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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: :''There are many planes of existence. In some the Lords of Chaos are strong. In some they are weak. In some, I have heard, they do not exist at all.'' 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. ==Chaos== Chaos (disorder, entropy) expresses the principle of possibility unfettered by rules. In general, magic and sorcery draw on the powers of Chaos because they break the laws of nature. The effects of Chaos can be beautiful, but left unchecked, they become too disruptive for life. Pure Chaos stuff manifests in ''Stormbringer'' and "The Dream of Earl Aubec". It is swirling, constantly changing, multicolored matter with the power to melt and twist anything with which it comes in contact, including living flesh. Mortals find the sight of pure Chaos disturbing. Ironically, a realm controlled by Chaos becomes stagnant: the state of constant change lacks meaning, and eventually all possibilities are exhausted. Corum encounters a similar state of nature when he visits the realm of Xiombarg in ''The Queen of the Swords''. In ''Stormbringer'', when Chaos takes over much of the world, Elric and his companions observe that the sun is motionless and time seems to stand still. Just as the Eternal Champion can be a servant of Law, though he is often more the servant of the balance, so Chaos also has its own champions. The most formidable is Prince Gaynor the Damned, formerly a servant of the Law but condemned by the Balance to aid Chaos after an unspeakable betrayal. He is completely hidden in shining armour that constantly changes hue from gold to silver to blue and so on, emblazoned with the symbol of Chaos – an image of eight arrows, radiating in all directions from a central point, to represent the many possibilities Chaos offers. Elric's sword Stormbringer is a Chaotic being, but not a god; it is powerful enough to slay Chaos Lords, and apparently feels no bond of sympathy with them. It is typical of Chaos to be at war with itself. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Law and Chaos」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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