Modernising Myths: A Study of the Origin and Continuation of Heroic Legends
Abstract:
In the context of genre and the origin of thematic elements of story, this essay will explore the ideas of high fantasy and heroic legend. Evidencing the work of Joseph Campbell and Lloyd Alexander in relation to the origin of story and genre conventions of high fantasy. This essay will explore whether more recent works of fantasy such as George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones conform to or subvert such genre conventions.
Key Words/Terms:
High Fantasy, Cauldron of Story, Heroic Legend, Hero’s Journey/Heroic Quest, Fairy Tales,
“High” or “epic” fantasy is the name given to the sub-genre of fantasy that features made-up or fictionalised worlds, such as JRR Tolkien’s Middle-Earth (from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings etc.) and George RR Martin’s Westeros (from his A Song of Ice and Fire saga). These worlds are typically set as a ‘stand-in’ for Europe during the medieval-renaissance era (Cipera, 2011:1). There are exceptions, for example His Dark Materials, written by Phillip Pullman[1] is set in an alternate Oxfordshire in 1995. However, from games such as Dungeons and Dragons[2]and Skyrim[3]; to books such as The Hobbit; television shows such as Game of Thrones and The Witcher and films such as Willow and The Dark Crystal; when we think fantasy, we predominantly think “swords and sorcery”[4]. But why do works from the fantasy genre often conjure such narrative clichés? And are works still conforming to such genre tropes?
In his 1971 essay High Fantasy and Heroic Romance, in which he coins the term “high fantasy”, Lloyd alexander refers to something known as the “Cauldron of Story”. Describing the term with the following analogy:
“The pot holds a rich and fascinating kind of mythological minestrone. Almost everything has gone into it, and almost anything is likely to come out of it: morsels of real history — spiced and spliced — with imaginary history, fact and fancy, daydreams and nightmares. It is as inexhaustible as those legendary vessels that could never be emptied.” (Alexander, 1971:1) Alexander speaks of a well of ideas, themes, motifs, settings and archetypes that come up time and time again through fairy tales, myths, legends and now, have formed a sort of tradition in fantasy story telling. But as he says, “nothing is given for nothing” (Alexander, 1971:1) – authors are welcome to dip and take from the cauldron as they wish, drawing out mythological creatures, magical artefacts and so on, but the author must work in their own flare:
“Because these conventional characters — these personae of myth and fairy tale, though gorgeously costumed and caparisoned — are faceless, the writer must fill in their expressions. Colourful figures in a pantomime, the writer must give them a voice.” (Alexander 1971:1) It could be argued that new works of fantasy are taking less from the cauldron of story. For example, George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones is set in secondary world, predominantly on the continent of Westeros. However, noticeably there are less magical and mythological elements in his story with more of a reliance on political narratives and exploration of characters. For example, “The children… live in dreams. Now. Dead and gone.” (Martin, 1996: 771). This is a quote from Maester Luwin[5] about the “children of the forest”[6] which represent one of the branches of magic in Game of Thrones and he talks about them being dead, showing that magic no longer exists in the known world[7]. Maester Luwin says more about magic and the children of the forest:
“take a lesson, Bran. The man who trusts in spells is duelling with a glass sword. As the children did.” (Martin, 1996: 772)
“perhaps magic was once a mighty force in the world, but no longer. What little remains is no more than the wisp of smoke that lingers in the air after a great fire has burned out, and even that is fading. Valyria[8] was the last ember, and Valyria is gone.” (Martin 1998: 442)It is interesting that we only hear this from Maester Luwin which might give us, the reader as well as the characters, a biased and restricted view of how magic works in the GOT world. But he leaves us under the impression that there is little presence of magic; that perhaps if it was once prevalent in the world with the children and Valyria, it is no longer. It could, therefore, be argued that Martin takes less from the cauldron of story than his preceding counterparts. He has more swords and less sorcery as it were.
