Favourite Duos #1 - Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser

Credit to TV Tropes

Apparently this sword-and-sorcery series by Fritz Leiber has passed a lot of people by. In fact, I've heard it said that it was Fritz Leiber who coined the term "sword-and-sorcery". When I started working on my swashbuckler series, a member of the writers' group I'm in recommended these stories.

Set in the fantasy world of Nehwon, the so-called Swords series follows the adventures of these two "larcenous but likeable" anti-heroes. Fafhrd is a tall and brawny Northern barbarian, who originally trained as a singer. He has a romantic view of the world, but mostly gets by through his practical nature. The Grey Mouser is a skilled thief and former wizard's apprentice, who retains some magical ability. He's a lot more cynical than Fafhrd, but is still prone to sentimental moments.

The stories frequently have the characters getting into bar fights and seducing women, but some stories have them on opposite sides of a conflict. But their friendship nonetheless wins through. At the time of writing, I'm working my way through the third collection, Swords in the Mist. But I figured I'd look at stories in the first collection, Swords and Deviltry, which establishes the pair.

1. The Snow Women follows Fafhrd chafing under the authority of his overbearing mother. While visiting the Northerners' trading post at Cold Corner, he meets an acrobat named Vlana and elopes with her.
2. The Unholy Grail follows The Grey Mouser as he returns from a quest to find that the wizard he apprenticed to has been executed by a Duke who has outlawed magic. He enacts a plot in revenge, with the aid of the Duke's daughter Ivrian, a fellow apprentice.
3. Ill-Met in Lankhmar brings the duo together when they meet while ambushing the same party of thieves. They recognise each other as kindred spirits, introduce their respective girlfriends, and embark on a drunken dare to infiltrate the Thieves' Guild.

I've heard that Fritz Leiber wrote these in a bid to make fantasy heroes closer to human nature, believing that Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories were too unrealistic for his tastes. Yes, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser aren't the most moral individuals, but it's established that the world they live in is a decadent and corrupt one.

I hope you've enjoyed this countdown, and I'd love to hear about what duos are your favourites.

Happy writing.