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 Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:24 pm
I've seen some very successful stories incorporate religion. And I've seen it totally tank. Does religion have a place in fantasy stories?
I'm asking myself that in my story. None of my characters are overly religious or spiritual, but my plot is getting lazy and wants religion to help it out. sweatdrop
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Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 1:23 pm
For a world to be plausible it needs religion. Whether those gods or goddesses actually exist is up to you. They could be heroic people who have lived and died who are then worshipped as deities as well. It doesn't matter if your characters are religious or not, but some of the supportive characters probably should be.
For example, if your main character is a gruff mercenary who might believe in the existence of deities but doesn't worship them, he might know someone who is a priest or priestess in a temple who he may visit for advice from time to time.
Religion makes a world much more realistic, even if your main story characters aren't believers, or believe but do not practice any of that world's religions.
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Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:01 pm
Mel is right. I usually make at least a single religion to be there in my worlds. I haven't had time to come up with more but I figure that the more people in a world, the more kinds of religions there may be. Just look at how many we have in our world, it's almost insane! sweatdrop
My most favorite world has many deities and almost all of them exist as they did in the Hercules stories. Meaning they can some times get involved with the people who worship them and aid them even. 3nodding
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Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:55 am
in my fantasy world there is one spiritual healer, she is blessed by the multitudes of Gods and Goddesses, I try to make my religion very different from the existing major religions and make them unique in its own way.
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Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:53 pm
That's a good idea.
Have you, or anyone else here, thought of making a world, continent or country without a God or even religion? I wonder how that could work without making everyone into atheists. mrgreen
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Posted: Tue May 05, 2009 2:43 pm
Hm sounds interesting, though I doubt it would work out very well unless it was explained properly. Myself I'm considering writing it out, a world where religion has been forsaken for so many years that it's inhabitants have all become atheists. Could make a really good setting for a few stories...
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Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 9:10 am
My religion is basically a single God (often referred to as the dragonfather in curses or oaths to avoid taking His name in vain) and he has his cherubim and angles and dragons, in that order of descending hierarchy, to assist running the universe. Many people interpret the worship of God in different ways, much as the Old Testament is used by many different religions and denominations.
My plot is basically about unity--especially unity between different races. So my plot is gunning for a big religious take on this, in that there is a perpetual battle between God and Entropy (the devil) and the Goblin Hunters (my main human characters) and Naveshk (my goblin hero) and all their various companions from different races are struggling to slow Entropy by defeating his latest minions Irazan Devilhart and Lord Jas Hallam. It's not so much that my villains are possessed or summoning demons, but they do want to take over the northern continent and rule over a dark empire of slaves. sweatdrop
The religious awareness would come in with oracles instructing my heroes to do things and other bad, forced plot turning points. My main characters are not happy about that idea. Most of them are not spiritual in the least. So I'm trying to figure out how to motivate them without forcing them with visions and compulsions (which to me are so terribly cliche as to be neigh unusable).
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Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 4:54 pm
drizzt-catstyle Hm sounds interesting, though I doubt it would work out very well unless it was explained properly. Myself I'm considering writing it out, a world where religion has been forsaken for so many years that it's inhabitants have all become atheists. Could make a really good setting for a few stories... Really? I can't wait to know more about that. It seems it could be a cool story indeed. 3nodding So Scarlet, that's how yer religion basically is, huh? Seems fine to me. A dark empire of slaves? Oh my... how evil, he-he. Doesn't sound bad at all. Well, in the terms of making a story interesting, I mean. Best of luck figuring that part out! I usually just take a time out from my writing if I keep having problems with something. 3nodding
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Posted: Fri May 08, 2009 8:31 am
I've used the name "entropy" as well. It's just not used as a referral to the devil of that particular world. Entropy in my world is something different, but is still true to its name - decay and is also about anti-(things).
Is this a case of great minds think alike.....I hope so.....because a friend came up with the name for me for this particular "thing" and I've been using it since for a couple of months or so. I only just saw this message.......O_O'
Gah! It's another instance of buses isn't it?
Don't see any for a long time, and two then come along at once. It seems these two ideas that use the same name just came along in that manner.
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Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 2:33 pm
That sounds interesting Mel. Anti-things, eh? Ok...
The "great minds think alike" case might apply on that one but I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing yet.
You know what I've noticed after playing FFIII? It seems that the world the characters are on have no deities at all! It seems that instead, the Crystals that give their powers to the chosen ones act as the Gods of that world. Isn't that curious? At least that's how I am interpreting things... rolleyes
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 1:28 pm
Entropy isn't really the name of the devil in my story, but a description of his malicious will to completely destroy everything the One God created. Can you think of a better way to get revenge on an all powerful loving being? He'd have different names in different cultures, but his intent is always the same.
So maybe all great minds do think alike. xd
My plot stalled right at the end of the fist book and the beginning of the second. My heroes are all safe and sound, and my villains are just starting to get really nefarious. I'm searching for another round of firecrackers to get things moving again, but so far the only thing I can come up with is an oracle vision intended to prevent the villains from succeeding in their entropic-ly destructive plans. sweatdrop It just feels kinda pathetic and like it's a very amateur way to get things done. stressed
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Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 4:33 pm
Good point Scarlet, I just didn't come up with that in my own...
Yeah, sometimes we do, he-he. wink
Really? Hmm, it seems to me that yer trying to come up with something more clever to get things moving in yer story. I wonder though, when is it gonna be enough to just think things through a normal or average story line? Know what I mean?
Anywho, I think that these days is getting a bit tougher to try and come up with interesting plots and twists. After all, the ones who started the important stories like Lord of the Rings (for example) didn't have to deal with previous writers having done anything like they did so it was easy to be original.
Maybe you just need more time to think things over. If you still need help, I'm sure any of us would be happy to help out. 3nodding
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:24 pm
If you ask me, religion is tantamount to any society. it doesn't matter where you live or what your race, every place has its history and its beliefs. You don't have to shout it from every mountaintop, but it should be present nonetheless. It doesn't have to be real. It doesn't have to be one god. It can be whatever you want, so long as the people believe in it.
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:57 pm
Yes, that is correct. Although not all people are gonna actually need a religion cuz let's face it, there wouldn't be atheists if that was true for all of us, right?
BTW, when you say "the people", do you mean the ones inside the story or do you mean the ones reading the story?
Cuz really, I can make my people believe whatever I want them to believe, he-he. mrgreen
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Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2009 7:13 pm
The people in the story, naturally. If you could make your readers believe whatever you wanted them to believe, that, Sir, would be a talent to cultivate.
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