| Francis Xavier Gordon | |
|---|---|
| El Borak character | |
| First appearance | The Daughter of Erlik Khan (1934) |
| Created by | Robert E. Howard |
| Information | |
| Aliases | El Borak |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | American |
El Borak, otherwise known as Francis Xavier Gordon, is a fictional character created by Robert E. Howard. Gordon was a Texan gunfighter from El Paso who had travelled the world and settled in Afghanistan. He is known in Asia for his exploits in that continent.
The character was originally created when Howard was only ten years old but he did not see print until The Daughter of Erlik Khan in the December 1934 issue of Top-Notch. He is likely to have been inspired by real people such as Richard Francis Burton, John Nicholson, "Chinese" Gordon and Lawrence of Arabia as well as the fiction of Talbot Mundy.[1]
Although Howard best known for his fantasy fiction, the El Borak stories are straight adventure fiction and only Three-Bladed Doom contains a fantasy element.
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El Borak is the central character of the series, frequently attempting to minimise tribal wars and conflict in the region through guile or direct violence.
El Borak is Arabic for "The Swift". It is the name given to him in Afghanistan due to his speed and quickness. This is most often represented as his speed in drawing his pistol or attacks with another weapon but can also represent his mental agility as well. Both are the defining traits of the character.
El Borak described as shorter than other characters and he has a slender figure. Nevertheless, he is described as "compact" and quite strong. His defining physical ability, however, is the quickness that inspired his pseudonym. El Borak describes his ancestry as Highland Scot and Black Irish, he has black hair but has black eyes instead of the blue typical of the Black Irish.
Only five El Borak stories were published during Howard's life. The remainder have been printed in the years since his suicide by various publishers.
There are two fragments of El Borak stories that Howard did not finish before his death. Both were untitled. The first begins with the line "Gordon, the American whom the Arabs call El Borak..." while the other beings "When Yar Ali Khan crept into the camp of Zumal Khan..."