Michael Moorcock Multiverse
- You may be looking for the in-universe setting.
The Michael Moorcock Multiverse was a shared continuity encompassing the oeuvre of Michael Moorcock, with nearly every story written by Moorcock taking place within the setting termed "Renark's multiverse" by the novel The Coming of the Terraphiles [+]Loading...["The Coming of the Terraphiles (novel)"]. Numerous more specific connections existed between the various threads of Moorcock's continuity. The term "multiverse" was allegedly originated in its science fiction context by Moorcock in his early novel The Sundered World, with the concept becoming central to his continuity.
The Moorcock Multiverse is relevant to Tardis Wiki due to its crossovers with the Doctor Who universe. Primarily, the novel The Coming of the Terraphiles was a Doctor Who novel written by Moorcock which took place in the Moorcock Multiverse continuity. Additionally, the Moorcock character Seaton Begg crossed over with several Doctor Who universe characters in the Obverse Sextet.
Stories by Moorcock set in the Multiverse
Stories published before The Tale of the Eternal Champion
For the first three decades of Moorcock's career, his work was released without the overall shared universe Multiverse branding. Continuity formed between Moorcock's works over the years, with some of his stories of the 1960s later being recontextualized as part of the Multiverse canon.
Title | Type | Series | Notes | Original release |
---|---|---|---|---|
Daughter of a Warrior King | Short story | Sojan the Swordsman | Introduces Sojan, later established as an Eternal Champion in Phoenix in Obsidian (1970). | Tarzan Adventures Vol 7 22 31 August 1957 |
Mission to Asno | Tarzan Adventures Vol 7 25 21 September 1957 | |||
Revolt in Hatnor | Tarzan Adventures Vol 7 34 23 November 1957 | |||
The Hordes Attack | Tarzan Adventures Vol 7 38 21 December 1957 | |||
The Purple Galley | Tarzan Adventures Vol 7 47 22 February 1958 | |||
The Sea Wolves | Tarzan Adventures Vol 7 48 01 March 1958 | |||
Sojan at Sea | Tarzan Adventures Vol 7 49 08 March 1958 | |||
The Sea of Demons | Tarzan Adventures Vol 7 50 15 March 1958 | |||
Prisoners in Stone | Tarzan Adventures Vol 7 51 22 March 1958 | |||
Sojan and the Plain of Mystery | Tarzan Adventures Vol 8 9 31 May 1958 | |||
Sojan and the Sons of The Snake God | Tarzan Adventures Vol 8 12 21 June 1958 | |||
Sojan and the Hunters of Norj | Tarzan Adventures Vol 8 15 12 July 1958 | |||
The Dreaming City | Novelette | Elric of Melniboné | Introduces Elric, established as an Eternal Champion in The Eternal Champion (1962). Elric uses the parasitic rune-covered sword Stormbringer, which is established as a form of the Roogalator in PROSE: The Coming of the Terraphiles [+]Loading...["The Coming of the Terraphiles (novel)"]. Introduces Melniboné, a powerful prehistoric Earth civilisation; the Eleventh Doctor refers to the existence of similar prehistoric civilisations in PROSE: The Coming of the Terraphiles [+]Loading...["The Coming of the Terraphiles (novel)"]. | Science Fantasy 47 June 1961 |
While the Gods Laugh | Introduces the forces of Law and Chaos, as well as their battle, here named "the Eternal struggle". | Science Fantasy 49 October 1961 | ||
The Stealer of Souls | Science Fantasy 51 February 1962 | |||
The Eternal Champion | N/A | Introduces the concept of the Eternal Champion, here explained as a function of eternal return. Introduces the recurring Champions John Daker and Erekose; other mentioned Champions include Ulysses, Roland, and "Alric". Introduces the Ghost Worlds. | Science Fantasy 53 June 1962 | |
Caribbean Crisis | Novel | Sexton Blake | Precursor to the Seaton Begg stories. Moorcock references The Sexton Blake Library in The Coming of the Terraphiles. | The Sexton Blake Library 501 18 June 1962 |
