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In 2017, I resumed my “About the Characters” post series that focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, because :

“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013 

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood simultaneously — in alphabetical order, of course!

(The quotes, together with the covers, indicate whether the character appears in both or only one of the books—although at present we’re having a run on single entries!)

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Duar:  a warrior in the Prince of Fire’s personal guard

“Malian…was too keyed up to believe sleep would come quickly, so crossed to the nearest fire and added branches to build it up. She heard an exchange, too low to catch, among the sentries, before a warrior brought her a camp stool and a bowl of soup from the nearby mess tent. “Duar, Lady Malian,” he said, when she asked his name, and she nodded, recognizing his grim voice from the forest.”

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 38 — Dawn Wind

Here be dragons… Art Credit: Antonio Javier Caparo

I believe all fiction requires an antagonist in some form, but just as epic fantasy frequently includes a wham-kapow, no-holds-barred apocalypse, it also inclines toward what I have previously described as ‘a great, world threatening evil, aka “the Big Bad.” ‘

In fact, you’re probably seeing how these tropes fit together, so that the farm boy/gal or  prince/princess (and sometimes both) with a destiny, must go on a quest journey (aka a road trip), very often with a band of brothers, to take out the “big bad” and endeavour to avert the apocalyptic events threatening to destroy the world, or at least its known order, and possibly the universe… Fun, huh?! And as I’ve observed in the earlier posts, all part of a longstanding tradition deeply embedded in myth and legend, folklore and fairytales.

Here to destroy the world (again)…

Just as the antagonist exists in all fiction, the “big bad” trope is present in most fantasy. The distinguishing feature of the Big Bad in epic fantasy is one of degree. The threats are generally large in scale and the antagonists are correspondingly epic in scope—capable, in essence, of destroying a world or worlds. Very often, too, in order to achieve an appropriate sense of vastness and threat, the evil is monolithic and distant, with the conflict personalized through more identifiable and accessible henchmen, however powerful these may be in their own right.

The “Saruman” book jacket

For example, in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Sauron is always a terrifying background threat in his fortress of Barad-dur, but never leaves it to strive directly against the heroes and their armies. Instead, the war is prosecuted through lieutenants, chiefly the Lord of the Nazgul and Saruman.

Winter is coming…

In George RR Martin’s A Song Of Ice and Fire series, which TV viewers will know as A Game Of Thrones (the title of the first book), the monolithic “big bad” is primarily winter itself—as signified by the tagline “Winter is coming”—because the seasons of the world in which the story takes place last many years. The supporting antagonists are an array of largely very human characters with more recognizable and less monolithic reasons for the evils they perpetrate, e.g. political ambition, revenge, and cruelty.

Another interesting aspect of the epic Big Bad is how, as an arch-antagonist becomes more ‘personalized’ for the audience, another and greater enemy may be introduced. We see this tradition embedded in the Star Wars films, where Darth Vader is fairly monolithic in the first encounter, but as his character arc develops an even “bigger and badder” antagonist, the Emperor, enters the story.

Unsurprisingly, the monolithic and remote nature of epic evil is connected to Fantasy’s mythic source material. Sigurd may fight a dragon, Theseus outwit the minotaur, and Perseus slay Medusa, but the larger scale conflicts, the “wars in heaven” are always more distant.

The wars between the gods and the Titans in Greek myth, or between the Aesir and the giants in the Norse cycle have either happened in the past, shaping the world as we know it—as with the Titans—or will happen in the apocalyptic future, as for Ragnarok. The reason for this may simply be that we find it impossible to comprehend the magnitude of an agent that could wreak havoc on such a massive scale; in making the evil or the antagonist smaller, i.e. the lieutenants, we also make it knowable, something where motivation and raison d’être can be comprehended and addressed.

The epic “Big Bad” also reflects the notion of duality that is prevalent in much of Western culture: for example, Good and Evil, Light and Dark. Whatever the reasons for its existence, the Big Bad remains an epic fantasy trope and perhaps even a necessity given the other elements of the story, with a cast of “best supporting players” to give it nuance, texture, and shape.