Returning to Cipera’s definition of High fantasy,
“The story is usually told through the eyes of the main character, or hero, and follows them nearly exclusively while supporting characters can come or go. The hero is leading the charge for the “good guys” against the evil that is threatening to take over and ruin the peace.” (Cipera 2011: 1)
I think you can find conflictions with this definition in Martin’s work. For example, GOT has not just one “hero” or protagonist, it has many, in Eddard Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark, Jon Snow, etc.; we get to know their inner thoughts and feelings and we watch them grow as characters. Moreover, Martin, specifically writes his characters to subvert the “good guys against evil” trope: “I’ve often said that I believe in grey characters, I don’t believe in black and white characters. I don’t want to write the band of heroes on one side and the orcs on the other side.” (Martin, 2018) We see here that we purposefully, subverts the genre’s tradition of binary oppositions – to him good and evil exist only on a spectrum ranging from light to dark and his characters fall somewhere on the spectrum.
(Fig.1 ) Detailed Diagram of the Hero’s Journey by Lisa A. Paltz Spindler The Hero’s Quest or the hero’s journey is another trope of fantasy fiction in the cauldron of story and arguably less superficial than the presence of magic in a fictional world. The idea of the Hero’s Journey was popularised by Joseph Campbell in his Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) in which he details stages the hero must go on to complete their quest (see fig. 1). Margert Atwood summarises this in her Master Class article:
“A lonely hero who is trying to find himself. A sudden and unexpected journey, promising adventure and peril. A test of character, strength, and skill. An ultimate battle that tests the hero’s resolve. A triumphant return home.” (Atwood, 2020:1)
It can be more detailed but that is the general premise of the Hero’s Journey –Star Wars (1977), Harry Potter (1997), Lord of the Rings (1954) she gives as examples of works that use this plot structure.
Do more modern works of fantasy, such as GOT use this conventional plot structure? I would argue no, however this traditional story structure is used as a basis for subversion for Martin. You can see the traditional archetypal heroes; Jon Snow, Eddard Stark, and their “calls to adventure”, their “act one separation” in Jon Snow’s service at The Wall and Eddard Stark’s service as Hand of the King[9]in King’s Landing[10]. However, Eddard does not overcome his “supreme ordeal” nor does he reach his third act “unification” before he is beheaded as a traitor. In an interview from 2012[11], George RR Martin says
“One of the things I love, and I’m a voracious reader as well as a writer, is books that surprise me, that are not predictable.” (Mora, 2012:1)
“Nothing bores me more than books where you read two pages and you know exactly how it’s going to come out. I want twists and turns that surprise me, characters that have a difficult time and that I don’t know if they’re going to live or die.” (Mora, 2012:1)
It is evident that Martin is much more interested in creating characters and stories that are much richer in substance that strict accordance with Campbell’s hero’s journey and archetypes can allow. Martin takes the idea of the hero’s journey and subverts it, twists it into something that resembles what we can pick from the cauldron but makes it new and fresh.
Conclusion:
Many of the ideas surrounding the genre of high fantasy are very old, often outdated and many of the more well-known works may be also, The Hobbit for example, being released in 1936; its story having much in common with the Hero’s journey, which was laid out in 1949. This may be to do with fantasy’s origin largely steeped in fairy tales and myth, stretching back to Beowulf and Norse Mythology[12]. George RR Martin is by no means the first author to subvert and question ideas that have been prevalent for thousands of years, namely Terry Pratchett’s Disc World and Andrej Sapkowski’s The Witcher, who I would expand upon, given more time. But George RR Martin works within a genre that thrives on tradition, whose characters are pig keepers, yearning to be warriors as in The Black Cauldron[13]and breathes new life into it. Where traditionally princesses are prizes for the gallant knight to win after battling dragons and dark lords. To Martin, princesses are homeless conquerors who use dragons to burn cities to the ground and knights are less gallant and more corrupt as they kill the kings they swear to protect and sexually assault their twin sister. His work might share archetypes with Arthurian tales and stories of myth but contain elements that subvert tradition and shock its audience.
