Envy, Escape and Evanescence (5 April)

[Continuing the theme of my Epic Fantasy, ‘The Daighacaer’ ("Day-gar-care"); Book I, Escape From Mount Vilipend]

Firstly, on a personal note – Ahhh, what have I done to myself? The more I read other people’s A-Z posts and Blogs, the more I realise how totally inadequate I am in this art form. It’s so true that the more one learns, the more one discovers that the less one actually knows and the more one still has to learn. Whew!

It was certainly not my intention to include Envy as part of this Blog but ‘life happens when one’s made other plans’ (paraphrase of lyrics for ‘Beautiful Boy’ by Lennon). I envy the ability of each Blogger I’ve visited and can only hope that one day I’ll get to where you are. http://www.diffen.com/ puts it this way: “Envy is the emotion when you want something that someone else has. Jealousy is the emotion when you fear something or someone might be taken away from you.” My envy stems from wanting at least a percentage of your abilities…

Secondly, with regard to my novel – The Daighacaer is a fantasy, that is true. However, I’ve come to understand the power of the fantasy genre to convey ideas and philosophies in an unassuming and non-intrusive manner.

I’ve always known that Tolkien used the fantasy genre very effectively to convey the horrors of the second world war. I was adamant that I was not going to fall into any ‘typecast’ in this respect but the more I delve into the intricacies of the plot as I’ve written it so far, the more I realise that I also convey my life philosophies in the story. In hindsight, for that to have happened is totally predictable…

Escape: The group of mortals who escaped from Mount Vilipend were, at best, destined to become food for Caliginor. Their escape was not only from the obvious physical one of deprivation; it was also an escape from the mental torture inflicted on them continually by the forces of The Darke.

Evanescence: This is the major theme of The Daighacaer and is, essentially the raison d’etre for the story. Excuse the pun but all other themes running through the story pale by comparison. [Merriam Webster – evanesce verb: to cease to be visible. Synonyms dematerialise, dissolve, evanesce, evaporate, fade, flee, fly, go (away), melt, sink, vanish.

The story of The Daighacaer takes place in the Realm of Faeré which is home to many different species of mortal. The Darke, in its quest to conquer The Lighte, has set off a series of unintended (presumably) consequences which cannot be sustained by the corporeal nature of the Realm. Should The Darke prevail, the very mortality of Faeré will be destroyed and Faeré will evanesce to continue to exist forever only in myths and folklore.