Saturday, June 26, 2021

I have again finished The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

I have again finished The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin, the third book of her Earthsea Cycle.

This was the book that taught a middle-schooler about death and inner balance, philosophically, for the first time. Giving me the inner peace and acceptance of the idea death that losing my maternal grandfather a few years prior had not. Some say that J.K. Rowling was the first master Fantasy author to explore death and have a villain who will burn the world if need be to cheat it. They are wrong; for, long before Voldemort fashioned his horcruxes, the wizard Cob's reckless quest for immortality halted the words of power, tearing a rift between life and death – endangering not only the living but all that made life lovely. Long before Harry Potter the Chosen One fought Voldemort, Archmage Ged fought Cob, fulfilling with the heir of Morred, White Enchanter and beloved king, the prophecy of Maharion, the Last King of All the Isles.

"Death and life are the same thing-like the two sides of my hand, the palm and the back. And still the palm and the back are not the same...They can be neither separated, nor mixed." - Ged

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Time-travel in Fantasy (from the White Chronicle to Time Turners)

I recently added an entry to my The Role and Proper Usage of Magic Thingamajigs page, and, since it is rather lengthy and brings up several interesting points regarding the Fantasy genre's use of time-travel, deemed it good enough to make a post out of:

The White Chronicle: As Lippti said, "Countless possibilities fade into the darkness. Yet there exists a razor-thin path of light." From the beyond book-worthy game Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, the White Chronicle is/takes a new, simple, and frankly ingenious twist on the classic old time-machine trope. One will notice, after all, that time traveling is seriously seldom used in Fantasy because it can give the protagonists too much power and undermine the seriousness of the story. Recall the Time-Turner from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? If not, stop reading this article for fear of SPOILERS and start the reading J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series instead. Moving on, Rowling perfectly articulates why time-travel mechanisms (such as her own Time-Turners) are rarely employed in Fantasy literature, so I will give her the floor: "I went far too light-heartedly into the subject of time travel in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. While I do not regret it (Prisoner of Azkaban is one of my favourite books in the series), it opened up a vast number of problems for me, because after all, if wizards could go back and undo problems, where were my future plots?  I solved the problem to my own satisfaction in stages. Firstly, I had Dumbledore and Hermione emphasise how dangerous it would be to be seen in the past, to remind the reader that there might be unforeseen and dangerous consequences as well as solutions in time travel. Secondly, I had Hermione give back the only Time-Turner ever to enter Hogwarts. Thirdly, I smashed all remaining Time-Turners during the battle in the Department of Mysteries, removing the possibility of reliving even short periods in the future. This is just one example of the ways in which, when writing fantasy novels, one must be careful what one invents. For every benefit, there is usually a drawback." Which is exactly why I am writing about the Radiant Historia's White Chronicle instead of the Time-Turner, because the White Chronicle has a key limitation that the basically all time-travel thingamajigs lack. That being that the Chronicle's wielder can only travel back in time to events they themselves participated in, giving them the opportunity to remake important past decisions; to act on 20:20 hindsight, as it were. For example, say you are performing a rescue mission and reach a crossroads one path of which will likely lead to complete disaster. You make the wrong choice, take that wrong path, and you and your friends are toast. However, with the White Chronicle you can cheat death by slipping into Historia and then time travel back to that fate-deciding junction where, armed with foreknowledge, you take the correct path.
However, if your friends in another part of the world are killed because they made a bad choice (even if it seemed wise at the time of making) then the White Chronicle is powerless to save them. I will not say whether this exact rescue-mission situation appears in Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, but the game is built upon this power of the White Chronicle's, the objective being to use it across multiple possible timelines to save the world from desertification. As Lippti said, "Countless possibilities fade into the darkness. Yet there exists a razor-thin path of light." Yet this being the game's objective furthers Rowling and mine's point about why time-travel thingamajigs are scarce in Fantasy literature. She said "if wizards could go back and undo problems, where were my future plots?" Nowhere. Which is why Radiant Historia's plot revolves around being able to do just that in order to move said plot forward. In short, even time-travel thingamajigs like the White Chronicle are dangerous, unwieldy literary tools because instead of being an interesting plot devise their very presence will either undermine or become your plot. Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology got around this by deliberately making it the plot, while Rowling saw the literary peril of Time-Turners and destroyed them.

