Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes: #3 — Dreams and Portents, Prophecy and Destiny
Dreams and dream magic are an important part of my fantasy novels to date, featuring in Thornspell as well as The Wall Of Night series. And although I would love to claim it as “all my own idea” I am compelled to acknowledge that several millenia of human history and storytelling have gotten in ahead of me: Gosh dang—foiled again! 😀
From Joseph interpreting Pharoah’s dreams—which was an important part of ancient Egyptian culture, as indicated through the “Book of the Dead” and the papyrus known as the “Dream Book”—and the sibyl at Delhi, to the Roman practice of taking oracles for any major campaign or state event, as well as the Saxon and Viking runes, dreams and foretelling were an important part of life in the ancient Mediterranean and European worlds.* Unsurprisingly, since these practices were part of the life and culture of the times, they also played a significant part in the mythology and legends.
If prophetic dreams were central to Egyptian life, predictive prophecies are a distinctive aspect of the Greek myths—and very often the protagonists’ attempts to thwart the prophecy are the very thing that bring it about, i.e. self-fulfilling prophecies. For example, Paris being sent away from Troy and raised as a shepherd rather than prince (harking right back to Trope #2 and last week’s post, which encompassed princes/princesses in disguise) and the three prophecies that are part of the downfall of Oedipus.
The prophecy of Meleager and the burning brand (a log of wood to which his life is tied) has similar echoes and is in its turn reminiscent of the Norse saga of Norna-gest, in which case the hero’s life is tied to a candle.
The notion of predictive dreams and their part in everyday life was also very strong in the overlapping Saxon and Norse myths, including the Volsung saga and the tale of Sigurd—in particular when Sigurd falls in love with the shieldmaiden, Brunnhilde, who prophesies both his doom and marriage to another.
Not all mythic prophecy encompasses doom, although it very often does so—or perhaps it would be more correct to say that an initially positive prophecy comes hand in hand with one that foretells doom. This is true of the Sigurd saga, in that initially he is successful in righting wrongs and inheriting his father’s throne, but his subsequent love for and marriage to Brunnhilde invokes the doom.
The same tradition is mirrored in the King Arthur cycle, where Merlin prophesies that the sword in the stone will only be removed by the true King. But Arthur’s subsequent ascension and the establishment of the Round Table and saving of the kingdom are dogged by the seeds of its fall, chiefly through the incest that conceives Mordred, who brings about that downfall. (Interestingly, the incest taboo is also part of both the Volsung Saga and the downfall of Odeipus in the Greek myth.)
The notion of doom in the Anglo-Saxon/Norse myth cycle is not restricted to individuals such as Sigurd, but also extends to the prophecy of Ragnarok, the final battle and “twilight of the gods” that will end the world. JRR Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon as well as of English Language and Literature at Oxford University. So it is perhaps not surprising that the concept of a longstanding conflict and final battle (which I know is yet another trope!) is deeply embedded in the The Lord of the Rings. And we all know the influence that has had in establishing Fantasy as a separate genre from Science Fiction—and in seeing Epic Fantasy emerge as a distinct sub-genre within it.
1. So in looking at the tradition of dreams and portents, prophecy and destiny, in contemporary Fantasy I am going to start with The Lord of the Rings (yes, again!) Faramir and Boromir‘s dream in which a voice bids them “Seek for the Sword That Was Broken// in Imladris…” plays an important part of the story. So, too, does the older prophecy (uttered by the High Elf, Glorfindel, for those who may not have read the Appendices) which declared that the Lord of the Nazgul, would not fall “by the hand of Man.” In keeping with the tradition, his death is brought about by a woman (Eowyn) and a hobbit (Merry.)
2. Tolkien and CS Lewis were both part of the group known as “the Inklings” and prophesy also plays its part in the Narnia series. For example, in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Mr Beaver quotes the prophecy that the White Witch’s reign and her life will end when “two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve” sit on the four thrones at Cair Paravel—setting out the “destiny”of the four children who find their way through the wardrobe.
3. Any mention of Merlin and the Arthur cycle brings me to the wonderful series by Mary Stewart, which begins with The Crystal Cave. This is an essentially Roman-British retelling of the Arthurian cycle from the perspective of Merlin, but dreams, prophecies and portents all play their part in the Arthurian destiny.
