Some books I have recently read: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Prydain, Goldstone Wood, Paksenarrion

I have recently re-read three or more books by each of four different authors.

Let's go with the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books first.  The Late Betty MacDonald was the author. These are children's books (or maybe parent's books) about children with various common childish flaws, such as not telling the truth, quarreling, not putting toys away, bullying, losing things and not wanting to go to bed. The list goes on. In each case, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle persuades the child to behave more positively, sometimes just by portraying a character herself (a queen who demands absolute neatness), by animals (a parrot that answers back faster than the child can say something nasty, such as "whose the boss around here."), or by minor magic. MacDonald is a genius at inventing funny names for children and their parents. Pergola Wingsproggle, and Enterprise Beecham, for example. The books show their age in spots -- all the mothers are housewives without outside employment, and no one has a TV, for example -- but they are still funny, even laugh out loud funny, and make us wish that we had a child-loving fairy godmother type to help us with our children's, grandchildren's, or other child's behavior. Human nature doesn't change. Most libraries should have these books.

There's a dark side of fantastic literature. Anne Elisabeth Stengl is the author of the Goldstone Wood books. (There is a Wikipedia page for her, but it's not very informative. If you are want more information, try the GoodReads Tales of Goldstone Wood page.) These are fantasies. Evil fairies (there are some very good ones, too) appear in these books. There seems no doubt that Stengl is a believing Christian (she has won two Christy awards) but the books aren't preachy. They are well written, with many characters, some through the series, and more in just part of it. To summarize in a phrase, the books are about conflict between good and evil. The evil is a dragon, or more than one dragon, as evil, intelligent and malevolent as can be. There is a Christ-figure, a high lord or prince, the Prince of Farthestshore, but he appears seldom. A recurring character is a speaking cat, sometimes. At other times, he is a fairy, and a knight of Farthestshore. The religion of the books is complex. There are elements of paganism, with priests and temples, practiced by some of the people in these books. There is also more than one good deity, or, if not multiple deities, powerful good beings. The moon, the sun, and the North Star are personified in one or more of the books. There is also a thrush, who calls characters back to goodness, repeatedly. One of Stengl's inventions, or, if she didn't invent them, she uses them a lot, is paths. Paths are hidden, except for those using them, and allow characters to travel rapidly from place to place without harm, so long as they stay on such paths, even though they may go through some dark places. Why did I start this paragraph with "the dark side?" Because the personalities of the dragons are so utterly evil. But there is good, too. This is a well-written series, and I recommend it to readers interested in fantastic literature. I have previously posted about some of Stengl's work: Veiled Rose here, Starflower here and Heartless here.

Another series is the Chronicles of Prydain, a series for middle- and high schoolers (and adults) by the late Lloyd Alexander. There are five books, namely The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer and The High King. As the Wikipedia article on the series says, the series is a Bildungsroman -- the story of how a young person, in this case, Taran, grows up, emotionally. The Black Cauldron was a Newbery Honor book, and The High King was a Newbery winner. The books have swords and sorcery, and good and bad wizards, elves, and humans. There are some really well-drawn characters, some of them more than a little strange, and not all of them human. Alexander was especially good at dialog. Several of his characters have clearly distinct ways of speaking. One of them scarcely every stops talking. There is no explicit religion of any kind in these books, but there is certainly a struggle between good and evil, and it is clear which side Alexander was on. I posted, in more detail, about these books, a few years ago.

The last series is the Paksenarrion books, by Elizabeth Moon. They are sword and sorcery stories, well told, with some characters readers can identify with, and some evil ones, too. Moon pays a lot of attention to ordinary soldiers, and their lives, and what it takes to have an army move to a battle site. Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia page on these books. (There are 10 novels in these settings, and they are tied together in various ways.):

The Deed of Paksenarrion has an engrossing religious theme. The world is presented as henotheistic; there is a "High Lord" followed by supposedly lesser deities and saints, such as Gird, Falk, etc., who serve it. There are also several references to the World tree and other animistic aspects of the natural world. This work encompasses themes such as "Hero as Redeemer" and "Hero as Saint" as described in Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The trilogy also deals with the concepts of absolute good versus absolute evil, the death of friends and loved ones, and an enlightened look into the origin of courage and fear.
One of the most significant themes of The Deed of Paksenarrion is the balance of gender and the role of women. Women are portrayed as powerful leaders and strong fighters. They are accepted and praised as much as men. The book's protagonist is female, as is the Marshall-General of the fellowship of Gird, the book's primary religious sect.

The above paragraphs apply to all of the books. (For more on the books, see this page, which Moon, herself, is responsible for.)

