Elric and Guts is just a depressed muscular version of Elric despite inspired by Conan the barbarian.
@@han__nya He also illustrated Final Fantasy as well and man Amano made Elric look hot for some reason, Amano Elric version looks creepily feminine yet ethereal handsome at the same time
I've been meaning to get into this world for a few years but havent yet. I really appreciate what Moorcock built for other authors, besides Geralt, I really feel like the Targaeryans were inspired by the Melniborne
Elric's world does have some reference points. MM was lived in an area of London called Maryebone and some of his other landscapes appear in the stories. Corum is a Cornish story. Ladbroke Grove is the home of Jerry Cornelius and it is due to the film, The Final Programme that we do not have an Elric film. As MM retain the rights to make sure that it will be done right and not have some director put his view on his creation. He wrote the scripts for the Land that Time Forgot to learn how to right for film. So he could write his own screen play for Elric. Instead we get all the "homages" to Elric in recent media. I would even say that the BBC have arguably turned The Doctor into an Eternal Champion with the episode of the Timeless child. Also MM had Elric as the opposite to the Conan superman warrior. You can see him reversing this in the Hawkmoon series as British comics were still re-fighting WW2 in the 60s and into the 70s. The Evil Empire is Granbretan and seeking to dominate Europe, with the hero being Dorian Hawkmoon of Koln. Melnibone can be seen as version of Britain and its loss of Empire.
And check out his comics appearances, most have been reprinted in graphic novel format. PC Comics and then First Comics in the '80s put together some brilliant writer artist teams to adapt Elric, Corum, and Hawkmoon. And I think there was one done more recently by Howard Chaykin of Erekosë.
I don't know how many people have read Sapkowski's non-fiction on fantasy and Moorcocks NF on fantasy. While Moorcock is the author of The Epic Pooh, Spakowski is the author of the Manuscript found in the dragon's lair. Both works share some disdain for the state of their contemporary fantasy giants. Especially Tolkien or Howard. Sapkowski made Geralt to be the professional monster slayer, and the world was a critique of common fantasy tropes (like masculinity, feminism, environmentalism, good v evil, racism and some national myths). TBH, there are similarities between these two, but they are superficial. They have different stories, tropes, settings and destinies. One is a ruler, the other is a tradesman monster hunter (what sapkowski stated in his early interviews, that he didn't want to write another Conan, who rose from a fierce warrior to the position of a king, but someone who simply hunts monsters for hire) Sapkowski parodies the arthurian mythos among others.
Amazing delivery! Again, big fan of the Elric series. I believe Elric made it into DnDs Gods and Demigods? And definitely influenced some early modules.
I'm pretty sure he was a big inspirations for Vecna and Kas, whether it was intention or not, because they share a shit ton of thematic similarities. Same goes for the Legacy of Kain series (which I'm a huge fan of)
There was actually a big lawsuit against TSR for the "Deities and Demigods" book, between Moorcock's entire pantheon and the entirety of the Lovecraftian pantheon being put in there without permission. The first printing of that book is now basically worth a small fortune, because it was pulled from the market and reprinted without them.
@@Mokiefragglewhat’s a small fortune? My old DM had the original- before I even knew who a Elric was I saw him in the Deities and Demigods manual The artwork for Elric, Yyrkoon and Arioch was inspiring enough for me to pick up the novels If I remember correctly they even had Moonglum in the Lords of Law and Chaos section
Strongly recommended reading for any fantasy fans, both for the series and the author in general. Massive talent, massive influence, massively unheard of these days. Also, lots of great interviews with him on yt.
You were partly right about the Champion Eternal. In Elric's case, he was the champion for the Courts of Chaos, whereas other champions served the Courts of Law, while others served the Balance. And Stormbringer was not a demon. Because it was sentient, albeit an evil sentience, Elric simply called it demon. Stormbringer and Mournblade were items of the Court of Chaos and bestowed up the court's current champion.
I love that someone's finally paying attention to elric. I think anomander rake in malazan is also inspired by elric. Even more similar to elric than geralt.
All these years I've been calling it Mel-Ni-Bone. Great video. Absolutely love Elric. I got into his books after exhausting my Conan books. I love the contrast between Elric and Conan. Both have a similar world, but take it on with different builds lol.
All fantasy tends to copy to some degree earlier works. The big sstrong sword wielder in so many stories borrows from Rober E Howard’s Conan. Many of the regular fantasies, especially those of an episodic nature filled with fanciful creatures and anthropomorphs (elves, men, dwarves, etc, plus wizards) borrow or are inspired by Tolkein. So, I think, plagarism would be a hard claim to prove. Lord of the Rings was the first big boy novel I ever read and I have been a fan ever since. I first read Moorcock’s” Irish Fantastical History” and learned about the Eternal Champion. Then I found his Elric stories. His stories were much weirder than anything else but good reads. I even bought a Hawkwind album.