This time, instead of individual titles, I thought I might list clusters of “Big Bad” categories, focusing on some of the more commonly encountered types.

The Arch Enemy

I like to think that the prototype for the “arch enemy” (or as the Buffy series would have it, the “nemesis”) is Milton’s “archangel ruined” in the great epic poem, Paradise Lost.

As mentioned above, Sauron in The Lord of the Rings falls into this category, as does Maugrim the Unraveller in Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar trilogy, and the Dark One of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

Other examples include: the necromancer Fendarl in Red Moon and Black Mountain, the Crippled God in Steven Erikson’s Malazan series, the sorcerer, Cob, in Ursula Le Guin’s The Farthest Shore, King Leck in Kristen Cashore’s Graceling, and the Blood Mage Ruslan in Courtney Schafer’s Shattered Sigil series.
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The Monolithic Enemy:

The ‘Force of Nature’
This can take several forms, but is often a force of nature, such as George RR Martin’s winter (A Song of Ice and Fire) and Brandon Sanderson’s Everstorm (in the Stormlight Archive), that may or not be informed by sentience. Others examples include the forest in Naomi Novak’s Uprooted, the bear of winter (based on Chernevog) in Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, and the less well-disposed denizens of the Verge in Julie E Czerneda’s A Turn Of Light.

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The Artefact:
One of the best examples of this is the Stone in Barbara Hambly’s Dragonsbane, which is the story’s true antagonist but in many ways is also neutral, reflecting the will of the one who wields it. Another example is Elric’s sword, Stormbringer, in Michael Moorcock’s Elric series. The sword definitely has a will and is bent on destroying Elric and the order of the world—although arguably it is the instrument of a more remote “Big Bad”, the Chaos Gods.
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The Collective Force:
Sometimes the enemy is not a single entity, but a collective force of people or beings, such as the Valheru in Raymond E Feist’s A Darkness At Sethanon or the Aoi in Kate Elliott’s Crown Of Stars series. The Dark Dweomer masters in Katharine Kerr’s Deverry series and the ultimate antagonists in Laini Taylor’s Dreams of Gods and Monsters also fit this category. As readers, it tends to be the collective entity that we—and the action of the story—encounter, rather than specific individuals.

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As regards my own work, in Thornspell (which has some epic elements while primarily being a fairytale retelling), the story features an arch-enemy in the person of the Margravine zu Malvolin.

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The Wall Of Night series, which is classically conceived epic fantasy, adheres to the epic tradition in terms of having a monolithic enemy (the Swarm) as well as “best supporting players” (although they’re more allies than “lieutenants.”)

These take the form of the Darksworn ascendants, sorcerers, and warrior-mages that are the Swarm’s vanguard, i.e. the enemy with whom the protagonists most frequently clash.

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As for the exact nature of the monolithic enemy, whether it’s a force of nature, an artefact, or the collective force that it’s name suggests—well, that remains to be seen in the fourth and final book, which is the current work in progress.

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Next Week: To quote a very famous Big Bad, “I’ll be back” with a trope that complements both the “Apocalypse Now” and the “Big Bad” tropes: the Sweep of Time.

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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

Instalment 3: Dreams and Portents, Prophecy and Destiny

Instalment 4: Apocalypse Now

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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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© Helen Lowe

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series traverses the full range of locales and places from The Wall Of Night world of Haarth.

From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the series explored locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost.

Now it’s returned to gazette the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three.)  The new series comprises updates of previous entries as well as new listings.

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Long Pass:  the main pass into Emer when journeying south from the River lands
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 “Their next stop was at the small, neglected shrine to Seruth—Serrut in the Emerian dialect—that marked the southern end of the Long Pass. The surrounding countryside remained desolate; Carick could see no sign of human occupation beyond the white ribbon of road looping away between dun hills. He ran a hand across his dirt-grimed hair. “Does no one live here?” he asked.”

~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two; Chapter 11 — The Wolfpack
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Moths circled a lantern in the open doorway but the corner where Raven sat was largely in shadow, although neither the gloom nor the cloth head-wrapping could disguise his taciturn demeanor. He looked well-worn, almost exactly like the hedge knight Malian had first met in the Long Pass…She felt a brief regret for the uncomplicated nature of that encounter, when the hedge knight had rescued [Carick] the scholar from the outlaws known as the wolfpack.

