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:
What are some interesting portrayals of religion in fantasy? Do you like seeing invented religions, or do you prefer fantasy worlds to have none?
Let’s get that second question out of the way first–a fantasy world without any religion is completely unbelievable. Now, I’m not saying that every Fantasy novel has to talk about it, give us details, or anything–there can just be a passing mention of a deity, temple, priest, cleric, whatever–even just a religious symbol. This is an invitation for someone to suggest a religion-free fantasy to me to make me eat my words.
Now, I think it’s obvious to anyone who’s even glanced at what I post on weekends that I take religion pretty seriously, and I like to see books that do that, too. There’s a danger in that when it comes to, say, Crime Fiction—because that typically ends up with a religion/church being depicted in a less-than-flattering way, a protagonist throwing out their faith (at least for a time) to get something nasty done, hypocrites run-wild, etc. And actual, according-to-Hoyle, blasphemy is lurking around the corner for an even well-intentioned author to stumble into (or a not-so-well-intentioned author to rush into). This also comes up in SF about humans in either the far-flung or near future. If we get into an alien race’s religion, we’re typically on safer ground. (there are exceptions to this, I said “typically” not “universally.”)*
The same is true in Fantasy—typically, we get totally made-up religions—yes, there might be an analogue to one in our world, but that’s not the same thing. And it’s not just the religions that are made up—the deities and their mythologies are made up, as are the rites, beliefs, etc. When an author chooses to spend some time on this, they can do a lot. This can be fertile ground to display world-building, for creating ethical grounds for the character’s actions/attitudes, and for plot as well. I don’t want to say it’s a must for a Fantasy novel, but it does make the world more “lived-in” when there’s some sort of religion (even if the characters are non-practicing and it’s a wholly background thing mentioned once or twice).
Here are six depictions of religion in Fantasy that leap to mind. (Yes, I could spend some more time and come up with a longer list—but I’ve got to cut it off somewhere). Five of these I really appreciated, and one has bothered me for a long time and bugs me more the more I think about it.
The Princess Beard by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne
Let’s start with something silly. Throughout this book (I don’t remember this showing up in the first two books in the series), the Sn’archivist receives direct revelation from the god of Pellanus. He’s spent most of his life on one subject–but now Pellanus has come up with a new book for the Sn’archivist, and the topic is…let’s go with odd. Perhaps even at the level of juvenile humor (okay, not “perhaps.”). We check in on this poor, beleaguered figure throughout the book, and it’s sillier practically every time.
Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
I’m embarrassed to admit how little I remember about the religion of this one (a good excuse to reread it–and finally the rest of the series). But I do remember a fairly corrupt church leadership, prone to twisting events to fit their own ends. I also remember a faithful priest, dedicated to service and unaware of how corrupt the leadership was (or maybe he was aware and just didn’t let it alter his practices). I remember admiring the priest and hoping the best for him, and can easily imagine several in that sort of position during many time periods in reality.
Widdershins Adventures by Ari Marmell
Well, I did a quick fact check on this, and I was conflating a couple of series together. So, I had to throw out a lengthy paragraph. Still, I really enjoyed this series featuring a young woman thief who is the only follower of a god from another country than her own. As this god’s only follower–she’s possibly the only person alive who’s heard of Olgun–she essentially has him living in her head, communicating with her freely (and inopportunely). The not-always-friendly relationship between these two characters makes the series shine, as together they take on enemies supernatural and mundane.
Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The underlying beliefs of the religion aren’t that terribly outstanding. What stuck with me is the ecclesiastical structure/religious culture of it. (Okay, there’s some bits of the religion that stuck with me, but they all involve ruining the book if you haven’t read it yet). The book focuses on an adventuring party, and their cleric/leader’s religious beliefs inform the telling of the book and are the default setting for the reader. Then, midway through the book, we meet their archbishop (I don’t remember if that’s the actual name, but it’s an episcopalian structure, so that’ll work). His take on prophecy, orthodoxy, interpretation, and the like is significantly different than the cleric’s. But he doesn’t demand she agree with him. Then we meet a sect of the church that disagrees with both, with an even more significantly different take on a particular prophecy. Their existence suggests they’re not the only one around. Basically, you’ve got a bunch of people vying for conceptions of truth (to be commended–even if I can’t sign off on their methods) and power. It’s a kind of Church that feels real, lived in.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The religious lives of the Gentleman Bastards are part of their identity–they are the congregation for their temple. At the same time, they don’t really seem to care about their god, Crooked Warden, the god of thieves. It’s about their duties to the temple. In their youth, Jean Tannen went and trained with students of another god, and could carry out their rites. (I cannot remember if the rest of the group did something similar). While it didn’t seem to be encouraged–or even openly discussed that much–but the idea that the various priests had an understanding where one could step in for another is kinda cool.
Wizard in Rhyme Series by Christopher Stasheff
I haven’t read this entire series, so maybe it gets better–or some of my problems with this get ironed out. But a man is sucked into a parallel universe of some sort. Earth physics work, as does some sort of magic–and the Roman catholic church exists there, too. Well, it’s a pre-Reformation Church (and one without any of the Eastern Orthodox communities). What irks me is the way that Roman Catholicism exists in this world–how does that happen? Also, the way that our Earthling is able to get Saints and others to work things in favor of the rightful ruler (and those working for her cause) just seems odd. It almost makes the religion another form of magic–belittling it. It’s been too many years since I read them last (and I really enjoyed the first book…the next one less so, and the next less…), so my recollection is liable to be faulty, but I’m pretty sure about it.
So, anyway–these are some of the more memorable Fantasy uses of religion. If I took a week or two off, I’d be able to come up with more. This aspect of a Fantasy novel can really make things sing–can make the world feel alive in ways that other things can’t (I should’ve mentioned A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett, I now realize), and I don’t think it gets enough attention compared to other parts of the worldbuilding.
* I’m not trying to suggest that various congregations, church leaders, even ecclesiastical structures don’t have this kind of depiction coming–nor that there’s a good amount of realism to base it off of. I just don’t see as many positive, or even mixed, depictions in SF/Crime Fiction, so I’m not as liable to be able to list depictions of religion in those genres that I like as I can in Fantasy.
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)
