Have you ever felt you had to do what is right, no matter what others want? Well, Elric of Melnibone shows just that in our protagonist named Elric. Elric of Melnibone is written by Michael Moorcock. The novel’s genre is fantasy, and my reaction to it was great. The novel shows that not every story has a hero and some characters cannot always develop into a hero or a villain, which means they are an antihero. An antihero is a protagonist that lacks the heroic attributes, and Elric was one of the first antiheroes. Another attribute this book possesses is the author’s style, his style is very descriptive of a character and how they look. In the book, Elric starts out as the 428th sorcerer emperor; he is sickly and requires many drugs to maintain his strength and life. Elric’s cousin, Yyrkoon;…show more content… He accomplishes this by allowing Elric to drown in a naval battle with the humans of the Young Kingdoms.(p45) However, the god of the seas, Straasha, brings him back to life. The experience of death develops his character to show he got a second chance and he will not make the mistake again. Finally, we have the one object that developed his character the most and that was Stormbringer. Stormbringer is a sword that was a part of a demon race that took the form of the sword, and if killed by it, it could trap your soul in hell. Elric loathes the sword but is powerless without it.(p It is not just the characters’ development that makes this book so great, it is also the descriptions, and the author does just that in this novel. For example, here is a description of Elric “It is the color of a bleached skull, his flesh; and the long hair which flows below his
