Witch World 4 - From World to World

Apocryphal

The story of Witch World begins in on earth, presumably in the UK though I'm not sure it was specified, and Simon Tregarth is an earthling. By the end of the first chapter, though, he's been transported by the Siege Perilous to a world which is his soul-home - in Simon's case, the Witch World. This transporting of people from the modern world to a fantasy world (sometimes called Portal Fantasy) seems as old as the hills (or at least as old as a Mark Twain) and has been used by Guy Gavriel Kay, Stephen Donaldson, C.S. Lewis, L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, Robert Holdstock, E.R. Burroughs, and more.

How do you feel about this trope in fiction? Like it, love it, or hate it? Do you feel different about it in a gaming context?

1974 Ace Books cover by J.H. Breslow depicting Koris (or is that a dead warrior?) has his beaked helm.

clash_bowley

I like this sort of set up, actually. It's the mechanism in my own StarCluster 4 - Saber And World planetary fantasy game - and tons of isekai manga and anime. No problem at all!

RichardAbbott

"Tregarth" reads as a Cornish name to me, with close links to Welsh, all suggesting that the root of the symbolism and magic is either Celtic or maybe Brythonic. On its use in literature, I guess it depends on whether it's used in a systematic or lazy way! In this case it seems to me to be systematic, ie an integral and important part of the world, rather than a cute plot device to move people around! Same with C S Lewis and Narnia.

Yet another author who's used it is E R Eddison (_The Worm Ouroboros_ and sequels, but in his case it was more of a cheap plot device which gives the impression that he didn't at first have enough self confidence to just begin the tale in the unknown fantasy world. He certainly forgot almost completely about this aspect as he got properly into the tale.

NeilNjae

At least she built her story around the idea of portals between worlds, rather than just using it as an excuse to get the hero from Earth to the other world. But as you say, it's an old trope. I think the story could have worked well enough as a straight fantasy, with Koris as the protagonist.

Apocryphal

As a trope, it is a somewhat useful one, in that it allows the author opportunities to explain the setting in character (be explaining it to the transported character). But there are more than enough examples of authors who have achieved this without resorting to the transported viewpoint character that I wonder if it's really just a crutch. Is it a tool mainly used by new authors? Guy Gavriel Kay, for example, used it in his first series (the Fionavar Tapestry) but never since.