Here’s a Fantasy Reflection question to start off your morning.
I always have a hard time answering these right off the bat. So I like to think of the question like coffee. You have to let it percolate for a bit, stewing in the back of your mind, until you can come up with an answer.
Now picking a fantasy world to visit wouldn’t be that tough. There’s scads of places I’d love to visit. But picking one to move to is a wee bit more difficult. So many pros and cons to consider. I mean, there’s usually some sort of major disturbance happening in the fantasy world at the time of the novel, so they’re not always the sort of place you’d want to move a family.
My first thought was the world of Roshar from Brandon Sanderson’s Way of Kings, since I’m reading it right now. It’s a fascinating world, really. Such a unique place, full of interesting people, and the magics of Surgebinding and Shardwielding. Until you get to the part where you discover it’s a world decimated by high storms with hints of a terrible devastation approaching.
Perhaps I’d better not move there.
I’m afraid my answer to this question will have to be a tie between Middle Earth and Narnia. I visited Middle Earth first of all and Narnia soon after, so for me, moving to either Middle Earth or Narnia would feel like returning home after a long absence.
Perhaps I’ll have a winter home in one and a vacation home in the other?
We’re dreaming, so anything is possible. :)
How about you? Where would you like to move most of all?
Answer in the comments! Or if you’d like, you can copy the picture to your blog and start the discussion over there as well. All I ask is that you link back to my blog in your post. Thanks! :)
I'd live in Narnia, because Aslan is there. I'd have to move to Archenland or the Lone Islands, because I can't stand cold.
Great choice! ;) Sounds like there's a good number of us planning on moving to Narnia. We could all be neighbors!
Oh this is so hard!! All of the books that I love have awesome characters that I would want to be friends with, but the worlds they live in suck! lol. Um…Narnia would be an option. The Blood of Kings trilogy has a cool story world, that I can't remember the name of right now. I might like to live there….Ah, just hang it all. I'll go live in Alegasia with Murtagh.
Ha, ha, where Murtagh is. I can just see you trotting around Alegasia looking for him. :)
wouldn't be too hard. He's somewhere to the north, with a castle, and a giant red dragon. ;)
Ah yes, Er'Rets from the Blood of Kings Trilogy. That would be a fun place to move to as well, providing you can bloodvoice! :)
Has a castle, does he? *snicker* I don't suppose he carries it around with him. (Wizard Howl alert!)
…okay you lost me at carries it with him lol. Nope. He just built it.
I'd be totally cool with moving to Middle-Earth as long as Aragorn is already on the throne. Otherwise…er, no thanks. :P
Haha. Don't blame you. Though once Aragorn was on the throne, it wasn't long before the time of the elves ended and they left Middle Earth forever … which is just plain sad!
The elves left….sniffle, sniffle.
But LEGOLAS stayed till Aragorn died! Talk about an awesome friend.
I think that's part of what makes the Lord of the Rings feel so true–the sad parts mixed with the happy. It's not depressing and morbid like some books. But it's realistic. Life moves on. The fellowship goes their separate ways. And they don't all live happily ever after in Middle Earth. But there's hope too. The Gray Havens. It's beautiful.
ahhh such a hard decision. I think I'd be torn between Narnia and Middle Earth also! They are both beautiful places that speak to me :)
I know! I'd be hard put to choose between the two.
I agree, Gillian! As cool as some fantasy worlds are, I'd prefer most for a visit than a relocation. Unless I was a Hobbit, life in Middle Earth would be hard- and scary! :0
I would probably choose Donita K. Paul's Amara. :) It's not so harsh and dangerous as some worlds and plenty of chances to interact with magical places and creatures even as a normal human, er, O'rant. And being a servant of Paladin guarantees an interesting life. Narnia would be lovely of course… but given its long years of peace there might not be as many opportunities for adventure!
Thanks for hosting these fantasy reflections! Very interesting to ponder. :)
Georgina
Ooh good choice!
For me, the lure of Middle Earth outweighs the dangers. Though it's not quite so tempting with other fantasy worlds. ;)
Narnia. Totally–ironically perhaps I think it would be fun to spend some time with marshwiggles…
How I would love to see the marshwiggles….sometimes I wonder if I am a marshwiggle, I act like one sometimes, and find marshes very beautiful.
I was having such a difficult time trying to choose between Narnia (Aslan, Reepicheep, Marshwiggles!) and Middle Earth (Hobbits, Rohan, Rivendell!), but looking in another direction I saw Anne Elisabeth Stengl's Goldstone Wood world (Beana, a singing moon, a faerie wood!). What a shame I can't live in all three. Can I be a wanderer? Please?
