"The Elric Saga" by Michael Moorcock is one of the great classics of high fantasy, dark fantasy, and sword & sorcery. Its characters, environments, and obstacles are among the genre's most memorable and influential, with Elric an archetypal anti-hero and one of the most recognizable figures of the genre. He has been reincarnated and copied in many forms, and references to him abound even when they are not generally recognized (Elric appears in role-playing games, videogames, art, graphic novels, and others and his "look" has even been copied in animated shows like "Voltron").

Perhaps one of the reasons The Elric Saga has endured and seeped so deeply into fantasy lovers’ consciousness is that it can be enjoyed on many levels. It is a fabulous adventure of fabulous characters with fabulous weapons and sorcery who meet (and fight) fabulous beings in fabulous places. They fabulously succeed and fabulously fail.

At the same time, The Elric Saga is very Greek, recalling Greek mythologies such as the journeys of Odysseus and their strong sense of doom, irony, tragedy, humanity, and even lyric qualities of the writing. It has a theatrical structure (each volume broken into several books with a brief introduction). More, The Elric Saga calls upon history, reminding us of Chinese, Roman, and British empires. It also draws on traditional high fantasy, twisting its familiar elements into a new archetype. Moreover, The Eric Saga reinvents enduring themes in literature: a person's struggle with his own nature, with fate and destiny, with free will, with action and inaction, with gods, with tradition and duty, with "differentness," with building the future, with dependence and independence, with his role in the world, and with truth and hypocrisy.

Elric is the 428th Emperor of Melniboné, a eldritch kingdom well past its prime, overshadowed by younger, hungrier (human) rivals that it despises. Melnibonéans ruled the world for 10,000 years, though their power waned during the last 500 and the Bright Empire no longer extends beyond the shores of their own Melniboné (also known as the Dragon Isle). Even there, Melnibonéans are limited for they rarely venture outside Imrryr, the Dreaming City. Although they take much pride in their lore and tradition, the truth is that Melnibonéans have lost much of both. Saturated with hallucinogenic drugs, they live in the fantastical city of multi-hued towers, dream of past glories, and are unable to see their changing place in the changing world.

Melnibonéans are "a moody, inward looking race," often considered the antithesis of J.R.R. Tolkien's Elves. As Elves embody virtue, so do Melnibonéans embody vice. Among their significant vices are war lust, "ferocious and disdainful pride," slavery, all manner of torture, pure self-interest, maliciousness, and incest. Considered demons by humans, they are allied with the Lords of Chaos (Elric's personal patron is Arioch, a Duke of Hell), and prefer to recognize neither good nor evil, but simply their own needs and desires. When Elves turn away from virtue, they cease to be Elves, so do Melnibonéans who turn away from vice cease to be Melnibonéans. Thus one of the many dilemmas Elric faces: Can he turn away from the vices he dislikes and continue to be Melnibonéan?

Elric is removed from his fellow Melnibonéans in other ways. He is a crimson-eyed albino completely dependent upon strength preserving and enhancing drugs. He feels trapped by duty and over-civilization, by questions of fate and free will. He is cut off from those around him by his continual brooding, critical thinking, heretical ideas of progress, willingness to consider the unthinkable, ability to think outside tradition, refusal to use hallucinogens, ability to forgive and sympathize, tolerance of free speech and thought, knowledge of the world, and ability in sorcery. These thoughts leave him, at times, nearly paralyzed even when he knows that he should act. Yet, he is the only one who recognizes that Melniboné faces a crisis: does it accept a slow death, strike out to rebuild some of its former glory, or find some other path? Although criticized by other Melnibonéans as an anti-traditionalist, Elric not only welcomes the future but more than any other preserves the past. For Elric has mastered much of Melniboné's High Speech, sorcery, and lore that others have forgotten. And although he found the crown of Melniboné heavy to bear, he must bear the fate of the world.

Elric is different also from most heroes. He is weak, helpless without drugs (and, later, his runesword Stormbringer). He is considered physically repulsive by most, who call him "Whiteface" and mistake him for a demon. He becomes less and less heroic as the saga progresses, becoming a renegade and traitor (to self, family, friends, country, and humanity), and becoming increasingly self-pitying, cruel, bitter, and hateful. He is wildly emotional, an impotent pawn of both the gods and his baser desires. His attempts at independence serve only to highlight his weakness, his good deeds go unrewarded (or backfire entirely), and his foul deeds result in tormented self-punishment. More than anything, Elric evokes pity more than any other emotion from the reader. As he falls further and further from the elegant emperor, both reader and Elric hope for his redemption.

