When we first meet Sam he is a figure to be despised. He is such a weakling and a coward that he has given up his birthright without a fight and been banished to the Night’s Watch where he is unable to defend himself during arm’s practice with other raw recruits using dulled weapons. These actions made him such a target for bullies he might have been driven mad or suicidal if Jon Snow had not stepped in to both protect him and recruit other protectors. And yet, over the course of both the books and the television series, we see Sam grow and transform into a force to be reckoned with – a  hero determined to save the world. So what is the thing about Samwell Tarley that makes him so important?

He is not a born hero. He is not an obvious hero. He is everyman. He is awkward and clumsy both physically and socially. He is distracted from his work by his personal interests. He is often lazy and sometimes greedy. He is jealous of his friends who are better looking, stronger, fitter, and more competent. In short, he is every one of us normal folk. This is important for stories, because while we can admire and love heroes we can get tired of their awesomeness too. It is human frailty and struggle that resonates with us and gives us hope that we too can overcome the challenges that life throws our way (even if we will hopefully never be forced to defend ourselves against White Walkers and Thenns).

It is all these traits that he shares with us non-heroes that makes Sam such an unlikely hero – and yet he is a better person than many of us and that is what makes him so heroic and someone we should all emulate. We early on see the important character traits that make Sam the remarkable person he is – even if he is not a classic hero. He is curious and thoughtful – always seeking knowledge. It becomes a standing joke among his friends that he knows things because he “read about it in a book.” However, he does more than read. He listens and observes. This is how he convinces Jon that being chosen to be the Lord Commander’s steward is actually a mark of favor and a clear indication he is being groomed for command. This is also how he convinces his brethren to elect Jon as Lord Commander.

As Sam grows into his own he becomes Jon Snow’s advisor and moral compass. Sam possesses a strong moral code. While he often does not follow the letter of the law (when it comes to his Night’s Watch Oath, for example), he does take the spirit of the law or oath very much to heart. For him, the key part of that oath is:

I am the sword in the darkness

I am the watcher on the walls

I am the shield that guards the realm of men

For Sam, that is both the big picture and the impetus for his decisions on a small scale, such as saving Gilly and her baby that she always carries in his bob 2016 revolution flex stroller. It is his moral code that helps Sam save Jon when he tries to abandon his post on the Wall to join Robb Stark’s march to war. Not only does Sam save Jon from betraying his own vows, but he likely saved his life (think about the fate of the others who rode South with Robb). Sam is so open-hearted and kind that it is no wonder Gilly tries to recruit him to escape Craster’s Keep, but he also recognizes that she is more than a daughter-wife or a wildling – something our heroes do not. When Jon admonishes Sam about “stealing” Gilly. Sam’s response is simple: “It’s not stealing. She’s a person not a goat.”

However, it is this kindness and love for his friends and family that helps Sam become more heroic. Although he proves time and again unable to save himself from attack by bullies, wildlings, or White Walkers, when Gilly and her baby are threatened he wields his sword and when that is destroyed he grabs the next available weapon to continue to fight. He did not know he could win that fight, but he was willing to fight to the bitter end for someone else. Through his efforts to protect Gilly, and others, he learns “I’m not nothing anymore” and he stops cowering while others do his fighting for him. He picks up the weapons at hand to fight against the darkness and guard the realms of men. As Jon Snow notes in the show: “I’m glad the end of the world is working out for someone.” The end of the world is definitely working out for Sam who grows from a cowering boy into a fierce hero.

While it may well be that the popular theory that Samwell Tarley is in fact the narrator of the the Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) is true, that is not why I believe he is the most important character. I believe he is important because he represents us (the reader/viewer) through his human frailties, his wonderful heart, his character arc, and his heroic fight for the most important things. Do you believe Samwell Tarley is the most important Game of Thrones character? What do you think we can all learn from Samwell Tarley?

