The Symbol of Chaos originates from

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has work ...

's ''

Eternal Champion The Eternal Champion is a fictional character created by British author Michael Moorcock and is a recurrent feature in many of his speculative fiction works. General overview Many of Moorcock's novels and short stories take place in a shared M ...

'' stories and its

dichotomy A dichotomy is a partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothing can belong simulta ...

of Law and Chaos. In them, the Symbol of Chaos comprises eight arrows in a radial pattern. In contrast, the symbol of Law is a single upright arrow. It is also called the Arms of Chaos, the Arrows of Chaos, the Chaos Star, the Chaos Cross, the Star of Discord, the Chaosphere (when depicted as a three-dimensional sphere), the Symbol of Eight, or the Octaris. The symbol has been adopted in

role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

such as ''

Warhammer Warhammer may refer to: * War hammer, a medieval weapon Warhammer media franchise *''Warhammer'', a series of games and related media: ** ''Warhammer'' (game), a table-top fantasy miniature wargame, and origin of the franchise ** ''Warhammer Fan ...

'' and ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'', as well as modern

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

traditions, where it represents chaos magick, and also as a part of punk rock subculture and branches of modern anarchism.

Overview

Moorcock has stated that he conceived this symbol while writing the first

Elric of Melniboné Elric of Melniboné is a fictional character created by English writer Michael Moorcock and the protagonist of a series of sword and sorcery stories taking place on an alternative Earth. The proper name and title of the character is Elric VII ...

stories in the early 1960s. It was subsequently adopted into the pop-cultural mainstream, turning up in such places as modern

traditions and

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

s. There are a number of traditional symbols that have the same geometrical pattern as Moorcock's symbol of Chaos, such as any of various eight-pointed stars, the

Star of Ishtar The Star of Ishtar or Star of Inanna is a Mesopotamian symbol of the ancient Sumerian goddess Inanna and her East Semitic counterpart Ishtar. The owl was also one of Ishtar's primary symbols. Ishtar is mostly associated with the planet Venus, w ...

, the Indian

Dharmachakra The dharmachakra (Sanskrit: धर्मचक्र; Pali: ''dhammacakka'') or wheel of dharma is a widespread symbol used in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and especially Buddhism.John C. Huntington, Dina Bangdel, ''The Circle o ...

and the

Wheel of the Year The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by many modern pagans, consisting of the year's chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. While names for each festival vary among dive ...

, but none of these were symbols of chaos and their limbs are not arrows. The

Eight of Wands Eight of Wands is a Minor Arcana Tarot card. In the Rider–Waite deck, the card shows eight diagonal staves of staggered length angled across an open landscape with river, as designed by artist Pamela Colman Smith. Tarot cards are used throughou ...

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

Thoth tarot deck The Thoth Tarot is an divinatory tarot, esoteric tarot deck painted by Lady Frieda Harris according to instructions from Aleister Crowley. Crowley referred to this deck as The Book of Thoth, and also wrote The Book of Thoth (Crowley), a 1944 bo ...

features prominently an eight-pointed star with arrows at the ends. Crowley described the card as representing "energy" scattering at "high velocity" that had managed to create the depicted eight-pointed figure. An even-more-chaotic asymmetrical representation was by

Walter Simonson Walter Simonson (born September 2, 1946) is an American comic book writer and artist, best known for a run on Marvel Comics' ''Thor'' from 1983 to 1987, during which he created the character Beta Ray Bill. He is also known for the creator-owned w ...

in the ''Michael Moorcock's Multiverse'' comic (and subsequent graphic novel: ).

Other uses

The Chaos Star in its original form has been adopted by multiple Eastern European and North and Latin American activist groups affiliated to

post-left anarchy Contemporary anarchism within the history of anarchism is the period of the anarchist movement continuing from the end of World War II and into the present. Since the last third of the 20th century, anarchists have been involved in anti-globalisat ...

insurrectionary anarchism Insurrectionary anarchism is a revolutionary theory and tendency within the anarchist movement that emphasizes insurrection as a revolutionary practice. It is critical of formal organizations such as labor unions and federations that are based o ...

and

nihilist anarchism The Russian nihilist movementOccasionally, ''nihilism'' will be capitalized when referring to the Russian movement though this is not ubiquitous nor does it correspond with Russian usage. was a philosophical, cultural, and revolutionary movem ...

. The symbol likely came into modern anarchism movements from

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

artwork and

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...

s fulfilling the need for a unified symbol similar to the

Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei The Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei ( el, Συνωμοσία Πυρήνων της Φωτιάς, Synomosía Pyrínon tis Fotiás, abbrev. SPF), also translated as Conspiracy of Fire Cells or Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, is an anarchist urban guerrill ...

logo but more universal. A contributing factor to its adoption may be that its originator Moorcock himself identifies as an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

According to

Anton Shekhovtsov Anton Volodymyrovich Shekhovtsov ( ua, Антон Володимирович Шеховцов; russian: Антон Владимирович Шеховцов; born 1978) is a Ukrainian political scientist, academic and writer. He is known for his ...

Aleksandr Dugin Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin ( rus, Александр Гельевич Дугин; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian political philosopher, analyst, and strategist, who has been widely characterized as a fascist. Born into a military intelligen ...

has used the symbol to represent his idea of

Neo-Eurasianism Eurasianism (russian: евразийство, ''yevraziystvo'') is a political movement in Russia which states that Russian civilization does not belong in the "European" or "Asian" categories but instead to the geopolitical concept of Eurasia, t ...

, and it can be seen on the logo of his

Eurasia Party The Eurasia Party (russian: Партия «Евразия»; ''Partiya «Yevraziya»'') is a Russian political party. It was registered by the Ministry of Justice (Russia), Ministry of Justice on 21 June 2002, approximately one year after the All ...

and on the cover of his book ''

Foundations of Geopolitics ''The Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia'' is a geopolitical book by Aleksandr Dugin. Its publication in 1997 was well received in Russia; it has had significant influence within the Russian military, police, and foreig ...

.''

It has also been used astrologically as a symbol for the trans-Neptunian planetoid

19521 Chaos 19521 Chaos is a cubewano, a Kuiper-belt object not in resonance with any planet. Chaos was discovered in 1998 by the Deep Ecliptic Survey with Kitt Peak's 4 m telescope. Its albedo is , making it, with its absolute magnitude (H) of 4.8, ...

In popular culture

The symbol's first appearance in a commercial

(RPG) was in TSR's

supplement, ''

Deities & Demigods ''Deities & Demigods'' (abbreviated ''DDG''), alternatively known as ''Legends & Lore'' (abbreviated ''L&L'' or ''LL''), is a reference book for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game (D&D). The book provides descriptions and game ...

'' (1980). In

Warcraft II ''Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness'' is a fantasy real-time strategy computer game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released for DOS in 1995 and Mac OS in 1996 by Blizzard's parent, Davidson & Associates. A sequel to '' Warcraft: Orcs & Huma ...

(1995), the Orc side's target mouse cursor has the form of chaos symbol. The symbol also appears in several artworks, which can be seen in game's manual and during mission briefings.

References

External links

* {{Michael Moorcock

Chaos Chaos or CHAOS may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional elements * Chaos (''Kinnikuman'') * Chaos (''Sailor Moon'') * Chaos (''Sesame Park'') * Chaos (''Warhammer'') * Chaos, in ''Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy'' * Cha ...

Michael Moorcock's Multiverse Chaos magic

Overview

Other uses

In popular culture

See also

References

External links