Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

There seemed to be a bit of interest when I asked about making a Discord server a few weeks ago. Naturally, I sat around and did nothing about it until my whims aligned this morning and I managed to get myself to do something about it. Here it is--come chat with us!

https://discord.gg/pnjtY9K8QC

Basic rules:

-Be respectful

-No profanity or explicit content (there's a word filter in place, which I may adjust as we go if it's too overzealous)

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

I hope this kind of discussion is acceptable here. I originally intended this post for rfantasywriters, but I have a feeling the community here will have a better take and more knowledge on the subject than over there. It has to do with classic mythology and folktale tropes.

The Impossible Task is a trope commonly featured in folklore in which a character is set a task or test that by all logic should prove impossible to complete, and yet the character is able to complete the task. Famous examples of the Impossible Task include spinning straw into gold (Rumpelstiltskin), wresting three hairs from the devil (The Devil with Three Golden Hairs), sorting out different grains within a short time limit (Cupid and Psyche), and in more contemporary fiction rescuing a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown or turning all the silver in the King's chamber to gold in Spinning Silver. Sometimes the Impossible Task is more of a riddle without an answer, as in Ragnar Lothbrok's "come forth clothed but unclothed, sated but hungry..." It's the classic carrying water in a sieve challenge. The task-setter does not expect the appointed to complete the task, and may have set the task specifically to guarantee their failure or else test their resolve and resourcefulness.

The Impossible Task is sometimes achieved by relying on unexpected aid delivered by a friend or supernatural entity. Rumpelstiltskin appears to spin the straw to gold (at a price), the ants come to return Psyche's kindness and sort the grains. Other times the task is achieved by outsmarting the task-setter or exploiting some logical loophole in the rules. Aslaug dresses in a net and eats a leek to meet Ragnar, and water can be carried in a jar set in a sieve. Beren fulfills the letter of Thingol's law when he returns "bearing a Silmaril in hand", even though that hand is currently inside the wolf. In these various ways the challenge of the Impossible Task is overcome and the character proves their worth to the task-setter, either to their annoyance or delight.

However, I'm interested in the inverse of this trope, the task that should be straightforward and easy but proves impossible due to hidden conditions. It seems to be a rarer trope and the only explicit example I know of is in the tale of Útgarða-Loki in the Prose Edda, in which the titular Útgarða-Loki sets various challenges of Thor and his companions. These challenges are tasks which Thor should have no trouble achieving: draining a mead horn, lifting a cat, wrestling an old woman. However, he fails to drain the horn in three gulps, can only lift one of the cat's paws off the ground, and is brought to his knees by the old woman. His companions each enter a competition with one of Útgarða-Loki's own friends, and are both bested.

After Thor has been thoroughly humbled and teased for his failure to complete such easy tasks, Útgarða-Loki reveals that in truth, the mead horn was connected to the ocean, the cat was the Midgard Serpent, and the old woman was old age. Thor performed marvellously at each test, draining so much water from the sea as to cause the tides, nearly wrenching the serpent from the depths of the ocean, and struggling valiantly against the inevitable onset of aging. Everything that happened in Útgarða-Loki's hall was a deception and Thor and his friends have nothing to be ashamed of.

I find this trope extremely interesting because unlike the Impossible Task where the character solves or overcomes the challenge, here they are faced with a discouraging and possibly humiliating failure. Only after the fact of their failure can the truth be revealed, that the character performed impressively and surpassed expectations. In this manner the "test" is not so much to overcome a challenge or achieve anything in particular, but to display dedication and determination even when facing unexpected frustration. Because the character cannot succeed, then the extent of the effort they expend in attempting it reveals their moral fiber. Their response to frustration and failure is the true test.

I'm currently working on a short story in which the character is faced with several of these (im)possible tasks. Asked to perform basic household chores by a Baba Yaga-esque figure, they find that each task becomes more difficult and unmanageable no matter how hard they try to complete it. However, I'm having difficulty coming up with the specifics of the tasks themselves, how they go wrong and what the magical deception is. While Thor's tests catered to his identity as a strongman, my character is a peasant girl, so her tasks should cater to her skillset and challenge her own identity and competence. One potential option, as an example, is that she is tasked with untangling yarn to knit, but the more she works at it the more intertwined it all seems to be. Only after the fact can it be revealed that the yarn was actually doubt, and the harder she tried to pick it apart the more ensnared it became. Just one idea for how this trope could be explored and worked into a story.

