{"id":35365,"date":"2018-05-28T06:30:55","date_gmt":"2018-05-27T18:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=35365"},"modified":"2018-05-28T13:55:11","modified_gmt":"2018-05-28T01:55:11","slug":"having-fun-with-epic-fantasy-tropes-4-apocalypse-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2018\/05\/28\/having-fun-with-epic-fantasy-tropes-4-apocalypse-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes #4: Apocalypse Now…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>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\u00a0 Armageddon or Ragnarok.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You do remember Ragnarok from last week<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“Not this day,” says Aragorn, about to fight the final battle…<\/p><\/div>\n

The Middle Earth backstory in Tolkien’s seminal The Lord of the Rings<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0contains 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<\/em>\u00a0(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.<\/p>\n

In The Lord of the Rings<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Speaking of ‘end-of-the-world scenarios’…<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>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<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>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<\/em><\/strong>, World War Z<\/em><\/strong>, The Windup Girl<\/em><\/strong>, The Road<\/em><\/strong>, Oryx and Creyke<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0Station Eleven<\/strong><\/em> — to name just a very few of the stories that have graced our bookshelves and our screens of recent years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>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<\/em><\/strong>, which by Book 3, Dreams of God and Monsters<\/em><\/strong>, bore a remarkable resemblance to epic fantasy… #JustSayin’<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>1.<\/strong> Raymond E Feist’s Riftwar Saga<\/strong>\u00a0began with the\u00a0Magician<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0trilogy and its third and final book, A Darkness at Sethanon<\/strong><\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> \"\"<\/a>Some might argue that Ursula K Le Guin’s Earthsea books are not epic fantasy, but The Farthest Shore<\/em>, 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.)<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> \"\"<\/a>In many ways Joy Chant’s Red Moon and Black Mountain<\/em><\/strong> 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<\/strong> trilogy.<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> \"\"<\/a>When it comes to the apocalypse and epic end times it’s hard to look past Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time<\/b>\u00a0series, 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<\/em><\/strong>, 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.<\/p>\n

5.<\/strong> \"\"<\/a>All three books in NK Jemisin’s Inheritance<\/strong> trilogy, which began with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/em><\/strong>, 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<\/em><\/strong>, definitely has everything-in-the-balance stakes with a final conflict between gods and demons.<\/p>\n

6.<\/strong> \"\"<\/a>When its comes to final conflicts on the universal scale it’s very hard to go past Steven Erikson’s Malazan<\/strong> (Book of the Fallen<\/strong>) series, even if it only ran to (a mere) ten volumes as opposed to Jordan’s fourteen. The concluding novel, The Crippled God<\/em><\/strong>, definitely brings it all together in a\u00a0 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 <\/em>(i.e. or woa! — what an achievement!)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>7.<\/strong> Many readers may not align Mark Helprin’s 1983 cult novel, Winter’s Tale<\/strong><\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>8.<\/strong> Elspeth Cooper’s The Wild Hunt<\/strong> series, which began with Songs of the Earth<\/em><\/strong>, 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>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<\/strong>, Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars<\/strong> series, Tad Williams’\u00a0 Memory, Sorrow and Thorn<\/strong>, Patricia McKillips’ Riddlemaster<\/strong> trilogy, Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry,<\/strong>\u00a0Midori Snyder’s Oran<\/strong> trilogy, Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive<\/strong>, as well as others not yet mentioned such as Barbara Hambly’s Darwath<\/strong> series, David Gemmell’s The Knights of Dark Renown<\/strong><\/em>, CJ Cherryh’s Chronicles of Morgaine<\/strong>, and Greg Keyes’\u00a0Kingdom of Thorn and Bone<\/strong> quartet—to name a few more! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

USA<\/p><\/div>\n

My own The Wall of Night<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

UK\/AU\/NZ<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Or maybe we all just like a good apocalypse—preferably in our storytelling, though, rather than in real life.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Next Week:<\/strong>\u00a0Just to change things up a little and not be too<\/em> predictable \ud83d\ude09 I’ll be taking a short break from the Tropes series, before resuming on June 11 and turning the spotlight onto the “Big Bad.”<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Previously In This Series:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Introduction:\u00a0Having Fun With Epic Fantasy\u2014Meet the Tropes<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Instalment 1:\u00a0Having Fun With Epic Fantasy Tropes: A Farm Boy\/Gal Goes On A Journey\u2026<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Instalment\u00a0\u00a02:\u00a0A Prince\/Princess Finds A Destiny<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Instalment 3:\u00a0Dreams and Portents, Prophecy and Destiny<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

On SF Signal: The\u00a0\u201cHaving Fun With Epic Fantasy\u201d Series<\/strong><\/h3>\n

1. \u201cMaking the Grand Tour<\/a>\u201d (aka the Road Journey);<\/p>\n

2. .”The \u201cBand of Brothers<\/a>\u201d; and\u00a0the<\/p>\n

3. . \u201cSoul-Sucking Sword<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

---\r\n* You'll recall I noted last week that the Egyptian, Greek, and Norse myths \r\nand legends are the ones I have studied in depth, but I'd love contributions &\r\nobservations from those who're well versed in other cycles. #CommentAtWill<\/span><\/pre>\n
\u00a9 Helen Lowe<\/em><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0 Armageddon or Ragnarok. You do remember Ragnarok from last week right? In case you missed it, Ragnarok is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-epicfantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35365"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35388,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35365\/revisions\/35388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}