I have previously written on the question of whether or not Moon's fantasy works are Christian novels. My conclusion is that, in some ways, they are, in others, they are not. A student once told me that his high school English teacher had said that every story has a Christ-figure. I'm not sure that I agree with that, but Paksenarrion is, in many respects, such a figure. She is celibate (except for being raped under torture), she sacrifices herself for others in a terrible and prolonged way, and she is vindicated by the High Lord. And she becomes a paladin, fighting evil.

Moon has also written some science fiction, set in the present, or the future. Her Remnant Population was a Hugo Award nominee, and her Speed of Dark won the Nebula award.

Thanks for reading. Read Stengl, Alexander, MacDonald or Moon, or any other good books. And re-read something.

 

Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion, re-visited.

I recently re-read Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion. The book is a trilogy, published as a single volume, which volume is over 1,000 pages in length as a paperback.  Moon has won the Nebula award, for the best science fiction work published in a year, as judged by other writers -- a prestigious award. The trilogy, however, is another type of fantastic literature, variously called epic, high, or sword and sorcery fantasy.

I don't wish to give away much of the plot, but will present some general themes, and also link to previous posts on the work. The story takes place in a fantasy world, which may or may not be part of earth at some time in the past. There is no  internal combustion, no gunpowder, no antibiotics or printing presses, no easy way to communicate over distances. Several kingdoms are involved, over hundreds, perhaps thousands of miles.

Paksenarrion began life as a sheepfarmer's daughter, which is the title of the first book of the trilogy. But she ran away from home, seeking glory as a soldier, and fleeing from an arranged marriage. Many fantasy stories tell of some obscure person discovering that they are actually of royal descent. Paksenarrion does not discover this. She does gain recognition by hard work, by learning from those more experienced, by her intelligence, and her general goodness. She is taller than most women, and strong. Eventually, she becomes one of the best, perhaps the best warrior of her time.

Many novels include a romantic element. Paksenarrion never falls in love with a man. She thinks that she could have, but that chance ended with the death of her friend. She does, in a non-erotic sense, fall in love with her military leader, and with the deities of her world.

Moon claims to be a Christian, and is an active participant in a local church. I have no reason to doubt this. Paksenarrion begins by not taking any religion very seriously, or at least no more seriously than the average farmer in her culture -- she pays lip service, only to the religion of her culture. But she comes to believe in a real supernatural High Lord, and in at least one saint, or subordinate god, Gird, and develops a relationship with them both.

The trilogy, as indicated above, portrays Paksenarrion as a truly good person, although she makes a few bad choices. She is virtuous, at least partly because of divine guidance. She is so good, in fact, that she sacrifices herself, sometimes in extremely dangerous ways, for others. As she matures, she puts the directions of the High Lord, Gird, or her leaders, above her own plans and desires, and the directions of the High Lord, or Gird, above the desires of earthly leaders.

There are evil beings, gods, orcs, other nasty non-humans, and humans who have permanently chosen evil over good in this world. There is a good side, and a bad side, and it's clear that Paksenarrion, and Moon, are on the side of good. Paksenarrion has several very difficult experiences. She is falsely accused by another, she is captured and tortured, twice, and, of course, she becomes a soldier, experiencing weather, sleeplessness, lack of food, and fighting. She loses good friends to death.

All in all, this trilogy is one of the finest works of fantastic literature available. Although it takes a little from Tolkien -- there are elves and orcs in it -- the elves aren't exactly the same as Tolkien's, and the books are definitely not derivative. There are no hobbits, or ents. There's no Gandalf-like figure. Women are given roles equal to men, on merit, not their sex. The hard work of getting ready for battle, and training, and setting up a camp, or a fort, is thoroughly presented (Moon has military experience herself).

I have previously posted on this trilogy, and on the question of whether it is a Christian work, on Biblical morals in the work, and on whether a Christian writer may be justified in presenting God in ways different from those in the Bible.

Thanks for reading. If you have the stamina, read The Deed of Paksenarrion. It is one of the finest works of fantasy available.

Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion -- Christian or not?

This is a rewrite of a post of June 6, 2007.

I have previously posted about Elizabeth Moon's trilogy, The Deed of Paksenarrion (Riverdale, NY: Baen, 1992 -- combines three novels published previously). One question I wish to muse about is the question of Christianity in this work.

The Wikipedia article on Moon, dated June 6, 2007, discusses the question of religion, and the relation of the trilogy to board games, briefly:

Elizabeth Moon, not gaming herself, heard some people playing "Paladins" (Holy warriors in the service of a god) and doing so very poorly. Her reaction was of course that "such a person wouldn't act like that"... and in thinking about what they would act like, Paksenarrion was born.