4. In Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar trilogy, Kimberley/Kim who is one of the five main characters (also drawn from our world, like the Narnian children) becomes the Seer of Brennan, whose role in foretelling events is seen as vital to the ability to defeat the Unraveller, Maugrim (aka the “Big Bad”). Her succession to the role also invokes her predecessor’s foretold doom. In an interesting twist on the trope, Kim exercises freewill and contravenes part of her preordained role, an act that is not consequence free and invokes “doom” for other players in the book.
5. Dreams and prophecy also play a significant role in Patricia McKillip’s Riddlemaster trilogy. Morgon, the main character, is the foretold “Starbearer” whose coming will initiate the “ending of the Age of the High One.” Dreams of events occuring in other parts of the realm, which may or may not always be “true”, are a not-infrequent part of Morgon’s quest journey to realise his (unwanted) destiny.
6. Prophecy infuses Robert Jordan’s Wheel Of Time series as well, with specific examples including “the Dragon Reborn” (Rand Al-Thor) and the “Daughter of the Nine Moons” among many others. Jordan also created what, in my humble opinion, must rank as one of the most significant dream realms in the epic fantasy canon. Tel’aran’rhiod may have a Celtic name but if channels the ancient Egyptian concepts of an alternate realm where the magic has its own rules. A significant part of the action of the story takes place there.
7. Katharine Kerr’s Deverry series takes place in a Celtic-inspired world where dreams, portent, and destiny (“dweomer”) definitely play a major part. A lark taking flight in a field is the portent that alerts the dweomer-master, Nevyn, that the soul of Brangwen has been reborn into a new body, precipitating his quest to find the heroine, Gill. Later in the first book, Daggerspell, Nevyn prophesies that the wyrd (fate/destiny) of Rhodry, another main character, is “Eldidd’s wyrd.” (Eldidd is the kingdom.) Nevyn and other dweomer masters also use their power on a psychic/dream plane as well as in the physical world.
8. In Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, dreams are an important means by which one of the central characters, Dalinar Kholin, accesses much needed information about the past of the Knights Radiant and the apocalypse about to be unleashed upon the world of Roshar.
9. Ursula Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea only includes a small number of prophecies, but they are there. The wizard, Ogion, foresees the difficult road ahead for Ged when the boy departs for the wizard’s school on Gont. Later, it is through dreams that Ged is alerted to the presence of the darkness that pursues him and then to the evil in the Osskil castle where he takes refuge.
10. In Teresa Frohock’s, Miserere, which you may recall that I really enjoyed a few years’ back, most denizens in the world of Woerld—the battleground world between Hell and Heaven—can’t dream at all. But when they do, you’d better believe those dreams are prophetic and pay attention!
Again, these are only a very few examples of the many novels that draw on the dream tradition and I am sure you know many more. Please feel free to share them in the comments. 🙂
As indicated at the beginning of this post, prophecy and dream magic also play an important role in both Thornspell and the Wall Of Night series. In Thornspell, magic is worked through dreams and they are also a means of foreseeing.
This is also true of the Wall of Night, which also encompasses a distinct dream realm, the Gate of Dreams, which some can access pyschically, while a rare few, such as Malian and Kalan, can travel there in their physical bodies. In the manner of true dreams, events within the Gate can be obscure, chaotic, and symbolic, which may be why Robin Hobb described the series as having “strange magic.” 😉
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Next Week: Apocalypse Now aka Meet The Great, World-Threatening Evil & The Final Battle
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Previously In This Series:
Introduction: Having Fun With Epic Fantasy—Meet the Tropes
Instalment 1: Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes: A Farm Boy/Gal Goes On A Journey…
Instalment 2: A Prince/Princess Finds A Destiny
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On SF Signal: The “Having Fun With Epic Fantasy” Series
1. “Making the Grand Tour” (aka the Road Journey);
2. .”The “Band of Brothers”; and the
3. . “Soul-Sucking Sword.”
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* To date, I have only studied the Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and Anglo-Saxon/Norse myths in depth,
so although I have a passing familiarity with several others I have restricted my post
to these three. I welcome comments from those versed in others, however,
including their influence on contemporary epic fantasy.
© Helen Lowe