Symbol of Chaos

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The Symbol of Chaos originates from Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion stories. 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 or the Symbol of Eight.

Moorcock conceived this symbol while writing the first Elric of Melniboné stories in the early 1960s. It was subsequently adopted into the pop-cultural mainstream, turning up in such diverse places as role-playing games and modern occult traditions.

Moorcock says [1] —

The origin of the Chaos Symbol was me doodling sitting at the kitchen table and wondering what to tell Jim Cawthorn the arms of Chaos looked like. I drew a straightforward geographical quadrant (which often has arrows, too!) – N, S, E, W – and then added another four directions and that was that – eight arrows representing all possibilities, one arrow representing the single, certain road of Law. I have since been told to my face that it is an "ancient symbol of Chaos" and if it is then it confirms a lot of theories about the race mind. … As far as I know the symbol, drawn by Jim Cawthorn, first appeared on an Elric cover of Science Fantasy in 1962, then later appeared in his first comic version of Stormbringer done by Savoy [ISBN 0-7045-0226-7].

An even-more-chaotic asymmetrical representation was by Walter Simonson in the Michael Moorcock's Multiverse comic (and subsequent graphic novel: ISBN 1-56389-516-1).

There are a number of traditional symbols that have the same geometrical pattern as Moorcock's symbol of Chaos – for example: any of various eight-pointed stars, such as this one from a Greek vase from the fifth century BCE, and the star of Ishtar/Venus; the Eastern Dharmacakra; and the Wheel of the Year – but none of these were symbols of chaos and their limbs are not arrows.

Contents 1 Games 2 Music 3 Modern traditions 4 Punk 5 Other

[edit] Games

The symbol's first appearance in a commercial role-playing game (RPG) was in TSR's Dungeons & Dragons supplement, Deities & Demigods (1980; ISBN 0-935696-22-9)[2] which included the gods, monsters, and heroes from Moorcock's Elric books as one of 17 mythological and fictional "pantheons". (Copyright problems led to its omission from later editions.)

It then turned up quite naturally in Chaosium's Stormbringer RPG (one edition of which was published as Elric!) (1980-2003; ISBN 1-56882-152-2). The 1987 edition of Stormbringer was published jointly by Chaosium in the U.S. and Games Workshop (GW) in the UK.

Moorcock's eight-arrow symbol of Chaos was subsequently arrogated by GW and became a frequent graphic element in their own Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 games and the related miniature figures (e.g., these Knights of Chaos).

A slightly modified version can been seen as orcish tattoos on Chris Metzen's Warcraft art. Most noticeably on the character Grom Hellscream.

The Heretic and HeXen series of video games feature the symmetrical version of the symbol on the Chaos Device item, which teleports the player back to the beginning of the level.

The symbol was also the logo for Chessex, a games distributor now part of Diamond Comic Distributors.

[edit] Music

The video/music group Psychic TV incorporates chaos symbols into its album artwork for Allegory and Self(1988), with artwork from Austin Osman Spare who is considered to be the grandfather of chaos magick. See also T.O.P.Y http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_TV

The dark/folk UK band Fire + Ice has the chaos symbol in its logo plus ties to chaos magick. With members of Current 93, Death in June and Sol Invictus.

the UK noise/trance band Skullflower's 1990 album RUINS has a pair of hands tied at the wrist with the chaos symbol on one of the hands (as if in initiation).

The German death/thrash band Eternal Dirge incorporates the chaos symbol into its artwork and shirts with a CD-ROM multi-media tract of an animated chaosphere on its 1996 album KHAOS MAGICK.

The Swedish progressive metal band Meshuggah has an album entitled Chaosphere.

The Norwegian black metal band 1349 used the symbol on their self-titled debut EP, which contains a song called "Chaos Within".

Another Norwegian band, Arcturus displayed the symbol at the beginning of the song "The Chaos Path" in their live DVD Shipwrecked in Oslo.

The Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura has an album entitled Chaos A.D. depicting the chaos symbol on the compact disc itself.

The American thrash metal band Testament features the chaos symbol on the cover of their album The Ritual. The first track of which is called "Signs of Chaos."

The Polish blackened death metal band Behemoth incorporates the chaos symbol in one of their logos.

The English experimental band Coil often uses the Cross of Chaos as a symbol on album covers and official releases.

The English death metal band Bolt Thrower uses the symbol in much of their artwork, the bonus track on the album "Those Once Loyal" (2005) is called "A Symbol of Eight". This can be linked with musicians' taking inspiration from Warhammer tabletop wargames.

The Swedish black metal band Craft uses the chaos symbol on the album cover for "Fuck the Universe."

The Dutch black metal band Vazal uses the chaos symbol on the compact disk itself for the album "Age of Chaos."

The Cleveland, Ohio heavy metal band Chimaira uses a modified symbol of chaos with a C in the middle as a logo.

The Richmond, Virginia heavy metal band Gwar uses the chaos symbol in a lot of their artwork and a version of it is featured on the back of the album This Toilet Earth. The lead singer, Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus) also has a version of the symbol tattooed on his back, and guitarist Cory Smoot (Flattus Maximus) has one inlaid in the fretboard of his guitar.

The French black metal act Ördög has a logo that is a Chaostar with the letter Ö in the middle and the upward-pointing arrow lengthened so that the logo resembles an inverted cross.

The American thrash metal band Project: Failing Flesh use the Chaos symbol on the cover of their album A Beautiful Sickness.

[edit] Modern traditions

The eight-arrow symbol of Chaos is used in chaos magic, as is its 3D analog, the Chaos Sphere.

Alternative symbols of chaos (owing nothing to Moorcock) include the Sacred Chao of Discordianism and the The Five Fingered Hand of Eris.

[edit] Punk

In hitch-hiker, punk, and backpacker subculture, this symbol, known as the Chaos Cross, frequently appears in tattoos. The right of the tattoo is generally passed from a current bearer of the symbol to a close friend, as a sort of rite of passage. In this context, the Chaos Cross is seen to symbolize freedom of thought and motion, strength, and dedication; also, it carries some mystical or occult connotations. Additionally, the Chaos Cross or Chaos Symbol continues to be used by a variety of (mostly) left wing and anarchist hardcore, grindcore, and crust punk bands including Leftover Crack, Mouth Sewn Shut (featured on a back patch and in some band artwork [3]), Phobia (featured on the vinyl inlay of the "enslaved" 7")and others. Though the symbol may be considered a rite of passage among some punk currents, it is also largely used as an overall recalcitrant and iconoclastic anarchist and nihilist punk symbol used to connote personal freedom, autonomy, and a sense of harmony that comes from "chaos" emphasizing the ideological tendencies of these cultures to call for the destruction of the state, authoritarian power structures, and capitalist/spectacle/consumer culture/Western Civilization as a whole.

[edit] Other

It is also used as the symbol of House Clovenshield, a mercenary group in the Society for Creative Anachronism that fights for whoever pays the most bacon and beer.