Last
time, I wrote about the popularity of war as a plot element in fantasy, but
there are a number excellent novels that break with this tradition.
Before I can discuss this further, however, I have to define
what I mean by military plot elements. This is important, because different
readers may draw the line in different places, or differ in what they see as
militaristic. I mentioned last time that a friend and I disagree about whether
Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern
books are, at their heart, military stories, because I see the combat between
the dragons and the thread as an "against nature" sort of context, but
he has a point when he says that the dragon weyrs have many of the characteristics
of a military, such as support via a system of tithes and a hierarchical rank
structure.
For this reason, I've attempted to separate these ostensibly
non-military fantasy novels into two broad categories: books where combat
itself plays no significant role in the plot at all, and books where there are
skirmishes and armed conflict at times, but it exists in a context that is
personal or disorganized. In both cases, any "action," such that it
is, is either incidental or a consequence of other plot elements, not what
drives the main plot overall.
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Original paperback edition of The Last Unicorn.
Cover art by Gervasio Gallardo |
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One fantasy classic I can think of that is an example of the
first kind of story is Peter S. Beagle's The
Last Unicorn (Viking Press, 1968). This stand-alone story is a well-beloved
tale about a unicorn who suddenly realizes that she is the last of her kind and
must find her missing brethren.
Another non-military fantasy I read quite recently is
Katherine Addison's
The Goblin Emperor
(Tor Books, 2014). This is a
fantasy of manners about
mixed-race prince, raised away from court, who unexpectedly ascends the throne
of Elfland and must learn to hold his own in the backstabbing world of
politics.
Barbara Hambley's Stranger
at The Wedding (Del Rey, 1994) is another story that could be described as
a fantasy of manners. Its protagonist is Kyra, a young wizard who must crash
her sister's wedding and surreptitiously use her meager assortment of spells to
disrupt the nuptials and save her sister's life.
Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast
trilogy (originally published by Eyre and Spottiswoode between 1948-1959) is
about as non-military as a fantasy story can be. This is a gothic fantasy, one
that's actually lacking in magical elements, with a plot that centers around
machinations and jostling for position within a family. The characters don't
even step outside their castle until the third book.
Mary Robinette Kowal's regency-style Glamourist History series (published by Tor books between 2010-2015)
are set in a Regency-era world that is reminiscent of Jane Austin's stories,
but one where ladies of quality are expected to be magicians.
Marie Brennan's Lady
Trent novels (Tor books 2014, 2015) take place in a fictitious world with
very Victorian sensibilities and follows the adventures of a "lady
naturalist" who becomes her country's most celebrated expert on dragons.
Although the above novels are very different, they do share
two things--little to no combat or "action" in the sense that many
fantasy readers mean the term, and plotting where the stakes are highly
personal, even if a deeper conspiracy is discovered as the story unfolds.
The second group of novels are more violent than the
previous ones, and may contain some skirmishes and bloodshed, but larger-scale
military conflicts don't drive the plot in any meaningful way.
Neverwhere by Neil
Gaiman. (BBC Books, 1996). Based on the TV show by the same name that he
co-wrote with Lenny Henry. Gaiman's stories get emotionally intense, violent
and scary at times, but armies, pitched battle, and military campaigns aren't
factors.
The Earthsea cycle
by Ursula K Le Guin (first volumes published in 1968 by Parnassus Press) are a
classic high fantasy where the stakes start out personal and expand until Ged and
his companions save the world from the damage caused by magic. A raid on the
protagonist's home village serves as plot catalyst at the beginning, but after
that, there's little combat aside from one-on-one wizard's duels.
Patrick Rothfuss's The
name of the Wind (Penguin Group, 2007) has a nasty fight with a bunch of
giant spiders in the opening chapter, and a battle with a giant lizard near the
end, but military engagements are notably absent. As of the end of the second
book in the series, however, it appears that a larger-scale armed conflict is
on the horizon.
The Harry Potter
Novels by JK Rowling (Scholastic Books, 1997-2007) have plenty of physical
conflict, and no few deaths, throughout the series. But there really isn't
anything that could be described as a battle until the end of the last book.
And that didn't take place in any kind of military context.
Fran Wilde's Updraft
(Tor, 2015) is set in a world where people live in bone towers and fly with
silk wings. While one-one-one combat between characters is important, the antagonists
in her world resemble a secret police force, not an army.
The Gentleman Bastards
series by Scott Lynch (Bantam Spectra, 2006-present) is filled with cloak and
dagger and intrigue aplenty, along with some good old fashioned swashbuckling
action, but as of the latest installment, the focus hasn't been on military
conflicts.
I could keep listing examples, but if I did, I'd be writing
all night. Many of Terry Pratchett's satirical Discworld novels focused on fantasy
elements besides war (it really depended on which tropes he was taking a poke
at). Same for many books by Patricia McKillip and Robin McKinley. And while
Mercedes Lackey's Velgarth books usually contained a battle, and her heralds
represented an elite group of officers, her Elemental
Masters novels are simply fairy tale retellings that are, at their hearts,
love stories.
So even though the fantasy genre (especially fantasy taking place in secondary worlds) has
the reputation for plots that center around the mustering of armies and the
fighting of epic battles, there are a number of authors who have created
individual novels, even series, where the plots are driven by relationships, intrigue,
smaller-scale conflicts, personal goals, and political machinations. While many of these
stories have stakes that are intensely personal, some do end up impacting the
fate of entire kingdoms or worlds.
The take home message is that fantasy is a diverse genre
with ample room for character driven stories that encompass a broad range of
topics.
I know I've only scratched the surface here and have left
out a number of great examples. Feel free to comment with more titles.
