The sword and sorcery trilogy project
For pure escapism, the sword and sorcery genre takes a lot of beating. There is the heroic hunk, a character in the mold of Conan, Elric, or similar, who is all for getting stuck in with sword and axe and is, inevitably, on a quest. Far too in-there to want to stand off and use a bow. (I might have said noble except Conan is a barbarian and hence in people’s mind far from noble.) He—and it is most often so in the early stories, though there are notable exceptions in more recent stories, like Red Sonja, who is of similar ilk—is portrayed as all brawn. Personally, having been looking at the Conan stories and how Howard portrayed his hero, I find this is not a good portrait of the character. In truth, he is more of an outcast, alternative thinker, possibly forced to be thw way he is to survive. But the world Howard paints is one of savagery where might makes right and hence brawn is the ultiamte skill. Now, of course, you can’t kill off your main character, but for Conan to rise from mercenary and adventurer to ultimately rule a kingodm, he has to have some brain to match his brawn.
Now, what I find interesting and a little depressing about the genre (or maybe it’s because I’ve read too many badly crafted stories) is that the animal cunning and intellect that the heroic hunk demonstrates in the Conan tales, as do Elric and Red Sonja, if often ignored by other authors. There is far more to such characters than simply being the ultiamte warrior. Plus, it makes for a more interesting and nuanced story.
Now, I write all of the above as some time ago I started to write a trilogy based around a a Norseman in the Conan vein. Whether I wanted him to be or not, this character has ended up being multifaceted and whilst he is a very good fighter (he’s not an unstoppable killing machine and knows his limitations), he also has deeper qualities. For one, whilst it is understated, he regrets some of his past actions. Impulsive in his behaviour, it leds and will lead to him causing unnecessary harm to those around him. Equally, he has some empathy for others. With these traits, it makes him a more rounded character. And also more equivocable in terms of what he does. But to make him a suitable sword and sorcery main character he has to be driven to action. The driver behind this is his belief in the Norse gods, and in Odin in particular. Whilst Odin is indifferent to mortals’ fate, for my character to pass to Valhalla, he has to act as a warrior, even if he feels otherwise, and die a heroic death. Hence, somewhat conflicted.
The trilogy is set within a fictionalised Ancient Egyptian world where, ultimately, because, hey, it’s fantasy, there will be a war of the gods. And Odin, though no god of Egypt, will become involved too. Why not? Let’s mix it all up a bit.
What I also like about the above setting is that my character is faced with cultural challenges amongst other issues. While it is set in Egypt, I’ve also included Nubians, both initially as his crew and, later on, slaves who’d been forcibly brought from Nubia. In history, Nubia was to the south of Egypt and at times conquered by them. Hence, it is of a piece. Nevertheless, I’ve added many elements that are recognisably not historical, including playing with the geography and types of weapons and ships. So, essentially, even though there is a strong theme around Ancient Egypt, it is a bit of a mishmash.
A challenge since this is my first crafted trilogy as such, is to both have an overarching story and to have sub-stories for each of the books that reach a point where it concludes even though in books one and two, there will be loose ends that are then picked up in subsequent books. Even the ending to book three offers the potential for a sequel—but not set in Egypt.
Book one is drafted and somewhat revised; book two is largely written but still needs quite a bit of work. Book three is outlined and the main elements mapped out. It all seems to fit. Well, at least I think it does.