Kings in Darkness | Novelette | Elric of Melniboné | Science Fantasy 54 August 1962 | |
The Flame Bringers | Science Fantasy 55 October 1962 | |||
The Sundered Worlds | N/A | Introduces Jon Renark and Asquiol of Pompeii, the latter of whom is later revealed as an Eternal Champion in Phoenix in Obsidian (1970). First usage of term "multiverse" and the first appearance of Renark's multiverse, the Rim, Guide Sensors, Limbo, the centre of the multiverse, and the Galactic Union. Features the Ghost Worlds, first named here the "Shifter system". The Ghost Worlds are close to the planet "Migaa", which the star Miggea in The Coming of the Terraphiles [+]Loading...["The Coming of the Terraphiles (novel)"] is named in reference to. "The Hole" from this story is reimagined as a super-black hole in The Coming of the Terraphiles [+]Loading...["The Coming of the Terraphiles (novel)"]. In this story, Renark discovers that the Ghost Worlds were created in a war between two alien races, with the planets being impacted by a weapon which forever propelled them sideways through the multiverse. Renark discovers a dying race called the Originators who use each plane of the multiverse like a womb to create species (such as humanity) to become their successors. Renark ascends his consciousness to become one with the multiverse, touching the minds of every human in his universe and initiating an exodus into a new universe so that they may escape the imminent death of their universe and perhaps succeed the Originators. The Coming of the Terraphiles [+]Loading...["The Coming of the Terraphiles (novel)"] indicates that similar events occur in the Doctor's universe. |
Science Fiction Adventures 29 November 1962 | |
To Rescue Tanelorn | Elric of Melniboné | Science Fantasy 56 December 1962 | ||
The Blood-Red Game | N/A | Sequel to The Sundered Worlds, with the return of Asquiol of Pompeii. Features the multiverse. | Science Fiction Adventures 32 May 1963 | |
Dead God's Homecoming | Novella | Elric of Melniboné | Science Fantasy 59 June 1963 | |
Flux | Short story | N/A | A time travel story, in which a time traveller discovers that Nietzche’s eternal return is false and time is a chaotic flux. Limbo appears. | New Worlds 132 July 1963 |
Not by Mind Alone | A multiverse story establishing that relativity means that among the infinite dimensions occupying the space of Earth, each person experiences private dimensions rationalized as dreams and hallucinations. | New Worlds 134 September 1963 | ||
Black Sword's Brothers | Novella | Elric of Melniboné | Science Fantasy 61 October 1963 | |
The Time Dweller | Short story | The Time Dweller | Introduces the Scar-Faced Brooder, established as an Eternal Champion in [which?]. Depicts the final years of Earth, in which it is ruled by “Lords of Time” known as the “Chronarchy” who use the Great Regulator to control Time the same way one controls matter. The Chronarchy’s descendants will become “Time Dwellers”, travellers in time. | New Worlds 139 February 1964 |
Sad Giant's Shield | Novella | Elric of Melniboné | Science Fantasy 63 February 1964 | |
Doomed Lord's Passing | Science Fantasy 64 April 1964 | |||
The Dream of Earl Aubec | Short Story | Fantastic Stories of Imagination May 1964 | ||
Stormbringer | Novel | Fixup novel assembled from Dead God's Homecoming, Black Sword's Brothers, Sad Giant's Shield, and Doomed Lord's Passing | 1965 | |
The Sundered Worlds | Multiverse Trilogy | Fixup novel assembled from The Sundered Worlds and The Blood-Red Game. | 1965 | |
The Fireclown | Introduces Alan Powys, later revealed as an Eternal Champion in Phoenix in Obsidian (1970). | 1965 | ||
Warriors of Mars | Kane of Old Mars | Introduces Michael Kane, established as an Eternal Champion in [which?]. This setting was heavily inspired by John Carter; relevantly, The Coming of the Terraphiles [+]Loading...["The Coming of the Terraphiles (novel)"] features several mentions of Barsoom. | 1965 | |