Photo credit: HBO

Pay Attention

This is the most important life skill and one we all need to remember. Pay attention to the details. Details matter whether we are simply trying to evaluate the words of another or we need to make a personal decision. Too often we don’t take the time to study a person or situation as fully as we should. We collect a few details and jump to a conclusion. We rush to judgment and all too often that leads to mistakes. If we all took more time to collect the details and if we all paid more attention to those details the world would be a much better place.

Start Fresh

Humans are essentially lazy. We like to take shortcuts. But Sherlock Holmes reminds us that it is important to gather all the information before we make a decision or form a theory. Not only do we need to pay attention to details, but we need to ask questions and work to gather as much information as possible before we move to act on our knowledge. Too often we assume that we rely on superficial information or our past experience. We allow our prejudice and preconceived ideas to drive our actions rather than coming fresh to each situation.

Don’t Go It Alone

Although it often appears that Sherlock Holmes is a solitary brilliant detective, in truth, he is surrounded by a team, or community, to support him in his endeavors. Of course, the key member of that support team is Dr. Watson who serves as friend, sounding board, foil, and dogsbody as well as providing invaluable expertise from time to time. However, there are others who provide support and challenge in a variety of ways as both allies and enemies (and sometimes both). It is important to remember that even someone as self-sufficient as Sherlock Holmes cannot survive alone. He relies on others to survive and succeed.

Be Creative

One of the fascinating things about Sherlock Holmes is that he is a multidisciplinary expert. He has so many different and varied skills to draw from, but he also willing to draw in a variety of experts to supplement his own skillset. He knows when to ask for help and information from other experts. Holmes’ creative approaches to thinking and problem solving always amaze and surprise Dr. Watson and the audience, but we can all learn from this idea. We would all be much more successful in life if we used our imagination to consider multiple approaches to life’s problems. Not every approach will lead to a successful outcome – but we only need one that works.

Be All In

Sherlock Holmes never does anything by half measures. It is one of the traits that drives those around him insane because he will dive into a project and focus to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. While this does not make him a good friend or tenant, it does make him supremely successful at what he does. This is a quality that children possess, but somehow, on the path to adulthood we train this trait out of ourselves. Think about what you could achieve in life, at home, and at work if you truly threw yourself into something.

Sherlock Holmes, in his various incarnations, is not always someone we should emulate, certain of his life choices are questionable to be sure, but there are many lessons we can learn from him. If we were more attentive to details, did not rush to judgment, asked for and accepted help, fostered creativity, and went all in then we would all be more successful in life.

The story is simple and one that resonates with lovers of history and dystopian fiction. Humanity made tremendous technical progress, but encountered many problems caused by these innovations. Struggling to survive and overcome these challenges, humanity spread beyond earth then barely survived a brutal war with an alien race. A group of colonists chose Pern to escape both the ongoing problems of Earth (and its near colonies) and to establish a new world not so reliant on technology that could offer a fresh start where the hard-won lessons of Earth could be applied. They select Pern (name adopted from its classification as a Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible). At first things go well for the fledgling colony, but then the planet is attacked by a space born spore that destroys anything organic. Their limited technological resources are not up to a long-term battle and so they must find another way to survive.

It is this struggle against enormous odds to survive that makes this series so appealing to me and many others. I know this is an element that always draws me to fantasy, science fiction, and dystopian stories. The will to survive is one of humanity’s most intriguing and appealing traits. We see it over and over again in our history books and we celebrate it in so much of our fiction. Reading these stories inspires us to push through our own challenges because things may be bad in our world, but they aren’t space alien bad! We also draw comfort from reminders of human ingenuity and determination. Maybe we aren’t geniuses ourselves, but we know there are innovative and inventive humans nearby – and they just might be able to save us all.