Elric is one incarnation of the Eternal Champion, a hero reborn through time and space to protect the balance between Law and Chaos. Moorcock was the creator of the fantasy multiverse, which he follows through with in other works featuring Elric and works regarding other incarnations of the Eternal Champion (such as Corum and Hawkmoon). None of these other incarnations, however, have had the impact on the genre or readers as the six books that form the core of The Elric Saga: Elric of Melniboné, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, The Weird of the White Wolf, The Vanishing Tower, The Bane of the Black Sword, and Stormbringer.

The Elric Saga is not without critics. Some find Elric too self-absorbed, his self-analysis too involved and boring. Such criticisms are a matter of taste. The reflections are complex, believable, and for the most part brief. However, it is refreshing to re-discover a hero who is cognizant of the consequences of his actions--on himself, friends and family, and the rest of the world.

The Elric Saga never stops offering surprising, exotic, alternatively decadent and barren, and often horrific landscapes; vivid imagery; clever twists on the familiar; witty dialogue; sharp insights; fast sword-play; hardship; inventive sorcery; and flamboyant personalities. Each story adds to Moorcock's hugely successful world. Unlike many fantasy works, The Elric Saga does not waste words, diluting adventures into artificial thick tomes. It is an extremely compact masterpiece of fantastic world-building and storytelling that can be enjoyed as much on the 20th reading as the first.

In Elric of Melniboné, Elric is transformed. He begins as a brooding albino prince who, like the melancholy prince Hamlet, prefers to philosophize than rule. His authority is challenged by his cousin Yyrkoon, who would usurp the Ruby Throne. By the love of his cousin Cymoril (Yyrkoon’s sister) and the taunts and treachery of Yyrkoon, however, Elric is driven to abandon his efforts at modernizing. He relinquishes himself to the cruel traditions of his folk, becoming the Melnibonéan Emperor of his forebears. In the process, it is foreshadowed, he is fulfilling his Fate and altering the course of the world.

Elric of Melniboné, like Elric himself, is a work of shifting gears. It begins with a rich and complex portrait of the troubled 428th Emperor of Melniboné and his decaying empire, then quickly changes into a desperately paced journey of war-craft and dark sorcery. Elric must affirm his rule, defending his throne and the Dragon Isle against invaders and engage in more powerful and darker sorcery than he thought himself capable. He must travel the Young Kingdoms (as human lands are called) and even another plane in search of his rival and his love. As ever for Elric, just as one gruesome and brutal task is complete, he finds he has another. Each solution brings him further from the Elric he wishes to be and closer to that which he fears and despises.

Like Elric of Melniboné, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate is divided into three books. Unlike Elric of Melniboné, the contents of The Sailor on the Seas of Fate are less clearly linear, connected, and devoted to the evolution of Elric. The three books are a collection of short stories, an interlude in The Elric Saga with heavy foreshadowing.

"Sailing to the Future" picks up some months after the end of Elric of Melniboné and Elric's intervening adventures are simply summarized. "Sailing to the Future" is not an advancement of Elric's character as much as it is to provide a more examination of Moorcock's multiverse. Here, Elric learns that he is but one incarnation of the Eternal Champion, although he is given only a taste of what that means. He joins three other incarnations from other worlds (Corum, Hawkmoon, and Erekosë), in a bizarre and psychedelic battle against two alien sorcerers who have traveled to where all dimensions intersect in order to drain them of energy.

The multiverse theory is one of the hallmarks of Moorcock's writings, leading to complications in chronology within and among the dimensions, retelling of stories from different perspectives across Moorcock's writings, and other twists. The multiverse theory is also one of the strongest and weakest points of The Elric Saga (and other stories of the Eternal Champion). On the one hand, the theory was incredibly unique, creative, and influential. On the other, it can detract from the exploration and growth of individual characters (like Elric) caught up within it.

