Background Tales, Once Told, That Prove Disappointing…
Two weeks ago I talked about books or series that complete but where there’s an untold story that you never get to read but always wonder about?
I concluded with the following observation: “Then again, sometimes the untold story as you imagine it can be so much greater and more powerful, and also more vivid living in your imagination, which may be an argument for the story remaining untold…”
I am a tremendous The Lord Of The Rings fan, but one of the truest instances I can think of for the “better left untold” scenario was the back-story tales to The Lord Of The Rings, particularly the stories told through the poems, such as the Lay of Beren and Luthien. Their story, as recounted by Strider in the book (when fleeing from the Black Riders, as I recall) sounded incredibly powerful, and as backstory was shot through with mystery and tragedy and romance of the highest kind. As a young teen, my imagination was also fired by the suggestion that it was Luthien who rescued Beren, then together they cast down the great enemy, Morgoth, and retrieved one of the stolen Silmarils.
You can perhaps also imagine how eager I was to read The Silmarillion and correspondingly disappointed to discover that it was not a story, like The Lord Of The Rings, but rather Tolkien’s “history” of Middle Earth. A great deal of the text read as detailed notes—which the material essentially was—and the language used tended to be very archaic in style. So stories like those of Beren and Luthien fell very flat—and led me to believe that perhaps high, heroic, back-story tales should remain untold, after all.
What do you think? Do you have a similar example of disappointment to share? Or conversely one where a back-story or background tale in one book either met or exceeded expectations when told in its own right?
I had a similar experience with the Silmarillion. I enjoyed the LoTR appendices, but that book, and Unfinished Tales(?) was so dense by comparison and at the same time so disassociated from the stories it was telling.
By contrast, I can re-read the two Eddings prequels (especially Polgara the Sorceress) over and over but not so much the Belgariad books themselves. I read the prequels first – second-hand bookshop purchases – so in a way it was the Belgariad that didn’t quite live up to expectations (still fun but not as much when you know the outcome it turns out).
Thanks for commenting. I can see how the original might well disappoint with regards a prequel in that (Polgara/Eddings) case.