Mythopoeia: Difference between revisions

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' - [[George Lucas]] has explained that he was heavily influenced by ''The Hero With a Thousand Faces'' by Joseph Campbell - which describes how to do this in detail

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' contains the mythic backstory for [[The Lord of the Rings|Middle-earth.]]

** Furthermore, Tolkien actually created Middle-earth's histories as a mythology for the United Kingdom, since he was really torn up about the Brits not having one.

* The [[Cthulhu Mythos]] created by [[H.P. Lovecraft|HP Lovecraft]] and others.

* The myths and legends present in ''[[Watership Down]]''.

* The ''[[Oera Linda Book]]''.

* ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' with the titular [[Cosmic Keystone]] being {{spoiler|an extension of [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Gan]] himself}}.

* [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]] has ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' and ''[[The Space Trilogy]].''

* [[George MacDonald]]'s fairy tales and fantasy stories were cited by C. S. Lewis as arguably the [[Trope Maker]]. MacDonald's works had an acknowledged influence on later mythopoeic authors including Lewis and [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]], making him at least the [[Trope Codifier]].

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'': Both the original and the reboot feature this.

* The ''[[Stargate Verse]]'' creates some of its mythology from whole cloth, but also integrates aspects of real-life mythology into the story. The best example is probably the altered Camelot mythos in seasons nine and ten of [[Stargate SG-1]].

 

== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==

* ''[[Exalted]]'', with its involved cosmological backgrounds.

* Glorantha from ''[[Rune Quest]]'': arguably the biggest, greatest, most complex example of this trope has somehow been left out.

** ''[[Skyward Sword]]'' takes this even further, by establishing life prior to the founding of Hyrule and the wars that sprung up even before that. Most notably, it also delves into the origins of the Master Sword and introduces both the goddess Hylia, the one who in ancient times defended the Triforce against demons and {{spoiler|was reborn as Zelda}}, as well as {{spoiler|Demise, Hyrule's equivalent of Satan and the originator of all monsters, including Ganon}}.

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'''s actual plot focuses more on 6 chosen people and how they deal with it. The background story and the lore are a bit cluttered and mishandled but if you take time reading in-depth, you will find one of the more interesting mythopeia about how the Gods decided to create the Fal'cie, which in turn annoints a L'cie.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* [[Andrew Hussie]]'s work, ''[[Homestuck]]'', initially revolves around four kids playing a reality-altering video game that constructs a mythology around them, casting them as legendary heroes, with all the details of their world and their mythical powers tailored to their personalities and interests. What is easily dismissed as a fun quirk of the game, however, slowly develops into a more and more elaborate plot involving the fate of reality itself. Eventually the legends and prophesies becomes so pervasive that almost every event in the plot can be tied back to some part of the previously-established mythology, adding layers of bonuses for the attentive reader.

* This is one of the draws of [[Ursula Vernon]]'s long-running webcomic ''[[Digger]]'', in which the various cultures encountered have their own myths and traditions, often [[Shown Their Work|combining real-world examples with facts of their world]]. This is most obvious with the creation myth of the hyenas, which explains both their tendency to be female-dominated and the frequency with which firstborn cubs die, both traits of real-world hyenas, but more subtle examples can be seen just in the oaths and sayings characters from different cultures use and some of the prejudices they hold.

* [[Rumors of War]]: While it borrows a great deal from [[Classical Mythology]], [[Rumors of War]] combines magic, idealism, [[Mood Whiplash]], [[Seinfeldian Conversation|Loads And Loads of Arguing About Nothing in Particular]] into what is probably a [[Crossover Cosmology]]. Or something new entirely.

 

* Though not created as "intentional" fiction, the Lost Continents of Mu and Lemuria were created out of whole cloth a century and a half ago, one to explain a [[Science Marches On|now-discredited]] anthropological theory, the other to explain a [[Science Marches On|now-discredited]] theory of continental formation, and both kept afloat by Spiritualists and Theosophists who wanted mysterious but unresearchable lands to say that their dead friends came from. It's possible that even [[Atlantis]], at the time of its first writing, was created by [[Plato]] as a moral metaphor, not a literal location.

* The ''[[Bionicle]]'' universe. The first few years had some influence from Maori culture, but the franchise [[Screwed by the Lawyers|has deliberately moved away from that]] and now has a complex mythology of its own. The best part is that it tends to subvert [[All Myths Are True]] by explaining that the characters tend to come up with their own explanations as to why things happen that may not be entirely accurate, making it a case of ''in-universe'' Mythopoeia.

* [[The Slender Man Mythos|The Slender Man]] sounds like an old folktale or urban legend but was actually created whole cloth by a member of the [[Something Awful]] forums. Some writers have even tried to expand the mythos by linking it to other web-based horror entities such as [[Zalgo]] and The Rake.

** And [[The Fear Mythos]], which estabilished Slender Man and Rake as a part of their fear-based pantheon.

[[Category:Creator Speak]]

[[Category:Mythopoeia]]