Immortality Inc. - Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion, The Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon, Venger & Gord The Rogue

"“She yawned. If the Lords of Entropy were to manifest themselves on Earth again as they had in the legendary past she felt she might welcome them as a relief, at least, to her boredom. Not, of course, that she believed in those terrible prehistoric fables, though sometimes she could not help wishing that they had really existed and that she had lived in them, for they must surely have been more colourful and stimulating than this present age, where dull Reason drove bright Romance away: granite scattering mercury.”
― Michael Moorcock, Gloriana"

Venger Artwork  BY  Manzanedo

Used without permission. 

This for me sums up Venger from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, a transformed  cambion  sorcerer, conqueror & ruler of a micro plane whose ambitious seem as macro as they do micro. Venger is a creature of his own ambitious whose twisted by his precepts of Chaos. Venger is creature tormented by his own existence in service to an uncaring god of Chaos or an elder evil. The Nameless One is madness itself & Venger's master but is there something more boiling below the surface here?!



Recently I've been doing quite a bit of rereading of Michael Moorcock's books & mythos of the eternal champion. Venger's master the 'Nameless One' seems to have an awful lot in common with some of the darker aspects of the Lords of Chaos or as their known as the Lords of Hell. Venger is a Frank Mentzer  immortal of the 'Nameless One' & the bastard god of madness has kept Venger like an abused  pet for at least a thousand years. I'm not saying that Venger is innocent by default far from it. The Dungeon Master & his son managed to banish the Nameless One prior to the kids arrival in the Realm.. But its Dungeon Master who feels responsible for the current situation Venger's state.

“But people may do great good accidentally, though with evil intentions - conversely people may do great evil though having the best of intentions.”
― Michael Moorcock

The dungeon master is using the kids as rebels against Venger to remind him of his own lost innocence & humanity. They are not the first such heroes there have been many. This is revealed in the series final 'Requiem'

	Everyone makes mistakes... Venger, was mine.
	~ The Dungeon Master's tearful and cryptic message

So the kids are sent back to their own home or stay in the Realm. But this begs the question. Who or what was/is the 'Nameless One'?! I think I might know the answer to this. This goes back to the Moorkcock Stormbringer mythology found in the Kuntz & Ward Deities & Demigods from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition.

Within we get a fair overview of the Elric Strombringer mythology's deities, artifacts, some monsters,etc. But what also get is the echoes of the lords of Chaos or the Lords of Hell. And its these echoes which explains the 'Nameless One'. The 'Nameless One' is a lord of Hell itself on par with & a contemporary of Tharizdun.
This fan theory falls right in line with WG4: The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (1982), by Gary Gygax.

"WG4: The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (1982), by Gary Gygax, was the first (!) adventure in the World of Greyhawk series." Which also might make 'The Realm' an off shoot of Greyhawk. Hear me out here. The Realm is another demi plane or micro plane just off of Oerth. And its actually Gary Gygax's Gord novels that seal the deal for this fan theory;" Dance of Demons is the finale, in which Gord and Gellor enter the Abyss on a mission from the world's most powerful forces of Balance, to retrieve the remaining Theorparts. The goal is nothing less than to free Tharizdun, the long-imprisoned god of ultimate evil and entropy, and to finally destroy him. The novel ends with the complete destruction of Oerth, and the unveiling of a new and better world."

'In Evening Odds' a story that Gary Gygax wrote for the Pawn of Chaos: Tales of the Eternal Champion, an anthology of fiction inspired by Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion mythos. Gord appears as a champion of balance after losing his position as the new cat lord. Gord is  still out in the multiverse with his new partner taking on jobs for the lords & so forth. Was Gord aware of Venger?! Perhaps but I think he considered him small fare. Not worth his time in the long run..

But where does this leave Venger?! Why would he have taken on the deal of damnation to become an immortal of the 'Nameless One'?  Two reasons actually. One is to prove he was a better demi god ruler  then his father the Dungeon Master & he was impatient for immortality. The second reason was to try to use the power of the 'nameless one' for good. His very actions with the 'kids' of the cartoon prove it. Venger is almost 'honorable' in his own twisted way with his straight dealings with the 'kids'. He always tried to deceive them or destroy them for the enchanted artifacts. But now that the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon has concluded where does that leave the 'Nameless One'?! Who then takes on his bargain & becomes the new immortal of the 'Nameless One'?
Of course this could never affect my home campaigns in any way, shape or form right?! After all this is only a fan theory.. Right?!