On Religion in Fantasy

I have read a spate of books lately with heavy doses of religion, both made up and from the real world. That got me to thinking about how careful authors must be when portraying religion. Because most of the time, they don't do it well and to me it just comes across as . . . well . . . hokey.

For the non-native English speakers who read this blog, that means insincere, flimsy, unbelievable, unconvincing.

Most of the time, I just grit my teeth and read on. Sometimes it makes me set the book aside in exasperation for a while. Rarely will it be the reason I give up on a book, although recently, one book came close.

I think the problem comes when the author attempts to portray a religious conversion, or a devoutly religious person. It's hard without seeming dogmatic. It's damned hard. Even when the classics do it right, it can come across as overdone.

Here are some examples of religion in fantasy and in the classics, and how it came across to me as a reader. I was going to include excerpts, but if I do that, this post will take a month to write.

One classic that did it right was Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. When Jean Valjean encountered the bishop at the beginning of the story, he was a desperate man, cornered by society into a life where he could only support himself by turning to crime. So he stole the silver from the priest. And when he was caught, the priest gave him the candlesticks along with the rest of the silver, explaining to the gendarmes that Jean Valjean had forgotten them. And with a simple--but generous--act of charity, Jean Valjean was a changed man. For the reader, it works. Christianity is a theme through the rest of the novel, but nowhere does it overwhelm the plot. Politics occasionally does, but that's the subject of another rant. (Tip: if you read it, find an abridged version.)

Jane Austen's Mansfield Park came across a bit heavy-handed, in my opinion, when it came to religion. It is my least favorite of Jane Austen's novels (but I still enjoyed it enough to read it several times). Fanny and Edmund were just so dogmatic and serious. I was glad to see her lighten up and have a bit of fun toward the end. When I read it for the first time, I really wanted to see a true Henry Crawford conversion, whether or not Fanny fell in love with him. I was disappointed.

In Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, Christianity comes up from time to time. Christianity is banned, but one of Ender's friends was raised with a smattering of clandestine religion. Ender himself had an illegal Baptism. Even though Orson Scott Card is deeply religious, the novel didn't come across as heavy handed. A while back, I wanted to read Orscon Scott Card's Old Testament novels, Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel and Leah. Has anyone read any of those?

Dragonlance occasionally came on a little too strong, mostly during Goldmoon's conversion. But for the rest of the trilogy, I enjoyed the interaction between the gods and the characters. The humorous touch was the right touch--as readers, we obviously weren't supposed to take it very seriously. When the god unmasked himself toward the end, it really worked. (You've got to admit him carrying the fallen companion off into the hereafter was a stroke of brilliance.) When the rest of the companions met with the god after the final conflict in a sort of epilogue, there was a bit of discomfort, but the authors compensated for it somewhat by making the characters uncomfortable as well.

In The Deed of Paksenarrion Paks' conversion was overdone and really unconvincing, given the earlier doubts that the author had set up. It felt forced and wrong. I winced through almost the entire final volume--and this is one of my favorite novels.

One of the recent books I read was Hawkspar, by Holly Lisle. She obviously learned how to handle religion. In The Secret Texts, an early trilogy of hers, there were over-the-top religious conversions that were so unconvincing that for a long time I thought someone had put a spell on the characters. Then, I realized that there was no spell. In Hawkspar, it was much more subtly handled. I guess it helped in my mind that much of the religion turned out to be false.

There is a goddess in The Sword-Edged Blonde, but Eddie never worshiped her (thank God!). As a goddess, she had lots of limitations that made her somewhat less than omniscient. She didn't know what it was like to be a human, for one. She had interesting flaws and vulnerabilities and was a study in selfishness without seeming evil. Flawed gods are fine with me because then they aren't really gods, are they?

I'll leave the religion in Betraying Season until I write my review for it. For now, I'll just call it a "thumbs down" portrayal.

For Star Wars, I contradict myself. I enjoyed the concept of the Force much more when it was an "ancient religion" than when it was some sort quirk of DNA, or an aberrant cell, or whatever "mitachlorians" were.

If an author is going to include religion, I'd rather it be used like salt--sparingly. If there's just enough salt, it adds a nice flavor to the book. Too salty and the flavor is too strong to stomach. I don't read fantasy for religion; for that I read The Bible. (And I actually don't read that for "religion" per se, I read it to learn more about my faith.) Even in Christian literature, people are often put off by it because it has a reputation of coming on too strong.

Think of the movie, It's a Wonderful Life. An engaging plot mixed with a touch of religion that carries a powerful message. That's how it should be done.