Kristopher
J. Massey
December
6th, 2006
Dr.
Warner/English 112B
Annotated
Bibliography
Love in Fantasy
Love is one of the
greatest emotions that humans may experience. Some people will risk their life or move across the entire
world for someone they love. It is an emotion explored in philosophy, religion,
and literature, often as either romantic love, the fraternal love of others, or
the love of God. Love is defined
as a �profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person, a feeling of
warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend,
or a sexual passion or desire� (dictionary.com). It comes in several forms, such as the love for family and
friends, or the love for your significant other such as your boyfriend/girlfriend
or husband/wife. Love can be
expressed through one�s words, actions, or even through loss. Even though the Fantasy genre has
novels that may take place in other worlds and/or times, love still plays its
role in them.
Two of the pieces of
literature I have at the center of my focus are Terry Brooks� The Druid of
Shannara and Running With the Demon. The characters of Morgan Leah and Quickening in The Druid
of Shannara share a love and desire for one another throughout a majority
of the novel. Quickening is void
of expressing emotions due to her origin as an Elemental, so as the reader, one
will not see her show her love through word or action until the end of the
novel through her death. The young
Morgan has never experienced love before and also does not show it, but because
he does not know how. Through
Morgan�s loss of Quickening, the reader sees how the strong willed character of
Morgan Leah becomes a heartbroken mess.
Through Quickening�s death and Morgan�s pain over her loss, his deep
love for Quickening is displayed.
Nest Freemark, the main character of Running
With the Demon, is a teenager who experiences the rush of high emotions
when going through puberty. She
experiences love for her grandparents, friends, and even for John Ross, a stranger
she thinks may be her father but who in truth is a Knight of the Word. Even though there are instances of her
rebelling against her grandparents, she is truly devoted to them and loves them
with all of her heart. She also
has a love for her friends, displayed through her risking her own life to save
theirs.
Love, be it for family,
a friend, or your significant other, is one of the strongest emotions even in
the Fantasy genre.
Brooks, Terry. The Druid of Shannara.
New York: Random House Publishing, Inc., 1991.
Walker
Boh must attempt to fulfill the task given to him by the shade of the Druid
Allanon. His task is to return the Druid castle of Paranor to the Four Lands.
He joins forces with the Highlander Morgan Leah, the beautiful Elemental
Quickening, and the dangerous and cunning Pe Ell, who has ulterior motives for going
on the expedition. Through their adventures, the young Morgan Leah experiences
true love for a woman for the first time when he falls in love with Quickening,
the beautiful Elemental. Their
path leads far north into the rock land Eldwist, home of Uhl Belk, the Stone
King. Uhl Belk is the keeper of the Black Elfstone, the only object known that
can restore Paranor.
Brooks, Terry. The Elf Queen of Shannara.
New York: Random House Publishing, Inc., 1992.
Wren
Elessedil, an heir of the legendary Jerle Shannara, is charged by the shade of
the Druid Allanon to travel to the distant island of Morrowindl. There she
finds the new home to the Elves, Arbolorn, after they were driven off by the
Federation. Unfortunately, the island has become a prison since demons began
appearing. Only the magic of the Loden keeps Arbolorn safe, but its power is weakening,
and if the Elves are not returned to the Westland soon, they will be destroyed.
There is also the realization that Wren is, in fact, the inheritor of the
Loden, the Queen of the Elves, orphaned at birth and raised as an Ohmsford
Rover. She leads the Elves to home, but loses her mentor and best friend Garth
before she can escape the demons. It is revealed that the demons are really
Shadowen, and that the Shadowen are, in fact, Elves who tried to regain their
lost magic.
Brooks, Terry. Running With the Demon.
New York: Random House Publishing, Inc., 1997.
