#erekose the eternal champion

[remingtonblake]

Two pretty boys in armor

[retroillustrates]

The Eternal Championesses

I've made half of a FB group mad with this art. It's so funny.

[retrocatastrophy]

I don't know why, but the fact that Moorcock just fuses his main characters makes me really euphoric and giddy. And it's not even a one time thing.

Elric, Erekose, Hawkmoon, Courm (sailor on the seas of fate/quest for Tanelorn)

Elric, Erekose, Corum (partial) (the vanishing tower/king of the swords)

Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum (the Balance lost)

I initially thought they could form the Obsidian-Zord fusion only in Gagak, but they could do it again without that enhasment in Balance lost.

[paraphernaliawagon]

one more post about moorcock tonite: i don’t remember what character says this to whom and in what book (possibly erekose in sailor on the sea of fate but i’m not sure): “he is many men. perhaps he is all men.” blew my mind when i was 12 or 13 or so. i have a vivid memory of riding on the monorail in downtown seattle (not something i did often, it was a special occasion? possibly Christmas Eve when my family always went to a hibachi restaurant that isn’t there anymore and to look at the gingerbread houses displayed in the lobby of a fancy hotel) and looking around at the people around me thinking like “that lady over there is the eternal champion and she doesn’t even know it. every single person here and everywhere in every reality is the same person and we don’t even know it.” of course everyone means me too, but that’s almost too scary to think about

[clericsofohm]

The Gateway - Fan Made Erekose/Eternal Champion Song (Clerics of Ohm)

[ulrichvonbek]

Erekosë: well my gf hates the Eldren, guess I’ll genocide them :/

Erekosë: oh wait shit my bad the Eldren are pretty chill and maybe I shouldn’t genocide them

Erekosë: I’ll just genocide humanity instead that’ll fix it

[harunokazesblog]

What do you think about the Alternate Universe Ending Theory?

I just read that theory on Titanfolk (Reddit), it’s very extensive (LOL) and I find it very interesting because are a strong support point like the panel of ch 120 where Gothkasa and GeekArmin appear, We ‘can’ see the link between that AU world, the roads and the world from SNK.

In an interview Isayama said that the characters of the AU are just as they’re in the original work, they have the same personality.

I think it's a hit for possible multiverses which is the case with the Muv-luv visual novel- alternate universes, where the protagonist dies and is 'reborn' on alternate universe with the same companions and friends.

The fandom has also noticed the similarity of the plot and difficulties of Eren with 'Erekose' protagonist of  ''The Eternal Champion'', where he decides to save the Eldren people (it sounds very similar to Erdians)  destroying the human army, he proceeds to kill every human being on the planet.

Without a doubt, the author has had many sources of inspiration, Norse mythology, games, even manga that author reads 'hone ga kusaru mare' a group of friends murdered a man, time passes and each one have the internal fight between 'living happily and ‘feeling guilty’.

Talking about the theory, I think (MY opinion) SNK is the type of story, where every alteration of the past has already happened, this allows the story to still be within one singular timeline but it goes in cycles and We can see that Eren seeks to break it, from a storytelling perspective, alternative universes/timelines are a huge risk because the main plot would lose it’s own weight.

The rest of the points focused on ship issues that really contribute little on the subject:

- Historia’s baby who has nowhere to support himself (the final panel and born purpose was forgotten)

- The Grisha/Eren parallel where he stay with Historia on SNK reality, while in the alternative reality he stays with Mikasa (when Eren AU’s facial expressions only show deep disinterest and boredom for her).

Leaving some things to be interpreted and analyzed sounds like Isayama wants us to continue speculating, it will be interesting to see how the link between the clues left from that panel (Mikasa/Armin AU) does.

Thanks for asking.

[fantasyinvader]

So, finished reading Sailor on the Seas of Fate...

...

Fuck, that was incredible. I mean, this was a follow up to Elric of Melnibone. Moorcock writing three new adventures that flowed from one to the next as a prequel to the original Elric stories. And it had that feel of being small adventures, rather than being a longer story broken into three arcs all tied to sailing various seas.