The Wikipedia article on the trilogy, on the same date, says:

The Deed of Paksenarrion has an engrossing religious theme with Christian aspects. While this world appears to be polytheistic, there is a "High Lord" and saints, such as Gird, Falk, etc, who serve him. Also, there are prominent themes of atoning sacrifice and redemptive love, with Paksenarrion becoming a kind of Christ figure. However, some believe that comparing this work to themes such as "Hero as Redeemer" and "Hero as Saint" from The Hero with a Thousand Faces shows this is not particularly Christian. There are also several references to the World tree. [The links in this paragraph were copied from the Wikipedia article on the trilogy.]

In other words, religious, yes. Christian, maybe. I concur. This page states that Moon is an Episcopalian. Elliot has posted on religion in these books, and on Moon. One of his posts quotes a web page with an interview with Moon, describing her conversion experience.

I have previously laid out the following characteristics, one or more of which must be present, to satisfy myself that a novel is a Christian novel:
1) A Christ-figure
2) Belief, by central characters, in important Christian doctrines, such as a belief in the Trinity, or the resurrection
3) Monotheistic prayer or other worship
4) Expression of a relationship with God as Lord, by a main character
5) Consciousness of supernatural guidance
6) Explicit rejection of evil, by a main character

And I also said that if the work shows an overall Christian world-view, even though those characteristics aren't present, it could rightly be called a Christian novel, and I categorized Susan Palwick's The Necessary Beggar as Christian for that reason.

I have found some of these characteristics in The Deed of Paksenarrion, but most or all of them are polytheistic. That is, there is a High Lord, to be sure, but there are also saints. Gird, in particular, is one that Paksenarrion relies on. (There is occasional mention of Falk, and of Camwyn, both apparently of status like that of Gird.)

One of the characters in the book explains it like this, in response to a question on how Gird got his powers:
"Then came a new threat. Powers of evil, exactly what we don't know. Many feared them too much to resist, and fled far away. But Gird went out to face them with his old cudgel. No one saw that battle, but the dark powers fled the land for many years, and Gird was not seen on earth again. Gird's best friend, who had been away on a journey, had a dream in which he saw Gird ascending to the Court of the High Lord—saw him honored there, and given a cudgel of light to wield. It was after that, when he told his dream, that the priests of the High Lord recognized Gird as a saint. We don't claim Gird is a god. We say he is a favored servant of the High Lord; he has been given powers to aid his followers and the cause of right." (Chapter 25 of Sheepfarmer's Daughter, which is the first part of the Deed, pp. 255-6 of the combined book. This first part is on-line here.) It isn't just Gird, either. On p. 96, chapter 10, followers of Falk are also said to have healing powers. Some soldiers follow Tir. I'm not sure whether Tir is a saint or not.

There is a two-book combined prequel, The Legacy of Gird, and I am currently reading that, but expect to post this before I finish finding out about Gird.

I recognize that the Catholic church believes in saints, and that, as I understand it, they aren't recognized as such until after death, and until a process has proceeded that, among other things, requires that some after-death miracles are attributed to them. As a life-long Protestant, I have trouble with what I see as rivals to the work of Christ, including saints. However, the Bible does suggest that Peter's brief presence was sufficient to bring about healing.

1) So, is there a Christ-figure in the Deed? That, of course, depends on how you define Christ-figure. Paksenarrion, in some senses, qualifies. She is celibate throughout the book, and apparently throughout her life, except for being brutally raped. She is given some power to heal. She has a strong sense of right and wrong. Finally, and most importantly, she willingly offers herself to the evil priests of Liart (Chapter 27 of the last part of the book) expecting that they will torture her for five days, and finally kill her, in order that they give up five captives, including Duke Phelan, who is to be king. She is tortured publicly, expertly and brutally, and the torture includes rape. She depends on her call to be a servant of the High Lord, and of Gird, to endure this, and, finally, she is rescued -- miraculously healed of most of the damage from the torture, and freed from the evil group. At least one reader thinks that she died and was resurrected during this episode. I didn't interpret the events that way.

An especially interesting parallel is that the Thieves' Guild is purified of its worshipers of Liart because of what happened to Paksenarrion, so that, in a sense, her sacrifice redeems thieves:

"Arvid, there may have been another way to save Phelan: I don't know. Paladins don't know everything; we only know where we must go. But think of this: was there any other way to save the Thieves Guild?"
He stared at her, mouth open like any yokel's. "Thieves Guild," he said finally. "What does Gird care about the Thieves Guild?"
"I don't know," said Paks. "But he must care something, to spend a paladin's pain on it . . ." (P. 992 of the combined book, Chapter 28 of Oath of Gold, the last part of the trilogy. Arvid was chief of the Guild.)

