No other creature is as evocative of the contemporary fantasy genre as the dragon. They combine snakes, lizards, dinosaurs, large mammalian predators, and human intellects into one massive, armored, fire-breathing package. (Their drives, however, are their own.) The current version of the dragon dates from within the last 100 years. Tolkien gave us a deadly …
Fantasy organizations are not limited to the grandiose and world-shaking. Scores of bureaucratic organizations run silently beneath the surface, serving to frustrate and stymie your characters in pursuit of their goals. Terry Pratchett, Franz Kafka, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Stanislaw Lem, and J. K. Rowling all used them to good effect. Often they also serve as …
The Granddaddy of all Fantasy fiction tropes must surely be the Medieval Inn, with its open hearths and wenches in low-cut bodices, unsavory characters lurking about, and bowls of hot stew. (No less a luminary than Tolkien created the seminal template with The Prancing Pony.) In truth, inns served a vital function in the Medieval/Renaissance …
The Black Queen’s personal life was full of misery, which was odd for such a powerful figure. Sad to say, she wasn’t above taking it out on her slaves. (Misery by FrankT on DeviantArt)
Not as glamorous as evil societies or those dedicated to dark magic. But every sizable town and city in a typical Medieval European society has them. There are guilds devoted to workers and tradesmen, merchants’ leagues, secret societies like Freemasons, civic leagues dedicated to improve some aspect of city life, and even rebels lurking below …
Her visage was so terrible she always kept it masked…. until the day a handsome man was able to pierce it. But that’s another story.
Fantasy fiction (and science fiction, for that matter) is full of secret societies, thieves’ guilds, Hellfire clubs, and other associations for like-minded individuals. Often these are major drivers of the plot. Frank Herbert’s Dune would not be the same without the Bene Gesserit, or The Wheel of Time series the Aes Sedai. H.P. Lovecraft had …
I was going to list some ideas for evil societies for this week, but the randomization software needs more tweaking. So here are some more random magic spells and items. More Magic Lamp of Grim Digging: Enables the owner to find and dig up buried bodies quickly and easily. Yungamel’s Levitating Unicorn: Causes a …
“Yes, I do heartily repent. I repent I had not done more mischief; and that we did not cut the throats of them that took us, and I am extremely sorry that you aren’t hanged as well as we.” — Anonymous Pirate, asked on the gallows if he repented “I am sorry to see …
The Little Mermaid received quite a surprise when she tried to return to the sea. (Strange how horrific a mythological creature becomes when its parts are reversed.)