Blades of Mars | 1965 | |||
Barbarians of Mars | 1965 | |||
Escape from Evening | Short story | The Time Dweller | A native of the Moon, named a “Moonite”, journeys the House of Time where the Chronachy rules. Introduces the Megaflow, a dimension similar to the Time Vortex in which time travellers travel. | New Worlds 148 March 1965 |
Preliminary Data | Jerry Cornelius | Introduces Jerry Cornelius, later revealed to be an Eternal Champion in Phoenix in Obsidian (1970). Cornelius uses the needlegun, one form of the Eternal Champion's weapon. Shows one possible fate of Cornelius, merging with his rival Miss Brunner to become a hermaphroditic harbinger of the end of mankind. | New Worlds 153 August 1965 | |
The Pleasure Garden of Felipe Sagittarius | N/A | Introduces Minos Aquilinas, metatemporal detective. | New Worlds 154 September 1965 | |
The Golden Barge | N/A | Introduces Jephraim Tallow. | New Worlds 155 October 1965 | |
The Wrecks of Time | Novella | N/A | Introduces John Faustaff, later revealed as an Eternal Champion in the 1996 revision of the story. The plot concerns a multiversal crisis affecting a series of alternate Earth with numerical designations from "Earth-1" to "Earth-15". | New Worlds 156-158 November 1965 - January 1966 |
The Girl Who Shot Sultry Kane | Short story | N/A | This story was written by Moorcock for Golden Nugget, an unsuccessful adult magazine. It was later rewritten to have continuity with the multiverse. | Golden Nugget 1966 |
The LSD Dossier | Novel | Nick Allard of SMASH | Co-written with Roger Harris. This series was later rewritten to be connected to Jerry Cornelius. | 1966 |
Somewhere in the Night | 1966 | |||
Printer's Devil | 1966 | |||
Phase Three | Short story | Jerry Cornelius | A loose adaptation of the Elric story While the Gods Laugh (1961). | New Worlds 160 March 1966 |
Behold the Man | Novelette | N/A | Introduces Karl Glogauer, later revealed as an Eternal Champion in [which?]. This is a time travel story in which Glogauer goes to ancient Judaea to find Jesus Christ, discovering Christ's non-existence as a contemporary religious figure and accidently creating the myth himself, ending in his crucifixion. | New Worlds 166 September 1966 |
The Ice Schooner | Novel | N/A | Introduces Konrad Arflane, later revealed as an Eternal Champion in Phoenix in Obsidian (1970). Features the mariner Urquart, a version of whom appears in The Coming of the Terraphiles [+]Loading...["The Coming of the Terraphiles (novel)"]. | SF Impulse 9-11 November 1966 - January 1967 |
The Jewel in the Skull | Novel | Dorian Hawkmoon | Introduces Dorian Hawkmoon, later revealed as an Eternal Champion in Phoenix in Obsidian (1970). Hawkmoon wields the Runestaff, which is revealed as a form of the Roogalator in PROSE: The Coming of the Terraphiles [+]Loading...["The Coming of the Terraphiles (novel)"]. | 1967 |
The Singing Citadel | Novelette | Elric of Melniboné | The Fantastic Swordsmen May 1967 | |
Sorcerer's Amulet | Novel | Dorian Hawkmoon | 1968 | |
The Sword of the Dawn | 1968 | |||
The Final Programme | Jerry Cornelius | Expanded from the previous Jerry Cornelius stories in New Worlds. | March 1968 | |
The Delhi Division | Short story | New Worlds 185 December 1968 | ||
Behold the Man | Novel | N/A | An expansion of the 1966 novella. | 1969 |
The Black Corridor | N/A | A stand-alone science fiction story. | 1969 | |
The Runestaff | Dorian Hawkmoon | 1969 | ||
The Winds of Limbo | N/A | A variation of The Fireclown. | 1969 | |
The Tank Trapeze | Short story | Jerry Cornelius | New Worlds 186 January 1969 | |
A Cure for Cancer | New Worlds 188-91 March-June 1969 | |||
The Dodgem Arrangement | Speculation 23 July 1969 | |||
