Hannah Sambor: "How an Orphaned Teenage Girl is So Similar to a Young Man in London"

How an Orphaned Teenage Girl is so Similar to a Young Man in London

By Hannah Sambor

Low-fantasy is simply put a more relatable friend of high-fantasy. The less changed a setting is, the more similar it is to our current world. However, without the main character (or hero) low-fantasy would not be a close friend of high-fantasy. I find the setting to be the only difference between the two, while the two heroes’ characterization is almost a spitting identical. The Blue Sword, written by Robin McKinley, and Neverwhere, written by Neil Gaiman, together show the character similarity and setting diference between low and high fantasy novels. 

First off, their relatable aspects derive from their difference in setting. The setting between low fantasy and high fantasy are on opposite ends. High-fantasy is an entire new world, while low-fantasy blends in a strange new world with our world we are already familiar with.

The characters in both stories, in a sense, are unexpected heroes. Richard in Neverwhere is much more relatable than Harry is in The Blue Sword. Richard is a man in his 20’s living in London. Harry however because she is a young orphan girl moving across countries to live with adopted parents, doesn’t come across as an average and therefore a relatable teenage girl. Richard is more relatable. More often than not, society would expect Richard’s life to be pretty common. In all, he is of the middle class. Harry yet sticks out of the story as a unique and insightful girl. Richard is still stuck in a dead-end job and a stressful engagement. The setting determines their relatable characteristics. The very essence of low-fantasy is relatable and in turn makes its characters more relatable.  

The overall characterizations, such as motivation, spirit, goals, and a secret talent, never fail to be true with the very familiar “chosen one.” The author in most fantasy novels, regardless of high or low, will have a central hero character that embarks on Joseph Campbell’s Journey of a Hero. Below is the info graphic for the seventeen stages. I received this copy from The Dark Forest blog. 

               

Depicted above are the seventeen stages of a hero’s journey in the viewpoint of Joseph Campbell, American writer and mythologist. Credited to http://darkforestfairytales.blogspot.com/2012/09/infographic-joseph-campbells-heros.html. 

Notice the first stage: Call to Adventure. It clearly states in the description, “to head off into the unknown.” Both Richard and Harry do so in their respective situations. Richard, by some inner calling, picks up hurt and helpless Door lying on the sidewalk at night. He feels the NEED to help her, instead of doing what his fiancé wishes and leave the girl to her inevitable future. On the other hand, King Corlath spots Harry in particular out of all the others at the Residency. On page 39 in The Blue Sword, he “looked up abruptly, as if from some unfathomable depth of thought, and saw her: their eyes met.” Because of some unimaginable power both Richard and Harry are called to ‘the unknown’ in their special ways. The people in which call them to their adventures are also their portals. Contact with Lady Door, the eldest daughter of respectable Lord Porticio, figuratively escorts Richard into London Below. Because of how involved he has already become, there is no going back to his predictable, yet comforting life. Corlath, just like Door, is of high prestige being the King and of the Hills. Harry immediately gets access to his tent, or zotar in Hill tongue. His servants treat her as if she is of royal blood, which ironically, because she is an Outlander, we find out to be true the entire time. 

Moving along with the hero’s characterizations, Richard deals with an awful lot of confusion while Crossing the Threshold (Campbell’s fourth stage). On page 46 already Richard has to stop and wonder where he is in London Below. Matched with this sense of curiosity is his ignorance. The marquis points out on page 143, “’What a refreshing mind you have, young man,’ he said. ‘There really is nothing quite like total ignorance, is there?’” While Richard is supposed to be an undefeatable hero in the end, the journey is quite rough. He never gets a talk about the birds and the bees of London Below. For being the main character, he is quite ignorant to his situation. Harry experiences a similar absence of knowledge like Richard’s. She is never told much about the laprun trials or why she is so important to the Hill people until she is already honorable Harimad-sol.

The two main characters, while because they live in such different worlds, differ in their relatable aspects. But, because they both belong to fantasy worlds, are very similar in the Journey of a Hero.