'Master of Chaos' – Michael Moorcock

So my 'Elric Re-Read' starts right here, with a story that has precisely no Elric in it whatsoever... Bit of an odd place to start then but once you've read 'Master of Chaos', it becomes pretty clear that this is maybe the only place to start. If it wasn't for the good Earl Aubec, there might be no Elric at all or if there was, he could well be a very different person to the iconic fantasy figure that we all know. Seriously, let me tell you about it...

Earl Aubec is on a mission to increase the holdings of the Queen Eloarde, of Klant, by the strength of his sword and not a lot else. That's how we find him; no army, just Aubec and his sword against the mysterious castle of Kaneloon and its occupant. Once the castle is taken, Eloarde's empire will be complete as there is nothing else to rule; the raw stuff of Chaos laps at the World's Edge.

Earl Aubec would rather be with Queen Eloarde but there's a job that she needs him to do and he will see it done. But is the castle really the limit of what he can conquer for his queen? The Dark Lady suggests otherwise but will he take up the challenge?

The clue is in the title... 'Master of Chaos' reads like a fairly straightforward tale of a quest (capture the castle) and if you approach it on those terms, it's a quick and fun read. An engaging character (a fairly reluctant hero, you could say) must overcome the traps of Castle Kaneloon in order to win through; it's up to you whether you think he has actually won anything by the end of this tale. I'd say that he's been played for a bit of a fool (he had the chance to stop there!) but that's true of all of Moorcock's 'heroes' (they always have a chance to stop but will keep on going at any cost, it's what they do) and maybe that's a trait that can be traced back to Aubec and his very special role in shaping that world.

'Master of Chaos' is more than just a tale of 'the quest' though. It's a creation tale on two fronts. Aubec's sense of honour, and lust for unconquered horizons, is played upon, by the Dark Lady, and he goes on (presumably) to create the rest of what will be Elric's world out of the stuff of raw chaos. Which makes me wonder if he is still out there somewhere, carving out new kingdoms for a Queen who is long dead... I'm cheerful like that. It's a neat bit of commentary on the guillibility of heroes as well as alluding to a theme, runnning through Moorcock's works, that heroes are always in service to a higher power than they believe.

As always though, there's still more to it than that. Moorcock isn't just telling the story of the creation of this world, he is also laying down the rules by which it will continue to develop and men can stand against Chaos in the years to come,

He said to her: 'The Lords of Chaos rule this territory. What will they have to say?'

'They can say nothing, do little. Even they have to obey the law of the Cosmic Balance which ordains that if man can stand against Chaos, then it shall be his to order and make Lawful. Thus the Earth grows, slowly.'

There is a lot going on 'Master of Chaos', most of which made me think that I could quite happily not be a hero in Moorcock's world, it never seems to end well for them. You can also see how, and why, Aubec's own nature takes root in the people that we will come to meet in future books. Which means that Earl Aubec basically sowed the seeds of this worlds ending, thanks for that Aubec...