Deities in the Elric series

Deities and supernatural beings play an active part in Michael Moorcock’s fantasy series of books about the character Elric of Melniboné. It is nearly certain that a god will be summoned, or at least mentioned, in every story. There are three main classes of gods: the Lords of the Higher Worlds, the Beast-Lords and the Elementals.

Other gods are sometimes mentioned, such as the Dead Gods who are not active through most of the series. The Swords Trilogy, set in the same “Multiverse”, introduces the Lost Gods Kwll and Rhynn.

Long before the time when the stories take place, the royal family of Melniboné established formal alliances with many of these deities, sometimes through a diabolical pact. As the Emperor of Melniboné, Elric enjoys the right to call on them for aid. The Ring of Kings, set with an Actorios stone, demonstrates his right to summon these supernatural beings and supplies him with the mystic energy to do so.

The Lords of the Higher Worlds

The Lords of the Higher Worlds are the powerful gods associated with Law and Chaos, or with the Cosmic Balance. They include the most powerful gods who are active on Earth at the beginning of the series.

Lords of Chaos

"Xiombarg" redirects here. For the spider, see Xiombarg (spider).

The Chaos Lords have the powers of gods but the behaviour and appearance of demons. When they appear at their worst, they deliberately inflict pain and suffering on mortals for amusement; even at best, they are not concerned with the harmful effects of their creations. The Revenge of the Rose openly portrays Arioch as insane. Sorcerers often gain power by entering into diabolical pacts with Chaos Lords. The Chaos Lords must act under certain limitations. For instance, Arioch must be summoned by Elric before he can manifest on Earth.

In the short story Elric at the end of time, Elric travels to the far future; "The End of Time" where he recognises one of the inhabitants there Lord Jagged as Arioch (see Dancers At The End Of Time).

Other Chaos Lords are mentioned by name only; these include Aesma, Alastor, six-breasted Arnara, Haborym of the Fires Which Destroy, Malohin, Marthim (Balaan-Marthim), Nizilfkm, Saebos, Teshwan, Verdelet, and Zhortra.

Balo, the Jester to the Court of Chaos, is able to move at will between the realms of Chaos and Law because he is not exactly a Chaos Lord. His function at court is to amuse and baffle the Lords of the Higher Worlds. At one point, he tries to convert Earth into his own Realm of Paradox.

Lords of Law

The White Lords of Law are much less developed than the Lords of Chaos. The stories are set in a cosmic cycle when Chaos is most powerful. Furthermore, Elric's alliance with Arioch means that he interacts chiefly with the Chaos Lords. When they appear, the Lords of Law are usually more benevolent than the Chaos Lords, who are seductive but also sinister and prone to losing their temper.

The Lords of the Inquisition

The Lords of the Inquisition appear in the story "To Rescue Tanelorn," where it is said that they "are pledged neither to Law nor to Chaos but will sometimes help either side if the whim takes them." The Grey Lords take pride, ironically, in their humility. These purposefully neutral gods are gods of the Balance and caretakers of Tanelorn, the city of the Balance.

The Dead Gods

The Dead Gods are a group of gods mentioned in the Elric series. The Dead Gods made a book aptly called "The Dead Gods Book" which supposedly contained the sum of all knowledge, however over time the book disintegrated into dust. The Dead Gods are even less developed than the Lords of Law (or White Lords); only Darnizhaan is mentioned. The Dead Gods (despite their name) did not die but merely left the world because of the fear of Stormbringer and Mournblade which had the power to slay them. The Dead Gods appear to have a chaotic bent as they sided with the Lords of Chaos, however this may be because they assumed the Lords of Chaos would defeat the Lords of Law.

The Beast-Lords

The Beast-Lords are the patron deities of the different types of animals that live in Elric's world. The Emperors of Melniboné entered into agreements with each of the Beast-Lords, though sometimes these gods mention that they have not been called upon for a long time. When Elric calls upon them for aid, some appear in person, while others help by influencing mortal creatures of their type.

This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Elementals

The Elementals are the embodiments of the four elements: Air, Fire, Water, and Earth.

Individual (named) elementals include:

Some third-party role-playing material based on the series postulates an air-elemental ruler named Lassa, the mother of Misha and Graoll, but no reference to such a deity appears in the stories themselves. Similarly, Kakatal is sometimes listed in RPG materials as the ruler of the fire elementals, but the evidence for this in the series is ambiguous at best.

There are also several types of lesser air (wind) elementals mentioned:[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "The Stealer of Souls", included in Elric: The Stealer of Souls (Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melniboné: Volume 1), Del Rey/Ballantine Books, 2008.
  2. "The Dreaming City", included in Elric: The Stealer of Souls (Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melniboné: Volume 1), Del Rey/Ballantine Books, 2008.
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