The first story, Sailing to the Future, is the weakest. It goes more into the Eternal Champion concept, with Elric teaming up with Hawkmoon, Corum and Erekose to deal with a pair of universe devouring sorcerer siblings. I found the journey of the Blind Captain to be a more interesting tale that I wish I could have continued. But it’s an Elric tale, so we go more into the EC concept and the whole thing at points feels like drugs were definitely involved. Though it is a good adventure, to get the most out of it you need to be more familiar with the other champions. Hell, this may be the first time Elric adventures with Corum but Corum tells him and Erekose that they journeyed together before from his perspective (Corum King of the Swords). I don’t feel the other champions got too much time to shine though,

The second story, Sailing to the Present, I’m already a little familiar with. It’s the story the French adapted into the third volume of their Elric comic The White Wolf. Though The White Wolf certainly is a good read (even mentions versions of Fortress of the Pearl and Sailing to the Future) and feels more like Elric than the first two volumes, I have to say this version is superior. TWW served as a hook to further mysteries surrounding Melnibone and it’s people, and it’s introduction to Smiorgen Baldhead I feel is more...iconic? I guess. But it just feels like a hook book, especially with the changes made clear on it’s last pages (I really want Volume 4 to come out, even if it’s going into a vastly different version of The Dreaming City).

SttP, on the other hand, stands more on it’s own. Like it is lead into by Sailing to the Future and leads into Sailing to the Past, but it feels more like a complete tale. It’s Elric versus an ancient Melnibonean noble, with Elric’s sorcery weakened by being in another dimension. It’s a weakened Elric attempting to reason with bandits before resorting to slaughtering them, rather than just coming in an massacring them. It’s Elric needing time to summon supernatural aide to his side, turning the tides of battle. There’s a sadness to the tale of Saxif, one that talks about the Melnibonean condition and what separates them from humanity. And it’s great.

The final story is Sailing to the Past, where Elric joins an adventurer to find the lost city his people fled from over ten thousand years prior. It contradicts Elric Making of a Sorcerer, in the explanation for why Elric’s people are the way they are. In that story, the Bright Empire feel into hedonistic sadism because Elric’s ancestor was played. That his lover was possessed and turned into a tyrant, requiring Melnibone to be retaken only for her to die, the humans who helped him turned on the people, and said ancestor saying fuck it, I’m done playing nice. Here, it’s a bit more Lovecraftian. The ancient city was where the Lords of Law and Chaos had to set the rules for their future conflict, and the people were promised the aide of Arioch if they were to leave. Elric surmises that this messed up their minds, as they just got confirmation of their place in the grand scheme of things. And it ends with Elric ignoring the warnings and fulfilling the conditions that would start said war.

In other words, Elric triggers the end of his world but it’ll take a few books for that to happen. And Stormbringer is Stormbringer, and does what Stormbringer does, which in this case is kill Elric’s allies (though Count Baldhead is spared for the time being). This was original a stand-alone tale, titled Eyes of the Jade Man, and Moonglum was with Elric instead of Baldie. Neil Gaiman has talked about owning that version as a kid like it was the coolest thing ever (I mean, that version got retconned and revamped. It’d be a great collector’s item), especially since it was written in green ink. The whole thing feels like Law was arranging fate so that Elric would do this, much like his role in the final story.

But really, this was the best story, and I feel like it should have been part of the original saga rather than later inserted. I could see why Moorcock added it, though I do have to question the placing. With Sailing to the Past and it being before The Dreaming City, it makes everything afterwards feel like a reaction to Elric’s actions. That fate is arranging itself for that epic final showdown. But with Moonglum, that would place it after While the Gods Laugh. It would still have that feel of the gods fucking with Elric (just look at that title), but I dunno. I guess it would make it feel like Elric had more control of his life prior to that, with the gods taking it away. But then again, Stormbringer! made it clead that the Gods have been setting up their war for a long, long time.

The version I have has more stories, only one of which I haven’t yet read. But this made me really, really want to reread The Dreaming City which is included in the volume.

