OH, CRUEL FATE !

       as much as i love the reboot comics, i’m REALLY sad that they skipped over the  “sailor on the seas of fate”  storyline.  at least,  for now,  it seems … all we got of it was a single reference in  the white wolf  arc, when elric gets off the boat,  he turns back to see  hawkmoon  ( on the left ),  corum  ( in the middle ), and  erekosë ( on the right ).

elric notes that the captain of the ship was blind,  and that his other travellers had known about elric personally … when elric boards the ship,  he is introduced to hawkmoon, corum and erekosë,   but he doesn’t recall them despite them all knowing who he is.  these three are all  future avatars  of the champion,  and to them,  elric is a past life.  erekosë specifically remembers his life as elric, and corum is actually pleased and smiling to see elric once more ( they shared an adventure together in a future timeline,  and elric doesn’t remember it in THIS timeline because it hasn’t HAPPENED yet to him … this is also a rare happy moment for corum,  who is plagued by depression and vengeance ).

and this is also the story where elric feels some  dissociation  in regards to himself,  and who he is personally.  when elric finally learns that his body and soul were never really his own,  that other people remember his own life and memories.  it disturbs him and causes him stress,  to the point where he outwardly  refuses  to accept these facts.

later on in the story,  the four all journey out to find monsters together, and  elric finally accepts that his soul has been split apart and reincarnated and reused throughout time.  he allows his “other selves” to help him,  he allows them to literally  fight as one,   and they share their powers and summon a  four-headed,  eight-armed being  to fight in their stead.  this is one of the only stories where elric actually gets some actual development,  creates some friendships, learns more about himself /  his purpose in the universe, and works alongside others.

“While The Gods Laugh”

Michael Moorcock, Roy Thomas and P. Craig Russell

Epic Illustrated #14 (October 1982)

              THE  SCENERY  WAS  ALMOST  FAMILIAR   ,   with  the  crumbling  stone  walls  and  whispers  of  the  people  who  once  thrived  here.      the  scent   ,   too    …   it  was  of  death.     he  had  claimed  to   be  the  cause  of  this  civilization’s   fall   ,    his  once   home.      crimson   eyes  scanned   the   remains   ,    wandering  dead  with   little  brain  or  free   will   ….   it  was  all  too  familiar  now.       even  she   could  bring  forward  her  own  experiences  based  on  what  was  before  her.     AND  HE   ,    he  was  the  one  that  did  all  of  this.     

they   stood   side  by  side   ,    looking   onward  in  utter  silence.    spiraling  gusts  of  wind   and   the  setting   sun.    ‘   an  endless  fallen  ,   it  would  seem.    ‘     voice  driving  a  wedge  within  their  silence. 

       ‘   i  know  not  what  lies  here  which  cursed  them  so.   something  strange,  no  doubt . . .   it  is  beyond  my  power,  but  it  was  i  who  caused  this . . .

            there  they  wander  ------  the  remains  of  my  kin.    ’

he  is  quiet,  this  lord  of  ruins.  a  fitting  name,  now  apt  and  stark  in  the  dying  sunlight,  before  the  rotten  stares  of  everyone  he’d  known.  everyone  who’d  doubted  him.  assassin  of  his  people,  prince  weak  of  blood  and  heart.