@@R1ck_Ryder even Tolkein was inspired by old Finnish and Germanic myths and legends. Plagarism is more the direct copying of material and claiming it as your own. You could go back to Homer’s Iliad as the first sword and sorcery tale and the Odyssey as the first heroic quest novel and make a pretty good claim that all of our fantasy novels spring from them. So you are correct the difference is citation.
Honestly, when it comes to characters being labeled a "rip-off" of an already existing original character, I'd say the Marvel Comics character named "Knull" is more of a rip-off of Elric than Geralt.
The Elric novels were very influential to me growing up. Four biggies for me were The Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, and Elric. Another Moorcock series that was good (and includes the Eternal Champion) is the Chronicles of Corum. As far as that goes, if you're into SciFi novels, my favorite series is by the Thomas Covenant author called The Gap Series.
I was a great fan of Moorcock since I've discovered his books, which happened about 30 years ago. Back then I was in high school and I remember how I was searching for his books in local library (there weren't many) and then proceeded to bookstores (a bit problematic: we've just immigrated and money was an issue), until I've read everything I could find. I do love Sapkowski , but really never thought about this Elric-Geralt connection... Yes, they look pretty similar, but different characters with different stories in completely different universes. For me both are great authors in their own right and I don't see any bad in fact, that Sapkowski was influenced by earlier writers, Moorcock included because, well, Moorcock is the guy to be influenced by! P.S. I think that Sapkowski's Hussite Trilogy is better then The Witcher series as a whole.
Ahhh, the pronunciation! It always gets me going. Yeah, MM did pronounce it that way, but he’s also said there’s no canonical pronunciation, also, he’s had a character sound it out in-I can’t recall the book, but I want to say it was one of the Hawkmoon books, and they pronounced it “Moolney Bones”. Just a bit of trivia, that. Love the Elric saga, very influential to fantasy writers and English professors for decades. 😊
I finally find a vid about Elric and it's only 6 mins long?!? Man I need more! Great video btw! It seems like lately Elric is getting more and more recognition. I hope we get to see some series(animated or otherwise) soon. Preferably one that's treated better than the Witcher.
It's also noteworthy how "inspired" Games Workshop has been with Elric. In fact, I remember looking for White Lion and other High Elf units on google, and saw the Ulric of Melnibone minis thinking they were from Warhammer. That's definitely a red flag when it comes to copyright infringement, can a layperson immediately distinguish between two properties within reason- and I 100% thought they were from Warhammer.
Ty very much. I acquired my 1st yellowed and disintegrating copy in the late 70's. As a sickly and isolated (self- inflicted) child, Elric and Moonglum were the 1st heroes that resonated with me
I've just bought a shed load of Moorcock's books. Including the Elric ones, Runestaff, and the dancers at the end of time. I read them in the 1970s and 1980s and need to read them again. Absolutely brilliant.
I loved the crossover in the classic Conan comics where he teams up with Elric. It seems back then authors were much more chill about their characters having cameos in other works
Elric finally gets a nod of recognition. How perfect for that character that it comes almost as an afterthought. I have a very similar character that was wholly and completely inspired by Elric. He's a favorite of mine but very different from Elric as well. He is simply too good a character. He inspires similar incarnations in other stories. Thank you to Mr. Moorcock for his amazing work.
I stumbled upon the first Corum trilogy when I was 11-12yo at a garage sale in the mid 90s. I was hooked, immediately became a rabid fan of Michael Moorcock. I really like some of his one-off short stories. “The Blood Red Game” in particular. There was another story, I forget the title though. All I remember is that it was about a pair of couples on a small starship. Everyone but the MC was in cryosleep. As the story progresses, he starts to go insane. The rest of the details are fuzzy but I remember it being creepy as all hell. Damn, now I have to go look it up… Oh, on a random note…it’s been about 30 years and I still don’t know how to pronounce “Erekosë”😂😂
I’ll need to check that story out. As for pronunciations, I actually pronounced Tanelorn as tayn-lorn before hearing Blind Guardian sing it otherwise, so I’m the last guy to ask about pronunciations.
