Fantasy Court Intrigue

(And Why We Love It)

Kings and queens, handsome princes and sassy princesses, sneaky advisors, interfering dowagers, ambitious council members, servants who know everything, and deliciously brawny stable grooms and blacksmiths. It’s a world within a world, a world of glamour with a dagger around every corner. What’s not to love?

When I first started writing fantasy, I immersed myself in reading about economic and political systems. How could I write about fantasy court politics, I reasoned, if I didn’t really understand politics in the real world? It wasn’t just about knowing the basic differences, say, between a democracy and a communist system; it was about learning how tech oligarchs influence every facet of modern society, how collective economies in indigenous societies worked, how the reign of the British monarchy operated in times past as compared to today, how digital currency has given criminals a license to cross borders and hide illicit wealth, and even how hierarchies worked in the animal kingdom.

I did a LOT of reading. And I gradually concluded that everything boils down to power. Who has it, who doesn’t, how to get more, why you lost it, and how to turn your back on it and eject yourself from the system altogether.

But a political system is boring to read about until you insert the actual people living through it. We connect with character. We identify with their struggles and their successes. We celebrate their triumphs, commiserate with their losses, and hold our hands to our hearts with a gasp as we gaze upon the first, hard-won kiss.

Combine an intriguing political and economic backdrop with a host of delicious characters, a logical magical system, throw in some fabulous clothes and a gorgeous palace, and you’ve got epic fantasy court intrigue.

You may be wondering why I used ‘logical’ and ‘magical’ next to each other. How can magic be logical? Well, magic needs constraints and boundaries. A wand will only work if it’s waved around in the correct manner and perhaps combined with a muttered spell. A witch’s charm might only work if conducted under a full moon with special ingredients burned with a candle. Without a logical framework, the Lord of the Rings would have concluded at the end of the first chapter: “And then Gandalf magically flew the ring into Mt Doom from the Shire, The End.” Magic must have rules just like everything else.

Why do we love fantasy court intrigue?

We love characters doing interesting things constrained within the system in which they live. We enjoy puzzling out mysteries and connecting dots. We live for the aha! moment as we realise the bland, affable duke is unmasked as a conniving murderer, or the silent stableboy is actually the long-lost heir to the throne. We adore secret ambition, wealth, noble pursuits, four-poster beds with hanging silks, banquets and sword-fights. We love magic that works and then, tragically, when it doesn’t. Most of all, we want to escape into another world, one far from our own, where we know that good will triumph, the baddies will be defeated, and that love will always win in the end.

Love Tab xx

PS: My Chronicles of Esha series is available on Amazon and free with Kindle Unlimited! Lots of juicy fantasy court intrigue there :)