[terminus est]

I have made it to a point in The Wizard Knight where certain things are coming to light. If you have not read the series, I recommend not reading this thread, as I will discuss aspects of the mythology which can be seen as spoilers of a sort. If you don't care about the mythology, I will give no plot related spoilers in this thread.

Without further ado,

The mythology of The Wizard Knight seems to be largely inspired by both Ásatrú and Christian mythology. If you do not know the word Ásatrú, it refers to the old Norse faith: the worship of the gods of Aesir.

The series of books involves a layered system of realms of existence. The realm of humanity has obviously been inspired by Scandinavia and Medieval Europe. The land of the giants is called Jotunland (Jotunheim in Scandinavian mythology). The realm directly above is governed by the Norse pantheon (Thor, Loki, Odin, etc.) but with different names such as Lothur and the Valfather. The realm above that is governed by the Christian mythology of angels, with the final above realm being governed by the Judeochristian monotheistic deity. Beneath the human realm is faerie, called Aelfrice. Parallel to the human realm is Dream, on the same level.

All of these concepts were first visited in The Sandman, the comic book series by Neil Gaiman. In that series, the mythology was basically that every pantheon of gods existed and were as powerful as their current level of worship dictated. So God (the Judeochristian god) is the most powerful while some minor Egyptian deities like Bast weren't that powerful at all. There was also a different realm called Faerie and another called Dream, or the Dreaming. Norse gods played a major role in the series, especially Loki. Neil Gaiman went on to use that idea for his novel American Gods, but changed a bit.

It seems to me that Gene Wolfe, famous for being friends with Neil Gaiman, has taken some influence from The Sandman. Considering that I love The Sandman, I don't think it's a negative. I wouldn't say the plot itself has that many elements of The Sandman, I see many more echoes of The Book of the New Sun in that regards. But the mythology behind it all, there I can see some definite influence, and it's not too minor either. When I first read the part in The Wizard Knight where the Dream realm was mentioned, I knew that he was making a nod to Neil Gaiman's fantastic series.

[Yobmod]

I'm not sure about wizard knight being influenced directly by Sandman (the comics are waay to expensive here - i can buy 5 novels for the same price as some),

but i wanted to mention Pratchetts Small Gods (1992), which i guess could be inspired by Sandman, especially as they have also collaborated. It uses the idea that all the different religions' gods are real, and the gods have power proportional to the number of believers.

I've got about 200 pages to go on my reread of wizard knight (the huuuge omnibus version). I really loved the different worlds and how they interact, i was suprised by the scene with Micheal at the pond, but it fit perfectly. The part of the multiple worlds setting i like least is Able going up to Valhala, then coming back to find Disiri. It happened to soon for me, and afterwards his obsession with Disiri seems muted and he doesn't seem to care about the other characters much. I would have liked to have followed Able there, especially as its mostly in 1st person.

Also the Dream reality seemed a bit of a pointless addition to the 7 real realms. Everything that happens there could occur in Aelfrice with no problems. As Dream was in the middle realm, would this mean the Aelf and Gods don't dream?

[Rob B]

For starters, Gaiman and Wolfe are friends, they collaborated on A Walking Tour of the Shambles (http://www.sfsite.com/07a/wt131.htm). I think Gaiman wrote the introduction to the current edition of Wolfe's novel Peace.

Writing of gods and what not is not even original to Gaiman. Chances are he and Wolfe drew from the same sources. I hadn't made the deeper connections you made, though term.

I was actually thinking the Dream realm was a nod to Neil as well, so I guess your points do have some validity.

[terminus est]

Yeah, I knew about Wolfe collaborating with Gaiman, which is one of the reasons I made the connections I did.

I also wouldn't say that the mythology of Gaiman was entirely original, but considering Wolfe's friendship and collaborative efforts with Gaiman, I just think it'd be a nice touch if he were inspired by Gaiman and felt like giving him a nod or two. Kind of a warm and fuzzy feeling. :D

As for your post Yobmod, you should try to get The Sandman somehow. I know it's pricey, around $20 a volume (USD), but I think it's worth it. Especially the volume The Kindly Ones which has a mix of Greek and Norse mythology in one hell of a fun epic romp.


Able going to Valhalla was a bit disappointing considering how it glossed over it, but that's Gene Wolfe for you. ;) I really liked the Toug chapters though, so I wasn't that disappointed.

[JonLaidlow]

I would agree that Gaiman and Wolfe draw from the same source, and share a sensibility, but I don't think Wizard Knight is directly drawn from the Sandman.

J

[Lamont Cranston]

All gods co-existing and their power proportional to their number of worshipers would date back to later Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories, when the three minor gods they had worshiped at some point were introduced. Unless Leiber borrowed that from someone else...?
Also terminus est I don't think Kleos is strictly governed by the Christian mythology of angels - isn't Parka from there, and isn't she a Norn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norn)?