The Citadel of Forgotten Myths-review

Intro

I heard about plagiarism between Moorcock and Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski. In reality, the opposite is true. Does The Citadel of Forgotten Myths work as a solid piece of fiction?

Writing

It would have been easy for Micheal Moorcock to make Elric an edge lord. All the ingredients are there; he is the forsaken prince who betrayed his kingdom and murdered his lover. He is dressed in black and suffers from albinoism. He also has a sword that absorbs the souls of those he kills and has a death Patreon-a lord of entropy. At first glance, he seems like Cloud from Final Fantasy 7 on steroids. However, Moorcock doesn’t take the self-indulgent route of Elric being miserable and calm all the time. He can cool, but that often comes with the trauma of his failings. Much like the real-world version of albinoism, his own body is more of a burden that constantly drags him toward death. Even his sword, Stormbringer, is less of your goth boyfriend fantasy but rather a horrific weapon straight out of Berserk, only used because Elric has no other means of keeping himself alive. Moorcock does an excellent job of deconstructing the edgy lousy boy hero archetype, showing just how unappealing that sort of life would be without the wish fulfillment.

The Citadel of Forgotten Myths is less of a continuous tale. But instead, a series of short stories strung together by Elric’s search for an albinoism cure sending him into a series of wacky adventures involving (among others) bloodthirsty flowers, bees with blue honey, and falling off the world's edge. Moorcock can stand out from the dozens of generic fantasy worlds through well-executed worldbuilding, such as the killer plants, or something new, like traveling to a new world involving falling off the old into the unknown and blue honey, which turns people into crazy murderers. I found these creative decisions highly engaging; they spiced up the narrative with new imagery or an opportunity to showcase a character. Such as (during the journey to a new world) we see the badassery of Elric, who remains utterly calm despite the ship plunging nose-first into the abyss.

A little problem with plagiarism

So you may have noticed that there was a snark in the opening. To avoid getting into the messy details of the plagiarism between Moorcock and Sapkowski, the latter shows strong evidence that he stole from Moorcock. I will not provide a detailed account here; I shall be linking to resources on that case. I'm talking about how I feel about this problem. There is a strong case that Sapkowski plagiarised Moorcock, from the characters to the interactions between characters, plotlines, or worldbuilding. I would push the series out of my mind and continue. But I can’t do that; I love The Witcher as a series, and I love Geralt; he’s an excellent lead and protagonist. I am unsure if I can continue reading and supporting Sapkowski when I know he probably stole from Moorcock. Is it right to enjoy and continue to read Sapkowski when he tries to sue Moorcock over things he (Sapkowski) stole? I have no idea. Cause the books are excellent, Witcher 3 changed video game RPG for the modern era. Would reading both books and supporting both authors be enough?

What do you think?

Conclusion

I would love to read more of Moorcock’s work; I wish that I hadn’t missed out on such an influential author until now. Although, I have to admit I have never seen Elric and Geralt in the same room.

Acknowledgments

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