So we have a good figure who offers herself as a living sacrifice for others. A Christ-figure.

Moon, herself, has written about the sacrifice and torture of Paksenarrion, here. I didn't read anything in her post that changes my assessment of the book. It seems clear from other posts by Moon that she is a practicing Christian.

2) I don't find any belief in the essential Christian doctrines in the book. There is no explicit prayer for forgiveness of sin.

3) Intercessory prayer is mentioned several times, but it is often to, or through, Gird or another saint, as much as to the High Lord. However, Paksenarrion, herself, prays mostly, to the High Lord. It is the High Lord who comes to her aid during her torture.

4) Paksenarrion comes to realize that she has been specially called for a purpose, by the High One. There are a few paladins of Gird, but she is not one of them. The realization is a slow process, and others see this, sometimes, before she does.

It is clearly the High Lord who rehabilitates her after her torture. A symbol of Liart, an evil god, which has been branded onto her forehead, is replaced, miraculously, with a circle, a symbol of the High God.

5) Paksenarrion does come to recognize supernatural guidance (see above).

6) There are a number of instances where Paksenarrion explicitly rejects evil. Perhaps the most important is early in her career, when she tells the Duke not to torture an evil man, because the Duke's army is not like them, and she wants it to stay that way. (pp. 307-8, Chapter 31 of Sheepfarmer's Daughter) Many of the others involve sensing, and combating, evil non-human beings.

Perhaps the most remarkable episode is this one:
It was then as if several selves were present, mysteriously separate and conjoined. Trapped inside her body was the same child she had been, feeling each new torment as a wave of intolerable pain,each ragged scream as a fresh humiliation. The seasoned soldier watched with pity as her body gave way to exhaustion and pain as any body would, feeling no shame at the sight or sound or smell of it, for this was something that could happen to anyone, and she had never inflicted it on others. And someone else, someone newer, refused the soldier's tactics of defiance, anger, vengeance, and looked into her own fear to find the link to those around her, to find the way to reach those frightened tormentors, the ones not already lost to evil. (978, Chapter 27 f Oath of Gold.) Here Paksenarrion not only rejects evil, but does not allow herself to desire vengeance, even while she is being tortured cruelly by experts over a five-day period. She also tries to find a way to change some of those who are watching this torture from evil to good.

7) Does Elizabeth Moon's trilogy have a Christian world-view? I would have to say that it is not strictly Christian, but that the leading character comes to have a fictionalized Christian world-view.

Probably no one cares, but here's my bottom line. The Deed of Paksenarrion, though it has polytheistic elements, has an essentially Christian idea, that of a good person sacrificing herself to rescue someone else from punishment. On that score, it's a Christian novel, as much as, say Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. But it's certainly not explicitly Christian, and is not sold as such. Thus, in my view, Moon's work has much more opportunity to be salt and light to a world that needs such things.

Do Christians have to write only books that are explicitly Christian? Should they read only such books? No, and no. I am reminded of Till We Have Faces, by C. S. Lewis. Lewis was a Christian, but this book, arguably his best novel, has characters with a pre-Christian, or pagan, world-view. Nonetheless, it's a great read, and presents Christian truth, especially that God Himself is the only real answer to our questions about justice.

I have found a few other web pages that briefly mention Christianity in the Deed. This page says that the trilogy has "Christian themes," and recognizes the sacrifice of Paksenarrion for others. This post says that there are parallels to Christian ideas, and that the trilogy, especially the last part, is about "Faith," even faith in miraculous resurrection.

This page may be modified later, as I think of things, as you comment, or as I read about Gird.

Thanks for reading.

See this post for links to references to this topic in the Claw of the Concilator blog.

See here for a subsequent post on biblical morals in the Paksenarrion books.

On April 2, 2009, E Stephen Burnett wrote an essay, asking questions about how far a Christian author could go in writing fiction which has a God who is significantly different from the Christian God, and whether a Christian could legitimately create a fictional character who is in defiance of God. I posted tentative answers to these questions, which are related to the subject of the post above, on April 13, 2009.

Thanks for reading. Read Moon, if you have to time to commit to reading about 1,000 pages!

Liar's Oath by Elizabeth Moon

Liar's Oath (New York: Baen, 1992, and as part of The Legacy of Gird, also by Baen, 1996) is the fifth book in Elizabeth Moon's sword and sorcery epic. It is a prequel to her The Deed of Paksenarrion, following Surrender None in time sequence.

Liar's Oath is about Luap, a man with an aristocratic, mage-born father, who has helped Gird in his peasant revolt.