"Sailing to the Present" is the second book of The Sailor on the Seas of Fate. Elric again finds himself beached after his encounter with the Dark Ship. Misadventure leads to meeting Count Smiorgan Baldhead of the Purple Towns, whose ship was attacked and looted by pirates. His passenger, Vassliss of Jharkor, is found hiding in the broken wreckage. She is hunted by an ancient relative of Elric's, Earl Saxif D'Aan of Melniboné. It is an inventive fairytale of ghosts, the living dead and reincarnation; love and cruelty; betrayals and vengeance.

In the third book, "Sailing to the Past," Elric continues with Smiorgan on an archeological quest in the company of Duke Avan Astran of Old Hrolmar, a famous adventurer, explorer, and trader. Duke Astran has discovered an ancient map revealing the location of R'lin K'ren A'a, the semi-mythical jungle city from which Melnibonéans came. The city was abandoned when Arioch, clothed as the gigantic Jade Man, came to tell the people that the Lords of the Higher Worlds required the city as their meeting place. In exchange for leaving, Arioch promised to become the Melnibonéans’ patron god. Only J'osui C'reln Reyr, the Creature Doomed to Live, refused the offer and suffers a Grecian fate as a result.

Retracing the steps of the Melnibonéans’ origination causes Elric to wonder what sort of landscape and history could create the Melnibonéan culture. How did they change from the simple people of R'lin K'ren A'a into the complex and malicious people of the Dragon Isle? "Sailing to the Past" also returns to some of the larger themes of The Elric Saga: Will Elric become one of "the wickedest of Melniboné's many wicked rulers" by wielding Stormbringer? Will the sentient sword be his master? Or will he be, as he says, the master of the sword? Does Elric have any free will, or is his every action pre-ordained by Fate or pre-orchestrated by the gods? To what end?

The Weird of the White Wolf has four segments, rather than three. Again, Elric carries through a series of adventures, some more tightly connected to each other than others.

"Prologue: The Dream of Earl Aubec" is the story of the relationship between Law and Chaos and how the world is created. Myshella, the Dark Lady of Castle Kaneloon, is the guardian of the Edge of the World, using men to create new land from raw chaos. This prologue is another interesting aside in the saga, as it does not involve Elric, but does provide a reference point for later adventures.

"The Dreaming City" marks the end of Elric's year break from the Ruby Throne. Yyrkoon has usurped it, declaring himself emperor rather than regent ruling in Elric's absence. He has declared Elric a traitor and renegade, to be killed on sight. Cymoril is once again in a sorcerous slumber. Enraged and with plans of invasion with a fleet of the Young Kingdoms, Elric returns to Imrryr to locate Cymoril. Unable to rescue her, Elric rejoins his invasion fleet and sets sail for the sea maze. In a final battle with Yyrkoon and Mournblade, Elric finally succumbs to fury, vengeance, and Stormbringer's will. Gone are the pity, empathy, desire for acceptance, and consideration of morality that troubled Elric. Perhaps as a puppet of the gods and Fate, Elric is driven to destroy all he cares about, all that grounds him and ties him to the world. Instead, he is left with no companion or friend but the symbiotic Stormbringer, no emotion but empty bitterness. Through his own actions, Elric becomes what Yyrkoon declared him to be: a traitor and renegade.

"While the Gods Laugh" takes place one year later. Sharrilla, a wingless woman of Myyrrhn, enlists Elric's help in her search for the Dead Gods' Book. Together, they set off to find this mythical book of wisdom that most doubt exists. But Orunlu, the Keeper of the Book, thwarts their advance, as the Lords of Law and Chaos strive to keep its wisdom secret even from each other. Traveling through strange landscapes and battling against strange foes, they come across red-headed Moonglum, who joins their quest. Elric, haunted by his acts in "The Dreaming City" reveals that part of the wisdom he seeks from the book is knowledge of whether one, ultimate benign god exists behind the strife between Law and Chaos and the never ending search for Balance. He believes that such knowledge will give him peace, for he will be able to accept that his struggles are for a greater good and place himself at that god's mercy. This search for peace changes Elric from the passivity of Elric of Melniboné to reckless obsession. Elric never reveals what else he seeks from the book, nor do we learn why Moonglum is journeying through those lands. In the end, however, Elric is left more inconsolable and pitiful than ever.

