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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…

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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.”

© 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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Lion Throne: literally the throne, but also the court of the Shah of Ishnapur
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He looked at the ambassador. “But Mykon also has a point. I think we would all like to hear why the Lion Throne has taken the unprecedented step of including a demonhunter as part of its embassy to the River.”
~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two; Chapter 8 — The Demonhunter

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I’m doing you a favor, boy, even if you don’t see it, Kalan thought, mopping up his gravy. He could only hope that Faro would understand, one day—assuming that Malian found both sword and shield and they could stop the darkness from swarming over Haarth. For if they did not, there would be no better future for anyone, from a street urchin in Grayharbor to the Shah on Ishnapur’s Lion Throne
~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 9 — Sepulchre

I’m betting we all know this one—and it’s hardly surprising that we do, since epic fantasy has its roots in myth, hero tales, and folklore, and this is one of the most deep-rooted characteristics of the epic tradition.

Of course, to fit the trope/tradition, the protagonist doesn’t have to be a farm boy or gal specifically (although they very often are) but rather a person of comparatively low degree in their society/world, who nonetheless becomes the pawn of prophecy (I’m sure all keen fantasy readers will get this allusion!) and/or destiny and so must set out from their own front door (you must recognize this person 😉 ) on a journey (often internal in terms of personal growth, as well as being externally focused geographically) that will see him/her face dangers and be tested, before (in the classic version) returning home to assume a far more distinguished place in their society or community. (Samwise Gamgee, anyone?)

Here are some examples of this tradition that readily spring to mind in terms of contemporary epic fantasy:

• Bilbo Baggins in JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit — Although not a person of low degree in his own society, hobbits are little known or regarded in the wider world, being halflings. But Bilbo is chosen by the wizard Gandalf and runs out of his front door to embark on the classic quest-journey.
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• Similarly, Frodo Baggins, Sam Gamgee, Pippin Took, and Merry Brandybuck fulfil a similar role to Bilbo in Tolkien’s far grimmer sequel, The Lord of the Rings, troubling the councils of “the great” and playing a pivotal role in the events of their world. Arguably, Frodo does not return home to higher status (but then, The Lord of the Rings is not a one-dimensional story) but the other three do, particularly Sam.
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• Garion in David Eddings’ Belgariad is unquestionably a farm boy and the first novel in the quintet is titled, unmistakably, Pawn of Prophecy — so check, also, to prophecy, the journey, and the ultimate rise to become King…
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• Pug and Thomas in Raymond E Feist’s Magician (and sequels): again farm boys who must leave their home village and play significant parts in the affairs of their world (Midkemia) and the war with an adjoining world (Kelewan.) In their case they do not return home but become great leaders in their society.
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• Paksennarion (Paks) in Elizabeth Moon’s Sheepfarmer’s Daughter (and sequels) is another heroine where the farmgal tradition is heralded by the title of the first book. It’s so long since I read the series that I can’t recall whether Paks returned home or not, but the farmer’s daughter definitely went on a classic quest journey, becoming a paladin or knight-hero.
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• Rand Al Thor and his companions Mat, Perrin, Egwene and Nyneave, in Robert Jordan’s Wheel Of Time series, are a group of farmboys and gals who embark on a world-traversing journey in which they play-out destinies closely linked to the saving of their world from a great and destructive evil (similar to most if not all the titles so far.)
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• Gill (Gilyan) in Katharine Kerr’s Daggerspell (and sequels) also has humble beginnings, being an itinerant mercenary’s (a ‘Silver Dagger’) illegitimate daughter. She travels the roads of Deverry with her father initially and later in the course of her own adventures, rising in fame and status. In this series, though, the sense of a world at threat from a great evil, while present, is a less pronounced plot feature.

