Elric’s Saga
Tales of the Albino
Elric first appeared in print in 1961 in Michael Moorcock’s novelette, “The Dreaming City” (Science Fantasy #47 June 1961; left). A further four novelettes and four novellas followed, the last of these terminating the sequence with the close of Elric’s angst-ridden life.
The five novelettes were collected in The Stealer of Souls (collection Neville Spearman 1963) and the four novellas were first published as a novel in Stormbringer (fix-up, cut, Herbet Jenkins 1965).
This early version of Elric’s saga – with the full text of Stormbringer, as it appeared in Science Fantasy – has recently been republished in a single volume as Elric (Orion/Gollancz 2001), Volume 17 in the Fantasy Masterworks series (right).
Moorcock wrote further Elric tales throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1977 DAW published what’s widely regarded as the canonical version of Elric’s saga: six books that collected the tales according to their internal chronology (and with the text of Stormbringer restored and revised).
A few oddments were collected in Elric at the End of Time (coll. NEL 1984).
In 1989 and 1991 two further books were added, and this octet was the basis of UK and U.S. omnibus editions in the 1990s.
| The “extended” Elric’s saga | Omnibuses | ||
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| I Elric of Melniboné (Hutchinson 1972, cut vt The Dreaming City 1972 US) |
Elric of Melniboné
(Millennium 1993) 
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Elric: Song of the Black Sword
(White Wolf 1995) 
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| The Fortess of the Pearl (Gollancz 1989) | |||
| II The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (Quartet 1976) | |||
| III The Weird of the White Wolf (DAW 1977) | |||
| IV The Sleeping Sorceress (NEL 1971; Ace 1971 as The Vanishing Tower) |
Stormbringer
(Millennium 1993) 
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Elric: The Stealer of Souls
(White Wolf 1998) 
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| The Revenge of the Rose (Grafton 1991 as The Revenge of the Rose: A Tale of the Albino Prince in the Years of his Wandering) | |||
| V The Bane of the Black Sword (DAW 1977) | |||
| VI Stormbringer (op. cit.) | |||
(The Bane of the Black Sword’s “To Rescue Tanelorn”, a tale of Rakhir the Red Archer, but not Elric, was collected in different volumes.)
Subsequently, Moorcock wrote a 12-issue series of comics, Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse, that weaves together stories featuring Elric and (at least) two other avatars of the Eternal Champion. Each story was illustrated by a different artist: Walter Simponson, Mark Reeve, and John Ridgway. Inspired by this, Moorcock began (and has now nearly completed) a new Elric trilogy, overlapping with his von Bek stories, but which stands somewhat apart from the main sequence.
Most recently, Moorcock has written a 4-issue comic series, Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer, again with Simonson. This is a direct prequel to Elric of Melniboné, so fits neatly into the chronology of Elric’s saga.
In the meantime, the saga has been further extended with prequels and interjections by Moorcock and other hands in two anthologies from, appropriately enough, White Wolf:
- Michael Moorcock’s Elric: Tales of the White Wolf (anthology White Wolf 1994, ed. Edward E. Kramer)
- Michael Moorcock’s Pawn of Chaos: Tales of the Eternal Champion (anthology White Wolf/Borealis 1996, ed. Edward E. Kramer.)
Adaptations of various tales, not listed here, include Hawkwind’s The Chronicle of the Black Sword and a number of graphic novels and comics.
And… and there just might be an Elric movie in the offing – or a trilogy! – produced and maybe directed by Chris and Paul Weitz… but presumably not until they’ve done with Northern Lights.
Chronology of Elric’s saga
By internal chronology, following the timeline developed by Dale E. Rippke, Moorcock’s sequence comprises the following stories.
Other Moorcock stories
Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse
Elric was the protagonist of one of the three interwoven Eternal Champion stories in this 12-issue series of comics, republished as a graphic novel (DC Comics/Vertigo 1999; right) with new introductory material by Moorcock. Moorcock himself has a cameo rôle (bottom right in the cover art) !
In each story the Eternal Champion pursues a quest… and these intertwine, culminating in a final battle between the forces of Law and Chaos, whose outcome will change reality forever.