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 14 — Crow

Here in the Southern Hemisphere we’re shifting from autumn to winter, so here are a few ‘wild south’ photos to capture a little o’ the chill in the air but also the muted beauty of the seasonal transition.

I love the delicate flame of the bare willow branches, as well as the spectacular outlook over one of Canterbury’s famous “braided” rivers, with the southern ocean beyond.

This view (right) is overlooking the river mouth. As you can see it’s a mild day, but I hope you get a sense of the chill in the air.

There’s power in the wave and rivermouth interaction, as you can see in the finely ground stone — and plenty of seabird activity, too.

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In 2017, I resumed my “About the Characters” post series that focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, because :

“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013 

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood simultaneously — in alphabetical order, of course!

(The quotes, together with the covers, indicate whether the character appears in both or only one of the books—although at present we’re having a run on single entries!)

—

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Darrar: a farrier in the Derai House of Blood

He could smell the fear rolling off the defenders and someone nearby was praying to Mhaelanar, the Defender—although once the god’s name had been uttered, the invocation seemed to be mainly “please, please, please.” Which could mean anything, Kalan knew, from please don’t let me fail, to please let me live. He noted, too, that it was Mhaelanar the prayer called on, rather than Kharalth with her fistful of skulls. A sideways glance showed him Darrar, one of Sarr’s assistants. From what Kalan could see, the young farrier’s face was as white as his grip on his bow.

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 45 — Breakout

Now where would we be in epic fantasy without the a really good, no-holds-barred apocalypse—usually in the form of a great, world threatening evil, aka “the Big Bad”, and quite probably with an all-in final battle, aka  Armageddon or Ragnarok.

You do remember Ragnarok from last week right? In case you missed it, Ragnarok is the famed “twilight of the gods” of the Norse myth cycle, with its notions of doom, that profoundly influenced JRR Tolkien, and through the great JRR shaped the epic fantasy subgenre.

“Not this day,” says Aragorn, about to fight the final battle…

The Middle Earth backstory in Tolkien’s seminal The Lord of the Rings contains many epic heroes, tragic battles, and final stands, many of which, such as the tales of Turin and Hurin, are very Norse myth influenced. And the The Lord of the Rings (LoTR) itself is focused on the final confrontation between the “free peoples of Middle Earth” and the eponymous Lord of the Rings, the archenemy Sauron—which if the heroes and their allies lose will result in the destruction of freedom, civilization, and hope.

In The Lord of the Rings case, the final apocalyptic battle will not necessarily destroy all life (Ragnarok fashion) but the end result would not be a word anyone (bar Sauron and his chief supporters, one assumes) would choose to live in. As epic fantasy has evolved, however, the stakes have tended to get bigger so very often it is the survival of the world, or the universe, at stake.

Speaking of ‘end-of-the-world scenarios’…

Tolkien may have been primarily influenced by Ragnarok but final apocalyptic battles are not restricted to Norse myth cycle. Armageddon is a similar conflict postulated in Revelations in the Christian Bible, to the extent the word has come to denote end-of-the-world scenarios in general.

Unlike the Norse cycle, the Egyptian and Greek myths* don’t focus on a final battle scenario, but they do include instances of apocalyptic events, such as when Ra sends Sekhmet to punish the world, and the Deucalion and Pyrrha story in Greek myth. There’s also the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh which is closely tied to the Old Testament story of Noah. The King Arthur story, too, has doom-laden elements and a final conflict, which while it doesn’t end the world, certainly puts paid to the Round Table and the associated notions of the rule of law, justice, and civilization—i.e. it leads to a “dark age”, an element Tolkien possibly picked up on.

Just in case we forget that fantasy and scifi still have much in common, despite having diverged into distinct genres in the post-LoTR days, you may note the similarity between these sources and the current trend for post-apocalyptic Science Fiction, e.g. The Hunger Games, World War Z, The Windup Girl, The Road, Oryx and Creyke, Station Eleven — to name just a very few of the stories that have graced our bookshelves and our screens of recent years.