………Of course, the “great, world-threatening evil” is another trope —
………but I’ll get to that in another post, since this is a series, after all. 🙂
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• Dev, in Courtney Schafer’s The Whitefire Crossing, is another street-raised, urban protagonist who occupies the lower social echelons of his society, in which magic and magicians rule. Being a  caravan guide, journeys are a more regular part of Dev’s lot but the titular Whitefire Crossing takes him way out of his comfort zone and much farther geographically than he expects to venture.
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• Jobber, from Midori Synder’s Oran trilogy is not only one of my favourite Fantasy heroines but a street brat and street fightin’ gal who nonetheless discovers she has a destiny and must flee for her life from her home city.  Interestingly, Shedwyn, the main character in Sadar’s Keep, the second Oran book, is a farm worker, which maintains the epic tradition while also providing an interesting juxtaposition with Jobber’s urban character.
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• Thorn in Half The World, the mid-but-awesome book in Joe Abercrombie’s Shattered Sea trilogy, is another street-fightin’ heroine of humble origins. Her journey is based on the Viking’s fabled eastern route to Miklagard (Constantinople/Byzantium) through Russia and into the Black Sea, and thence the Mediterranean—albeit in a Fantasy setting—and while a coming-of-age story is connected to the larger story being told through the three books.

These are only a handful of examples from the many epic fantasy stories “out there” but I feel that they are sufficient to illustrate the prevalence of the trope/tradition. As most of you have probably already realized, it’s not confined to literature alone.

Luke Skywalker epitomizes the trope in the original Stars Wars film, and more recently the hero of Interstellar is a farmer who goes on a space journey to save humankind…I’ve spotted it in less likely places, too, such as the TV series, Carnivale.  The story follows a carnival in the US Depression—but the hero is still a Dust Bowl farm boy and the progress of the carnival across the States is driven by a conflict between good and evil: the very stuff of epic fantasy, in fact.

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In terms of The Wall Of Night series (and later again we’ll get to how I wanted the series to have “all the tropes”, or at least, as many as I could reasonably accommodate, at any rate 😉 ) the “farm boy” character is Kalan. He’s of the Derai rank-and-file rather than the ruling elite known the “Blood”, but he is also the “Token bearer” (i.e. appears to have a “destiny” that is working out through the books); he set out on Fantasy and epic’s classic road journey in The Heir of Night, and has been rising through the ranks,  and in stature,  as the series progresses.

In terms of why the farmboy/gal tradition has endured in storytelling and successfully transitioned into a trope of contemporary Fantasy, I wonder if it may not have something to do with aspiration: the human desire for social progression and success in the eyes of the world. The possibility of such ambitions being achieved is both modelled and affirmed in the stories, so in that sense they have a meaning for their audience that may go beyond simple escapism.

This, however, is no more than speculation on my part, so if you have theories of your own, feel free to share them through the comments. Similarly, if you have a personal favourite among the farmboy/farmgal-goes-on-a-journey books, do add them to the list. For example, Simon in Tad Williams’ The Dragonbone Chair is another classic example, or Taizu in CJ Cherryh’s The Paladin.

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Next Week: The Prince/Princess With A Destiny

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Previously 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

USA

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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Dalay:  a senior House of Morning priest, one of the sect called “the Elect”
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‘ Whichever way he looked, all he could see was vulnerability for the badly undermanned Towers. Fear clawed at him: for Sri, with her ink-stained fingers, and the old lady they had escorted so far, and even for stiff-necked Dalay. Frowning, he studied the pass again—and almost yelled when he turned and found Sirit watching him from the opening onto the tower stairs. ‘

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 13 — Watch & Ward

Tolkien’s Middle Earth & the classic epic tour

Some years back, I posted a short guest series on SF Signal titled “Having Fun With Epic Fantasy” in which I explored a few of the characteristic features of epic fantasy literature. While by no means exhaustive, the entries included “Making the Grand Tour” (aka the Road Journey), the “Band of Brothers” and  the “Soul-Sucking Sword.”

