Within
the fantasy genre of literature, authors have created things that are not
native to our lives. They create a new realm of creatures, plants, and
human-like races. Not all monsters are evil, snaggle tooth, troll looking
creatures. They can be anything different from you, the human. Fantasy is the
liberation of the imagination (Mathews, 2002). By letting their imaginations
run rampant, authors have created a massive amount of new creatures. These
creatures have become legends and pieces of art. A monster in a fantasy novel
is a piece of art, especially when film producers try to create the monster for
the screen. Fantasy is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels.
Determining
the type of fantasy that each of these books are, can help juristic the
creations of the creatures within them. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter can fit into almost all four of the fantastic
categories: Linimal, Intrustive, Portal and Immersive (Mendelsohn, 2008). Harry
Potter meets the criteria to be a liminal fantasy because a lot of the
story takes place within the ‘muggle’ world, or our world, and it is ignored or
not noticed by the muggles. They do not notice it but their worlds run parallel
with each other. The books can also be intrusive because Hagrid intruded upon
Harry’s life and brought him to the magic. Portal fantasy can also be used to describe
Harry Potter because they go through Platform 9 ¾ and through the wall in the
Leaky Cauldron into Diagon Alley. To see the book as an immersive fantasy, we
can look at Hogwarts itself and its neighboring town, Hogsmead. Both of these
places are strictly wizards and witches. The story immerses itself in these
places where it is its own “Wizarding World” where no muggle can get to. Since
the book can fit all of these traits of the fantastic it opens up a whole world
of fantastic creatures and monsters that Rowling can create. The possibilities
are endless. She can create things that are strictly from the “Wizarding World”
or she can take things from the muggle world, like mythology, and incorporate
it into her story.
The Lord of the
Rings
does not fit into all four of the fantastic but it does fit the definition of a
portal fantasy and an immersive fantasy (Mendelsohn, 2008). Arguably, The Lord of the Rings is a portal
fantasy because of the ship passage the elves, and later Frodo and Bilbo, take
to ‘leave’ Middle Earth. This is the ‘portal’ in which the fantasy theory is
linked. I prefer to think The Lord of the
Rings as an immersive fantasy. Since the whole story takes place on Middle
Earth, we can infer that it is its own world, and is not associated with ‘our’
world nor any other world. Everything in Middle Earth is its own, yet it is
still slightly similar to our world. The mountains, the horses, and humans are
all reflections of our world. Tolkien’s story does not have nearly as many
creatures and monsters as the Harry
Potter but it still creates a fantastic genre of monsters for the world of
fantasy.
In order to talk about the creation
of monsters as a form of art, we must define what a monster really is.
According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a monster can be defined as “one
who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior or character” or “a strange or
horrible imaginary creature”
(Merriam-Webster, n.d.). In Diana Jone’s Book, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, she says “Most of them have
something snaky about them” (Jones, 2001). To say that the ‘impossible
monsters’ in these stories create a mother of the arts is slightly unfair to
the other creatures within the stories. Not all creatures are monsters, and not
all monsters are creatures. Humans can be monsters too. It is up to the
fantastic writers to create their own unique creatures and monster. The authors
become literary artists.
The
Lord of the Rings and the Harry
Potter novels both demonstrate the fantastic creations of fantasy as a form
of art. The creatures and monsters within The
Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter
are similar in certain ways, yet they have their own distinct characteristics.
The similarities of the monsters are that they are each respective author’s own
creations. Most of the monsters in Harry
Potter were created by J.K. Rowling while quite a few of the monsters in The Lord of the Rings were created by
J.R.R. Tolkien. Another similarity that
they both have is that some of the creatures or monsters are taken from other
fantastic works. J.K. Rowling used quite a bit of mythology while creating her
creatures. Tolkien used Elves, Dwarves and Wizards which had be known to exist
in other novels. Both of these authors kept humans in their fantastic writing. ‘Muggles’
in Harry Potter and ‘Men’ in The Lord of the Rings are relatable to
the reader, while the other characters are not.