However, fantasy is my theme, and Epic Fantasy, in particular—but before I cite a few examples of books that feature the apocalyptic endgame, I will also advance my thesis that it’s the presence or absence of the apocalypse scenario that is one of the features that distinguishes epic fantasy from other subgenres, e.g. paranormal urban fantasy, fairytale retellings, and sword and sorcery.

In epic, the stakes must be large scale, i.e. epic in their scope. In the other genres, although kingdoms, communities, and families may be in peril, there is not the same sense that life/the world (at least as we know it, but possibly utterly) will cease to exist. Although sometimes one may morph into the other, as with Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which by Book 3, Dreams of God and Monsters, bore a remarkable resemblance to epic fantasy… #JustSayin’

OK, now onward to those examples of books that feature the apocalyptic endgame, in addition to The Lord of the Rings and Dreams of Gods and Monsters, which I’ve already mentioned:

1. Raymond E Feist’s Riftwar Saga began with the Magician trilogy and its third and final book, A Darkness at Sethanon, is unquestionably apocalyptic, with the fate of multiple worlds hanging on the outcome. Classic “apocalypse now” territory and one of the groundbreaking series for the subgenre.

2. Some might argue that Ursula K Le Guin’s Earthsea books are not epic fantasy, but The Farthest Shore, the concluding novel in the initial trilogy, certainly has the apocalyptic elements, with the sorcery of Cob effectively unmaking the world. (The book has other epic elements as well, not least the quest-journey, but I’ll stick with the apocalypse example for now.)

3. In many ways Joy Chant’s Red Moon and Black Mountain follows closely in the footsteps of Tolkien in terms of the conceptualisation of the world and the conflict between good and evil. The final battle, though, is more specifically between a champion of good (Oliver/Olivanh) and the archenemy, as individuals. Chant also manages a double apocalypse for her denouement, one more closely aligned to druidic and shamanistic traditions, not unlike Guy Gavriel Kay’s Dalrei in the Fionavar trilogy.

4. When it comes to the apocalypse and epic end times it’s hard to look past Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, with its long prophesied final conflict known as Tarmon Gai’don that—regardless of whether the forces of Light win or lose—will see the world broken. Just in case you had doubts about Tarmon Gai’don’s epic chops, the fact it took up pretty much the entirety of A Memory of Light, the fourteenth and final book in the series, which ran to 912 pages, tells you that this is a series that’s down with the apocalyptic trope.

5. All three books in NK Jemisin’s Inheritance trilogy, which began with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, have ending-of-the-world elements. It’s kind of hard not to, really, when the story is essentially one of war between the gods. The concluding novel, The Kingdom of Gods, definitely has everything-in-the-balance stakes with a final conflict between gods and demons.

6. When its comes to final conflicts on the universal scale it’s very hard to go past Steven Erikson’s Malazan (Book of the Fallen) series, even if it only ran to (a mere) ten volumes as opposed to Jordan’s fourteen. The concluding novel, The Crippled God, definitely brings it all together in a  final showdown involving Elder Gods, the “world-cleansing” Forkrul Assail, and dragons, as well as human armies, ascendant gods, and assorted demons: definitely a case of apocalypse wow (i.e. or woa! — what an achievement!)

7. Many readers may not align Mark Helprin’s 1983 cult novel, Winter’s Tale, with epic fantasy, but it’s unquestionably fantasy. In my opinion it also has strong epic qualities, including a finale that involves the apocalyptic burning of an already mythically conceived version of New York city.

8. Elspeth Cooper’s The Wild Hunt series, which began with Songs of the Earth, also addresses the coming together of long-dormant forces into a cataclysmic war. In particular, a Hidden Kingdom that has been cast out of the world is manipulating magical and conventional forces to ensure it’s return—which will result in the destruction of the world as the main characters know it.

