Dorian Hawkmoon
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Dorian Hawkmoon, Duke of Köln is one of the fictional characters created by Michael Moorcock in his series of the Eternal Champion books.
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[edit] Overview
Dorian Hawkmoon is one of the less "problematic" characters Moorcock ever created a series around. Unlike the anti-hero Elric of Melniboné, or the alienated and tragic Corum, or the sometimes savage Erekosë, Hawkmoon is described as being very much close to an all-around "good guy", despite lacking some subtlety (or perhaps, for this very reason).[1]
Hawkmoon is captured by the evil forces of Granbretan (implied as a perverse and villanous version of Great Britain where the noble classes hide behind metal masks of various totem animals) who implant by means of arcane wizardlike technology a sinister jewel in his skull; he is sent to Kamarg(implied as a future version of the southern French region of Camargue) to act as a recon scout for a coming invasion (the jewel will record all he sees and transmit it in real time to Londra). Temporarly freed by the curse of the jewel he leagues with the stout and noble defenders of Kamarg and then embarks on a quest to find and implement the will of the Runestaff, a magical item which preserves the Cosmic Balance. During his adventures, he has to collect two more magical items, the Red Amulet held by a mad god and the Sword of the Dawn, winning many battles in which he is hopelessly outnumbered, but helped by loyal companions, by mysterious allies who arrive in the nick of time, and by dissension, scheming and treachery in the ranks of his foes.
The Runestaff is one of the major artifacts in Moorcock's multiverse. The Black Sword (whose aspects in Elric's milieu are the soul-stealing swords Stormbringer and Mournblade) is another. The Black Jewel, which manifested itself in the world of Hawkmoon as the Jewel implanted in Hawkmoon's skull, is akin to the Black Sword. Another artifact, the most powerful, is the Cosmic Balance: it powers the Runestaff to produce Order. The Horn of Fate is still another artifact or power. Often artifacts are carried by the Champion Eternal.
Some of the artifacts have servants. The enigmatic Warrior in Jet and Gold serves the Runestaff, as does Orland Fank of the Orkneys.
Hawkmoon's struggle with the empire of Granbretan was treated in The History of the Runestaff, which consists of four books ("The Jewel in the Skull", "The Mad God's Amulet", "The Sword of the Dawn", and "The Runestaff"); the setting of this tale is a post-holocaust Earth.[2]
Hawkmoon later returned as the main character of a sequel trilogy, the Chronicles of Count Brass ("Count Brass", "The Champion of Garathorm", and "The Quest for Tanelorn") that branched out into Moorcock's Multiverse proper. The second Hawkmoon series brought the Eternal Champion cycle to a conclusion of sorts -- though not exactly a finale, as subsequent Eternal Champion books show.
[edit] Music
Hawkmoon, along with other aspects of the Eternal Champion, is mentioned briefly in the song Damned for All Time by German power metal band Blind Guardian, on their Follow the Blind album. The band has also performed a song titled The Quest for Tanelorn, based on the Hawkmoon story (and recurring Moorcockian concept) of the same name. That track appears on their Somewhere Far Beyond album.
[edit] Other Media
The Sword of the Dawn, from the Hawkmoon saga, appears as a hidden weapon that may be found in the Reverse Keep section of the game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. In the Hawkmoon stories, it is a powerful sword that summons "The Legion of the Dawn", a nigh unstoppable legion of club-wielding primitive warriors who fight for the sword's wielder. In the game, it is a two-handed sword of moderate power, with a special move that allows it to summon "dawn warriors", to fight against the player's enemies. These warriors may be summoned as often as the player wishes.
The History of the Runestaff was adapted into comic book form by Gerry Conway, Roger Salick, and Rafael Kayanan. The adaptation was published by First Comics in 1986.[3]
In 1985, Kerie Campbell-Robson created a role playing game based on the Hawkmoon series, published by Chaosium and using its Basic Role-Playing system. While never attaining any lasting level of popularity among English-speaking gamers, the game became hugely popular in France, where local publisher Oriflam not only produced several editions of the base manuals but also several unique adventure supplements and geographical gazetteers which detailed lands never mentioned in the Moorcock novels, such as Spain and Ireland.
[edit] Trivia
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- DAW issued the Hawkmoon series in 1977 with cover art by Richard Clifton-Dey.
- The armies of the Vulture Legion of Granbretan fly from place to place in Ornithopters -- a technology featured in Frank Herbert's Dune.
- Historically, Cologne never had a Duke (Hawkmoon's title), it was governed by the Archbishop until 1806. However a dukedom could have well been instated after the anarchy and turmoil of the "Tragic Millennium" catastrophes, which reshaped the world.
- In the German translations of the novel, Hawkmoon is called "Falkenmond" (Falconmoon), because the translators obviously thought it sounded better than the literal translation of Hawkmoon ("Habichtmond") as well as better charachterizing the hero as a German.
- Several of the Gods of Granbretan were based upon 20th Century British Prime Ministers, e.g. Chirshil (Winston Churchill), the Howling God; Aral Vilsn (Harold Wilson), the Roaring God.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The History of the Runestaff
- ^ The History of the Runestaff
- ^ Hawkmoon: Jewel in the Skull at the Comic Book DB
[edit] External links
- Moorcock's Miscellany (formerly Tanelorn, Multiverse.org & Moorcock's Weekly Miscellany)
- Michael Moorcock's Comics Compendium, incl. Hawkmoon adaptations