@@franklinroberts4837 I also happened to remember the other book I forgot the title of, it was “The Black Corridor”. A lot of people read M.M. for his fantasy books but his sci-fi is about as good IMO. He also does a great job of blending both genres in some books. And I challenge ANYONE to pronounce half of the names and places in the Corum books. Like the city Gwlas-cor-Gwrys…WTF is that even??😂😂
@@BrocuzgodlocdunfamdogsonA lot of the names in the Corum books are based on Welsh, so “w” can be a vowel-something like “oo,” I think, though I’m not sure. Corum is my favorite Eternal Champion. I read the entire Eternal Champion series back in the Seventies when I was in college. I always pronounced Erekose with four syllables: air-eh-KO-say. I gave Tanelorn three syllables: TAN-uh-lorn.
@@janach1305 I used to pronounce Erekose as eh-WRECK-ose,, then changed to pretty much how you pronounce it. Moorcock pronounces it as air-eh-KO-suh which makes sense as to John Daker's ears, the name had a Native American sound. TAN-uh-lorn is the correct pronunciation of Tanelorn, though Moorcock has said that people can just say the names however they want.
@@JimmyDaKoik The game Jedi: Survivor has an Elric-looking villain in Dagan Gera, and the planet he's trying to reclaim? Tanelorr. Moorcock's writing, the gift that keeps on giving.
I find it's not Elric alone that is so great but the entire Eternal Champion series and how all of Michael Moorcock's characters ans stories over lap and weave into each other , especially the Vanishing Tower and how Hawkmoon , Elric and Corum all meet in the tower and when you read the novel of those individual characters, the events of the tower are told from their perspective.
Huh. Today I found your channel. Earlier today I re-read a short story by J G Ballard which I hadn't read since the late 1970s. Its main character was named Robert Franklin.
Everyone with a little interest in fantasy knows about Elric, often more than they know about Conan... So I'm not sure it's that much of the cryptic hero you describe. Great video though, I can't hear enough about how great Elric is !
I will admit at my age I had forgotten about Elric, and yet instantly (and I do mean INSTANTLY) remembered him from my childhood when I saw the title of this video. Literally like a flash. Good lord, I based any number of D&D characters kinda around him. I have to go find some books now and remember what I lost to that grounded and mundane thing we call a dirt ball, er . . . Earth! lol
Originally Moorcock wrote Elric to be the antithesis of Conan. Conan is strong, Elric is sickly, Conan has no magic, Elric is quite magical, Conan prays to a god that doesn't listen, Elric can call Arioch by saying his name. Conan starts as a slave and became king, Elric starts as an emperor and loses his kingdom.
I was expecting some details about Cymoril, Yyrkoon, and Arioch. But what is here, is indeed a good start. Maybe you are creating a desire for further videos elaborating? Perhaps you will do a video on the influence of Moorcock upon the band Hawkwind? In the mid '80s they did a tour that was an Elric concept concert, with a few Jerry Cornelius themed songs thrown in.
I really want to make more, but I just don’t have the time lately. Any spare time I get is going into writing and marketing my book series. One day I’ll hopefully return
Well, that was a rollercoaster for me... You know those videos where, upon first looking at the head and hearing the voice of the random youtuber, you get that sinking feeling of "I'm not gonna like this person, by halfway through this video I shall declare them to have an punchable face and ragequit this video in disgust."? I had that for like the first minute, and now... Now I like you and subscribed. I'm completely new to this scenario and don't know how to feel about it, but I thought I'd share.
I’ve never really thought aside from aesthetics Elric and Geralt have that much in common. Elric is just the straight up edgy anti-hero while Geralt is kind of just playing that role because it’s the one society has cast him in while actually having a heart of gold. I’m not denying Moorcock’s impact on the modern fantasy genre, especially when it comes to high concept stuff. But people who say the Sapkowski just ripped off his work are dullards who can’t see past the genre tropes to the actual writing. The Witcher is way more focused on the human elements than the actual sci-fi/fantasy concepts and high melodrama that Moorcock explores. The Witcher series is also more self aware and deconstructive of the genre where the subversion of Elric was just making a sword and sorcery character who was the opposite of Conan and pioneering the portrayal of a morally grey main character in fantasy (which at the time was kinda revolutionary). I’m not saying I don’t like Elric stories or even denying the obvious impact they’ve had on modern sci-fi/fantasy, but people who act the Witcher is just complete plagiarism of the Elric saga have not seriously engaged in the literature.
Aktyoualee… I don’t remember which book it is, but it’s not the Elric series; it’s one of the ones he pops into in eternal champion mode- it is revealed that he’s an elf Thanks for the review, it brought back memories and I enjoyed this series and others by Michael Moorcock in my youth. Fun fact, Jereth from Labyrinth as well as the Labyrinth were based on the Elric character and his homeland’s port defense
Bold of you to assume I use notes lol. If you have a working draft you’re willing to share you can email me a copy to the address found in the contact page on my website.