References:
Cipera, K., 2011. Defining the Genre: High Fantasy | Fandomania. [online] Fandomania. Available at: <https://fandomania.com/defining-the-genre-high-fantasy/> [Accessed 6 January 2021].
Alexander, L., 1971. High Fantasy and Heroic Romance*. [online] The Horn Book. Available at: <https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=high-fantasy-and-heroic-romance> [Accessed 6 January 2021].
Martin, G., 1996. A Game of Thrones. 1st ed. London: HarperVoyager, pp.771-772.
Martin, G., 1998. A Clash of Kings. 1st ed. Lo
ndon: HarperVoyager, pp.442
Barnett, C., 2006. Tolkien, MacDonald, and the Cauldron of Story. Inklings Forever. Available at: <https://pillars.taylor.edu/inklings_forever/vol5/iss1/22> [Accessed 10 January 2021]
Campbell, J., 1949. The Hero With A Thousand Faces. 1st ed. Pantheon Books.
Atwood, M., 2020. Writing 101: What Is the Hero’s Journey? 2 Hero’s Journey Examples in Film. [online] MasterClass| Articles. Available at: <https://www.masterclass.com/articles/writing-101-what-is-the-heros-journey#examples-of-the-heros-journey-in-film-two-case-studies> [Accessed 10 January 2021].
Mora, T., 2012. Game Of Thrones' Martin: I Like My Characters To Suffer. [online] Reuters. Available at:<https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-books-author-georgemartin-idUKBRE86J15220120721?edition-redirect=uk> [Accessed 13 January 2021].
Targaryen, A., 2018. George RR Martin On Writing Complex Characters. [online] Youtube.com. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeROeVRiahU&t=4s> [Accessed 13 January 2021].
Day, D., 2019. An Encyclopaedia Of Tolkien. 1st ed. San Diego, California: Canterbury Classics, pp.57-60.
Image Reference List:
Paltz Spindler, L., n.d. 1.4: Notes On The Hero's Journey: Canvas Examples By Subject Or Grade Level. [online] Iss.instructure.com. Available at: <https://iss.instructure.com/courses/48181/pages/1-dot-4-notes-on-the-heros-journey?module_item_id=472430> [Accessed 13 January 2021].
Bibliography:
Preston, R., 2016. The Hero’s Journey In Game Of Thrones: Jon Snow. [online] Winter is Coming. Available at: <https://winteriscoming.net/2015/12/26/the-heros-journey-in-game-of-thrones-jon-snow/> [Accessed 13 January 2021].
Buss, K. and Karnowski, L., 2001. Reading And Writing Literary Genres. Newark, Del: International Reading Association, pp.114
- 115.
Lieb, C., 2004. Unlikely Heroes And Their Role In Fantasy Literature. [online] Victorianweb.org. Available at: <http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/gm/lieb14.html> [Accessed 13 January 2021].
[1] With television show produced by Bad Wolf and New Line for broadcast by BBC and HBO [2] Tabletop roleplaying game created by Ernest Gary Gygax and David Arneson (1974) [3] Videogame in the Elder Scrolls franchise, released by Bethesda Games (2011) [4] Term coined by Fritz Lieber (1961) [5] The maesters are an order of scholars, heal
ers, scientists, advisors and messengers in Westeros. Often in service to a lord – Maester Luwin is in service to the Lord of Winterfell. [6] Small elf-like humanoids native to Westeros [7] The world in which Game of Thrones takes place. [8] Valyria was a country in Essos, the eastern continent of the world. It had empire that spanned the continent (similar to the Holy Roman empire) and was known for dragon-riders and blood magic but was destroyed after cataclysmic volcano eruptions. [9] Westeros’ equivalent to a Prime Minister [10] Capital of the seven kingdoms of Westeros [11] A year after the airing of the first series of Game of Thrones and the release of the fifth and latest book in the series (the sixth has been in development for 10 years.) [12] Often credited as some of the key inspiration for Tolkiens Middle Earth (An encyclopaedia of Tolkien, David Day) [13] Disney film based upon Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain.
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