New to the Fantasy/Medieval/Mythology stuff...?

Question

I'm at a point in life where I want to like try something different, and something that has been on my mind for quite a long time, is to do with Mythological/Medieval Fantasy (you know, stuff like Quests, Dragons, Daemons, Celts, Vikings etc) only I'm not sure where to begin. Does anyone know of any reads? Or anything I could take a look at to further my understanding into this? Any help will be much appreciated! =]

Answer 1

Fairly big choice of egregores to look into.



maybe something here you can look at

http://www.sacred-texts.com/



Answer is just read, read and read some more. Remember if something feels, and works, right for you, it doesn't really matter what any "expert" thinks of your beliefs

Answer 2

Well it depends on what sort of thing you are looking for? do you want historically accurate, a good novel, games, films?



Bookwise, i am a fan of The Eldarn Sequence series by Robert Scott & Jay Gordon. It is a fantasy adventure story set both on Earth and in a sort of paralell worl known as Eldarn which is quasi-medieval. Trui Canavan's 'Black Magicians Guild' is also superb. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magicians-Guild-Black-Magician-Trilogy/dp/1841493139/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211731769&sr=8-5



For Viking ficition the traditional sagas can not be beaten. Things like the Poetic Edda, The Prose Edda, Beaufolf etc.



Games wise, i play RPGs (role play games) such as Exalted and Scion, which depending on the games master and your preferences can vary from fantastical to subdued, sci-fi to gothic (i am currently playing a game set round about the French Revolution). If you want to try somthing a bit more full on the you could try LARP (live action role play) which vary in context as much as RPG's.. Popular LARP groups are LT (Lorian Trust) and Maelstrom. http://www.larpguide.co.uk/ for more resources.



If you are interested in some serious book learning then one book i am quite fond of is 'Warfare in the Medieval World' byt Carey, Alfree and Cairns. Also the most wonderfull 'Life in the Middle Ages' from the Cambridge Anthology Collection, a collection of contempory essays and letters, will teach you a lot.

For academic texts, have a word with your local college or university about public borrowing rights from their library.

Answer 3

OK, well I'm a HUGE fantasy geek, so i'll just tell you about the fantasy-ish stuff that I like, although every geek is different, so our tastes might vary.



You need to read stuff like Lord of the Rings, and other fantasy books. Just go to the bookshoppe and pick some books that sound interesting to you, and read them. I also suggest Gothic literature, like Dracula, Frankenstien, and the Phantom of the Opera. Comic books are also good, and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is amazing, although it is science fiction, not fantasy. Faery tales and myths are GREAT too. And epic poems like Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Norse mythology. I also suggest Neil Gaiman, he wrote Stardust which you should read, but look for it in the comic books section, because you want the one with illustrations by Charles Vess.



You also should see movies like Willow, The Dark Crystal, Conan, Labyrinth (definitly must see that, it's amazing), and other fantasy-ish movies that sound interesting to you. There are lots that are considered "cult" films, that are really good.



You should probably familiarize yourself with Frank Frazetta and his artwork, cuz he was amazing.



Ummm...

Did you know that there are different kinds of fantasy? There is like High Fantasy, Mythpunk, Science Fiction can sometimes be considered a subgenre of Fantasy since it is science fiction, but also has elements of fantasy, such as knights saving damsels in disress (Luke saves Leia), Juvenile fantasy is a big thing right now, with Harry Potter, and the Chronicles of Narnia. There were also several popular magazines in the 1920-70's that were full of fantasy fiction and art, and some of those were pretty awesome.



Geeks like to get together and bee geeky. There is a Faerie Festival in Pennsylvania that I go to every year. People dress like faeries, and stuff and it's great. But theres also ComicCon and the SCA and stuff like that, and lots of others thar people just don't know about. You can go to those, and you'll learn alot, but you don't necessarily have to be a huge geek or anything to go.



It's also intersting to learn about celts, and vikings, like their real history, dates and battles, and kings, not just the fantasy stuff. For me it's interesting to think about the things in their cultures that lead to them having the myths that they have.



you can also probably find lots of info on wikipedia. just search for fantasy, there will probably be lots of links.



Hmm, I dunno what else to tell you. I like lots of different fantasy stuff, epic stories like The Illiad, or Beowulf are great, but I love Harry Potter as well, you know? You just gotta find things that interest you.

Answer 4

You'd love the SCA. It's mostly a historical re-enacting group (Middle Ages through the Renaissance Europe). They do fighting (rattan swords and armor), arts/sciences, bardic arts (music, dancing, storytelling, singing), costuming, and more. It can be a lot of fun.



A lot of the people who work at Renaissance festivals are in the SCA. There are a lot of people in it who love sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, etc.



http://www.sca.org

http://pennsic.net/

Answer 5

Buy the encyclopedia of mythology it covers roman celtic greek and norse mythology.

books on mythology are the best reads im my opinion:)

Enjoy and explore the world of mythology, for it is never ending!

Answer 6

I -highly- recommend starting off by reading some of these!

By book title: http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/

By story title: http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/indextitle.htm

Pretty much it's a collection of folklore from all over the world (the good stuff, pre 1800's for most of it).



Remember, the best part is to have fun!

Good luck!

Answer 7

Well, that sounds like fun! For some really odd reason, I'm interested in that stuff, too. I wonder if you are a Sagittarius... lol!



What I did was that I looked stuff up I was interested in on Wikipedia.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_%28mythology%29

Answer 8

haha! my forte! to fully understand the topics you're getting at, you'll need to cover many different types of cultures, religions, folklore, etc. i can absolutely reccomend lots of things to you! for websites, try:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picts

http://sorrel.humboldt.edu/~geog309i/ideas/dragons/welsh.html

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_dragon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_paganism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_paganism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_paganism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval

http://www.shee-eire.com/magic&mythology/fairylore/main.htm

http://www.hedgewytchery.com/

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance

http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/summaries/shakespeare_summaries.htm

http://www.greekmythology.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Báthory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_tepes

http://hometown.aol.com/hpsofsnert/index.html

for music (you can look them up on itunes or youtube!), try:

the mediaeval baebes (i reccomend listening to: the snake, musa venit carmine, star of the sea, scarborough faire, temptasyon, kinderly, and i am eve first)

loreena mckinnet

david arkenstone

the corrs (try 'toss the feathers')

for fiction, try:

any shakespeare story

books by juliet marillier (i HIGHLY reccomend wildwood dancing, wolfskin, foxmask, and the bridei chronicles)

books by patricia a. mckillip (i reccomend winter rose and harrowing the dragon)

books by donna jo napoli (i reccomend sirena and the great god pan)

(for nonfiction, just pop by your library and pick up some books on the above subjects, i promise you, there'll be tons!)

for art, try:

http://www.kycraft.com/

http://www.rebeccaguay.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_art

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_art

i hope a helped a bit! let me know if you want to know anything else, i'm quite resourceful on these subjects!

Answer 9

http://www.pantheon.org/