Rethinking The
Gothic Touch
By
Dale Rippke
Of
the entire Kane saga set out by its author, Karl Edward Wagner, the only really
difficult tale to place is his final Kane story, THE GOTHIC TOUCH. The
tale is a bit of a mixed bag; it reads like one of the old “heroic fantasy”
Kane stories, yet contains elements of the more “modern” ones. The story is
usually placed amid the modern Kane stories, but I intend to show that it
doesn’t really belong there.
THE
GOTHIC TOUCH
is the story of how Kane manages to open a gateway between his world and the
world of Elric of Melniboné. He enlists Elric and Moonglum’s help to recover
a treasure that exist beneath a ruined castle. Of course, the treasure ends up
being something entire different than what Elric expects.
There
is one plot point that makes THE GOTHIC
TOUCH appear to be one of the “ancient days” tales:
1.
Kane’s
appearance and weapons.
There
are a number of plot points that make THE
GOTHIC TOUCH appear to be a “modern” story:
1.
Kane
has the ability to travel between parallel worlds in space/time.
2.
Kane
is attempting to retrieve a transducer that helps to power a space ship.
3.
Kane
is carrying a nuclear weapon.
4.
Kane
is on the run and trying to escape from an unknown pursuer through time and
space.
I intend to show how an examination of each of these points can lead to a very interesting conclusion.
Appearance
and weapons.
Kane
is described in the story as “clad in mail, leather breeks and high boots, and
a flapping black cloak”. He is carrying a long sword made of odd-looking
metal, which he claims was made in Carsultyal “long ago and far away”. This
is pretty much how he is described in nearly all of the “ancient days”
heroic fantasy stories.
Kane
in the modern stories wears modern clothing (biker leathers and pin-striped
suits). He doesn’t carry his sword in any of these stories, but does carry a
cosmic ray laser in AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY.
If
a “modern” Kane changed into armor to fit in with the manner of dress on
Elric’s world, then you would still have to ask why he went to all the trouble
to enlist Elric’s help when he could have just brought his cosmic ray laser
instead (after all, he brought a nuke). I am nearly positive that THE
GOTHIC TOUCH takes place before the “modern” stories, but a long time
after the “ancient” yarns.
The
ability to travel between parallel worlds in space/time.
In
THE GOTHIC TOUCH, Kane is able to
hold a gateway open for a very limited time at great effort. We are not
positively told whether this ability is magical or some type of technology.
There is at least one of the “ancient days” stories where the ability to
interfere with time by magical means is inferred; MISERICORDE. Kane is promised
the ability to travel between worlds by the Bloodstone entity in BLOODSTONE,
although this would be accomplished through the application of its alien
technology instead of magic. Whether it taught him how to do this is in
question, although it certainly showed him that teleportation within the same
world was possible.
The
“modern” story LACUNAE showed
that he had mastered the ability to teleport at will without apparent technology
and in AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY, Kane
showed both the ability to teleport at will and to manipulate time in various
fashions, all without any apparent technology (it is implied though, since his
other weapons use some fantastic manners of tech).
Kane’s
ability to open a gateway in space/time between parallel worlds in THE
GOTHIC TOUCH is one that he has acquired fairly recently (within several
years of the beginning of the story). It is apparent that he has used it quite a
bit since he claims that this is his second meeting with Elric (the first being
sometime in Elric’s future) and that he has also had dealings with Corum. We
get the impression that magic is involved, since Kane declares that opening a
gate “is a feat any sorcerer could carry out”; Elric suspects that this is a
lie. Kane also seems to need to mentally concentrate to keep the gateway open;
this implies the mental discipline found in certain types of magic (to be fair,
Kane does describe the process in tech terms like “trans-dimensional warp”
and “losing time phase” while keeping the gate open).
Even
if the ability to open a gateway seems inclined to be more magical than
technological, it is probably a toss-up as to its placement amid the tales of
Kane. I could literally place this story anywhere in the unknown history between
the “ancient, magic-using” Kane and the “modern, tech-using” Kane.
The
attempt to retrieve a transducer that helps to power a space ship.
This
is actually one of the better arguments for an earlier than “modern”
placement for this story. According to Wagner, Kane left his creator and came to
earth in a flying saucer (according to LACUNAE
it looked like the hubcap of a 1957 Chrysler 300C). THE GOTHIC TOUCH even states that the metal in Kane’s Carsultyal
blade is made of melted-down starships. The unwritten novel IN THE WAKE OF THE NIGHT was supposed to chronicle Kane’s
discovery of an elder-earth spacecraft during Kethrid’s voyages. In BLOODSTONE and in fantasy conventions around the country, Wagner
always made the case that Kane’s primary motivation was to get off our Earth
and attempt to return to his creator’s abode.
