The Vanishing Tower

I am not very well-versed in the tropes of heroic fantasy, but Elric, the albino emperor of Melnibone, seems an unusually morose protagonist for such a genre. Not that he is without reasons for feeling down. He is, more properly speaking, the ex-emperor of Melnibone, and he saw to its destruction himself. Stormbringer, his mighty runesword that seems to have a mind and appetite of its own, has taken the life of his one true love, and he has lost other lovers and companions along the way. As this novel opens, he is a distrusted exile in the Southern Kingdoms. His traveling companion is Moonglum. With a name like that, you might expect this sidekick to be the comic relief, but comedy is in short supply in Moorcock's multi-volume, multi-dimensional saga. I find this surprising because other Moorcock novels and series I have read may present a generally bleak vision but also contain laugh-out-loud episodes. When, after the requisite series of adventures, Elric finds himself in Tanelorn he has this realization.

"It seems I cannot lose myself in all this peace. Only violent action helps drive away my melancholy. I was not meant for Tanelorn."

The Vanishing Tower pits Elric against the resilient sorcerer Thelab K'aarna, a lively array of monsters, and the armies of Nadsokor, City of Beggars. (This last locale is a place so foul minor sorcery is required to keep the suffocating stink under control.) Elric also encounters again Erikose and Corum, two heros from other dimensions with whom he can combine to form a being known as The Eternal Champion. He has met them in an earlier novel, but during a dream state that has left them only a vague memory. Their presence introduces Moorcock's concept of the Multiverse that will fuel several hundred thousand words of fantasy writing spread over a dozens of books.

But what of Elric? In this fourth novel I am finding him a more compelling and more sympathetic character. This contemplative moment comes at the end of The Vanishing Tower.

"I am weary of gods and their struggles...But when will the gods weary of it, I wonder?...If they did it would be a happy day for Man. Perhaps all our struggles, our suffering, our conflicts are merely to relieve the boredom of the Lords of the Higher Worlds. Perhaps that is why when they created us they made us imperfect."