The Night Land: Difference between revisions

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[[Time Abyss|The Sun has died.]] The remaining millions of the human race have moved downward into deep ravines, where vulcanism still provides enough heat to keep the air in a breathable form. Humanity's survivors live on in a few pyramidal Redoubts, lit, heated, and defended by the mysterious [[Life Energy|Earth Current]]. They await the inevitable day when the Current fails and the monsters gathering outside swarm their defences.

[[~~William Hope Hodgson (Creator)|~~William Hope Hodgson]]'s ''The Night Land'' was first published in 1912. On the most basic level, it's a heroic fantasy in which the [[Knight in Shining Armor]] [[Death World|braves terrible monsters and overcomes formidable challenges]] to rescue the [[Distressed Damsel]]. In practice, its main appeal is not the somewhat tedious hero's quest, but the vividly-described and extraordinarily imaginative creatures and horrors of the Land itself, prompting [[HP Lovecraft]] to describe it as "one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written" even in the face of its ludicrous [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe|pseudo-17th-century writing style]].

[[William Hope Hodgson]]'s ''The Night Land'' was first published in 1912. On the most basic level, it's a heroic fantasy in which the [[Knight in Shining Armor]] [[Death World|braves terrible monsters and overcomes formidable challenges]] to rescue the [[Distressed Damsel]]. In practice, its main appeal is not the somewhat tedious hero's quest, but the vividly-described and extraordinarily imaginative creatures and horrors of the Land itself, prompting [[H.P. Lovecraft]] to describe it as "one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written" even in the face of its ludicrous [[Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe|pseudo-17th-century writing style]].

The complete work is available [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10662 here] at Project Gutenberg.

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** Also [[Foot Focus]] - the narrator-hero has a lot to say about the heroine's pretty feet.

* [[Berserk Button]]: The narrator, when his love-interest Naani is attacked and {{spoiler|put into a coma to the point where she is thought to be dead}}; he runs for 3 days without sleeping to bring her to safety, slashing giants and mutants out of his way. He even cuts a clawed giant in two with a single, one-handed swipe.

* [[Cosmic Horror Story]] before [[HP Lovecraft]] invented it.

* [[Cosmic Horror Story]] before [[H.P. Lovecraft]] invented it.

* [[Crapsack World]] And how!

* [[Cyanide Pill]]: Anyone who ventures outside the Redoubt has a poison capsule implanted in one arm for emergencies.

* [[Dark World]]

* [[Death By Childbirth]]: Naani's first incarnation, Mirdath.

* [[Death by Childbirth]]: Naani's first incarnation, Mirdath.

* [[Determinator]]

* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: Partially subverted, as the mysterious and unexplained Shining Powers of Goodness don't always succeed in saving the day.