One of the reasons I like to use popular fiction in my humanities classes is because we can see that the same questions that have always intrigued mankind from the first storytellers gathered around fires with prehistoric man to the comics and movies created today. McCaffrey explores these questions, important questions about the essence of humanity, throughout her series. Questions such as what makes a human human and what is the role of law and government in society. These are important questions that we can never take for granted and must continue to explore and evaluate to stem the chaos and conflict that can result. These are questions that we continue to grapple with in our modern lives because humans are complicated both individually and collectively.

The best stories also teach how to make our way in our world as we safely consider the essential challenges of being a human who lives with other humans. Throughout the stories of Pern we encounter struggles with family dynamics, rigid societal structure, and character flaws highlighted by stress and tragedy. There are many lessons we can draw from these stories about the way we choose to live our life and interact with others. That is one of the traits of good fiction that is important to me.

Are you a Pern fan? Have you ever wished you could be a dragonrider? What can we learn from science fiction?

There are many powerful themes to explore in the Harry Potter series, but I am always struck by Rowling’s exploration of the idea of “otherness” – viewing or treating another person or group as different from, alien even, to oneself. Othering is essential to the belief in the superiority of certain ethnic or religious groups. It is much easier to tolerate discrimination and oppression if you believe that others are lesser because of obvious differences in their appearance, practices, or norms. However, as we have witnessed time and again throughout history, these beliefs and the actions tolerated and promoted by them have created political divisions at best and conflict and violence at worst. Othering causes war and genocide and the worst crimes perpetrated by humanity.

We are not born with prejudice, but we do learn it at an early age from our families. At first this bias is passive as we learn to prefer those who look like us and those with which we are most familiar – of course for most of us that means those who look like us. There are many ways to combat this inherent prejudice and othering, but among my favorites is reading, which has been linked to greater empathy in many studies. Last year research findings concluded that, in particular, Harry Potter books helped combat bias and prejudice by fostering this empathy for the oppressed.

I believe every day is a great day to immerse yourself in magical stories, but perhaps right now, in this moment, we all need to spend some time in the Potterverse to escape but also to remember what happens when we allow prejudice and discrimination to dictate our emotions and beliefs – not to mention our laws. Under Voldemort’s influence, the Ministry of Magic created the Muggle-Born Registry Commission which accused muggle-born witches and wizards of stealing their wands and sent them to Azkaban (a particularly horrible prison if you haven’t read the books). Voldemort was only one of many in the wizarding world who revered pure blood and disdained, even hated, anyone possessing non-magical (muggle) blood – using the derogatory word “mudblood” to describe them. In fact, this prejudice led to two different wizarding wars, according to the History of Magic. While muggle-born witches and wizards did enjoy full privilege in the modern magical world, there was still widespread intolerance of nonhumans and half-breeds throughout the series and, indeed, anyone viewed as different was viewed with suspicion or hatred. Think about how many times we have seen such stories play out in our own history from the Spanish Conversos to Japanese-American Internment Camps.

Othering is a choice. We can choose not to tolerate othering ourselves and others. As Albus Dumbledore once said (in The Chamber of Secrets): “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Harry Potter chooses his friends with little or no regard to the circumstances of their birth (whether centaur or half-giant) or the circumstances that shaped their life (werewolf bite). But the true lesson about choices is that it is the choices we make in our words and deeds that show the world, and ourselves, who we truly are. That is the power of stories, because, in the end, we all want to be like Harry Potter and no one wants to be Voldemort.

How do the Harry Potter stories promote empathy and tolerance? What are your favorite scenes and quotes from Harry Potter that support empathy and tolerance? What Harry Potter characters do you identify with the most?

