Law and Chaos

Law and Chaos are the dominant metaphysical forces in the fantasy stories of Michael Moorcock, inspired by the work of Poul Anderson (especially Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions). Law and Chaos are in constant struggle, but they are kept in check by the Cosmic Balance, an even more powerful force for neutrality. The Eternal Champion acts to balance the advances of Law and Chaos as a servant of the Cosmic Balance, reincarnated or summoned to the worlds of the Multiverse where Chaos or Law is becoming dominant.

The Elric series contains the most information about Law, Chaos, and the Balance, as well as the beings called the Lords of the Higher Worlds: the deities who serve and represent Chaos or Law. This may be explained by three reasons. (1) Moorcock has written more about Elric than any other character. (2) Elric spends more time interacting with deities and cosmic forces because he is a powerful sorcerer. (3) The Lords of the Higher Worlds are more numerous in Elric's world or interact with it more frequently. In an episode mirrored in The Vanishing Tower and The King of the Swords, Elric meets another incarnation of the Eternal Champion, Corum Jhaelen Irsei, who explains to him:

In the world of Hawkmoon, for example, Chaos is powerful but is seldom personified. The Lords of the Higher Worlds appear mainly in the series about Elric and Corum.

Variations exist in the allegiance of intelligent races to Law or Chaos. In Elric's world, humans are naturally inclined towards Law and must pervert themselves to gain the assistance of Chaos, while the inhuman Melnibonéans feel a natural sympathy with Chaos. But in Corum's worlds, the humanoid Vadhagh as the creations of Law tend towards good. The Mabden (humans), though creations of Chaos, are capable of both good and evil without the manipulations of the gods.

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