[hellascorpions]

Amano x Moorcock

[the-order-of-release]

The bad thing about reading The Eternal Champion is that I'm like 'yep you're right erekose, humans are literally the worst and there is no hope for us, there is no hope as long as we exist'

[williemeikle]

Book review: 4/5 Stars to THE ETERNAL CHAMPION

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s getting on for 50 years now since my first read of THE ETERNAL CHAMPION, but I enjoyed it as much this time through as I did back then.

It’s the pulpiest of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion cycle, and the story that really kicks the whole thing off, with John Daker called from a life on Earth to be Erekose, champion of humanity, once and future hero, and wielder of a bloody huge sword of power.

It’s all a bit Arthurian, with similar motifs of betrayal and doom, but Moorcock’s energy carries the whole thing along at a rollicking speed. There’s a wonderful set piece sea battle, we get glimpses of the Eternal Champion’s inner conflict that will drive the whole series, and there are battles and mass slaughter aplenty.

Moorcock’s sense of a striking visual is much in evidence, even in the somewhat pulpy prose on show here, but it’s a great starter for the epic adventures in the multiverse to come, and I’m looking forward to the rest of it with the same passion I used to have while waiting impatiently for him to write the next installment way back in the day.

At least all I have to do now is walk to the bookcase to take the next book down.

View all my reviews

[vintagegeekculture]

Something which might be of interest: Bungie's old Marathon Trilogy contains a possible reference to the Elric Saga (a terminal late in Marathon 2 describes an 'eternal hero' who's been identified as 'Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh' to name a few). And while I don't think this bit was planned out that far in advance, the Trilogy's main AI is named Durandal, and in the Elric saga proper, Roland 'n Durandal are incarnations of the Champion and Black Sword, respectively...

You have a good eye! Reminds me of how Heinlein slipped a Lensman into “The Cat Who Walks Through Walls.”

It’s really been a mystery to me why Michael Moorcock never opened up his Eternal Champion stories and its basic assumptions/constants (e.g. the black sword, balance between Law and Chaos, Eternal Champion as agent of balance, the Runestaff, the Grail, multiverses/omniverses as the source of true magic) up to anthologies of other writers who want to tell new Eternal Champion stories in new settings. He sort-of did that with Howard Chaykin’s comics about the new adventures of Erekose (”The Sword of Heaven, the Flowers of Hell,” which like everything Chaykin does is highly recommended by me), or that great comic that came out in 2008 that was like Crisis on Infinite Champions, but you know what I mean. 

Surely Mike Resnick, Mercedes Lackey, Peter David, Kevin J. Anderson, George R. R. Martin, Alan Moore (Moorcock’s good friend and fellow beardo, who doesn’t do short fiction as much as he should), Melinda Snodgrass, Alan Brennert, Kristine Katheryn Rusch, S.M. Stirling....surely they have some stories of the Eternal Champion to tell. And themed anthologies of short fiction are coming back into style these days. I would love to see Kevin J. Anderson in particular do a sequel to Moorcock’s the Sundered Worlds, his one science fiction novel. 

[retroillustrates]

They're watching either Amadeus or some universal monster trilogy from the 40s.

[retrocatastrophy]

Erekose: Alright, ready fellows?

Ilian: Hey, not all of us are "fellows" fella.

Dorian: Alright, champion that looks like a girl.

[biggoonie]

MICHAEL MOORCOCK LIBRARY: THE SWORDS OF HEAVEN, THE FLOWERS OF HELL HC

Writer: Michael Moorcock & Howard Chaykin Artist: Howard Chaykin 144pp • $29.99 • On sale Date: April 18, 2017 • ISBN: 9781785863307 Award-winning writer and artist Howaard Chaykin joins forces with Michael Moorcock to bring the Eternal Champion known alternatively as Erekose, Urlik of Skarsol or John Daker to vivid life in this classic tale from 1979. Includes an exclusive introduction by acclaimed comic book writer Cullen Bunn.

[retroillustrates]

Eternal Champions