Another year has passed since "The Dreaming City," and Elric and Moonglum embark on another adventure in "The Singing Citadel." They sail to Dhakos in Jharkor. Elric's reputation is now legendary in the Young Kingdoms, filled with rumor and half-truths, and his celebrity further hampers his quest for peace. This time, his capricious aid is sought by Queen Yishana of Jharkor, whose kingdom has been invaded by the sudden appearance of a sorcerous citadel brought to the Realm of Earth by Balo the Jester. Hundreds have disappeared, lured by the citadel's haunting song. Curiosity in one of the few motivators that can now move Elric, and Yishana appeals to this. Both Moonglum and the reader wonder "if this grim destiny... is the figment of [Elric's] own guilt-ridden mood," and Elric briefly finds something akin to happiness and hope with Yishana. Yet, Elric has been further subordinated by Stormbringer and the sword, his past, and his fear of his doom prevent him from exploring this peace he has almost found. By the end of "The Singing Citadel," Elric turns to his obsessive vengeance (this time aimed at Yishana's treacherous mage Theleb K'aarna of Pan Tang) for comfort.

The Vanishing Tower's first section, "The Torment of the Last Lord," begins shortly after The Weird of the White Wolf's "The Singing Citadel" ends. Elric and Moonglum have been pursuing the treacherous Theleb K'aarna of Pan Tang. They must ally with and help Myshella, referenced in The Weird of the White Wolf's "Prologue: The Dream of Earl Aubec." Myshella, like Cymoril, has been forced into an enchanted sleep, once again replaying the Sleeping Beauty story. Meanwhile, Theleb K'aarna has a new ally of his own: Prince Umbda, Lord of the Kelmain Hosts from beyond the World's Edge.

"The Stealer of Souls" continues Elric's combat with Theleb K'aarna, whose powers of sorcery increase at every turn. The ever-present Moonglum returns, as do Queen Yishana of Jharkor and Elric’s cousin Dyvim Tvar, a dragon master of Melniboné. Four years have passed since Elric's destruction of Imrryr and Elric must join forces with Dyvim Tvar and a roaming band of mercenary Imrryrian warriors to defeat his enemy once again--this time by attacking the castle where the sorcerer hides. Dyvim Tvar and his fellows have understandably mixed feelings about fighting with Elric and this is the first the reader sees of the legacy of Elric's raid on the Dreaming City on his fellow Melnibonéans. This story, like many of the Elric tales, goes well beyond the usual sword and sorcery both in creativity and emotion. Battles are both personal and epic; sorcery is powerful and haunting; vengeance is costly and unfulfilling; Stormbringer's control of Elric and his dependence upon it ever grows.

"Kings in Darkness" is another ghost tale. Elric and Moonglum are forced to detour into the notorious Forest of Troos, a relic of the Doomed Folk, where they meet Zarozinia of Karlaak. Lady Zarozinia is the sole survivor of an attack by the Org upon her family's caravan and she begs Elric and Moonglum to escort her home. The three are then attacked themselves and, after first fleeing Elric decides to regain their lost possessions from the citadel of the king of Org. Their attempts to trick to the king of Org fail and they are captured and embroiled in the strange politics of the royal family. In this story, Elric discovers real love again and is optimistic about his redemption.

"The Flamebringers" finds Elric living in wedding bliss with Zarozinia in Karlaak, which adopted Elric despite his well deserved reputation. He has hung Stormbringer in the cobwebs of an attic and, though he promises he has retired from his earlier life, Zarozinia harbors doubts. As she predicts, Moonglum appears bringing news of a barbarian horde approaching Karlaak and Elric is forced to break his promises to her. He reclaims Stormbringer, to his horror and the sword's delight, and sets off with Moonglum in a desperate plan to save Karlaak by sabotaging the horde. Terarn Gashtek, Lord of the Mountain Hordes, has one powerful weapon: a captive sorcerer named Drinij Bara. Elric seeks to free him and to bring the aid of Dyvim Slorm, son of his childhood friend Dyvim Tvar and heir to the Dragon Caves.

The epilogue is "To Rescue Tanelorn...," a story of Rackhir the Red Archer. Tanelorn is once again threatened by the Lords of Chaos, who have sent Narjhan to lead a horde of beggars from Nadsokor against the fabled city. Rackhir sets off on a mystical quest with the mage-hermit Lamsar to seek the aid the Grey Lords while Brut stays to defend the city. Both must fight off the power and minions of Chaos. Elric does not appear in this short tale, as it takes places during "The Flamebringers." However, the story is very much in the same spirit.