As keen readers of epic fantasy will know, these are only a very few examples of the apocalypse trope in the literature. Others include books mentioned in the earlier three posts, such as David Eddings’ Belgariad, Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars series, Tad Williams’  Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, Patricia McKillips’ Riddlemaster trilogy, Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry, Midori Snyder’s Oran trilogy, Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, as well as others not yet mentioned such as Barbara Hambly’s Darwath series, David Gemmell’s The Knights of Dark Renown, CJ Cherryh’s Chronicles of Morgaine, and Greg Keyes’ Kingdom of Thorn and Bone quartet—to name a few more! 🙂

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My own The Wall of Night series also honors the epic tradition by including a prophesied apocalypse: If Night falls, after all, all will fall. A sense of portent and final confrontation has also been building through the series to date. And as with so many of the books cited, it is the fabric of reality itself as well as the world that is at stake.

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In terms of the origins of apocalypse literature, I can only hazard a guess based on very limited inquiry, but I understand that apocalyptic foretellings tend to emerge when times are hard and cultures under pressure. The harshness of the Scandinavian environment may therefore have shaped the Norse culture’s notion of Ragnarok. Similarly, the early Christian church was being persecuted at the time Revelations and the vision of Armageddon was formulated.

Or maybe we all just like a good apocalypse—preferably in our storytelling, though, rather than in real life.

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Next Week: Just to change things up a little and not be too predictable 😉 I’ll be taking a short break from the Tropes series, before resuming on June 11 and turning the spotlight onto the “Big Bad.”

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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

Instalment 3: Dreams and Portents, Prophecy and Destiny

—

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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* You'll recall I noted last week that the Egyptian, Greek, and Norse myths 
and legends are the ones I have studied in depth, but I'd love contributions &
observations from those who're well versed in other cycles. #CommentAtWill

© Helen Lowe

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series traverses the full range of locales and places from The Wall Of Night world of Haarth.

From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the series explored locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost.

Now it’s returned to gazette the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three.)  The new series comprises updates of previous entries as well as new listings.

—

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USA

Little Pass: a secondary pass into the southern realm of Emer, crossing from the trading town of Aeris, to the north.

“The Lost are another reason behind my journey here,” she told Kalan. “At the end of last summer, the Band received a report of strange doings in Aeris. Lightning and thunder out of a clear sky one day; on the next a stone barn caught fire and couldn’t be put out. I investigated and the Lost weren’t there—but they had been.” She watched his eyes widen.

“The Little Pass from Aeris to Emer,” he said. “They must be using that. It’s hardly more than a goat track, but passable in summer. And once in the wilds of Northern Emer they could go anywhere if they had the right guides.”

~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two; Chapter 27— Rumor and Doubt
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The dust motes swirled, the day’s dirt and sweat and fading warmth mingling with the scent of the pines. Malian adjusted her head-wrapping against both breeze and grit, then stretched, feeling every mile of the day’s painstaking journey out of the Little Pass’s rough terrain. Turning away from the parapet, she looked down onto the Aeris caravan hostelry, which occupied a whole town block facing the wall.

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 14 — Crow

Strange Magic…

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.

Joan Grant’s “Winged Pharoah” (1938) drew on Egyptian reincarnation and dream myths

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.

Diana Wynne Jones’ tale is based on Sigurd & Brunnhilde, among other Norse myths

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.

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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

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In 2017, I resumed my “About the Characters” post series that focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, because :

“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013 

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood simultaneously — in alphabetical order, of course!

(The quotes, together with the covers, indicate whether the character appears in both or only one of the books—although at present we’re having a run on single entries!)

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Darin:  a guard in the service of Normarch, in the southern realm of Emer

They found Herun and Darin waiting for them at the first crossroads, which was little more than a glade in the woods with a lichen-covered standing stone at its center. The Normarch road ran on east to join the main road, while a bridle path snaked north and west toward the old temple. The damosels’ hoofmarks followed the second route—but something else, Herun said, had turned off with them. “Something that lay concealed in the undergrowth and followed once all had passed. But the tracks are confused. At first I thought it was a man, but then the prints changed, suggesting a beast.”

“It only followed them for a short distance,” said Darin, “then cut away across country. Getting ahead of them, maybe, or joining up with allies.”

