I’ve been
reading a series of books called the Death Gate Cycle to Colleen. This is
fantasy series (by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman) from the late 80’s and
early 90’s that I read once before when I was much younger. It’s one of those series
that really proves what I always say about fantasy being the perfect way to
take a closer look at human nature.
This series
takes place in a universe where the world has been split into four separate elemental
worlds – plus a couple extras, but the details aren’t important for this blog.
This happened because of two races of people so magical that they and the “lesser”
races believed them to be gods – but the ideals of these two peoples opposed
each other, so they were at war.
The orderly
and “goodly” of these two races, afraid of losing the way, cast a spell that
tore the world to pieces and reformed it, dumping the chaotic and “evil” race
into a magical prison while they were at it. Many of the “lesser” races died in
the process, but the “goodly” race saved as many as they could. Unfortunately,
the elemental worlds were not self-sustaining, and before the “goodly” race
could link them together to work as a team (as they had intended), something
went wrong and they began to vanish.
The story
follows a member of the “evil” race, who is one of many to have escaped the
magical prison after generations of torment. Under the command of his lord, the
first of his people to escape, he is scouting out the worlds in preparation for
launching a war against the “goodly” race.
As he is
exploring these worlds, he finds them in chaos – with the three “lesser” races
fighting endless wars against each other while the “goodly” race is absent.
Then, on the fourth world he visits, he discovers dragon-like monsters who
profess to serve him, but he eventually determines that they are pure evil and
that they gain power from fear and hatred.
These
creatures get released into the other worlds, where they insinuate their way
into the ranks of the “lesser” races (they are shape-changers) and spread
chaos, fear, and hatred. They always present themselves as wanting to serve,
and whenever confronted by someone who knows what they are, they say “You made
us.”
Then, at
last, someone learns how to fight them by pinning down what they actually are.
They explain it simply as “they are us.” The monsters are the embodiment of all
the hatred and fear the races have of each other, and the more hatred and fear
there is, the more powerful these monsters became.
As I was
reading this, I thought, wow... that looks a lot like the issues we’re facing in the world today.
And, as
with today, the way to fight these monsters was for people to put aside their
hatred and fear and work together.
To me, it
is an obvious message. But then, this is woven into a series of books that was
written over twenty years ago and we’re still dealing with the same issues. Perhaps
the time has come to say it louder.
Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
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