Stormbringer and Mournblade

bropous · 10-19-2002, 01:40 PM

From the Elric of Melnibone series by Michael Moorcock, the twin runeswords Stormbringer and Mournblade intrigued me deeply. My first exposure to them was in the Corum series when Elric and Erekose show up to help find Jhary-a-Conel to fight that Voloidon character.

The concept of a sword which drinks the souls of its victims and transfers their energy to its wielder is fascinating. The fact the vampire blades actually turn on their masters was a really cool twist.

I highly recommend the Elric series and other novels of the Eternal Champion. Elric may not be a completely sympathetic character (Kinslayer, Womanslayer) but the way the story line twists and turns shows a great imagination in Mr. Moorcock, although his political views and mine are 180 degrees opposite.

Coney · 10-20-2002, 10:02 PM

"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 same colour of bone, resting on each arm of a seat which has been carved from a single, massive ruby."

- Michael Moorcock
Elric of Melniboné

ah Elric, hated Emporer of the last days of the bright Empire (Melnibone).........the tortured albino reliant on the dark sword for his survival, if he wishes to pursue his destiny that is (Elric can survive on a mixture of herbs).

It did always puzzle me that Moorcock placed two black swords in the Young Kingdoms

Maybe because the young kingdoms also contained Tanelorn (the true neutrallity in Moorcocks multiverse) or that this world had more direct contact with the Gods and Elemental powers than any other, and Stormbringer and Mournblade each sought control over such a powerful world

10-19-2002, 01:40 PM	#1
bropous EIDRIORCQWSDAKLMED DCWWTIWOATTOPWFIO Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 1,176	Stormbringer and Mournblade From the Elric of Melnibone series by Michael Moorcock, the twin runeswords Stormbringer and Mournblade intrigued me deeply. My first exposure to them was in the Corum series when Elric and Erekose show up to help find Jhary-a-Conel to fight that Voloidon character. The concept of a sword which drinks the souls of its victims and transfers their energy to its wielder is fascinating. The fact the vampire blades actually turn on their masters was a really cool twist. I highly recommend the Elric series and other novels of the Eternal Champion. Elric may not be a completely sympathetic character (Kinslayer, Womanslayer) but the way the story line twists and turns shows a great imagination in Mr. Moorcock, although his political views and mine are 180 degrees opposite. __________________ "...[The Lord of the Rings] is to exemplify most clearly a recurrent theme: the place in 'world politics' of the unforeseen and unforeseeable acts of will, and deeds of virtue of the apparently small, ungreat, fogotten in the places of the Wise and Great (good as well as evil). A moral of the whole (after the primary symbolism of the Ring, as the will to mere power, seeking to make itself objective by physical force and mechanism, and so also inevitably by lies) is the obvious one that without the high and noble the simple and vulgar is utterly mean; and without the simple and ordinary the noble and heroic is meaningless." Letters of JRR Tolkien, page 160.

10-20-2002, 10:02 PM	#2
Coney The Buddy Rabbit Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Trapped in the headlights.. Posts: 3,372	"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 same colour of bone, resting on each arm of a seat which has been carved from a single, massive ruby." - Michael Moorcock Elric of Melniboné ah Elric, hated Emporer of the last days of the bright Empire (Melnibone).........the tortured albino reliant on the dark sword for his survival, if he wishes to pursue his destiny that is (Elric can survive on a mixture of herbs). It did always puzzle me that Moorcock placed two black swords in the Young Kingdoms Maybe because the young kingdoms also contained Tanelorn (the true neutrallity in Moorcocks multiverse) or that this world had more direct contact with the Gods and Elemental powers than any other, and Stormbringer and Mournblade each sought control over such a powerful world __________________ Blessed are the cracked, they let the light in Beatallica