re: Elric of Melnibone Film Rights Optioned

quote:

---

Never read that series.

---

You should give it a try.

Elric is the perfect tortured anti-hero. He is an empathetic character born in to a race and culture of cruelty, malevolence, and omnipotent demeanor. The Melnibonean race are gods among men, and see "man" as chattel. Elric, an albino who is weak and invalid without the help of magic potions and spells, is unique in his pity for the younger races. This makes him an outcast among his kind. But being a Melnibonean, and even more so, an albino, makes him an outcast among the younger races. He is the last emperor of a dying race, a troubled and tortured soul who longs for peace. Yet he worships the god of chaos and wields the eldritch sword Stormbringer, a cursed and possessed blade that gives him superhuman strength and stamina, and devours the souls of his enemies in return. Elric needs Stormbringer to survive, and loaths the evil that it forces him to do to quench its desires.

Moorcock wrote these stories in the 1970's long before the genre had taken over the world like it has now. He was a pioneer in creativity and story telling.

After you read all of those, read the Fafrd and the Gray Mouser stuff!