Line #20 YMMV/TheElricSaga


1	* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: P. Craig Russell's adaptations of ''Stormbringer'' is amazing. Michael Whelan and Creator/YoshitakaAmano have also lent their talents to the saga with several covers for various editions.
2	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Elric himself. The audience sees him either as a refreshing departure from the standard fantasy hero or as a whiny moron who gets hit by the IdiotBall a bit too much. Lampshaded in some stories, where Elric tries to argue that he doesn't want to be pitied, but others say he wants nothing more.
3	* CatharsisFactor: Jagreen's demise at the hands of Elric may be the most brutal in the whole saga, but we can't help but feel a bit of satisfaction given the horrible things he has done.
4	* CompleteMonster: [[SorcerousOverlord Jagreen Lern]] is the ruthless Theocrat of Pan Tang. Becoming the champion of the forces of Chaos, Jagreen Lern takes to murdering the friends of [[AntiHero Elric]] while also running his domains with brutality, HumanSacrifice and turning countless people into [[AndIMustScream living, tormented statues]]. Jagreen Lern proceeds to lead an army across the lands, massacring those he comes across and conducting human sacrifice and torture. Torturing Elric when he is captured, Jagreen Lern later mutates Elric's wife into a twisted abomination Elric is forced to euthanize. Jagreen Lern later leads the forces of Chaos to dominate the world, stopping at nothing to harm Elric himself.
5	%%* CultClassic
6	* FandomRivalry:
7	** With Creator/JRRTolkien fans. Mostly due to the controversial ''Epic Pooh'' essay by Moorcock, which is widely criticised because it seems to get many aspects of Tolkien's work wrong, such as claiming he glorifies war, despite the emphasis on WarIsHell.
8	** Also with fans of ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' due to both them and Moorcock believing that Geralt of Rivia is a [[TheyCopiedItSoItSucks rip-off]] of Elric. Geralt shares numerous similarities with Elric and was inspired by him (They are both pale, white-haired swordsmen-sorcerors who are known as "The White Wolf" and use a lot of potions), they are in the end different characters, chiefly in that Geralt remains a "witcher", a marginal and liminal figure who moves between classes and is not really a chosen one figure, while Elric is an Emperor who has fallen on hard times and destined to bring about an apocalyptic prophecy.
9	* FranchiseZombie: The saga originally consisted of five short stories and the four novellas that became ''Stormbringer''. These nine stories, together, tell a more or less complete story. Then Moorcock decided to write the novel ''Elric of Melniboné'' as a prequel. Then he wrote some new short stories. Then he arranged all the short stories into fix-up novels. Then he wrote five more novels attempting to fill in the "gaps" in the original saga. Then the 12-issue maxiseries for Creator/DCComics and the prequel graphic novel ''Elric: Making of a Sorcerer''. And, of course, there's been talk of a FilmOfTheBook dating back to the '70s.
10	* HoYay:
11	** Dyvim Tvar is said to love only two things in life: dragons and Elric.
12	** Moonglum and Elric, [[EldritchAbomination Arioch]] and Elric.
13	* MainstreamObscurity: Despite being a seminal series in the fantasy genre, its nowhere near as well known as Tolkien's works, or ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', or for that matter Moorcock's favorite ''Literature/{{Gormenghast}}''. The main reason is perhaps the ArchivePanic and serial nature of the stories which makes it hard for new readers to find an accessible "starting point".
14	* NightmareFuel: Plenty to go around, especially the appearance of [[TortureTechnician Doctor]] [[LeanAndMean Jest]]. In the Titan Comics graphic novel he even [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/dr-jest/4005-108124/images/ looks like]] a cenobite from Hellraiser.
15	* OnceOriginalNowCommon: When the saga was coming out, it was revolutionary and ground-breaking. By late 80s, it was the most overused template for "edgy" fantasy. By the mid-90s, it was a laughstock about try-hard material for teenage metalheads. To say nothing about many things that made Elric stand out not only became cliches, but were simply done better by the numerous other works. Also, the angsty protagonist that goes through a TraumaCongaLine has pretty much lost its novelty decades ago.
16	* {{Squick}}: What Jagreen Lern does to [[spoiler:Zarozinia]] in ''Stormbringer.'' [[spoiler:He turned her into a giant slug with a human face]].
17	%%* TearJerker: What happens to Cymoril, Zarozinia, Moonglum and [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Elric]].
18	* {{Wangst}}: A good portion of pages in most books is dedicated to describe Elric's self-loathing. It reaches SelfParody in some moments, where it's clear even people who've just met Elric are already fed up with it.

Context YMMV / TheElricSaga