It begins with the story of Gird's sacrificial death, from Luap's standpoint. (That story is also told in Surrender None.)

After Gird's death, government falls to the Marshals. Luap never becomes a Marshal, but is equivalent to them, as the government's Archivist. He hasn't manifested any magical powers, but Gird has warned him against doing so, and against seeking any rulership for himself.

Paksenarrion, and the Duke that she elevated to a just and good kingship, in The Deed, appear in Liar's Oath, even though they lived several generations after Luap. The reason is that, as Liar's Oath progresses, Luap gradually comes to do magic, to seek power, and to live longer than he normally would. The first two of these are violations of his oath to Gird. Luap leads the mage-born to a location far from Fin Panir, the home of the government founded by Gird. He travels to this location partly by elven magic. While there, he assumes the role of the leader of the mage-born, becoming, in all but name, a king.

The third evil, seeking to live longer, is an evil that saps one of his young followers. Aris is a young mage-born, who has the gift of healing. Without either of them realizing it, Luap's extended life is slowly destroying Aris's healing ability. It is also, as an evil, destroying the bond that has bound the black elves, evil cousins of the good elves that inhabit much of Moon's subcreation, and much like those of Tolkien. The black elves have been bound into rocks near where Luap's regime exists. Eventually, Luap is called before a dwarf, an elf, and a gnome (gnomes are keepers of law) and told that he and the mage-born must leave. Luap becomes a sort of warning spirit, keeping people away from the area, which is now inhabited by the black elves.

During the withdrawal from the kingdom that Luap has established, Moon makes clear that Luap has fallen spiritually:
"You've made the right start," Seri said. "Now you might try asking the gods." Luap winced. He had not, he realized, really asked the gods anything for a long time. p. 842, Chapter 31. Seri, lifelong companion to Aris, becomes, with him, the first of the paladins, warriors with magical powers, called by the gods, to protect against injustice. Paksenarrion is the last such paladin described in Moon's books.

Paksenarrion and her King appear to Luap, finally, and his burden of guardianship is lifted.

This was an interesting book, but I didn't feel that all the ends were tied. One glaring reason that I felt this way is a passage in The Deed of Paksenarrion:
Ardhiel shook his head. "Sir Marshal, I am sorry that this is not a mystery I can solve for you. Only I agree with Sir Amberion, that this is not a place of evil. Whatever happened here, happened for good." (p. 632, describing the hall that is the center of what had been Luap's realm.) Ardhiel is an elf. That doesn't seem to square with Liar's Oath.

Moon is sensitive to moral matters, and they play a prominent role in her books. As in the other books in this series, I was troubled and somewhat confused by the apparent polytheism of her subcreation.

Thanks for reading.

Surrender None, by Elizabeth Moon

I have posted previously on Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion. (See also here)

Moon subsequently wrote two prequels. The Legacy of Gird (New York: Baen, 1996) includes both of them, Surrender None (1990) and Liar's Oath (1992). As indicated in the previous post, the religious framework of Moon's fantastic world is complex, and I don't claim to understand it. This book tells us about the earthly life of a man who became a deity (or saint ?) in Moon's sub-creation.

Gird is the patron saint, more or less, of an order of soldiers who fight for justice and good. Throughout most of The Deed, Paksenarrion calls on Gird, to give her moral strength for various problems she faces, and she is usually answered, by Gird, or some other supernatural power.

Gird begins his adult life when scarcely a teenager. He joins the local ruler's army, and takes training. However, before he has been a soldier for very long, he sees his ruler cruelly punish one of his contemporaries, and runs away. He joins, and becomes the leader, of peasants fighting against oppression.

This rebellion is against the Aarean aristocrats who rule the land. Some of these, but not many, are good and just. Most are not. There are taxes and fees for everything. These aristocrats are foreigners, who came to the land from another one. They are referred to as mageborn. Many of them can perform various deeds of magic, which include making light, putting subordinates under a spell, and manipulating natural objects, even a small river. Gird has ideas for organization, hygiene, agriculture and strategy. He is a great leader. He, and Moon, are concerned with housing, food supply and latrine placement, which are usually not considered much, if any, in sword and sorcery novels. Gird's army includes some females, including his own daughter. The system of bartons (small local groups of farmer-soldiers that train together) granges (larger groups) and Marshalls, found in the order of Gird in The Deed, all have their origin in Surrender None.

Gird doesn't know everything, of course. He spends several months with the goblins, a dwarf-like (Moon's subcreation also has dwarves, similar to Tolkien's) race living mostly underground. They teach Gird strategy, and, especially, law. They believe in the importance of just law, and Gird sees that, if the Aareans are replaced, something better must come after their rule.

