The Record of the Lodoss War

I finally got around to watching this epic fantasy anime from 1990.  Our story opens in the middle with the party entering an abandoned dwarf mine.  The party consists of Parn the fighter, Deedlit the Elf, Ghim the Dwarf, Slayn the Sorcerer, Etoh the Cleric, and Woodchuck the Thief.  Wow, what a nicely balanced party.  No sooner have they entered than they are attacked by gargoyles.  To escape the mine, they must defeat a dragon which proves to be immense; the whole party could probably fit in its mouth.

 

The story then rewinds to start at the beginning where Parn - armed only with a staff - saves a village girl from a band of goblins.  His wounds are attended by his friend Etoh, a cleric only just returned from his training at a distant temple.  The daring pair decide to deal with the goblins but are informed by a mysterious elf, none other than Deedlit, that the goblins are already heading to the village.  They arrive to find the village under attack and in flames.  They are joined by Slayn and Ghim in fighting off the invaders.  The mayor decides that someone must go for help to deal with the growing goblin problem.  Parn is selected and he is joined by most of his party.  As they travel through the lands, they discover that Lodoss is being invaded by King Beld.  And then it gets really complicated.

 

The plot is quite elaborate and often turns back on itself.  Who seemed like an enemy becomes an ally and even actually enemies are briefly allies against mutual enemies.  This intrigue appeals to me.  I quite enjoyed the role of Karla, an immortal witch whose goal is not evil but some of her methods to achieve it are.  She reminded me a bit of a psychohistorian from Asimov’s Foundation series.

 

For a 13 episode series, our central characters didn’t get a lot of development.  As expected, Parn gets the most.  He proves to be a reckless fool who constantly charges into battles and must be saved by his companions.  That got old, especially since characters he respected kept telling him to quit being so reckless.  Deedlit, Parn’s love interest, is stated to be a high elf princess though she is the only high elf we ever meet.  She possesses magical powers akin to a Druid.  Ghim was a gruff and grumpy dwarf on a quest.  His quest just happens to intersect with Parn’s.  That he had goals separate from Parn gives him more depth than most of the party.  Etoh is a cleric.  “You’re hurt!  Let me heal you.”  How boring can we make this cleric?  Slayn is a sorcerer.  Oh, you wanted more than that.  Um… uh…  Look, there’s a thief!  Lastly there is the brilliantly named Woodchuck, something of a bumbling thief with a cynical view of the world.  He proves to be a good foil for Parn’s heroic idealism and often offers keen insights on the political situation of Lodoss.

 

There were parts that seemed familiar but I don’t recall seeing it when it came out.  John and I watched a lot of anime and it does seem odd that this one didn’t make it into the mix.  The series is based on an RPG that was influenced by D&D and RuneQuest.  Thus, the classic composition of the adventuring party with frequent sallies into dungeons and battles that involve dragons.  It is definitely worth watching.