~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two, Chapter 18 — Vigil

Last week…

Last week I kicked off a new post series on Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes (I certainly intend to have maximum fun and I hope you will, too 😉 ) with entry #1: A Farm Boy/Gal Goes On A Journey

This week…

This week’s post is the flip side of the same coin, only this time it’s a prince/princess who finds a destiny and saves the kingdom, if not the world.  There’s a very good chance, too, that s/he will find a magic sword to go with that destiny…

I’m sure you’re all familiar with this story, which is another staple of the myths, legends, fairytales, and folklore that underpin fantasy generally. The prince or princess may actually be disguised as the farm-boy/gal, or similar person of comparatively low degree (e.g. King Arthur is Sir Ector’s youngest son and squire), just as Aragorn (the true King of Gondor) goes disguised as Strider, a Ranger, in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Aragorn as Strider – the archetypal prince in disguise

Just as the farm-boy/gal is a person of low degree, the prince or princess is very often the youngest son or daughter and also often held in scant regard by his/her parents and siblings. The farm-boy/girl and prince/princess traditions also closely align in that both require the protagonist to embark on a journey in which s/he either overcomes tests or discovers a long-prophesied destiny. Frequently, though, the journey will include both aspects.

I am sure that you, as readers, will almost certainly recognise the neglected youngest prince/princess (or simply son/daughter) approach from innumerable fairy and folk tales, such as Prince Ivan and the Firebird (Russia) and the Frog Princess (which Italo Calvino, in Italian Folktales, noted had variants throughout Europe.) However, Shakespeare’s King Lear also draws on the tradition in the person of his youngest daughter, Cordelia.

Another variant of the prince/princess tradition may also be the eldest or only child who falls from his or her high degree through hubris (overweening pride), which triggers the prophecy and the journey (which is often—as discussed last week—both internal, ie emotional and spiritual, as well as external in nature.) This particular tradition is deeply embedded in the Greek myths in particular, where hero-princes such as Oedipus, Theseus, and Jason, and  Queens such as Niobe, all suffered the ill-effects of hubris.

Yet another variant of this tradition, which links to both the princess/princess in disguise and the fall-from-grace trope, is that of the prince-or-princess in exile. Aragorn may be the exemplar of this tradition, but there are many other examples.

So now let’s take a look at what will be A Very Few of the examples of princes and princesses that populate epic fantasy and who—like their counterparts of lower degree—must go on journeys and discover their prophesied destinies.

1. In George RR Martin’s A Song Of Ice and Fire series (televised as A Game of Thrones, the title of the first book) the children of Ned and Catelynn Stark (five legitimate and one base-born), together with Daenarys Targaryen, fit the overarching tradition of princes and princesses being cast forth to overcome tests and find/fulfil destinies (in a very harsh world). Daenarys, with her inheritance of dragons and claim to the throne of Westeros, is probably the most obvious example of the main trope, but Arya Stark and Jon Snow also epitomise the roles of a prince/princess in hiding and/or disguise. When last encountered, either in the book or the TV series, both Bran Stark and Sansa Stark were also on the way to fulfilling the destinies that began with the initial finding of their totem direwolves.

Examples of the prince / princess in disguise from last week encompass Garion, from David Eddings’ Belgariad series, and Jobber from Midori Snyder’s Oran trilogy. Others include:

2. Aileron, Crown Prince of Brennin, in Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar trilogy, who is disguised as a woodsman-servant when initially encountered in the series.  Aileron is also an example of the prince-in-exile.
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3. A princess in disguise and another exile (one who may no longer be as well known as she should be, imho) is Aidris in Cherry Wilder’s A Princess Of The Chameln. Forced to flee her homeland when only a teen, Aidris serves as a rank-and-file soldier in a neighboring country until she can reclaim her kingdom and her home.
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4. Elfrid, in Ru Emerson’s A Princess of Flames, combines nearly all the “princess” traditions: she is a neglected younger princess, who like Jon Snow is also base-born. Elfrid then goes into exile where she serves as a mercenary and also goes disguised as a man. All the tropes with a vengeance, but the story works very well nonetheless and  is a longstanding favourite of mine.
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5. Another longtime favourite among the “neglected daughter” tales is that of Aerin in Robin McKinley’s classic, The Hero and the Crown. Like Elfrid, Aerin is disregarded by her cousins (rather than siblings, in this case) but goes on to not only slay dragons but save the kingdom from an evil sorcerer.
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6. Blaise de Garsenc, in another Guy Gavriel Kay novel, A Song for Arbonne, although “not quite” a prince, is the despised younger son of one of his country, Gorhaut’s, greatest families. Blaise has chosen self-imposed exile and eventually saves Arbonne and seeks to restore honour and integrity to Gorhaut.
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7. David Gemmell is one of the famous names of epic fantasy and Tenaka Khan, the protagonist in The King Beyond The Gate, is another exiled prince, one who must eventually choose whether, like Aragorn, he seeks the crown that is his birthright, or chooses to save his country of exile.