Nest
Freemark is a fourteen-year-old girl of Hopewell, Illinois, who is gifted with
magical powers bestowed to her from her mother's lineage. She lives with her grandparents,
as her mother apparently committed suicide at a young age. She is one of a rare
few in the world who can see the spiritual struggle behind the events in the
real world. She can see "feeders" - small shadowy creatures that feed
on human emotion and influence thoughts, causing their real world deaths. Meanwhile, two men have come to
Hopewell, Illinois, site of a lengthy, bitter steel strike. One is a demon, evil
servant of the Void, who will use the anger and frustration of the community to
attain a dreadful goal. The other is John Ross, a Knight of the Word. While he
sleeps, Ross lives in the hell the world will become if he fails to change its
course on waking. Their lives become intertwined in the battle for humanity.
Dunsany, Lord. The King of Elfland�s
Daughter. New York: Ballantine Books, 1924.
The
parliament of a small village called Erl wants more magic in their lives, and
they tell the king of their desire. The king ponders this request, and then
dispatches his son to wed the daughter of the king of Elfland, which will bring
magic and splendor to Erl and satisfy the parliament. The young prince travels
to the resident witch, and is given by her a magic sword. So armed, he travels
to the shifting and mysterious borders of Elfland to seek out the princess.
Gaiman, Neil. Stardust. New York:
HarperCollins Publishing, 1999.
One
night, Tristran Thorn promises the girl he loves that he will retrieve a fallen
star for her from beyond the wall that stands between their rural English town
of Wall and the Faerie land. No one ever goes beyond the Wall except to attend
an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unknown
to him, Tristran was conceived). Tristran
bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. Over in Faerie, Lord of Stormhold is
dieing and must pass along his reign to one of his sons. Unable to determine
which of his surviving sons is worthy, the old lord tosses the Power of
Stormhold (a topaz set in an amulet) up into the air and tells his sons that
whoever finds the amulet will rule after him. This is not an easy task for the
offspring of the passing Lord, for already four of his seven sons are dead,
killed off by the living brothers in order to abolish their claim to Stormhold. Also in Faerie live the Lilim, three archaic
women who have lived forever, restoring their youths by eating the hearts of fallen
stars. When the star falls, one of the ancient women makes herself young again
and sets out after the star.
Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Houghton
Mifflin Publishing, 1993.
Where
Jonas lives, life is secure, methodical, and predictable. Rules are strictly enforced
and every portion of a person's life is carefully planned. People rarely make
their own decisions. Everything is
decided for them by the community. There is no snow or sunshine, no colors or
music, no animals or nature. Jonas
is selected for the most honored and respected Assignment in the community. He
is assigned to become a Receiver of Memories who will succeed the current
Receiver. Jonas begins his training with the Receiver whom he calls The Giver.
At first, The Giver gives Jonas happy memories of the past-memories of things
Jonas has never known. Jonas is eager and excited to be able to experience new
things. The Giver gives Jonas memories of love and happiness but with those he
must also give Jonas memories of loneliness, fear, grief, rage, and pain-all of
which he has never felt in the community. Gradually, through the memories he
receives from The Giver, Jonas comes to realize the various truths about the
community (Portions of the summary courtesy of http://www.lcpl.lib.va.us/onebook06/book.htm).
Record of Lodoss War. Dir. Akio Sakai.
Perf. Takeshi Aono and Bob Barry. US Manga Corps Video, 1991.
Lodoss,
the accursed island, has seen wars devastate its kingdoms for thousands of
years. Now comes an evil beyond any it has ever faced before, and a party of
six mismatched characters find themselves thrown together to protect the land
of Lodoss from imminent destruction: Parn is the impulsive young warrior with
heroic potential; there's Deedlit, an elf girl with magical powers. They're
joined by Etoh, a young priest and healer; Ghim, a dwarf-warrior with a heavy
heart; Slayn, a wizard in training; and the rascally thief Woodchuck. Their
allies include the dashing lord of a desert realm, a mercenary and her
Berserker companion, and a compassionate king. They're put up against an assortment
of villains that includes human warriors, an evil sorcerer, dragons, kobolds,
zombies, and Karla, the mysterious "Gray Witch.� Through their adventures
together, an unbreakable bond of friendship and love is formed.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Scholastic Inc, 1999.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban begins on the night before Harry's
thirteenth birthday. Harry sees on
television that a man named Black is on the loose from prison. The night before
Harry heads off to Hogwarts, Harry overhears Ron's parents discussing the fact
that Sirius Black is after Harry.