In
the “modern” tale AT FIRST JUST
GHOSTLY it is obvious Kane has been off-planet. First of all, he claims he
has already killed his creator (who lives off-planet). Also, he has a cosmic ray
laser that is powered by two black holes locked in an antimatter matrix. Just
where are you going to find the technology to make a weapon like that on Earth?
The
thrust of THE GOTHIC TOUCH has Kane
attempting to retrieve a crashed starship’s transducer from Elric’s world
and time. This implies that Kane has a need for it; that he has already obtained
an undamaged spaceship to attach it to. This would place THE GOTHIC TOUCH between the “looking-for-a-way-off-planet” Kane
of the “ancient” stories and the Kane of the “modern” stories who has
already gotten off Earth and killed his Creator.
The
appearance of the nuclear weapon.
This
would seem to place THE GOTHIC TOUCH
firmly amid the “modern” tales. Suitcase nukes are a pretty recent weapon
here on Earth. So why is this not the case here?
Because
there is evidence that Kane utilized nuclear weapons prior to the modern
stories. In LACUNAE (the first of the
“modern” tales, chronologically) Kane mentions that he used to build atomic
bombs, and that they are overrated. When did he do this? He hadn’t been in our
“modern” time very long, as he was just beginning to establish himself in
our world by creating designer drugs. If he learned enough about atomic bombs to
be able to build one, then this almost certainly had to have occurred before he
appears in our “modern” era. His knowledge came from someone else. This
isn’t as crazy as it sounds…
The
text of THE GOTHIC TOUCH makes it
clear that the nuclear bomb Kane carries has been stolen from someone else.
Someone who is able to follow him through space/time to retrieve it. Since the
people of our “modern” era don’t have the ability to pursue someone across
time and space, the weapon cannot be from our world. This also means THE
GOTHIC TOUCH does not have to be placed within the context of the
“modern” tales.
Kane
being on the run and trying to escape from an unknown pursuer through time and
space.
In
THE GOTHIC TOUCH, Kane is being
pursued by “certain forces who wish me no good”. These forces, like Kane,
have the ability to travel across time and space. They are intent on stopping
him from using the nuclear weapon he carries. Kane plans to use the nuke to seal
the gateway between worlds, so his pursuers can’t follow him anymore. So who
are these “certain forces”?
Well
I find it hard to believe that Kane would be on the run from any group of
humans, no matter how technologically advanced they were. The Kane described in THE
GOTHIC TOUCH is so strong and deadly that it would take a pretty large group
to take him down. His desperation to close the gate permanently seems to
indicate someone or something bigger and badder is after him.
This
really only leaves three possible groups that would be consistent with
Wagner’s saga of Kane: Extraterrestrials, the evil forces of the Demonlords,
or the good forces of the Creator.
The
Earth prior to the advent of man was inhabited by a variety of extraterrestrial
visitors, such as the Brvenn, Tuhchiso, Scylredi, and Krelran. For
the most part these alien colonists were either gone or degenerate by Kane’s
age. And I think we can pretty much discount visiting Extraterrestrials, since THE
GOTHIC TOUCH implies that Kane is only able to open gateways between
parallel versions of our world and no mention is made of contact with anyone
from Outer Space yet.
I
also think we can rule out the forces of the Demonlords. Even in the
“modern” tale AT FIRST JUST GHOSTLY,
when the source of Kane’s power is literally astronomical, the forces of
darkness live by a sort of “You don’t mess with us and we won’t mess with
you” philosophy, until Kane marks Cody Lennox as his own minion. The
Demonlords live to spread Chaos and Kane is really only a human who does just
that. For most of the “ancient days” series the Demonlords and Kane have had
a sort of alliance against his creator.
That
leaves the “Good” forces of Kane’s Creator to consider. Several things
make me feel that these are those “certain forces who wish me no good”.
First of all, the Angelic minions of the Creator seem to keep Kane under
observation (this is what chapter 5 of DARKNESS
WEAVES is about). Secondly, they are no fools; they have to realize that if
Kane completes his spaceship, he could cause major trouble for them. And lastly,
if you don’t think Angelic forces would wield nuclear weapons, then you
don’t remember the destruction of
In
Conclusion
I
think it’s only fair to acknowledge the overriding story arc to the Kane saga
was Wagner’s insistence that Kane was finally able get off planet to kill his
creator. How he accomplished this must have been pretty spectacular since AT
FIRST JUST GHOSTLY claims that he not only killed God, but destroyed ALL of
the forces of good. Kane annihilated Heaven! It certainly makes for the greatest
untold story in the Kane series.
THE
GOTHIC TOUCH
shouldn’t be considered a “modern day” story, because it never was one. It
was the setup story leading to the tale of how Kane was finally able to kill his
creator. It all fits; Kane on the run with a nuclear bomb he stole from the
angels, managing to elude them long enough to recover the one part he needed to
make his spaceship fly, and then setting off the bomb so they couldn’t follow
him as he planned his mission to kill God.
I
told you this was going to go someplace interesting…
04/26/02 06:54 PM
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