supermouse

I was playing around with the Amazon feature 'People who bought X also bought Y' and ended up running into one of those things which make sense when you see them, explain part of how the world works, in a way that scares you to your core and makes you long for the rise of the Dark Ones if only so that you can forget what you've seen.

I'm not sure what it means for your mental health to be persuaded to think of yourself as the protagonist in a world-shaking fantasy epic. I don't think it appeals to the most stable minds, nor keeps them that way. I know that some people do think of themselves as a vital world-saving figure sent down to cast out demons and save people from The Devil Himself. They have websites with lots of bright logos and post fervent comments to online fora whenever certain keywords are posted. However, I found myself staggered by just how many 'non-fiction' books there are for sale out there on a mainstream website where this idea is the plot - a plot in which you, yes YOU are the hero, and it is explained to you how very, very important you are to saving the world. A handful of titles from this surprisingly large genre:

Becoming a Vessel of Honour
Baptise by Blazing Fire
Lucifer Exposed: The Devil's Plan To Destroy Your Life
Breaking the Power of Evil: Winning the Battle for the Soul of Man
Prepare For War
How to Fulfil Your Divine Destiny
Spiritual Warfare


There are manylots more of these out there, all teaching you how to save the world in real life. It's an entire industry surrounded around teaching people how to battle the devil who is coming against them to destroy the world right now. It suddenly makes sense that some fundamentalists hate speculative fiction; it parodies their real epic quest against real all-powerful magic enemies and offers a make-believe pretend version of their real spiritual tools. I can see why that would be hard to take. Pointing out that your favourite flavour of epic quests against magical enemies are make-believe and harmless is only going to make matters worse, really.

I think this is on an entirely different plane to believing in a creator God, trying to catch his attention through prayer and deciding to further his cause through good works and following a set of rules-to-live-by. That sort of thinking places you as a normal human amongst a large population of equally special humans, all trying to get through life and, in many cases, onto a decent afterlife as well. It's useful, comforting and yet not as exciting as the idea that Only You can Know the Truth and are in a Battle against the Forces of Darkness alongside a Secret Army against other Secret Armies. Geeks know how appealing that idea is - that's why we read so much speculative fiction. But, on the whole, we don't try to actually live it.

People who attack fantasy literature and roleplaying games as demonic in nature aren't really concerned about the idea that it might lead to wrong thinking and an unhealthy interest in Satanism. It can't lead anywhere, because it's already the destination. They see it as people actively taking up arms for the other side - in a war only one side can win, any competing side is a direct threat, so trying to explain how your hobbies are harmless can only fall on deaf ears.