NOTE: This column is about Mary Sues. Yes, in some cases people have varied definitions. The one I use is, simply, an "author's pet" who does not necessarily have to be a self-insertion, but does get preferential treatment that strains or breaks continuity. Thus for this column I use it entirely in a negative context.



Dark Mary Sue? Most people would feel Mary Sues are quite dark enough as it is. Many an author or game-master is afraid to create a new character in fear of ...

Peter S. Beagle

Plot Summary:

Hidden away in her own sanctuary, Beagle's unicorn has little cares for the world due to her magic and immortality. However, when she hears that she might be the only unicorn left in the world, she sets out on a journey to see if there is any of her kind left. After being captured by a freak ...

The widespread appeal of fantasy was first sparked off by J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. Though a great number of people hailed Lord of the Rings as the first true fantasy, there were also a number of fantasy authors ...

A reading of the heroic relationships in

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings



In his 1953 essay "Ofermod," J.R.R. Tolkien addresses the subject of the leader and the subordinate in the northern heroic epic. Of the subordinate's place in the Old English poem "The Battle of Maldon" he says that he was one: "...who had no responsibility downwards, only loyalty upwards. Personal pride was therefore in him at its lowest, and love and loyalty at their highest." The leader, in his role as provider "may indeed receive credit from the deeds of his knights, but he must not use their loyalty or imperil them simply for that purpose." Part of the heroic relationship, therefore, involves unswerving loyalty by the subordinate and the mastery of pride by the leader.

In Lord of the Rings, Tolkien develops several relationships in keeping with the ideas on loyalty he expresses in "Ofermod." These ideas can also be applied to the famous Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, and thus a reading of Beowulf reveals many parallels to the leaders and subordinates in Lord of the Rings. Like Beowulf and Hrothgar, the dominant figures in the many quests and battles of Middle-Earth have characters who support them and follow their lead. While none of the individual participants in these relationships is depicted as perfect, the relationship itself is shown to stem from an ideal conception of the leader and servant dynamic, and the degree to which the relationship approaches this ideal helps to define the characters ...

The five ways of creating a fantasy world

Create a good idea of your fantasy world
Naming characters, places, and religions.
Knowing when not to go too far
Remembering what you created
Creating a history of your world.
It would seem that writing fantasy would be easy, but yet there are an abundance of challenges that the writer must face. This article will give you a better grip on tackling the aspects of creating worlds, and the people who populate them.

CREATE A GOOD IDEA OF YOUR FANTASY WORLD

No world that is to sustain life exists without water, unless the people who inhabit it are completely bizarre in design. I’ve ...