When thinking of a monster, one may
think of death. Because typically, a monster’s main goal is to scare or kill.
Four great examples of monsters like this in Harry Potter are Boggarts,
Dementors, Basilisks and Voldemort himself. Boggarts, while they are terrifying
to each individual based on their fears, their aim is not necessarily to kill.
Boggarts do not have as much power as the creatures that they turn into. They
cannot suck the soul like a Dementor, nor do they have a cry loud enough to
kill when it is a Banshee (Rowling, 1999). Rowling created this monster in her own mind,
put it to paper and made it come alive. Rowling also created Dementors. A
Dementor is a monster that feeds off of human happiness and are considered to
be one of the worst creatures to inhabit the world (Rowling, 1999). While a
Basilisk was not invented by Rowling, she uses them in her second novel, The Chamber of Secrets. With eyes that
petrify with one glance, and the deadliest venom of all serpents, the Basilisk
is one of the most lethal creatures (Rowling, 1998). Pliny the Elder was one of
the first to mention a Basilisk in history and mythology, Rowling merely
borrowed the idea to fashion the King of all Serpents and pet to Salazar
Slytherin. (Rowling, 2001). It is up for debate as to whether or not Voldemort
is a monster. He is still human, yet he possesses the qualities of a monster.
He deviates from normal behavior, and is rather terrifying. The creation of
Voldemort, his corruption, rebirth and the use of his Horcruxes is all very disturbing
(Rowling, 2007). For Rowling to create such
terrifying pieces of work, truly shows the ability of her imagination,
and her capability to create something that people would marvel at. Rowling has
a talent for creating terrifying, death oriented monsters in her Harry Potter novels, as Tolkien does in
his.
The
Lord of the Rings trilogy also has many terrifying monsters. The Nazgul and
their mounts, and the Orc Breed in general are all disturbing monsters that you
don’t want to get in the path of. The Nazgul, or Ringwraiths, are the nine men
that succumbed to the power of the One Ring and are bound to serve it forever
as a wraith. In the book they are described as Sauron’s most terrible servants
(Tolkien, 1954). Even their voices as they flew around the battlefields
destroyed people.
“At length (of
their cries) even the stout-hearted would fling themselves to the ground as the
hidden menace passed over them, or they would stand, letting their weapons fall
from nerveless hands while into their minds a blackness came, and they thought
no more of war, but only of hiding and of crawling, and of death.” (Return of the King, pp. 97, Tolkien,
1954)
The
wraiths are upon the most terrifying creatures that roam Middle Earth. Their
black winged, long necked steeds are also quite grotesque. They are referred to
as “Hell Hawks” or “Fell Beasts”.
Sauron’s
minions in The Lord of the Rings vary
in size and ability. Goblins are the smallest of the creatures and love
explosives. Orcs are their own disturbed, aggressive, foul race. They are
cannibalistic creatures of destruction and loathing. The Uruk-hai a larger,
more advanced breed of Orc that were mainly utilized by Sauron for his war on
Rohan (Tolkien, 1954). The creation of these dark creatures abandons reason and
creates a new genre of monsters for the world to admire.
Both Rowling and Tolkien use the Goblin in
their novels, but they are very different. Both of the renditions of the Goblin
in the respective novels are clever. Rowling’s Goblins are the bankers of the Wizarding
World (Rowling, 1997), while Tolkien’s are devious mechanism builders (Tolkien,
1954). Reshaping a creature that was already made makes a big difference in the
image that the creatures give off. Tolkien’s goblins are much more monstrous
than Rowling’s banking creatures. Recreating the creature to the respective
story is another way of taking a piece of art, or fantasy, and making it into
your own. That’s what art is about, expression.