Lucina from Fire Emblem: Awakening,
is a hero I rank alongside Aragorn. (A fact which,
alone, should reveal just how highly I regard this game)
 
Yes, I am well aware that Sci-Fi often employs time travel and is generally unconcerned with temporal paradoxes. In the immortal words of Star Trek: Voyager's Captain Kathryn Janeway, "My advice in making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple: Don't even try." I appreciate this but, interestingly, I have noticed that Fantasy writers tend to avoid temporal paradoxes like the plague. An avoidance I approve of, for temporal paradoxes would only add to the already potent list of problems Time-Turners and the like cause. I fact, I can think of only a single Fantasy which employs a temporal paradox, that being the game Fire Emblem: Awakening; I am not complaining about it, as Awakening ranks among my favorite games of all time, but it does further illustrate my point since the game's plot is literally built around the paradox.

Sunday, June 13, 2021

I have again started The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin

I have again started The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin, the third book of her Earthsea Cycle. 

Segoy raised all the Isles of Earthsea with the Language of Making, and now that Language that is the springs of wizardry is running dry. The question is why. The Enemy of Morred, White Enchanter and beloved king, once said in jealous rage "If Elfarran be not my own, I will unsay Segoy's word." Now the Master Patterner says "There is fear at the roots." Roots that Archmage Ged and Prince Arren of Morred's line must now find to save all Earthsea from the fear that would rot them.

"He shall inherent my throne who has crossed the dark land living and come to the far shores of the day." - prophecy of Maharion, the Last King of All the Isles

Friday, June 11, 2021

I have again finished The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

I have again finished The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin, the second book of her Earthsea Cycle.

This book was always the hardest of the series, wreathed as it was in lightless shadow, but this time I saw it clearly through the darkness. Saw with joy Tenar become the Eaten One and then Tenar again, a vessel of Nameless evil poured out to find freedom and bring the Ring of Erreth-Akbe home again to the Archipelago.

"O may I see the earth's bright hearth once more, the white towers of Havnor." - from the Deed of Erreth-Akbe

(Side note: I found it fascinating that old large-print version of the book had a map of Atuan, yet the most current edition does not. A pity, for it was fun tracking the ways of the labyrinth with Tenar.)


Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Finished playing Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology

I just finished playing Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, the remake of the original. That original ended not in tragedy, but in a loss, a noble sacrifice, one of many over generations each of which only delayed the inevitable. But, as Lippti said, "Countless possibilities fade into the darkness. Yet there exists a razor-thin path of light." A path I was determined to find so as to either avoid the sacrifice utterly or make it a permanent fix. To end the desertification threatening to engulf all Vainqueur once and for all. A hope I placed on old friends walking the same paths as before, and on a new one, Nemesia, who opened the door to new Possible Histories, new endings and a chance to save everyone.
A razor thin path of light only traversable aboard the Dunamis, exploring the truth of the fall of the old Empire and with an ending, a True Ending, that ended history's tragedy - making it truly a Perfect Chronology.
Thank you Stocke, Raynie, Marco, Aht, Rosch, Gafka, Eruca, Nemesia, Sonja, Kiel, Viola, and of course Lippti & Teo who remain to watch over the new future that awaits. Thank you all for your lessons and commitment to your friends.

Sunday, June 6, 2021

The red ship sets sail

I swore to keep you all posted regarding the status of the Fantasy series I wrote, so I am honor-bound to report that I just submitted it to seven literary agents. Everything has been re-edited, every logistical matter dealt with. Now it is just sending it out and hoping for the best, so send good vibes folks and watch for the red ship on the horizon with its crimson-eyed captain!

Friday, June 4, 2021

My father and I just finished Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

My father and I just finished Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, easily and justly one of her most famous novels.
We knew the book's reputation when we began. What we did not know was that by the end we would be declaring Christie an unquestionable equal to the Lady of Endless Surprises herself, the great Diana Wynne Jones. Not many authors can make us bang our heads against the wall with shock after total shock, but Agatha Christie just did. Truly she is the worthy heir to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, for Sherlock Holmes himself could not have done better this day than M. Hercule Poirot.
 
(Yes, yes, I know this is not a fantasy novel. But any book that we declare an equal to the best of Diana Wynne Jones deserves attention here.)

Thursday, June 3, 2021

I have again started The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

I have again started The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin, the second book of her Earthsea Cycle.
The wizards of the Archipelago know better than to pay homage to the Old Powers of the Earth, but the white-skinned Kargs are not so wise. This is Tenar's tale; the story of a realm, a secret treasure, and a meeting in a lightless dark where the sun has never shown. A quest to reforge the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, a chance to escape.
 
"The Old Powers of earth are not for men to use. They were never given into our hands, and in our hands they work only ruin." - Ged