I've looked through the index of folktale types and not found anything quite resembling this specific trope. I'd love to read anything resembling this trope if anyone knows of any further examples. The Edda story can't be the only time this has occurred in a myth or folktale, and my knowledge of mythology is fairly limited to Norse and Greek stories. I've looked into Baba Yaga stories a bit too, but it seems she usually leans more towards standard Impossible Tasks than the inverse trope. Anything that could provide further context or inspiration for developing the scene I'm writing would be much appreciated!

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

After long trials (and months after Magic's Pawn), I managed to finish The Last Herald Mage trilogy. And...

It was nice. Magic's Promise was maybe the most enjoyable of the trilogy. The murder mystery, Vanyel's many reality checks about how he is not the only person suffering, him questioning his homosexuality and realizing he was just that love starved that he started mistaking even friendship for attraction... And Mercedes knows how to combine slight humour("his eyes were about to make home on his forehead") with grief and doubt. Vanyel earns his place as a fascinating protagonist, despite being by every means overpowered. Side characters are well developed, too, with many members of the Ashkevron family being distinguishable enough. Magic's Price was a nice conclusion, but inferiour to the previous book. Overall, chief kiss to Mercedes. Nice prose, touching descriptions of character's feelings, beautiful landscapes and characters that feel human, with even most many unlikable characters still being humans and "understandable" in their flaws. Withen who grows out of his homophobic mindset and upbringing, Jervis who sorts out his anxious need to prove his worth and even becomes a friend of Vanyel... Just, it burns many books of those years where characters made to be unlikable were just unlikable. And it knows how to treat both homosexuality and homophoby.

Flaws: I confirm that the concept of Lifebinding is just... Wrong. It just shatters the surviving member's mind and sanity, once one of them dies. At least, i can leave this to the fantasy worldbuilding, but it feels awful to read of two people binding their sanity.

Its antagonists: the main villains of each book are quite... Nebulous. They rarely appear, and when the final battle begin they are defeated quickly (but NOT easily). As villains, they are out of place and unclear. Even the ultimate villain, who even calls himself Master Dark, makes a cameo in a dream in the first book and actually appears only in the last two chapters of Magic's Price.

Final complain: in the last book, Vanyel is ambushed by some bandits, who manage to capture him and confuse his mind, making him helpless. They then proceed to beat the hell out of him, and not only that (by using a euphemism). Those bandits, working for Master Dark, have to keep him alive, therefore they call a Healer to mantain him alive. Said Healer is just that, a normal and kind healer that is being blackmailed by master Dark. What does said Healer do with Vanyel? He finds out he is being held confused and defenseless by a spell, therefore he heals him AND frees him. Unfortunately, Vanyel is so full of pain and rage that he utterly annihilates the place, including the Healer. When he comes to his senses, he is horrified, while his boyfriend tries to console him by saying he was under shock. And i understand that. My beef was that the innocent victim is never brought up. THe villain could have used that as a hook to further seduce Vanyel (something like "we are the same"), but no.

The ending... Quite sweet, and it makes sense that Vanyel is remembered as a hero, because he was. And i tip my hat to the writer, who bothered to add in the appendix the songs so often quoted in the novels.

To sum Up: a good trilogy for its years, something that many mature teenagers should read to understand some themes or just enjoying romantic fantasy as a whole (and now i understand Blue Rose roots), a pity I am not a native speaker and I had to endure such a beautiful prose in another language. Take this Bradley.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

I just got done reading this text and I am not quite sure what the “Chalk like substance” was does any body have an idea of what it was?

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

I just finished listening to this. I thought the production was quite decent and the narrator did a good job. Quick too, at only four 30 min episodes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/b00b9b0b

It's quite the fun fantasy/horror classic.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.

I'm wondering what anthologies those here would recommend? Whatever criteria you like is fine to use: maybe some books conveniently group a lot of the best stories together, while other books demonstrate the range of the genre well, and others give a signal boost to some worthwhile but lesser-known stories and authors.

As a starting point, I've enjoyed these ones:

• The Victorian Fairy Tale Book (edited by Michael Patrick Hearn)
• The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales (edited by Alison Lurie)
• Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture (edited by Jack Zipes) (still working my way through it actually)

(Edit: I might not be using the best terminology, but if it helps, currently I'm more interested in "literary" fairy tales which involve the author putting a lot of their own creativity into the process, by writing an original tale or very freely reinterpreting an existing tale. I'm less interested in the "straight" documentation or compilation of pre-existing tales, such as orally transmitted folktales. However I'm sure there's a lot of grey area in terms of which category many tales would fall into.)

Share what classic fantasy you've been reading lately here! Or tell us about related media. Or enlighten us with your profound insights. We're not too picky.