The Peking Junction | The New SF: An original anthology of modern speculative fiction November 1969 | |||
The Distant Suns | Novella | Illustrated Weekly of India June-November 1969 | ||
The Adventures of Jerry Cornelius: The English Assassin | Comic | Written with M. John Harrison | International Times 57-71 June 1969-January 1970 | |
The Chinese Agent | Novel | Jerry Cornell | A rewritten version of the Nick Allard novel Somewhere in the Night. Introduces Jerry Cornell, a version of Jerry Cornelius and another incarnation of the Eternal Champion as established in Phoenix in Obsidian (1970). | 1970 |
The Eternal Champion | The Eternal Champion | An expansion of the 1962 novelette. | 1970 | |
Phoenix in Obsidian | Many characters are named as incarnations of the Eternal Champion: Corum Jhaelen Irsei, Konrad Arflane, Asquiol of Pompei, Aubec of Kaneloon, Shaleen, Artos, Alerik, Erekose, Ryan, Dorian Hawkmoon, Alan Powys, Jerry Cornell, Brian, Umpata, Sojan, Klan, Clovis Marca, Pournachas, Oshbek-Uy, Ulysses, Ilanth, and Jerry Cornelius. Features a visit to an earlier era of the Chronarchy's universe from The Time Dweller (1964), introducing an Eternal Champion named Urlik Skarsol. |
1970 | ||
The Sunset Perspective | Short story | Jerry Cornelius | The Disappearing Future 1970 | |
Sea Wolves | Science Against Man 1970 | |||
The Nature of the Catastrophe | New Worlds 197 January 1970 | |||
Last Vigil | N/A | A dying world story set in the Rim. Deals with themes of the eternal cycle of death and rebirth. | Vision Of Tomorrow 11 August 1970 | |
A Cure for Cancer | Novel | Jerry Cornelius | An experimental fixup novel combining all the Jerry Cornelius stories published between December 1968 and January 1970. Various contradictions exist between stories, with the multiverse mentioned in this novel as a possible explanation. | 1971 |
The Knight of the Swords | Swords of Corum Trilogy | Introduces Corum Jhaelen Irsei, previously mentioned as an Eternal Champion in Phoenix in Obsidian (1970). Corum's full name is an anagram of "Jeremiah Cornelius", suggesting him to be another version of Jerry Cornelius. | 1971 | |
The Queen of the Swords | 1971 | |||
The King of the Swords | 1971 | |||
The Sleeping Sorceress | Novella | Elric of Melniboné | Warlocks and Warriors 1971 | |
The Warlord of the Air | Novel | A Nomad of the Time Streams | Introduces Oswald Bastable, revealed as an Eternal Champion in [which?]. | 1971 |
The Nature of the Catastrophe | Anthology | Jerry Cornelius | An anthology of Cornelius stories, with original linking material providing a chronology of Jerry's life. | 1971 |
Voortrekker | Short story | Quark 4 1971 | ||
(All the) Dead Singers | Ink 19 October 1971 | |||
An Alien Heat | Novel | The Dancers at the End of Time | 1972 | |
Breakfast in the Ruins | N/A | Features Karl Glogauer from Behold the Man (1966). The concept of possible realities is explored, with 18 possible lives of Glogauer seen. | 1972 | |
Elric of Melniboné | Elric of Melniboné | 1972 | ||
The English Assassin | Jerry Cornelius | Introduces recurring character Una Persson. | 1972 | |
A Sword Called Stormbringer | Comic | Conan the Barbarian | Co-written by Moorcock and Roy Thomas, this story in the Marvel Comics Conan series featured Elric. Elric and Conan are depicting as existing in the same time zone in separate universes, with Elric travelling between them using magical runes. Conan's universe is shown to have agents of Law and Chaos. | Conan the Barbarian 14-15 March-May 1972 |
The Swastika Set-Up | Short story | Jerry Cornelius | Corridor 4 Winter 1972 |
Stories by other writers
Alan Moore's graphic novel The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which has several references to Doctor Who, includes a licensed appearance by Jerry Cornelius.