Like Paksenarrion, Gird feels some sort of divine call. Also like Paksenarrion, he gets a horse, which, it is obvious, is not just a horse.

Luap is introduced in the first of these prequels. He is a bastard of an Aarean, cast out to live among the ordinary peasants. He has considerable knowledge of court ways, and, unlike most peasants, can write and calculate. He becomes indispensable to Gird, and to his movement, serving as its Archivist.

I looked for a Christ-figure in this book, not really sure I would find one. Gird becomes one, in that he dies, under the power of some spirit/god/something, so that the enmity between the peasants and the mage-born, may be destroyed, at least temporarily. Here's part of the critical passage from the book, as Gird, in some kind of trance or vision, speaks to a mob:

The words were strange to mouth and ear, but he knew what they meant, and so, somehow, did his hearers. Peace, joy, justice, love, each without loss of the others, engaged in some intricate and ceremonial dance. More and more the dark cloud lifted, as if his words were sunlight burning it away. Yet they were not his words, as he well knew. Out of his mouth, through his mind, had come Alyanya's peace, the high Lord's justice, Sertig's power of Making, and Adyan's naming: these powers loosed scoured the fear away. Chapter 32, pp. 424-5.

After this defusing of a mob, about to severely injure or kill a mage-born child, simply because he is mageborn, Gird dies. His death is not from illness, but from being spent to eradicate evil in others. Although the enmity between the mage-born and ordinary people is temporarily quenched, it is not eradicated.

See this post for a more general discussion of Christ-figures, and what makes a novel Christian.

I found this part of Moon's prequel to be interesting and well-written, with considerable attention to moral issues, like The Deed. As in The Deed, Moon's many gods, or god-like beings, are confusing.

My post on the sequel to this book, Liar's Oath, is here.

Thanks for reading.

Biblical morals in Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion

I have previously posted on Elizabeth Moon's work, writing that moral choices are important in her fiction. Here are two passages that illustrate that, in addition to those mentioned in my earlier posts, with relevant scripture:

The Duke nodded, his face grim. "I expect so. I wonder if he was her agent from the beginning." "Surely not. The Marshal wouldn't have missed that." The Duke looked at Paks, a clear question. She answered. "No, my lord, he wouldn't have missed it if Venner had been committed to her then. But Achrya gains adherents in subtle ways. At first he may not have realized what he was doing --" "The Duke flushed. "Arranging a massacre? How could he not? "I didn't mean that, my lord. Earlier. We don't know -- perhaps he had cheated someone, or told a minor lie: I have heard that she makes much of that. Or he may have been told lies, about you, that justified him to himself, in the beginning. By the time he realized whose service he had joined, it would have been too late." "Are you saying it was not his fault?" "No, my lord. Unless he was spelled the entire time, he was responsible for his decisions. I meant that he may not have intended any evil when he joined the Company . . . may in fact have slipped into evil bit by bit. . . ." Elizabeth Moon, The Deed of Paksenarrion (New York: Baen, 1992) p. 782, Chapter Ten. This part of The Deed was originally published as Oath of Gold, by the same publisher, in 1989. Duke Phelan, Paksenarrion, and the Duke's captains are discussing the revelation that the Duke's steward, Venner, has been in service to an evil spider goddess for many years.

James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (ESV)

"She was always ready to take offense at anything, and she'd hold a grudge until it died of old age. She's a skilled fighter, and honest, and works hard -- all good. But I've heard more harsh things about her, from my sergeants, than about the rest of your recruit year put together. She wasn't bad -- not the way i could complain of -- but she'd not a generous bone in her, and she'd a way of talking that kept everyone miserable. . . . And she has the most dangerous of beliefs: that things are unfair for her. The High Lord knows things are unfair. But they're unfair for us all. That's the way the world is." p.814, Chapter Thirteen, of the same book.

Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (ESV) Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; (ESV)

I am not saying that Moon and the Bible are equivalent. Indeed not. But biblical principles often come through in Moon's writing.

See here for my most recent post on Moon's writing.

Thanks for reading.

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In a post dated Feb 25, 2009 (Ash Wednesday) Moon indicates that she planned to attend her church's service that evening, and is in the church choir.

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On April 2, 2009, E Stephen Burnett wrote an essay, asking questions about how far a Christian author could go in writing fiction which has a God who is significantly different from the Christian God, and whether a Christian could legitimately create a fictional character who is in defiance of God. I posted tentative answers to these questions, which are related to the subject of the post above, on April 12, 2009.

