Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.
This week’s prompt is:
Fae have been popular in fantasy the past couple years. Do you have a favorite portrayal of Fae? What aspects do you think are important to Fae characterization? Do you prefer traditional representations or unique takes?
As with many things, my favorite is the one I’m reading or most recently read. I’ve read so many Dresden Files recently that that’s my answer for now. The Fae Courts that Harry has to navigate (and now represents one of) are a great setup, ripe with drama; to learn (as we do in drips and drabs) what the Courts are up to—and aren’t telling people about—and the details about their inner-workings are just delicious.
But I have a large soft-spot for Toby McGuire’s world, too. And the…oh, wait, the prompt says favorite, not favorites.
What aspects of the Fae are important in a depiction? The impossible beauty, the power (obviously), the inability to lie (and the ever-so-fun ways they devise to deceive with the truth, or carefully selected portions of it), and the danger of iron.
It’s tough to say if I prefer “traditional representations” or something unique. Because I honestly don’t know anymore what’s a “traditional” representation anymore. Everything I can think of falls into unique.* But I’d probably say something unique anyway. That’s the fun thing, isn’t it? Butcher’s take on Wizards, Fae, Vampires, Werewolves, etc. are different than Faith Hunter’s, Drew Hayes’ or Patricia Briggs’. Or, let’s focus on fae: Seanan McGuire’s, Patrick Rothfuss’, and Heather Fawcett’s couldn’t be more different—throw in George MacDonald and you might as well be talking completely different species. It’s great to see the commonalities that all of these share, and the distinctives, too. The idiosyncrasies of each depiction are where the magic lays. You take the “traditional” approach, shave off those aspects you aren’t interested in (or don’t help the story you’re trying to tell), add whatever bits of contemporary feel you want…and bang. You’ve got yourself a wonderful world for story telling.
* This means, as soon as I hit “Schedule” on this post—or, at best, within 24 hours of this posting, I’ll think of at least a half-dozen things I should’ve said here about traditional representations.
I’m sure some of the other posts in response to this prompt will be more thoughtful. I’m looking forward to reading them. Do you have responses to this? (either for the comment section below or from your own post)
Briana | Pages Unbound
Oh, yes, I love when an author can do something really clever with the idea that Fae can’t lie! I’ve seen a couple books where that was just a rumor and not even true and the Fae were all, “Ha ha! We CAN lie!” and it seems like such a cop out.
Jenna @ Falling Letters
A good friend of mine has been trying to convince me to pick up Dresden Files! For me, though, I’m not so keen on modern settings/takes on Fae portrayals so it’s a hard sell.
KWHR
Clarke’s depictions of the Fae in “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” are wonderfully sublime, deeply unsettling, and evoke a dread that is so appropriate for the setting. Its playing with fire to the extreme in dealing with them.
Rereading The Hobbit I was struck by how “traditionally” fae-like the elves of Mirkwood are and wondered to myself where that depiction went by the time Lord of the Rings comes along. Even the mystique and ethereal power of the Lothlorien elves don’t capture the mischievous capriciousness of the Mirkwood elves in The Hobbit.
Back when I ran DnD games for high school youth, one of my favorite villains I created that became a long running antagonist and source of immeasurable frustration for the students was a fae princess. The students learned to be in utter dread of her when she was around and longed to overthrow her bewitching sensibilities. Their sheer joy when they finally defeated her remains one of my happiest DnD experiences as I got to watch a true “power of friendship” moment as they banded together to overcome their yearlong running nemesis.
aquavenatus
As I said in one of the other posts:
When I was still in (elementary/middle) school, I remember discussions amongst my peers about how Tinkerbell misrepresented fae because fae aren’t “friendly beings.” It wasn’t until I Holly Black’s debut, “Tithe,” was released (shortly after I started college) that I saw a more “honest” portrayal of fae and their behavior.
While many of recent fae stories fall under “romantasy” (another reason why I say the subgenre has ALWAYS existed–a rant for another time/post), many of them portray fae as more ruthless and elitist beings (which, many of them are).
That being said, I enjoy a good and modern fae story!
HCNewton
LOL. You’re so right about Tink’s misrepresenting the fae. That needs to be discussed more.
I think I may agree with you about romantasy’s long-life…need to think on that a bit more.
Krysta
I certainly think you can talk about multiple favorites despite the prompt! After all, as you say, even though there are commonalities, many Fae representations seem very different! And I think that is the fun of it. Authors start with some general traits and then they work with those traits to make something their own.
I also like that you mentioned iron. I don’t think anyone else remembered that one! (I admit, as a child, I sometimes wondered how all these characters got iron so easily. It doesn’t seem like something one would have lying around these days.)
HCNewton
I’m with ya–iron seems to be everywhere in those stories. Particularly in the Fairie Kingdoms, you’d think you couldn’t find a bit of it there. Seems like asking for trouble.