Fantasy

Real quick, on the value of Fantasy as a genre: There are, I’m sure, vast tracts of the fantasy genre that are somewhat-to-very short on merit. It’s not my intention to get into specifics of “Well, I think that so-and-so’s work is useless.” Two reasons: One: I haven’t read them all. Or even most. Two: Of course you’re going to find things that aren’t worth reading. You’ll find them everywhere. In bookstores, on Amazon.com, on blogs and news outlet webpages and on and on and on.

There is some intrinsic value to the fantasy genre. It tends to feature archtypes with characteristics that are desirable and worthy of emulation, as well as archtypes that underscore evil and make us run from it. Insofar as the fantastic helps the reader to grasp ahold of deep truths, I cannot imagine a more useful genre.

There’s a more-than-healthy dose of cynicism in North America today. Think of how many times today something you’ve said honestly has been responded to by sarcasm? If you’re having a good day, you might only be able to count them on one hand. Fantasy is a wonderful antidote to this cynicism. In the place of sarcasm, we find wit. In the place of doubt, we find faith. In the place of anger over useless things, we find righteous anger over injustice. In the right context, fantasy can help its readers to see the things in life that are truly valuable.

I plan to come back to this topic, especially to cover some of the dangers of the genre, but for now, I’ll leave you with thoughts of Samwise Gamgee, the faithful friend of Frodo, there with him to the end.

(edit as of 6:00 pm, 5/26) It’s been pointed out to me that my last sentence was poorly worded and didn’t make a lot of sense. I was trying to leave you thinking of Sam Gamgee, not with a thought from Sam Gamgee. Having failed miserably, here is a quote from Sam Gamgee to fulfill the promise I made but didn’t follow through on:

It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it’s only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it’ll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there’s some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.

So there… and it was even super relevant. Wish I’d thought of that this morning.