8. Merlin, the protagonist in Mary Stewart’s Arthurian trilogy, which begins with The Crystal Cave, is baseborn, like Elfrid, but is raised in ignorance of his destiny. Although his place is not one of low degree, ignorance of his paternity is another form of disguise (and exile), and his place in society is far lower than his father’s. Although Merlin’s choice is not as marked as that of Tenaka Khan, he must also make a choice between destinies.
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9. Yarvi, in Joe Abercrombie’s Half A King (the Shattered Sea trilogy) is another prince who is not only ousted from his kingdom and his throne, but sold into slavery far from his homeland. Although in many ways an anti-hero, Yarvi’s journey is nonetheless geographic, in terms of finding his way home, and personal in terms of establishing a sense of self that bridges slavery and his princely heritage–as well as outwitting his enemies, of course.
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10. Michael Moorcock’s  Elric of Melnibone, from the Elric series (or Saga), is one of the outstanding examples of a prince (or in his case, Emperor) who loses his throne through hubris (he didn’t take his cousin nearly seriously enough) and the rest comprises the saga… Actually, there’s a lot more to it than that, including a soul-sucking sword par excellence, but he’s definitely an epic hero that has to deal with the consequences of his own hubris.
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At this juncture, those who are The Wall Of Night series readers may say, “But what about Malian?” Quite rightly, since Malian of Night, the series’ central protagonist is indeed a princess equivalent (although her title is “Heir”) with the classic prophesied destiny, who went into self-imposed exile but is now on the epic journey to reclaim her place in Night and endeavor to save her world. And maybe the universe, because if fantasy is to be truly epic then one should not do things by halves! She’s in pretty good company, too, because Laini Taylor’s Karou (Daughter of Smoke and Bone), Shallan Davar, a Knight Radiant in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series, not to mention Leia in Star Wars, are all doing exactly that. .

Last week I postulated that one reason the farm-boy/girl tradition has endured so long is because it provides a vehicle for human aspiration—when characters in fiction rise from humble beginnings to make good despite the odds, it allows every listener and reader to also dream dreams. I believe the neglected/youngest child trope arises out of the same source, i.e that it is not just the elder children—long the ones born to inherit the titles, wealth, and lands—that can succeed. There is also an element of goodness being its own reward, since the youngest princes/princesses are often the kindest, cleverest, and most loving of the children in the tale.

The traditions that centre on exile and/or hubris, however, are also grounded in notions of restoration, that sometimes go as far as redemption, i.e. it is not only the right “order of the world” that is restored but flawed characters may also find their way back to that “right order.” Although contemporary epic fantasy does not necessarily adhere to this script, it is an important part of the tradition the genre draws on.

Leia Forever…

As for why princes and princesses are as prevalent a trope as farmboys and farmgirls—maybe it’s just that people have always wanted their leaders to be of good character and trustworthy, as well as successful in peace and war… And directly or indirectly, the traditional stories are telling us that these qualities are what constitute the “right order.” So there you are, you see, we come back again to aspiration and modelling values!

As readers, you probably have lots of other great examples, in which case—comment at will. 🙂

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Next Week: Dreams and Portents, Prophecies and Destiny (Again)

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Previously In This Series:

Introduction: Having Fun With Epic Fantasy—Meet the Tropes

Episode 1: Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes: A Farm Boy/Gal Goes On A Journey…

.
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.”

© Helen Lowe