rom the ancient world of Nehwon, meet Fafhrd (pronounced "faf-erd"), a tall, powerfully built youth of 18 with long reddish-gold hair but an incongruously high-pitched voice. He is the son of Mor, one of the Snow Clan women, who employ a combination of powerfully hurled snowballs and icy witchery to dominate their sons and husbands. Fafhrd is unofficially betrothed to Mara by virtue of impregnating her, and his physical prowess and intelligence make him an excellent candidate to lead the clan, at least insofar as the women will allow it. But a traveling troupe of entertainers and whores—and in particular the dancing mime Vlana, whom he rescues from a particularly nasty snowball attack—spark Fafhrd's curiosity about "civilization" in the city of Lankhmar. Succumbing to the lure of Lankhmar (not to mention the lures of Vlana), before he can leave Fafhrd must vie against competing suitors for Vlana's affections, as well as the powerful and potentially destructive magic of his enraged mother and girlfriend.
Elsewhere, a wizard's apprentice, called Gray Mouse because of his uncertain leanings between the polar pulls of white and dark magic, returns to his master after successfully completing a quest. There is little joy in the return, however, as the lording Duke has managed to overcome the protective spells and murder the wizard. It seems as if Ivrian, the duke's daughter, who secretly apprenticed with the wizard, was also his betrayer. In his grief, the Gray Mouse yields to the temptations of the dark arts to seek his revenge on the powerful duke, even as it corrupts his soul. His redemption lies with the very same woman who seemingly betrayed him.
After escaping the hells of their respective homelands, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser (as he now calls himself) cross paths in Lankhmar. In what seems to be mainly an attempt to impress their girlfriends, they partner to seek vengeance against the Thieves' Guild for torturing and killing Vlana's former associates.
Thus begins the ongoing saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, a series of short stories written by Fritz Leiber between 1939 and 1990, and first collected in chronological sequence by Ace in 1970, beginning with Swords and Deviltry, followed by more "Swords and ..." entitled volumes, a play on the now-famous "sword and sorcery" terminology coined by Leiber. Swords and Deviltry comprises three loosely linked tales that recount the separate origins of this particular dynamic duo, concluding in their first joint adventure, "Ill Met in Lankhmar," winner of both the 1971 Nebula and Hugo awards. (Interestingly, "The Snow Women," which is the opening story of this collection, was also nominated for both awards, but was withdrawn at Leiber's request to increase the chances his other story would win.)
The source of sword and sorcery
A reader who didn't know this, however, might be inclined to view Swords and Deviltry as a parody of the genre, rather than one of its progenitors. (Which perhaps just goes to show how the form has declined.) For one thing, the heroes are flawed, Parsifal fools whose unworldliness—coupled with a complete lack of concern for the morality of actions that leave considerable blood on the ground—have calamitous consequences. Indeed, the end of "Ill Met by Lankhmar" is all the more jarring when the comic suddenly turns tragic.
There's also the outright burlesque, as for example this dialogue that takes place in the midst of deadly combat:
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser faced each other across the two thieves sprawled senseless. They were poised for attack, yet for the moment neither moved. ...
Fafhrd said, "Our motives for being here seem identical."
"Seem? Surely must be!" the Mouser answered curtly. ...
"You said?"
"I said, 'Seem? Surely must be!'"
"How civilized of you!" Fafhrd commented in pleased tones.
"Civilized?" the Mouser demanded suspiciously, gripping his dirk tighter.
"To care, in the eye of action, exactly what's said," Fafhrd explained.
Mix in large quantities of sexual situations and graphic depictions of swordplay in which steel vividly thrust through flesh clinks against spine, and the formula is complete. Yet it seems to be formulaic only because of those who've followed in Leiber's footsteps.
However, Leiber himself was paying homage to Robert E. Howard, whose classic Conan the Barbarian character, featured in Weird Tales, later provided fame and fortune to Arnold Schwarzenegger. As a member of the fan group Hyperborian League, Leiber maintained that the reliance on magic distinguished Howard's oeuvre from preceding pulp heroic fantasies such as Edgar Rice Burrough's Barsoom sequence, set on Mars. Hence the term "sword and sorcery."
