What is the "Perilous Realm"?
Being a brief-ish introduction to Thomas Salerno's fantasy/sci-fi newsletter
“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure…” — Gandalf the Grey
Greetings, fellow wayfarer! Thank you once again for subscribing to my newsletter, Road to the Perilous Realm. I’m excited to have you along as a companion on this journey!
Please enjoy the following introductory essay:
J.R.R. Tolkien and the Road to the “Perilous Realm” of Faerie
So, what exactly is the “Perilous Realm”? The title of this newsletter was inspired by Tales from the Perilous Realm, a collection of J. R. R. Tolkien’s poetry and shorter fiction. The epigraph that introduces the book is taken from Tolkien’s famous essay “On Fairy-Stories” and it sums up better than I possibly could the wonder and beauty and joy of fantastic fiction:
FAERIE is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold… The realm of fairy-story is wide and deep and high and filled with many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever present peril; both joy and sorrow as sharp as swords.
Since Tolkien’s day, faerie has fallen out of fashion and it has become commonplace to refer to the fantasy, sci-fi, and horror genres collectively as “speculative fiction.” I cordially dislike this term. It is at once too clinical and too vague. Furthermore, “speculation” has far too many negative connotations in contemporary parlance.
Therefore, I much prefer the Perilous Realm or — if pressed for a more prosaic alternative — mythic fiction.
It would be folly, I believe, to try and nail down a scientifically precise definition of the “Perilous Realm” or “mythic fiction” or “faerie.” To do so would be to miss the enchanted forest for the trees. But a few broad boundaries, for the purposes of this newsletter, can (I think) be mapped out.
The Perilous Realm should in some way embrace the style, tone, and spirit of myth. Myths, as Tolkien (and later his friend C. S. Lewis) recognized, are not “lies breathed through silver” but an ancient and venerable art form that imaginatively communicates spiritual and moral truths. Such tales often adhere to a recognizable mythic framework (such as the monomyth or “Hero’s Journey”) and include characters that reflect common mythic archetypes.
Any good story can use these elements of myth; what sets the Perilous Realm apart is what can be found there: fantastical elements that either do not exist (as far as we know) or are not commonly encountered in the “primary world” — whether elves or aliens, trolls or cyborgs, centaurs or starfighters, demi-gods or superheroes.
Examples of these modern-day myths abound: Tolkien’s own The Lord of the Rings, George Lucas’s Star Wars, J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, and Stan Lee’s Marvel Comics universe. It is the purpose of this newsletter to explore these wonderful regions.
Which brings me to the importance of the road. Road imagery and symbolism is intimately connected with Tolkien’s fantasy tales. Two examples in particular stood out in my mind when brainstorming a name for this project: First, The Lost Road, Tolkien’s unfinished time-travel story that has close ties to the Middle-earth legendarium. Second, Bilbo’s song upon setting out in the opening chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring:
The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.
As a long-time reader (and occasional writer) of fantasy and science fiction, I have come to realize that one could spend a lifetime exploring mythic fiction and only traverse the outer provinces of the Perilous Realm. The Road does truly seem to go on forever, with innumerable branching pathways and surprising detours. And one never knows what “unexpected journeys” one may land in along the way.
As Bilbo Baggins once remarked, “It’s a dangerous business… You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.” Such is the exhilarating and alluring danger of the Perilous Realm of Faerie. Who knows what we have yet to discover? I can’t wait to find out!
Won’t you join me?
Thanks so much for reading! Until we meet again, “the Road goes ever on…”
— Thomas