Ethics and form in fantasy literature: Tolkien, Rowling and Meyer

Abstract

Fantasy literature is often regarded as formally schematic and predictable. In this book, Lykke Guanio-Uluru demonstrates that even as popular fantasy texts like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Twilight share common structures and tropes, they put these tropes to highly diverse ethical uses. While the archetypal symbol of the tree is used to link and structure values in The Lord of the Rings, both Harry Potter and Twilight are organized around the figures of the vampire and the shape-shifter. Simultaneously, while the vampire is tied to evil in Harry Potter, in Twilight the same figure is associated with the 'highest good'. Paying attention both to more unconscious forms of valuing expressed through the use of symbols and to the more explicit ethical reflection of central characters in these texts, Ethics and Form in Fantasy Literature suggests a new way of looking at ethics and form in fantasy narratives.