Claw of the Conciliator on Elizabeth Moon

I'm working toward doing a post on whether or not Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion is a Christian novel (or three novels). A lot of this ground has already been covered by Elliot, of the Claw of the Conciliator blog, and I want to acknowledge his work, and link to it. I think I have come to some of the same conclusions independently, but may well have been influenced by reading Elliot.

All links below are to Elliot's blog:

Substantial quotation from a 1999 interview with Moon (from SF Site, not from a religious page!) in which she discusses her conversion experience.

A review of Moon's nebula-winning The Speed of Dark, pointing out how Christianity shows in this book.

A review of Sheepfarmer's Daughter, the first part of The Deed, in which he discusses the religion of this world, pointing out that, although it seems polytheistic, it has a High Lord, and, perhaps, Saints.

A fictional dialog about Paksenarrion offering herself as a sacrifice.

(The Claw of the Conciliator is an award-winning fantasy novel by Gene Wolfe, set in the far future. Wolfe has Christian elements in most of his work.)

Thanks, Elliot!

June 14, 2007:
Here's my own post on the subject.

Paksenarrion and King Arthur

2 Samuel 8:15 So David reigned over all Israel. And David administered justice and equity to all his people. (ESV)

"We will be in the north for a few years -- no fat contracts in Aarenis, no chance of plunder. If you prefer such service, I will recommend you to any commander you name. . . . If you stay, we shall be making, by Gird's grace, a place of justice, a domain fruitful and safe, and a strong defense for the northern border." Duke Kieri Phelan, speaking of returning to his lands, but, unknown to himself, on the verge of trying to establish a just kingdom in Lyonya. The Deed of Paksenarrion (Riverdale, NY: Baen, 1992) p. 806

In a previous post, I introduced Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion, and, later, compared the book to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In this post, I wish to compare the work to the story of King Arthur. There are some interesting resemblances, but the stories are not the same.

Howard Pyle's version of the King Arthur story influenced me the most, but there are other versions. (Part of his version is available from Project Gutenberg.) For other information on King Arthur, see the Wikipedia article, and also this site.

In Moon's book, no one knows who is the heir to the kingship of Lyonya. The heir is found, and his kingship is validated when he draws a sword. (It is not a sword that no one else can draw, but it is a magic sword that reacts to him. The heir is not a boy, but a man who has earned, not inherited, the office of Duke.) There is an order of warriors, who try to fight for only for justice and the good.

These bare bones are there, but there are differences. There is no Guinevere -- Duke Kieri Phelan has no wife during the years covered by the book. There is no Merlin, although there are wizards. There is no Lancelot, unless Paksenarrion, whose Deed is to place Duke Phelan on his throne, and is a tall blonde warrior-maiden, stands somehow in his place. Perhaps she is more like Galahad, the pure. In the closing chapter of the first part of this trilogy-published-as-single-volume, the Duke asks her how an evil man, who has tortured the Duke's soldiers, and their allies, should be disposed of. Paksenarrion is taken aback by the request, but she says that he should be killed quickly, without torture, because ". . . we are not like him, my lord. That's why we fought." (Chapter 31, p. 308. The entire first part of the book, including this chapter, may be accessed here.)

Many stories retell King Arthur's, somewhat. The Lord of the Rings has a king who comes out of obscurity, with a special sword, and a wizard backing him, for example. It is no wonder that Moon's book also retells part of it, but, like Tolkien's, it is a story unto itself.

Thanks for reading.

Paksenarrion and Tolkien

Baen, the publisher of The Deed of Paksenarrion, by Elizabeth Moon, has a blurb on the outside cover of the edition I am reading, by Judith Tarr, claiming that Moon "has taken the work of Tolkien, assimilated it totally and deeply and absolutely, and produced something altogether new. . ." A commenter on my earlier post on this book also mentioned that Tolkien's influence shows.

I see enough resemblance that I mentioned both works as being "sword and sorcery" fiction. But they aren't the same.

How are the works similar? (Besides both being set in a past time, before the use of gunpowder?)

Moon has elves in her book. Furthermore, like Tolkien's, these elves are potentially immortal, are very sympathetic to nature, have magical powers, but can produce offspring with humans. As in Tolkien, a wanderer needs only a little of their bread to be satisfied. There are dwarves, apparently much like Tolkien's, but they aren't very important in Moon's book.

She also has orcs, and, like Tolkien's, these are all evil beings. There are also large spider-like creatures, perhaps as much spiritual as embodied, that are evil, and influence others to do evil.

Swords, or at least one sword, light up when an enemy is faced.

Both works take place over a large area, with many kingdoms, or the equivalent.

But there are differences, serious differences.