All three so tempting!
Why not? I feel like I would be a Ranger if I wound up in Middle Earth, and they never settle down anywhere anyway. So why not expand from just wandering around Middle Earth to wandering around all the worlds!
Middle Earth for me, no question! Lothlórien specifically, but I'd love to visit Rohan, The Shire, and Rivendell (plus probably 100 other places). Although Narnia is so very tempting as well. Aslan, talking animals, fauns, centaurs…so much wonder there! Goodness, it's so hard to choose!
I can't begin to list all the places I would love to visit in Middle Earth. I'd probably become a Ranger just so I could travel around and see everything! :)
Hmmmm… tough one. Actually having a hard time picking.
My top choice would probably be Narnia.
Next might be my own world… not a bad place to live so long as you're not on a border or destined to become king… or know royalty…
Middle Earth… but, like Kaycee said, only if Aragorn is already on the throne.
Landover would be a lot of fun, from Terry Brooks' "Magic Kingdom of Landover" series.
Goldstone Wood could be a lot of fun… but the evil dragons might be a bit scary…
I think, honestly, though… if I had to choose, I'd be right there with you in Narnia.
Bad for royals, eh? Intriguing. That's one thing I wouldn't have to worry about though! ;)
Araluen of the Ranger's Apprentice series, but on the condition that I'd get to be a ranger. :D
I totally agree with you, though I might be something other than a ranger.
Hard decision!
Amara from Donita K Paul's books would be cool. I want to be a wizard and have one of the little tiny dragons as a friend. And I really, really want to see Kale's house. About 20 wizards came together to build it, but couldn't agree on anything. So it is a bit of everything.
The Tales of Goldstone Wood world would probably be next. Besides exploring, I would want to go to Dame Imraldra's library.
Another option would be Eirentheos in the Dusk Gate Chronicles. It would be a pleasant place to live with fewer dangers than some of the others.
I certainly wouldn't want to explore the Wood without a guide … and a true Path to follow! But I would love to spend some time in Dame Imraldera's library. Talk about fun! :)
I'm currently reading the Black Magician's series. Would love to live there, well on the term that I wouldn't be living the slums though, or be part of the Thieves…Conditions, conditions.
That's one I haven't read. But I agree with you about the conditions. Any fantasy world I would want to move to would be under certain qualifications.
Ah, decisions, decisions. I'd probably go live in the one of the elven realms in Middle-Earth.
I'd love to go to Goldstone Wood, but that might be too painful. :)
Now I'm curious … painful in what way? :)
Mostly the way it defies reality.
After reading Shadow Hand, I've decided I definitely would NOT want to go there. Wow, is the Wood bizarre and dangerous. WOW. I'd be happy to visit Imraldera's Library, but the Wood is a deadly place.
I'm answering this several days too late, but . . .
First choice, of course, would be Middle Earth- sometime during the Third Age, preferably between the time of The Hobbit and LOTR. (Am I the only person who's ok with being around for the War of the Ring?)
Second choice would be the world of Goldstone Wood. Except that I'd probably wander off into the Wood and get in trouble.
Third choice would be . . . hmm. Tie between Narnia and Ingary, probably. Narnia because it's awesome (and I'd want to live there during the Golden Age when Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy ruled, or during Caspian's reign); Ingary because it sounds interesting and actually rather comfortable in some respects. Also I might be able to meet Howl.
I think I would actually want to live there during the War of the Ring! :) So much chance for adventure, honor, glory, brave deeds, lasting renown.
Ok, I'm not familiar with Ingary. Where is that? And what is it from?
Narnia for me probably lol. I have a lot of nostalgia with that world too.
Stori Tori's Blog
Hello, Gillian! I found your blog through Hannah's blog (this time… I've found it about a hundred times, now), and I've subscribed. You have a lot of good stuff on here.
Is choosing worlds from our own writing permissible? If not… Well, I'm kind of at a loss. I suppose I could settle for Middle Earth, or the land of Narnia, or the world of Patrick Carr's "The Staff and the Sword." I don't really know of many worlds that sound appealing. Or maybe I'm just distracted by the thought of where I really want to live; The land of red dirt and brown grass, intoxicating heat and driving rain, of bright colors and dirt-real poverty, of spring festivals, street plays, shaggy goats, dark horses, red mountains, and acres upon acres of dusty fields. If choosing one's own world is permissible, that is what I would choose; the desperately beautiful land of Wïnai, which hosts a story Athelas Hale and I are co-writing.