O for Oath – #atozchallenge
What is our fascination with the taking of an oath, especially within fantasy fiction?
Is it our remembrance of the oaths, vows, and covenants of our ancestors? Or is it our desperation for something steadfast in this crumbling world?
An oath can be a powerful tool in fantasy. It can keep someone from doing something terrible, or an it can be what makes them do the unthinkable.
To me, an oath is simply a promise. They are a little more easily broken. A covenant, though – those are the powerful things!
Blood covenants are binding, both in our own human history, and in stories. And come on, who of us, as kids, didn’t have our “blood brothers” and “blood sisters” that we naively made these promises with? I’ll bet that most of you, if not all, still think of them fondly even if you’ve fallen out of touch.
Oaths, vows, and covenants should never be taken lightly in fiction or in life. Writers know, all too well, that we have to choose our words so very carefully. How do we get the rest of the world to understand, but through our stories, about what a promise really is?
Well said! I think we like to believe that somehow declaring a bond or promise to unbreakable can make it so, but we know from both fiction and life that that is not necessarily true. But when something sworn never to be broken IS broken it makes for that much more interesting of a story.
There is just something powerful about an oath. It’s binding, for good or evil. It’s like what a handshake is supposed to mean, what a man’s word is supposed to mean.
So awesome! I’d forgotten about blood covenants, hmmm, I might have to rectify that in Book 2. 😉 I have several oaths in Book 1 and they are all binding in their own way. There’s just something about a good oath to keep people honest.
Great topic and thought provoking questions. Nice to find you on A-Z challenge! 🙂