Moon introduces a religious order/group/something called Kuakgan. These people, possibly all male, are human, and have deep bonds to the natural world, and possess powers that are apparently magical.

Moon also introduces something called a, or the taig, or an elfane taig. Although this seems to be introduced in Chapter Six of the second part of her trilogy, the idea is clearly important. This is a term for the spirit of a place. Although there is some suggestion of such ideas in Tolkien, for example in Hollin, Moon makes this a more active concept, and Moon's elves expect human rulers they have any congress with to be sensitive to these entities.

The spider-creatures can masquerade successfully as humans, and seem to enjoy not just attacking them, but leading them astray in various ways. I find no suggestion of either in Tolkien.

There are evil elves in Moon's book. In Tolkien's trilogy, such elves have all vanished.

There are numerous beings like gods, spirits, or saints in Moon's work. There are also such in Tolkien, but in his books, these are closely related to the elves than in Moon's. There are religious/military orders dedicated to these entities. I find no explicit mention of prayer in Tolkien. There is mention of prayer by Moon.

Although there are a few female warriors in Tolkien, they are clearly meant to be the exception. They are not exceptions in Moon. Paksenarrion, herself, is female, and becomes a great warrior.

Thanks for reading.

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Note: This was rewritten on June 5th from the original post on June 1, 2007.

The Deed of Paksenarrion, by Elizabeth Moon

I previously posted on The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon (The immediately previous link is to the Wikipedia article on Moon. Her home page is here.) which won the 2003 Nebula award (for best science fiction novel), The award was well deserved.

Since I had enjoyed one book by Moon, and it was well written, with good characterization, and dealt with a serious issue (autism), I decided to try another of her books. The library that I am currently using had a paperback, Divided Allegiance (Riverdale, NY: Baen, 1988) available, so I tried it. Two things struck me about this book. First, it is the second part of a trilogy. The first is Sheepfarmer's Daughter -- which Baen has made available in its entirety on-line, published in the same year, and the third is Oath of Gold, published in 1989.

The second thing that struck me is that this book is not science fiction -- it doesn't extrapolate into the future, or examine the past or the present as changed in a way that relates to science. No, the book is fantasy -- sword and sorcery fantasy. It is unusual for a writer to succeed in both genres, even though most bookstores do not distinguish between them. Ursula K. Le Guin is one author who has so succeeded. I guess there are more, but I can't think of any, except Moon. Moon hasn't succeeded as well as Le Guin, but that's not a negative criticism of Moon. Who has?

The three volumes have been combined into The Deed of Paksenarrion (Baen, 1992) which is currently in print. This is a hefty volume, friends. It has 1024 pages, and the type is not especially large. I would like to comment on this book in general. I hope to post about its relationship to Tolkien, its relationship to King Arthur, outline the plot, and consider whether or not this is Christian fiction, in subsequent posts. I will not try to hide plot details in any of these posts, as I usually do.

Paksenarrion is a female warrior. (She is often referred to as Paks in the book.) Most of the time in the book, which covers a few years of her life, is about her life in the military. Moon, herself, has been a U. S. Marine, so that shouldn't be surprising. There are details of military life, and military campaigns, a-plenty. They include training in swords and other weapons, troop movements, and disposal of booty. Moon writes about details. When the troops camp, latrine placement is important. Food and supplies don't appear magically. Horses and mules must be cared for.

Paksenarrion does not fall in love, or have sexual relations, with anyone, throughout the entire book, except for an attempted rape early in her military career, and a completed rape (more on that in a later post) near the end of the book. She had chances -- on p. 191, she thinks about how Saben, now dead, had wanted to be her lover.

The Deed of this female warrior is to find and establish a king in Lyonya. This is not just a military operation, but a spiritual one. All of Paksenarrion's training is needed to accomplish her deed.

The book generally presents clear divisions or choices between good and evil, and Paksenarrion is always on the side of good.

One way in which the book could have been made better is by the inclusion of maps. There is a map for the first part, but it doesn't have Lyonya on it, nor several other important places found in the second and third parts.

There are two other related books, at least one a prequel, but I haven't read them, and the trilogy works as a unit.

I found the book to be a compelling read, and I am glad I read it. Thanks for reading!

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Addendum, December 22, 2008. The author, Elizabeth Moon, has recently posted a short essay on the different kinds of magic in the Paksenarrion books.

July 5, 2015. I have just re-read the Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy, and still think it's a fine work. I have previously read, and posted on, Moon's Liar's Oath and Surrender None. I have discussed the question of whether Deed is a Christian novel, or not, and posted on Biblical morals in the books. Moon, herself, has written about the all-too-popular Game of Thrones works, and I posted about that, linking to her reaction.