The What If Tag

The What If . . . ? Fantasy Tag

Hello everybody! I got tagged by Tracy from Adventure Awaits, and am really excited about this tag!!

Rules

1. Thank the blogger who tagged you.  Thanks Tracey!!!
2. Include the graphic somewhere in your post.  The lovely one above with the dragon.
3. Answer the questions.
4. Tag a few bloggers--and let them know they've been tagged.
5. Have fun! That won’t be a problem!

1. Your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. The cast of the most recent fantasy book you've read comes to your assistance . . . Who are they? Will they be helpful?

Oh dear… The most recent one I finished LISTENING TO (for the fifth time?) on Kindle was Hebbros. I particularly love this cast… Ned and Elbert come (Elbert says that my car is broken [Ned says “Obvious Elbert”]), and they are running from the Mordecai Order. Bradley comes along, says something rather stunning that I won’t know how to answer for the oddity of it, and he is riding on a mule pulling a mercer’s cart. The lisping mercer and Lillian (who are in the cart) are so stunned by the ride that by the time Christopher, Charlotte and Pavia arrive, I am safely stuck in the large barrel in the back of the Mercer’s cart (with Luke and his bandaged, broken leg). Then we somehow get out of there because Warrin and Wulf (the Evil Twins) are hot on our trail.

2. You go to bed one evening and wake up in the lair of the villain of the last fairytale you read. Where are you and how do you plan to get out?

Lady Moon is the most recent fairy tale I’ve read. That is partly easy. I whistle for the nearest miniature wombat, have her dig a tunnel through the dungeon (the floor stones are loose from the constant dripping of a wet dungeon), and hopefully we don’t fall into the dragon’s lair. However, if we do, I know to get into the fireplace and climb out the chimney before the dragon eats me and my wombat.

3. You are transported into a fantasy realm and given a mythical creature as a companion and best friend . . . Which mythical creature do you get?

Oh…. That is so hard. Gryphon? I love the gryphons on Narnia, and my mom’s maiden name was Griffon (that is a point of family pride for me)… But then again, you never know when a talking horse or dragon might come in handy. Something from Narnia for sure. Maybe even a talking mouse who is in fact a knight?

I want to cry when Lucy hugs Reepicheep. If my mother will ever consent to me keeping a rodent in the house… (As of right now, Reepicheep’s charming manners have not won the heart of the matriarch, but I have this wild hope that maybe his chivalry could pardon all mice in the sight of my mother [although I think she would have difficulty sleeping knowing a mouse lived in the house])

4. In a strange series of coincidences, you end up needing to take the place of your favorite fantasy hero or heroine. Who are you?

Most likely Eowyn of Rohan. Eowyn is just amazing, she’s beautiful, can wield a sword, and she marries Faramir. Those are just the big points!

This is one of my favorite romances. They are perfect for each other, and there was such a refreshing sweetness to it. (Isn’t her smile just lovely? [I love it when beautiful women smile instead of glare])

Eowyn does have a pretty hard time, has Wormtongue creeping around following her (brr), and her hope crushed about Aragorn was pretty heart wrenching (I was completely surprised and delighted when Faramir came along). Still, she also gets to spend quality time with a certain adorable Merry and Gimli when he’s doing his best to be pleasant, and I love the sweet relationship between her and Theoden (“I would have you smile again” melts my heart). Plus I love horses, and her people are the people of horses…

5. To go along with question #4, now that you are that character, is there anything you would do differently than that character, now that you are running the show?

Throw Wormtongue down a well, thank you very much.

6. If you were yourself in a fantasy novel, what role do you think you would play in the story?

Hmm…. I would probably be the girl who is trying to help everybody, volunteering for the adventures, getting myself in trouble, and then either be rescued, escape, or perish and have my memory live on. Either that, or if I had to pick an occupation of a peasant, I’d be a chandler (I love making candles/watching candles burn).

7. One morning, as you are going about your daily business, you pick up an everyday item and a voice booms in your head with prophetic words about your future. What object is it, and what is the prophecy?

Hmm… Not MY future, but definitely the future of my book. I’m there, washing dishes, doing laundry, picking up a toy, then I realize… There’s a bad guy in the corner who needs to be stopped. Or maybe it’s the character I’m working on or whatever. There have been days that I am silently acting out parts of my book as I work (girl pretends to be a maid in the castle so she can spy. It’s not really the object, it’s more of the inspiration hits and it doesn’t matter where I am. I do something along these lines: Think about it (intensely), quietly act it out pretending to be the POV character (if I’m alone I include dialogue), or a mixture of both in which I think in third person and how I would write it down.

8. You are transported into a magical realm and turned into a mythical beast . . . What beast/fantasy creature do you want to be?

Probably a Narnian dryad. I was in a play of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and was the hedgehog, but it looked like the wood nymphs got to have the most fun. Getting all dressed up in flowers and flowing dresses… (maybe the fact that one of the dryads was the ever-graceful, beautiful, adored babysitter of ours made it seem more amazing) So probably a wood nymph in Narnia by the streams in the forest, laughing and playing with all the cute wood animals.

9. If you could read your way into any fantasy realm, but the catch is you can never leave, would you? Which realm would you choose?

Middle Earth and go live in Rivendell or Lothlorien. The one problem here is that I am one of those people who love to eat meat…

And I don’t like green food.

10. As you are going about your normal day, you discover that you have a magical power. What is it?

Well, as much as I love fantasy, I choose to be very careful with magic, since I know that real magic is not something to be played with. However, if it is a gift given by the Creator of the world so that I can fulfill His will, then I can do that. Much like the gifted in the Seventh World Trilogy, or Luke’s ability to read faces in Hebbros. So, I’ll pick one of their gifts. Either the gift of singing, since I love singing, or maybe the gift of healing, since I loved Miracle’s character and she was great at growing roses too (roses are a weakness of mine).

Alright, now who will I tag…

Catherine Hawthorne

Anna C. S.

Snapper

Sarah Rodecker

Faith/Florid Sword

If you don’t have time/don’t want to do this tag, then that is totally fine, but if you do, then I hope you have as much fun as I did.

Lastly, I want to add a quick note on here, since this was so much about fantasy:

            Fantasy is a wonderful way to teach things that we often become calloused to. Things such as the gospel, or the Christian walk can seem to be so familiar that we lose the mystery of them. Fantasy can be used like a mirror to reflect reality back at us and show us what really matters. I have been so inspired and learned so much from reading fantasy. However, the thing that we all need to remember is that the tool of fantasy has been used for ill many times. There are poisonous books that not only delve into things they shouldn’t, but deceptively shake their fist in the face of God. When discerning a fantasy book, the biggest question I ask, is who defines the reality of this book? Does it reflect a Biblical worldview in which reality is no reality without God? Or is the highest power that defines right and wrong something other than God, allowing man to choose his own path? Remember, worldview is critical. If the worldview is off, in fantasy or in reality, that is when we see such darkness. In order for the story to contain true love, right and wrong, light and hope, there MUST be a Creator who defines right and wrong. Otherwise humans will do that (and we all know where that leads). There must be a source of light and life, and can light and life be given by men or random chance? Lastly, we can only love because we have been loved with the purest love possible. True love is not between a knight and lady. True love is when we lay down our lives for one another. We can only do this because someone else has done it for us. These are the things that I always ask myself when I am reading fantasy, and because I write it.

Well, that was a lot of fun, thanks for tagging me Tracey!!! I love tags, and this made me so happy!