The novel “The Eternal Champion” by Michael Moorcock was published for the first time in 1970. It’s the first novel in the Erekosë series.

John Daker is a man of the 20th century. His sleep is disturbed by strange dreams until he answers a call from another time. He gets evoked in a world at war where he’s told that he’s Erekosë, a legendary hero of the past brought back to life to save humanity from the Eldren enemies.

John has no memories of Erekosë yet has a strange familiarity with the legendary sword that belonged to the hero. He agrees to fight to save humanity, also because the Eldren are described as demons. Before going to war at King Rigenos’s side, John / Erekosë meets princess Iolinda, with whom he begins a romantic relationship. The situation becomes complicated when humans don’t look so good, the Eldren don’t seem and strange dreams seem like memories of other lives in other worlds.

The many works of Michael Moorcock can generally be framed in a fictional multiverse. This means that it includes the many fictional universes in which some series but also some individual works are set by connecting them together. In some cases, the stories can easily be read independently but there are cases in which the author includes explicit references to other fictional universes and this is the case in the Erekosë series.

Within this fictional multiverse, Michael Moorcock has incorporated the concept of eternal champion. He’s a hero, not necessarily spotless, who manifests himself in different characters of different fictional universes. In the novel “The Eternal Champion” this is made in a very explicit manner because John Daker / Erekosë dreams of some of his other lives.

Erekosë is a hero who has become legendary and gets evoked a very long time after his death to save humanity from the Eldren. His story is narrated in the first person by the protagonist and this helps the reader to understand his initial confusion, his doubts and the reasons for his decisions.

“The Eternal Champion” contains many elements typical of Michael Moorcock and not only for the various references to his multiverse. In many works of this author, there are twists in which the protagonist discovers that things are not as he thought or as he was led to believe. Erekosë is told that humans are the good guys and the Eldren are the villains but slowly he realizes that it’s not like that.

This novel’s plot is somewhat predictable, especially for those who have already read some works by Michael Moorcock. In the end, Erekosë seems marked by some fate in his actions and, even if not explicitly stated, he seems to be guided by a higher power.

“The Eternal Champion” is basically a heroic fantasy novel even though the magical component is ambiguous. Humans constantly tell Erekosë about spells but he never directly sees magical events. On the other hand, prince Arjavh speaks of powerful weapons in scientific term, and being part of Michael Moorcock’s fictional multiverse this novel is connected to various science fiction works. We’re talking about an author who alternates between the various genres and subgenres so labels are of limited value.

“The Eternal Champion” has a limited length, the average of the British market of the time. Also due to its adventurous component, the pace is fast. As it’s told in the first person, Erekosë is by far the most well-developed character but there are also some other ones who are well developed.

In my opinion, “The Eternal Champion” is overall a good novel that is essential among Michael Moorcock’s works for the theme of the eternal champion in his fictional multiverse. For this reason, I consider it a must-read for anyone interested in this author.