Emilee Rosell
Dr. Smith
ENGL 4633 British Fantasy Literature
20 April 2014
Mortality in Fantasy: Vol de mort
The beginning and end of all fantasy
literature is desire. Any story that seeks to work in the fantasy genre must attempt
in some way to explore these desires and perhaps even satisfy them. J. R. R.
Tolkien eloquently worded it this way: “The magic of Faërie is not an end in
itself, its virtue is in its operations: among these are the satisfaction of
certain primordial human desires” (Tolkien 326). Of the many that are included
in these “primordial human desires”, however, one seems to be more present in
fantasy literature than most, yet is consistently overlooked. This is the
desire to face and overcome death. From George MacDonald’s Phantastes to Neil Gaiman’s Stardust,
the struggle against death has consistently presented itself in fantasy texts
to reveal the ancient human desire to confront death, which may even be the
ultimate design of fantasy.
The
element of death may operate in two distinct ways in fantasy literature, either
by being present or by being absent. By being present, death may influence the
plot by taking away major characters or by affecting the choices that a character
makes because of it. On the other hand, the absence of death in fantasy points
to immortality, which, in turn, can only reference a lack of death. Either way
it is exists in the text, death seems to be essential to every fantasy story,
as the following examples will show.
A
first, very strong example of death in fantasy MacDonald’s Phantastes. “I was dead,” the first-person narrator says, “and
right content. I lay in my coffin, with my hands folded in peace” (MacDonald
179). After watching his friends react to his death he states that his “spirit
rejoiced” (180). The description that this narrator gives us of death and the
great pleasure he finds in it is startling. In a study of the novel, William
Gray noted this response as “something uncomfortably close to a kind of
suicidal obsession” (Gray 2). To Anodos, then, death is not merely something to
be faced or conquered, but actually something to be desired.
The Wood Beyond the World by William
Morris also relies heavily on death to drive the narrative forward. After
Walter’s father dies very early in the novel, he determines that he will return
immediately and face his father’s murderers. “But lo, when he was quite steady
in this doom, and his heart was lightened thereby, he found that he thought no
more of the Reddings and their strife” (Morris 56). The death of his father at
first causes Walter to resign himself to his own death, but he soon finds that
he is released from responsibility because of it and is free to follow after
his own desires. In this case, Walter does not desire death, and is not even
willing to face it to avenge his beloved father.
In
J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the
image of death becomes even clearer. After finally making it to the end of the
journey, Bilbo Baggins is shocked to find that the leader of his company is
wounded and dying. Death seems to appear unexpectedly in this novel and changes
the horizon of expectations dramatically. In “On Fairy-Stories”, Tolkien states
that this death-produced sorrow is “necessary to the joy of deliverance” (385),
and that “when the sudden ‘turn’ comes we get a piercing glimpse of joy, and
heart’s desire, that for a moment passes outside the frame, rends indeed the
very web of story, and lets a gleam come through” (386). For The Hobbit, then, death not only makes
the story more realistic, but also introduces the transformation element that
must define fantasy literature.
Death
is also essential to C. S. Lewis’s The
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Aslan dies on the stone table, producing
a similar effect of transformation. Interestingly, however, this character
defies death by resurrection. The desire in this novel seems to be torn between
facing death and conquering it, unlike in the previous novels discussed.
Perhaps the most complicated narrative
dealing with death, however, is Rowling’s Harry
Potter series. The plot is filled with death from beginning to end. In some
ways, the novels seem to be an attempt to bring the protagonist to terms with
the death of his parents. As the story progresses, however, Harry must come to
terms with the death of friends and mentors as well. The struggle with death is
further complicated through the evil Voldemort, who is completely obsessed with
death. He goes to any measure to prevent his own, including killing others.
Finally, death can easily be surveyed in
Gaiman’s Stardust. One death in
particular is important to this study – the death of the protagonist, Tristran.
After being happy with his true love for some time, “Death came in the night
and whispered her secret into the ear of the eighty-second Lord of Stormhold,
and he nodded his grey head and he said nothing more” (Gaiman 247). Not only
does the narrator personify death in this passage, allowing it to become a
character in the story, but the death of the protagonist seems to be necessary
to bring the story into conclusion. The transformation, if it was present
earlier in the novel, is fulfilled here in his death.
Not to be excluded from the discussion is
the topic of immortality in fantasy. The eternal beings, elves, are most
clearly seen in The Hobbit and Stardust and seem to stand as a symbol
of beauty. These beings seem to create a desire separate from the previous
desire described in these novels – a desire to live forever. In fantasy
literature, then, the desire exists for both mortality and immortality, and
these desires may operate either dependently or independently of each other.
Of all that a fantasy text is, it seems incapable of avoiding
death. Ironically, this escapist literature cannot escape death, the greatest
reality of all. It reveals human desire as it pertains to death in a way that
may be difficult to explain outside of fantastic stories such as these. As an
essential element to fantasy literature, then, death’s role must be grappled
with in order to find a deeper understanding of these texts.
Works Cited:
Gaiman,
Neil. Stardust. New York: Spike,
1999. Print.
Gray,
William. Death and Fantasy: Essays on
Philip Pullman, C. S. Lewis, George MacDonald and R. L. Stevenson.
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Pub., 2008. Print.
MacDonald,
George. Phantastes: A Faerie Romance.
Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1981. Print.
Morris,
William. The Wood beyond the World.
New York: Dover Publications, 1972. Print.
Tolkien,
J. R. R., and Alan Lee. Tales from the
Perilous Realm. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. Print.
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