There is always a price

We learn this lesson over and over again in fantasy stories, but it is explicitly laid out in the Obsidian Trilogy. One of the primary magic wielders in the books are the Wildmages who can perform amazing feats of healing and other magic, but the key to any Wild Magic spell is that it must be paid for. There is always a price. Wild Magic is about balance and in order for there to be a gain there must also be a loss. Sometimes it is a simple task involving physical labor and sometimes it is an emotional task requiring forgiveness of an enemy and sometimes it is the ultimate sacrifice. What is interesting is that the cost can be shared by agreement, sometimes deferred, but it is usually inconvenient and difficult – challenging even. Even when the price is simple it is never easy. This means that magic never provides an easy solution to every problem and is rarely wielded without thought by Wildmages. This is something that another group of mages in the book, the High Mages, have forgotten because they have found a way to steal magic without paying for it. Ultimately, the High Mages find that there is a price to pay for their theft and it almost costs them everything. I cannot help but make a comparison to our modern luxuries as well as political power. If we really had to pay the true price of all our modern conveniences would we be more frugal and sparing with them? What would happen to our politicians if they had to pay the price for the power they have stolen from us? What is the true cost of convenience and expedience?

Others Are People Too

At the beginning of the story told by the Obsidian Trilogy, many groups have separated to such an extent that they either don’t believe in the existence of the other groups or have instead embraced a set of prejudicial beliefs and myths about those groups as truth. Part of the character arc for the hero is learning that looks can be deceiving, long-held beliefs are not the same as facts, and people are just people with both strengths and weaknesses in different combinations. Clearly these are lessons we could all learn and benefit from. Throughout his journey he learns that “others” can be wonderful and terrible, generous and cruel, and loyal and selfish – and no one “race” owns a monopoly on any of these qualities. Through his relationship with these “others” who are so unlike himself he learns more about himself and his humanity. I found these books an useful reminder that the more we learn about others the more we can learn about ourselves – lessons that can only benefit all humanity. One of the “others” the hero relied on throughout his journey was his particular unicorn friend and I only wished that I had a unicorn to guide me through my journey to adulthood. I can only imagine what a different place our world would be with more unicorns to love and fight for us while requiring us to be more chaste and pure in both mind and deed. The books are filled with examples of characters discovering the simple fact that “others” might not look the same or share our beliefs, but they are real people with feelings and lives that matter – and sometimes they are better people than we are because they did not need the lesson — we are all people of equal value and importance and we forget that to our own peril.

We are all connected

Living in a country where intolerance for those with different skin color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, identity, or beliefs, is increasingly painful for me, so it was refreshing to escape to a world where intolerance and judgment were rewarded by karma in so many delightful ways. The Obsidian trilogy reminds us, again and again, that prejudice is taught and that our ways are not the norm or better just because “others” live their lives with different customs and beliefs. We have reached a point in our country when it seems impossible to have a reasoned honest discussion about race or religion and all the myriad of ways these two differences play out in our daily lives and the laws and policies of our country. Yet in these books we see race, as represented by different beings from elves to centaurs to unicorns to dragons, and religion (wild vs. high magic) dividing the forces of good until, in the nick of time, it becomes clear that in order to survive they must overcome their differences and work together. Throughout the books we see time and again that despite their apparent differences they have much in common and depend on each other to survive and thrive. Again it is all about balance and harmony. Something our world needs. Something we need as individuals as well. We are inhabitants of Earth and we need each other to survive — we are all connected.

These three lessons can be learned from fantasy books in general as well as the Obsidian Trilogy in specific. Sometimes it is easier to have difficult conversations, such as those about race and religion, in a make-believe world. Sometimes it is easier to empathize and open our minds when we are being entertained. Sometimes it is easier to challenge our beliefs when we are comfortable and safe.

Artwork – Thanks to Brad Takei for sharing this wonderful graphic which we believe sums up the essence of this post

This message sums up the essence of the attraction of The Walking Dead, in both comic and television form, for me at least. The Walking Dead universe is a crucible where we can study humanity at its basest form without the veneer of civilization which usually hides our true selves. While this type of survival story is always about this idea, zombie stories might be the best vehicle for this exploration because there is no easy solution (even though we spend time in both comic and TV show thinking there might be) and there is no escape or protection (although, again, we think time and again there can be a safe haven somewhere, it is always an illusion if not a trap). Survival in the zombie apocalypse is just like survival in reality – we must fight every single day to both survive and retain our humanity. Although (as a rule) we don’t face getting eaten if we make the wrong choices, these choices can have a devastating impact on our lives and relationships.