To
better convey the rich diversity of the creatures and monsters created in their
respective worlds, the authors also draw focus to friendly creatures or
monsters. Rowling’s Wizarding World is full of various creatures that we, as
muggles, may consider monsters. House elves, while they do clean, cook, and
make your bed, are still little elves that are ‘strange’ and betray ‘normality’
(Rowling, 1998). A hippogriff is another creature from mythology that Rowling
borrowed for her book. The hippogriff is a symbol of dominance, with its way of
greeting others. With the winged body of a horse, and head and torso of an
eagle, this creature demonstrates one of the magical creations that fantasy and
mythology has brought us (Rowling, 1999). Faux, the Phoenix belonging to Dumbledore,
is a mythological swan-sized scarlet bird with a long golden tail (Rowling,
2001). Harry’s fascination with Faux could by symbolic to the way Harry dies,
and comes back to life in the end of the series since Phoenix’s die in a burst
of flame and are reborn through their ashes. Creating these magical creatures
was not purely Rowling’s imagination, but she uses them and adapts them to her
novel.
The Lord of the
Rings
also uses some more known creatures within his story. The mix of human like
races in The Lord of the Rings isn’t
the sole creation of Tolkien, although he made them highly popular and more
well-known. The Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits are the three main races of men
outside the world of regular men. Elves are one of the oldest races on Middle
Earth and are known to be the fairest and wisest of them. Dwarves are a stunted
race that typically dwell in the mountains. Their weapons of choice are axes,
while the elves are typically archers. The hobbits are not a fighting race, as
they are even smaller than dwarves. Hobbits live quiet lives in the Shire and
rarely see ‘adventures’ (Tolkien, 1954). Tolkien adapted these already made
fantastic creations to something that would be marked as his version of them. Art
is something that is created with imagination and skill (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). In order to
create these masterpieces, Tolkien and Rowling both had to have a great
imagination and immense skill.
The
fact that both of the authors use Elves is interesting. The elves in the
respective stories are so different, yet known by the same name. The only
similarity between the two elf breeds are their pointy ears. Elves have been
known throughout literature and are used quite commonly. Typically they are
short, little workers, like Santa’s helpers. Tolkien takes the idea of an elf
to a different level. Now they are tall, beautiful, smart warriors (Tolkien,
1954). The elves in both of these books are completely different, yet are a
similar creature. This is what art is, taking something, expanding the idea of
it and molding it to something else.
Creating
an entire new world, filled with creatures, monsters, people, towns, and
everything that the world consists of is a literary art. Fantasy writers have
more of a task to create a new world, rather than other authors, who write
about things in our ‘real’ world. J.K.
Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien are literary artists who created an entire world
filled with terrors and delights. The
creation of their monsters in the novels is simply an artistic creation and
allows us to see that fantasy is the mother of the arts, opening doors of
endless possibilities. The creation of the monsters like Dementors and Orcs
abandons reason and creates a new genre of monsters for the world to marvel at.
The use of mythology in the Harry Potter
novels shows us the timelessness of the creations that other authors have made.
The authors even use the same names for some of their creatures, yet they are
distinctly different. Because of the range of fantastic categories that these
particular novels can be related to, they are prime examples of the vast amount
of monsters that can be created in the fantastic genre. By looking at the examples within these
literary fantastic novels we can safely say fantasy truly is the mother of the
arts and the origin of marvels.
References:
Art.
(n.d.). Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/art
Jones,
D. (1998). The tough guide to fantasyland. London: Penguin Books
Ltd.
Mendelsohn,
F. (2008). Rhetorics of Fantasy. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP.
Monster.
(n.d.). Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved December 12, 2013, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monster
Pliny
the Elder. (1855). The Natural History.
Bostock, J, Riley, H. (Translators).
Rowling, J.K.
(1997) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Rowling, J.K.
(1998) Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Rowling, J.K.
(1999) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Rowling, J.K.
(2001) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find
Them. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Rowling, J.K. (2007)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Tolkien, J. R.
R. (1954). The Lord of the Rings. New
York: Harper Collins Publishing Ltd
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