Good vs Evil: Religion
If you want to see my other thoughts on good vs evil, click here for other posts.
Religion and mythologies can be a very big aspect of fantasy, either as world building or because it is a large part of the plot. It is also a very important aspect of a fantay’s portrayal of good and evil. In most cases, the religious aspects are what sets the tone or expectation of what is good and what is evil. This can apply to the larger culture of people or to an individual character. A writer can do one of two things with their use of religion. He/she can do what is generally expected by the reader, or he/she can do what is generally unexpected by the reader.
When a reader gets what is generally expected, the story portrays religion representing the side of good. This includes the religious characters being the good upstanding characters. The church, temple, or equivalent is a safe place to be or to get help. Plus, any beings or creatures associated with the religion are good or evil as seen by the belief system. In many urban fantasies, Christianity is a common religion or at least beings from that religion are incorporated into the stories. The angels are helpful guiding beings that stand behind the main characters during their struggles. Demons are evil creatures that try to hurt, murder, possess, or kidnap the main characters or other unsuspecting victims. In terms of high fantasies that have mythologies containing multiple gods and goddesses, the good characters worship the gods that govern the good things in life (ex: general goodness, health, hearth and home, hunting, prosperity…). Then the antagonists or bad characters tend to worship gods that govern over the more unpleasant aspects of life (ex: evil, darkness, sickness, death, war…).
A few examples for this are:
Dragonlance: The good characters are helped by and worship the gods and goddesses of good and healing while the bad or evil characters worship the goddess of evil and darkness. In fact, the entire side of good is trying to stop the evil goddess from taking over the world in the hopes of restoring balance.
The Dresden Files: Though Harry himself is not overly religious, his best friend Michael is very religious. There are signs that God is helping his friend, and Michael’s family is often protected by trusted angels when danger is lurking. On the other side, fallen angels who were corrupt and fell from grace are reoccurring antagonist who Harry and Michael both work to stop.
Now, the author might take their story in the opposite direction and do what is generally unexpected by the reader. In these cases, religion is seen as corrupt and evil instead of good and pure. The characters that are the most immersed in their faith or high up in the religious order are the most bad or evil. The creatures or beings related to that religion are the opposite to the normal beliefs. Going back to the Christianity example, these stories portray angels as corrupt or heartless beings with demons and the devil as good and misunderstood. In high fantasies, this is usually portrayed as religion itself as a whole being bad, or those who follow the gods that govern the darker part of life end up being the hero of the story. These characters then save the world or do the right thing even if they would normally be seen as someone who has bad morals based on the deity they serve.
A few examples for this are:
Darksword Trilogy: Religion is the corrupt part of society in this world. They consider anyone who isn’t born with magical abilities as born ‘dead’. It is then expected for that family to leave their child to die in the wilderness or have them killed in some way. Then there are those who rebel against the religion and magic by practicing science in secret. These rebels are the ones that have morals and care about everyone equally.
The Devil is a Part-timer: This story is an anime that is about the king of the demons finding himself on Earth with limited magic and only his right-hand man. He is such a nice guy. He is someone who truly cares about people and treating others respectfully. Later, you find that the angels, the church, and the holy knights sent to destroy him are the ones that are corrupt and want to kill off the demons for their own purposes. The king of the demons wants to end the war and save his people however he can.
I personally like both kinds of stories. I am happy reading books with the expected representation of good and evil and the ones with the unexpected representation. However, I always find it interesting when the author goes with the unexpected one. It is engaging to see what elements he/she changes, how it effects the story and characters, and the whys of each side’s motivations.
What are your thoughts on good and evil in regards to religion in fantasy stories?
If you want to see the class I did on this topic in the academy, click here.