The students board the Hogwarts Express train and are stopped once by an
entity called a Dementor. Harry faints and is revived by Professor Lupin, the
new defense against the dark arts teacher. Shortly after, classes begin. After the holidays, Harry begins working with Professor
Lupin to fight Dementors with the Patronus charm. They eventually find that the black dog Harry has seen in
the past has turned into Sirius Black and is in a room with Ron. Harry, Ron,
and Hermione manage to disarm Black, and before Harry can kill Black, avenging
his parents' deaths, Professor Lupin enters the room and disarms him. The three friends learn of Black�s true
past and realize he has been framed.
Lupin transforms and almost kills Harry but Black saves the day. Black
returns from driving the werewolf into the woods and a swarm of Dementors
approaches, and Black is paralyzed with fear. One of the Dementors prepares to
suck the soul out of Harry, whose patronus charm is simply not strong enough.
Out of somewhere comes a patronus that drives the Dementors away. Harry and Hermione travel back in time
and save Buckbeak and Harry creates the patronus to save himself. Shortly after, he returns to the
Dursleys (Courtesy of sparknotes.com).
Shinn, Sharon. Mystic and Rider. New
York: Penguin Group, 2005.
The
king is getting old, his mysterious second wife has failed to produce any
children, and his only heir is his 18-year-old daughter who nobody ever sees.
Some of the powerful families (known as the 12 Houses) see this as their chance
to grab the throne, and some of the less powerful families (known collectively
as the thirteenth house) see this as their chance to become more powerful. Senneth, a powerful mystic, has been
sent out by the king to investigate activity among the southern houses. She is
accompanied by Tayse and Justin, who are Kings� Riders, Kirra Danalustrous, the
mystic daughter of one of the 12 Lords of the kingdom, and Donnal, another
mystic assigned by Kirra�s father to guard her. Early on they are joined by
Cammon, a young and untrained mystic.
Through their travels, rocky feelings towards one another begin to
soften and soon attraction flares between some of the characters (Courtesy of www.romanticsf.com).
Turner, Megan Whalen. The King of Attolia.
New York: HarperCollins, 2006.
The
King of Attolia is the third book in a series, starting with The Thief. Eugenides is now married to the Queen
of Attolia and is despised and resented by his attendants, the court, the
Queen�s Guard, and everyone else in Attolia. The reader, knowing Eugenides a
lot better than these characters, waits eagerly for them to find out their
mistake. This takes a while as Eugenides has a number of schemes on the go,
most of which depend on his being underestimated. He is also extremely
reluctant to become King in truth as well as in name, so avoids behaving in a
kingly manner. When one of the guards, Costis, is provoked into hitting him,
Eugenides, instead of condemning him to death, takes him into his personal
service (Courtesy of www.romanticsf.com).
Works Cited
�Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.� Sparknotes.com. 2006. November 30,
2006 <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/potter3>
�Love.� Dictionary.com. 2006. November
30, 2006 <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Love>
�Mystic and Rider Review.� Romantic SF & Fantasy Novels.
2006. November 30, 2006 <http://www.romanticsf.com/>
�The King of Attolia Review.� Romantic SF & Fantasy Novels.
2006. November 30, 2006 <http://www.romanticsf.com/>
�The Giver.� One Book, One Community. 2006.
November 30, 2006. <http://www.lcpl.lib.va.us/onebook06/book.htm>