High fantasy tropes, and why they suck
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:16 amSo I just finished reading this novel called Oath of Fealty by one Elizabeth Moon. IMO it was a bad story, well told. Why bad? Not because of the Mary Sues, though there is at least one. Not because of the cliches or the loose ends, both of which were numerous. Let me quote it:
And indeed the villains are a dark, secret bunch. They wear hoods and masks, practice obvious black magic, torture and sacrifice innocent victims in their dungeons, the whole lot. They even worship a god called Liart, whose symbol is a circle with horns.
Oh dear. I think you can see the problem here right away.
I would agree that some kinds of evil delight in darkness and secrecy. Other evils rely not so much on secrecy as tacit consent, people turning a blind eye. The very worst kind are practiced in broad daylight, with large numbers of people being complicit, or even approving. Through fear and naivety, ordinary people are made to be tools for bad causes.
Consider slavery in the United States, for instance. That was a vast evil, and people took it for granted, or even considered it divine right. Downstream effects of it continue to this day, and people still take those effects for granted.
Or consider the Holocaust. Many Germans went right along with it, because they were afraid of Hitler and his thugs, or in many cases because they truly supported him. The Nazis talked of bravery, heroism, and whatnot, and they killed tens of millions of people.
Does evil exist? Absolutely, IMO. The problem is it's not always instantly recognizable, with horned gods and blood sacrifice. The really big evils are more subtle than that. They're like an addictive drug; they get people hooked in before they know what hit them. If you want to avoid that, you have to be on the lookout, even in places you don't expect. Like your own country. Or your own life.
Tolkien clearly recognized this, to some extent. The sheer power of the One Ring corrupts everything it touches, given enough time. And it figures into Moon's novel too; characters comment several times on the lure of power over others. And yet... Tolkien has Orcs, who are all bad by birth (assuming they're actually born). And Moon has her stereotypically Satanic villains and her pureheartedly good saints and paladins. While in real history, people have been killed in droves because they were assumed bad by birth; or for bowing before the wrong gods or saints...
I think that, when you get down to it, the usual bit about corruption is just lip service. The core of a lot of fantasy novels still seems like the same old self-righteous stuff. Granted, I don't think escapism is such a terrible thing (otherwise I wouldn't read as much SF as I do!); but I wonder if what I see here is reflective of a society that is also somewhat self-righteous.
Bah. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.
"This house must be cleansed," Dorrin said. "That is why I'm opening the windows, when I've untrapped them..."
"Windows were trapped?"
"Evil delights in darkness and secrecy," Dorrin said.
And indeed the villains are a dark, secret bunch. They wear hoods and masks, practice obvious black magic, torture and sacrifice innocent victims in their dungeons, the whole lot. They even worship a god called Liart, whose symbol is a circle with horns.
Oh dear. I think you can see the problem here right away.
I would agree that some kinds of evil delight in darkness and secrecy. Other evils rely not so much on secrecy as tacit consent, people turning a blind eye. The very worst kind are practiced in broad daylight, with large numbers of people being complicit, or even approving. Through fear and naivety, ordinary people are made to be tools for bad causes.
Consider slavery in the United States, for instance. That was a vast evil, and people took it for granted, or even considered it divine right. Downstream effects of it continue to this day, and people still take those effects for granted.
Or consider the Holocaust. Many Germans went right along with it, because they were afraid of Hitler and his thugs, or in many cases because they truly supported him. The Nazis talked of bravery, heroism, and whatnot, and they killed tens of millions of people.
Does evil exist? Absolutely, IMO. The problem is it's not always instantly recognizable, with horned gods and blood sacrifice. The really big evils are more subtle than that. They're like an addictive drug; they get people hooked in before they know what hit them. If you want to avoid that, you have to be on the lookout, even in places you don't expect. Like your own country. Or your own life.
Tolkien clearly recognized this, to some extent. The sheer power of the One Ring corrupts everything it touches, given enough time. And it figures into Moon's novel too; characters comment several times on the lure of power over others. And yet... Tolkien has Orcs, who are all bad by birth (assuming they're actually born). And Moon has her stereotypically Satanic villains and her pureheartedly good saints and paladins. While in real history, people have been killed in droves because they were assumed bad by birth; or for bowing before the wrong gods or saints...
I think that, when you get down to it, the usual bit about corruption is just lip service. The core of a lot of fantasy novels still seems like the same old self-righteous stuff. Granted, I don't think escapism is such a terrible thing (otherwise I wouldn't read as much SF as I do!); but I wonder if what I see here is reflective of a society that is also somewhat self-righteous.
Bah. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.