The last book in the core of The Elric Saga (and the longest) is Stormbringer. Although broken into four books, Stormbringer reads much more like a novel because the serials are far more tightly connected.

In the first, "Dead God's Homecoming," Elric has found true happiness and contentment with Zarozinia. Her youth and innocence, he believes, has revived him from despair. But Zarozinia is kidnapped from the couple's bedroom, and Elric must resort to his old ways of sorcery and the sword in order to find her. Along the way, he learns that Zarozinia's capture is part of a larger scheme. The Cosmic Balance has turned and Chaos gains ground on the earth through the aid of Jagreen Lern, the Theocrat of Pan Tang, who is also responsible for Zarozinia’s kidnapping.

Elric must unite with the mythical Nihrain and last of the Imyrrian royal line--Dyvim Slorm, Dyvim Tvar's son. And Elric must decide whether to meet the demands of the kidnappers and allow the Dead Gods to return, bringing ultimate Chaos with them, or to forsake Zarozinia and save the world. The state of affairs rapidly deteriorates from here.

“Black Sword’s Brothers” finds Elric trying to convince the leaders of the Young Kingdoms to put aside their animosities and suspicions of him to unite against Jagreen Lern’s growing power. Elric and his evil blade must rally the forces of Law to rid the world of Chaos forever and to usher in a New Age where sorcery will have no place. Seeking the aid of Law, Elric and Moonglum set off across a sea now ruled more by Chaos than nature. They are diverted and eventually come to Sepiriz of the Nihrain, a servant of Fate. Sepiriz informs Elric that he must defeat the Dukes of Hell, who have been summoned into the world by Jagreen Lern. Through Sepiriz, Elric learns much of Stormbringer’s true nature. Yet Jagreen Lern is determined to continue his conquest of the world with or without the manifestations of the Dukes and, with Elric and Moonglum helpless prisoners, the battle rages.

To fulfill the quest, he sets out with Moonglum, Dyvim Slorm wielding Mourneblade (Stormbringer’s twin once carried by Yyrkoon), and old friend from Tanelorn, Rackhir the Red Archer, to gain the Chaos Shield from the mortal god Mordaga. Though successful, this too has disastrous consequences and Elric returns to the war against Jagreen Lern only to find that Zarozinia has once again been captured.

“Doomed Lord’s Passing” concludes The Elric Saga, and finds Elric back where the saga started: in the Dreaming City of Imrryr, ironically the one place untainted by the warping influence of Chaos. Fate and the White Lords send an exhausted and disillusioned Elric on one last errand, this time to find and to thrice blow the Horn of Fate.

Through “Black Sword’s Brothers,” “Sad Giant’s Shield,” and “Doomed Lord’s Passing,” Elric hacks his way through adventures and learns that which he has sought since Elric of Melniboné: his destiny.

Stormbringer also more thoroughly returns Elric to the themes raised in Elric of Melniboné. In addition, other questions, hinted at in the interceding books, are explored. What does it mean to be true to one’s nature? Can Elric be true to his twin natures of his Melnibonéan heritage (along with its allegiance to Chaos) and still be a tool and ally of good and Law? Can Elric take the best of both natures, or must he accept the difficulties along with the benefits? Is the natural evil of the Melnibonéans somehow less evil because of its purity and innocence than the corrupted evil of humans like Jagreen Lern, who had the possibility of good within themselves but rejected it? Is evil the only means to destroy evil? Can good spring from evil?

Is Elric, after all, nothing more than a tool of Fate? Can Fate be altered or subverted? Can the ultimate good that Elric and Stormbringer have the power to achieve erase or excuse all their malicious and evil deeds? Is the value of any good thus achieved lessened because of the manner of its birth?

At the heart of all these questions, of course, is Elric’s intense desire to be free of them. In Stormbringer, Elric shows the worst of his betrayals and Elric shows the best of his self-sacrifice, cleverness, and loyalty--traits for the most part lost in his adventures since leaving Imrryr. In a many ways, Elric becomes the great hero that the reader always sensed he could be. And, ironically, causes the greatest destruction in so doing.

In large part, what makes The Elric Saga so memorable is its bold ending (first suggested in the end of The Weird of the White Wolf's "The Dreaming City"). And although some say that Moorcock waivers from it with subsequent books featuring Elric, the poignant finality of The Elric Saga is unparalleled in the genre.