Whether set in the future or the past, good fantasy has this beautiful ability to provide a certain level of escapism, while still teaching us invaluable life lessons. It disconnects us from the issues of the real world, while still weaving in certain moralistic principles within the tapestry of the story it is telling. A good fantasy will ever so slightly and gently, subconsciously nudge us in the direction of being a better person. We want a fantasy to grab our attention of course. We want it to give us a break from the ebb and flow of reality. But keen readers and deep ponderer’s, want to sink their proverbial teeth into something that gets them thinking. Something that will make them put the book down mid chapter and think. Think about the meaning of what they have just consumed. Think about how it applies to their life currently. Or perhaps how it applies to a situation they found themselves in previously. Potentially it helps them answer some of life’s more expansive philosophical questions. The point is, a good fantasy does two things. It draws you into a completely foreign world, that still reminds you somewhat of the one you are in, to make it relatable. But it also allows you to draw from it, deep meaning and connection. By looking at life through the lense of a very well written fantasy, we allow ourselves to answer certain riddles, from a fresh perspective. We are also granted the opportunity to learn lessons through connecting with characters that exemplify certain character traits that we deem admirable. That is why the quality of writing can really make or break a fantasy.
“They open a door on (an)other time, and if we pass through, though only for a moment, we stand outside our own time, outside Time itself, maybe.” - Tolkien on fairy stories
A personal favourite of mine, which will come as no surprise to those who have been subscribed to this substack for a while now, would be J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of The Rings” Trilogy. This paired with the same author’s “The Hobbit”, to me are the pinnacle of fantasy writing and provide a scaffolding for what good fantasy writing should be. A great example of one of the many lessons the famous trilogy so perfectly depicts, is the implicit necessity of hope. The way Tolkien so brilliantly brings forth and highlights hope as a guiding motivation for a good life, is his lack of allegorical writing. He focused on writing a mythology, that did not postulate a particularly religious narrative. He does not have character’s pray to a deity in times of hardship, even though the mythology is built upon a very Christian foundation, where there is a God who goes by the name of Eru Ilúvatar. There is a genesis of the world of middle earth, similar to that of the biblical writings we find ourselves delving into today. So he created a very Christian story, but decided to remove prayer from it, why? The true genius of Tolkien’s work is that he managed to keep the story mythological while still maintaining a sense of Christian belief and moral within the story. In his own words, Tolkien stated “(on The Lord of The Rings) A fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision”. He did so, not out of ignorance towards Christianity or a belief that it was not appropriate. He did it because he wanted the story to reflect a deeper, and more universal truth. He created a mythology in which the reader understands that the belief in each other (your beloved ones) is in a way honouring that faith and hope in a higher being and purpose. Tolkien’s writing created a universally understood story, that showcases the importance of hope and it’s ability to help us bridge the hardest of moral victories.
“I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author:” -Tolkien
Fantasies often get criticized as purely childish escapism and are inherently infantile in that there are few lessons to be gleaned from such story telling. The latter assumption, actually having strong merit in contemporary fantasy writing. Stories such as Game of Thrones, has quite a bit of nihilism and “blackpill” undertones within it’s story arch. It doesn’t necessarily bring too much the the table outside of it’s entertainment value. Other fantasies such as Harry Potter, once again provide entertainment, but not much in the way of life lessons. Harry Potter does touch on some important ideas, but falls short in the realm of truly tantalizing questions and topics that will get the mind working. There is nothing wrong with either of the series, as long as you take them for what they are worth, and realize they can’t hold a candle to the likes of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. What makes these authors and their works so special, is that they endured nearly a century after their inception and will always hold firm in the face of newcomers to the genre. It isn’t simply about making a wholly alien world, throwing in some odd cultures and creating an antagonist over which much of the adversity is based. It is careful character building. Story arch development, and special attention to what each character believes and inversely espouses. There must be a moral structure to the characters, otherwise you get stuck in a story based solely on entertainment value, and these tend to be short lived in comparison to those stories that have been around for nearly a century, which are packed with gleanable philosophy and wisdom.
So why fantasy as a conduit for wisdom? Well, I believe that fantasy removes any preconceived notions we as readers have on certain topics. It wipes the slate clean, by presenting us with a wholly new world, and nations we have never heard of. It allows us to build bonds with characters whose morals and values we find admirable. That is why, when these characters espouse a certain colloquialism or morsel of knowledge, we take a liking to it, as we have taken a liking to them. A good fantasy will make the reader/viewer, feel as if they're escaping, taking a break if you will, meanwhile they are being handed wisdom after wisdom and they don't even realize it. A good fantasy will also make the reader feel as if those places, people's, cultures and stories were all real at some point in time. They are humanized successfully in the eyes of the reader. It's one of the many genius aspects of Tolkien's writing, to create certain magical beings, but not have them so whimsical in nature that it is inconceivable that they could have once roamed the earth.
Welcome weary traveller. The road I take it, was long and fraught with peril. Here you may rest your head. - Project Lazarus