Im glad that you mentioned the vast differences in the stories and presentations of settings of Elric and the Witcher. For instance *Spoilers*: at the start of one of the Witcher games (I've forgotten which), Geralt forces himself out of the separate realm in which he and Yennefer were placed by Ciri at the end of the book series, through sheer force of will. This was so out of character for how the story was presented, it felt like such a strange and 'out there' thing to have been included. However, this would've just been your average tuesday for Elric. Point is, despite the similarities in characters and worldbuilding elements like the Conjunction of Spheres, the way that the stories presented them made for unique perceptions of these elements. I find that despite the similarities, I really enjoy both series for their own merits, and that both Moorcock and Sapkowski were able to craft two very different but fascinating stories nonetheless.
I've read a ton of Elric and some Eternal Champion stuff. It used to be in every fantasy section back in the early 2000s and only just now have I realized... the author's name is "MoorCOCK" and he wrote a massive fantasy epic about a guy from "MelniBONE"... guess I never progressed past 12 years old 😂
Very nice character over-view! Began reading Moorcock/Elric/Eternal Champion series (Corum, Hawkmoon, Count Brass...) in High School during the early 80s. Actually just picked up a Hawkmoon Omnibus hardcover to do some "adventuring" down memory lane...it's been too long 😉 btw - W.A.S.P. 🤘 btw part deux Any favorite modern authors you enjoy? Abercrombie, Steven Erikson, Mark Lawrence, Sanderson, Brent Weeks perhaps? One of my favorites that I just discovered is Brian Staveley and his The Emperor's Blades: Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Book/Trilogy. Would love to hear more about other Authors or Characters you find interesting, old or new. Your channel is off to a great start!
Honestly, I prefer reading stuff older than I am. In the future I hope to discuss other author’s works (Jack Vance is next on the list), but I also want to talk about storytelling in general, fantasy tropes, or whatever, really. The last thing I want to be is a formulaic info-channel. Ngl, I’m here just to have fun and entertain people along the way. Always good to bump into a fellow W.A.S.P. fan 🤘
In personalities I'd say that Elric and Geralt aren't that similar, but their weaknesses and shortcomings shape their biggest desires for both of them. We aren't given much in depth look into elric's thoughts and desires until the fortress of pearl, but based on what I've read elric is an idealist who wishes to rule over an Empire he builds with people from all over the world living together in harmony and exchanging knowledge. Geralt wants a family due to him being abandoned as a child and his fertility issues from his Witcher mutations. That was the reason he invoked the law of surprise in the books. He just wanted to be a dad, even if he didn't know what he was getting into.
A name and an appearance is often enough for a plagiarism case to be legit. Witcher is called plagiarism due to the fact that Sapkowski continuously denies any and all similarities.
I'm a huge Elric fan and it was great to see a video giving him some props for once! Absolutely agree that he and Moorcock aren't celebrated more. I mean, is there any better opening to a novel than, "It is the colour of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his shoulders is milk-white. From the tapering, beautiful head stare two slanting eyes, crimson and moody, and from the loose sleeves of his yellow gown emerge two slender hands, also the colour of bone, resting on each arm of a seat which has been carved from a single, massive ruby."
We all take inspiration from some place. Very few things are created in a complete void. Having read some Elric novels, I own a few from the 80s in Swedish translation, and played at least some of the Witcher games, I wouldn't say there they're THAT close, but I can definitely see the similarities too. Elric is much more bonkers though.
If I even if I mention or reference Elric and I always get blank looks and the realization of how old I am. That is until now, thanks man now I am old but don’t feel it quite so much.
I will call attention to Marc Alan Edelheit. Not dark, but his fantasy actually forced Amazon to create a new genre -- Military Fantasy. He basically starts with Romans and Roman Legions, on a similar, but different world... Then you find him slowly adding Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, Orcs, and Gnomes. And yeah, magic swords. If you like Military SF, and Fantasy, you may appreciate his works. Start with one of the two Stiger series (one is the original, with the title character as a Captain. The other is a prequel series where the title character is a Lt. just starting out.). There is also a tale of Karus, and how the Romans got to the planet, but first read Stiger.
Moorcock's Eternal Champion series is still one of my all time favorites, I'm still trying to track down a couple of his Omnibus editions, but they're hard to come by these days unless you wanna spend a hundred bucks or more. Elric is hands down one of my favorite fantasy characters of all time, and seeing this pop up on my feed just made my fucking day, because NOBODY I know is even aware of this series. I'm stoked because I just picked up The Citadel of Forgotten Myths and I'm happy to see he's still writing.