Stylistically, this owes more to the von Bek and Begg stories than to Elric’s saga proper.
| Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse | |||
| “Moonbeams and Roses” |
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| The enigmatic woman called the Rose explores the Multiverse in search of “the Silverskin” – unaware that she is pursued by an old enemy – and enlists the aid of Jack Karaquazian, the greatest gambler ever to play the Game of Time. | |||
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Comic written by Michael Moorcock with art by Walter Simonson, Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse #1 November 1997 - #12 October 1998 (HELIX/DC Comics)
Cover of Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse #4 (right) by Walter Simonson |
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| “The Metatemporal Detective” |
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| The time-travelling Sir Seaton Begg is forced to unravel a series of mysteries that leads him from Third-Reich Germany to the London underworld, the crimes linked only by a disturbing clue: “Silverskin”. | |||
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Comic written by Michael Moorcock with art by Mark Reeve, Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse #1 November 1997 - #12 October 1998 (HELIX/DC Comics)
Cover of Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse #3 (right) by Walter Simonson |
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| “Duke Elric” |
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| The albino warrior is reunited with his cursed sword Stormbringer as he travels the land in the year 1000 A.D., searching for King Silverskin. | |||
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Comic written by Michael Moorcock with art by John Ridgway, Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse #1 November 1997 - #12 October 1998 (HELIX/DC Comics)
Cover of Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse #7 (right) by Walter Simonson |
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Moorcock’s new Elric–von Bek trilogy
| The Dreamthief’s Daughter | |||
| The Dreamthief’s Daughter |
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In the 1930s, Count Ulric von Bek has been harried and imprisoned by the Nazis for a black sword which is part of his family’s history – and for the Grail, which his cousin Gaynor believes is also in his care. Almost dead, he is rescued from Sachsenhausen concentration camp by two unknown figures – an Englishman called Bastable and an albino girl, Oona. With them he journeys to a strange, underground world. And there he meets a figure known to him only from dreams, in which they are somehow the same person, yet separate: Elric of Melniboné
As their stories intertwine, von Bek comes to know of Elric’s past and recent history and their very beings become one. Sometimes Elric is in control, sometimes Ulric. And the never-ending struggle between Law and Chaos must be fought out in both their universes, with the help of the enigmatic Dreamthief’s Daughter. |
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| Novel by Michael Moorcock (Earthlight 2001) | |||
| The Skrayling Tree | |||
| The Skrayling Tree: The Albino in America |
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| Ulrik von Bek is plagued by mysterious and disconcerting events: Having traveled to Canada with his beloved wife Oona, he is visited by a strange and youthful albino resembling himself. When Oona is abducted by a band of albino Native Americans, Ulrik trails the group by using The Skrayling Oak and soon finds himself in the multiverse where he is reconnected with his alternate self, Elric of Melniboné. It is there that Elric/Ulrik discover that their arch-nemesis Gaynor, now ruling over a mob of outcasts, is behind Oona's abduction. And it is also there that they find themselves once again battling supernatural forces in the never-ending struggle between Law and Chaos that rages on in both their universes. | |||
| Novel by Michael Moorcock (Warner Books 2003); previously announced as «[The] Silverskin» and «The White Wolf’s Legend». | |||
| The White Wolf’s Son | |||
| The White Wolf’s Son: The Albino Underground |
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One summer day in Yorkshire, young Oonagh von Bek finds herself on an extraordinary and perilous adventure. The earth outside her family home breaks open and she is chased into the subterranean realms of the Middle March by a pair of dangerous men.
Her grandmother and grandfather – Oona, the Dreamthief’s Daughter, and Elric, the last sorcerer of Melnibon – follow, encountering other important avatars of the Eternal Champion and seeking Elric’s son. Fanning out across the infinite realms of existence and time, they hope to stop Oonagh’s would-be kidnappers, Gaynor the Damned and his allies. All paths will converge in the dark empire of Granbretan, a land of cruel tyranny and wicked magic, where defilers and murderers plan the ultimate arrogance: to re-create the entire Multiverse – and replace the Cosmic Balance with themselves as eternal overlords… |
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| Novel by Michael Moorcock (Aspect 2005); previously announced as «Mournblade» and «Swordsman of Mirenburg». | |||
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The White Wolf anthologies
| Tales of the White Wolf | ||
| Michael Moorcock’s Elric: Tales of the White Wolf |
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An original anthology of Elric tales, all but one by “other hands”. While I’ve included Moorcock’s “The White Wolf’s Song” in the chronology above, these stories are generally seen as standing outside the Elric “canon”. Some of them, however, can readily be placed within Moorcock’s chronology; see Dale E. Rippke’s Timeline.
The quality of the stories is uneven. A few of those that stand out are:
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| Anthology edited by Edward E. Kramer (White Wolf 1994) [full contents] | ||
| Pawn of Chaos | ||
| Michael Moorcock’s Pawn of Chaos: Tales of the Eternal Champion |
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An original anthology of Eternal Champion tales, including four – maybe five! – Elric tales, all but one by “other hands”. This is generally regarded as less successful than the previous anthology.
Moorcock’s tale of Monsieur Zenith, “Sir Milk and Blood”, was collected in Earl Aubec and Other Stories in White Wolf’s Eternal Champion series. |
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| Anthology edited by Edward E. Kramer (White Wolf/Borealis 1996) [full contents] | ||
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