| Francis Xavier Gordon | |
| Series: | El Borak |
| First: | "The Daughter of Erlik Khan" (1934) |
| Creator: | Robert E. Howard |
| Alias: | 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,[1] 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.[2] One of the earliest surviving stories where he made an appearance was a story written by Howard when he was sixteen years old. These stories, however, were not complete and the character itself faded from the author's consciousness for several years. He was revived in 1933 together with another oriental adventurer, Kirby O'Donnell in stories published by Top-Notch, Complete Stories and Thrilling Adventures.[3]
Although Howard is best known for his fantasy fiction, the El Borak stories are straight adventure fiction and only "Three-Bladed Doom" contains a fantasy element.
The background of the El Borak stories is similar to that of the Conan the Barbarian story "The People of the Black Circle" in which Conan is a chieftain of a hill tribe in what corresponds to Afghanistan.
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 (similar to Buraq, the swift flying steed who carried the Prophet Muhamad). This name is said to be whispered with awe, reverence and fear in Afghanistan particularly by those "who would by force or guile take what was not rightfully theirs."[4] 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 is 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 begins "When Yar Ali Khan crept into the camp of Zumal Khan..."