If this was a different post-apocalyptic scenario (say an earthquake or tsunami) we would be able to explore issues about how we, as humans, would react when confronted with a disastrous situation that made us choose between loved ones and our own safety or cope with the loss of a beloved sibling or child, or everything we hold dear from pop tarts to our pets, but eventually the world makes some sort of adjustment to a new normal, much like life does when we suffer loss. However, in a zombie apocalypse the new normal continues to be horrific and pile loss atop loss – and to add insult to injury we are forced to continue making those horrific choices and committing those horrific acts just to stay alive. The zombie apocalypse is a metaphor for real life and the extreme consequences we must face for the choices we make.

What do you think Rick meant when he said: “We are the walking dead”? What does this line mean to you? How does The Walking Dead universe parallel our own?

Credits: I found the comic summary on morbidofest.com and the TV summary on reddit.com

I adore these books on so many levels that I knew I needed to recommend them strongly to my fellow readers, to my fellow writers, and to my fellow teachers. Yes, they are that good and work on that many levels. Just the title of the collection is marvelous: Dreamsongs as it evokes for me the Aboriginal practice of singing dreamsongs to celebrate their sacred interrelation with the land and all its inhabitants (see Aboriginal movement and Aboriginal culture).

First of all, they are full of stories about Stories. This is the sort of Metastory I wish I had lived and written, but alas my life took a different path (and became a Metawriter and Metateacher instead). Martin tracks his life as a reader from early childhood and explains how those early stories (and Stories) shaped the person he became as well as his career as a writer. Many of the stories (most/all?) he has chosen to include in Dreamsongs work on multiple levels. They are entertaining journeys in fiction from horror to science fiction to fantasy with lots of fun little side trips here and there into fictional cul de sacs where the genre is a bit unclear but that doesn’t matter. If you are a genre purist then this might be a struggle, but for someone like me who focuses on the story and the characters more than the package it was all fun. However, more than sheer entertainment, these are Stories about people, about humanity, about the human condition. These are Stories that transcend genre but stay with you and make you think about big questions and big ideas. For example, he wrote “The Hero” while in college and submitted it to his draft board as part of his application for conscientious objector status and reading it today (many wars and decades later) I still found it relevant and thought -provoking. And interesting fact, “The Hero” was his first sale as a writer.

I honestly think this is a great reader for a creative writing class and any writer interested in writing fiction as a career should study these stories, Martin’s publication history, and really read all the commentary. That commentary is important for writers because he includes many details of his career progression. I have always tried to stress to other would-be authors how much luck and sheer hard work play a role in publishing success — much more so than talent. As a writer and a reader, I found it fascinating to understand the making of the writer who created so many delightful characters and worlds (yes, folks, he wrote more than A Song of Fire and Ice aka Game of Thrones). Without the stories, the commentary makes a compelling and interesting story about the forces that feed and shape a writer of this caliber and with the stories you can learn so much more about how to become a published author by journeying a long and difficult path. His career is no overnight success story and he held a wide variety of jobs to support himself on this journey. Also, as noted above, the collection includes a variety of genres and cross-genre examples which could make for a delightful study of how a story earns one genre label over another.

Finally, in addition to being useful for creative writing classes, I think Dreamsongs could be wonderfully useful for a variety of thematic classes from literature to writing to liberal arts. I currently teach a First Year Seminar class focused on comic archetypes, but I am already thinking about how I could teach a Dreamsongs FYS as it encompasses so many interesting themes from war and peace, equality and racism, environmental issues, and law and government as well as our core need to understand humanity (and inhumanity).

Have you read Dreamsongs yet? I strongly recommend reading these books if you are a reader, writer, or teacher!