Sadly, SF Signal closed its e-doors a few years back, but my love of epic fantasy has continued and there’s plenty more examples of its classic elements to consider, together with some of the books where they appear — my favourites that is, rather than an exhaustive list. 🙂

A contemporary term for those classic elements is “tropes.” Originally “tropes” was a terms for figures of speech such as metaphor and irony (among many others.) Now, though, it has come to include “commonly recurring literary and rhetorical devices,^[2] motifs or clichés in creative works.” (Wikipedia)

Barbara Hambly’s ‘The Ladies of Mandrigyn’ — a favourite “band of sisters”

The epic “grand tour”, “band of brothers” and artefacts such as the “soul-sucking sword” are examples of such devices or —gasp!— cliches that characterize epic fantasy. But I’m sure I can find a few more to share with you. For me, they’re part of what I love about these kind of stories, which is why I’ve included a goodly amount in The Wall of Night series. 😉

I would argue, of course, that it’s not the presence or absence of these classic elements that define the story, but what you do with them…

But that is another story! In the meantime, I’ll look forward to taking a closer look at elements, or tropes, such as the farmboy/gal or prince/princess with a destiny, portents and prophecies, wormholes and portals — to hint at just a few of the many. 🙂 The first instalment will post next Monday!

Farmboys, princesses, destinies… 😉

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Fantasy literature readers generally, and Epic Fantasy lovers in particular, *heart* maps.

So far, I only have one broad brush map for The Wall of Night series world of Haarth, but a reader was inquiring about it recently and the relative locales of the Derai and the Swarm — think “here be dragons” and “beyond the edge of the map” for the latter — so I thought I’d post the Wall series map again in as large from as da blog will accommodate without distortion. 🙂

But it “is” beautiful — I still love artist Peter Fitzpatrick’s work as much as I did the first time I saw “the map.”!

So ‘ere it be: Enjoy. 🙂

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

“The Heir Of Night” map: artist, Peter Fitzpatrick

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

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

Now the series has 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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Lathayra:  one of the Southern Realms of Haarth
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‘ Now she rode a sturdy gray cob and called herself Heris—a name that could equally well originate on the River or in northern Emer—an itinerant scribe on a pilgrimage to all the shrines of Serrut in Emer and Aralorn. And maybe Lathayra, although the shabby scribe was undecided on that point whenever his plans were discussed. Lathayra, he had heard, was a dangerous place for those not adept with the weapons of war.

“Perilous far, too,” one farmer deep in the Ormondian hills opined. ‘

~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two; Chapter 53 — The Solitary Tower
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‘ In a town like Aeris, being inside the walls could still mean pickpockets and knives down back alleys, but it also meant hot food, baths, and soft beds for those with money enough to pay. Unfortunately, that did not include two itinerant swords-for-hire, of indeterminate origin but sporting cloth head-wrappings and the bone-and-feather fetishes favored by Lathayran mercenaries. Raven had brought both his Hill horses with him into southern Aralorn, so Malian had sold her cob in the nearest market town and abandoned the identity of Heris the scribe for that of Crow, Raven’s companion hedge warrior. Birds of ill omen in appearance as well as name, she thought wryly, recalling how both innkeepers and caravan masters had eyed them askance—and sleeping rough had only added to their disreputable appearance. ‘
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~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 14 — Crow

As an author, I know what a wonderfully exciting moment it is when when nice things happen for a book.

It’s pretty durned exciting, too, when a book I’ve loved reading wins an award. It’s nice, you know, to discover  that others out there have enjoyed a book as much as I did myself. But as an author, I also know what it will mean to the writer, probably after she has spent years on the solitary process of researching and writing the book, then getting it to the world.

So I was over the moon when my friend Mary Victoria let me know that Us & Them (Stanford University Press, 2017), by Bahiyyih Nakhjavani, had won the Independent Publisher Silver Book Award for Literary Fiction, 2018.

If you want to know more about Us & Them, I discussed the book here:

What I’m Reading: Something New — “Us & Them” by Bahiyyih Nakhjavani

If you want to find out more about the author, you can check out her website:

Bahiyyih Nakhjavani

I really enjoyed this book so if you like literary fiction and something a little out of the ordinary, I believe Us & Them may be just the read for you. 😉

USA

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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UK/AU/NZ

Dain:  a House of Blood honor guard, second-in-command of Jad’s eight-unit
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“Arrows are my main concern,” Dain said, dropping his voice. “We won’t be able to retrieve ’em this time, not with their archers deployed. The caravan’s well equipped for the usual dangers of the road, but its reserves weren’t meant for this level of attack.”

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 46 — Line of Fire