Back to the Timeline
The Forlorn Era Of Pensive Twiddle
The Forlorn Era is the setting for several stories of myth told by the War Men. They believe it to take up an unknown span "before time".
Those who give credence to Forlorn Era stories propose that a lack of the Ur-Urelement Epic merely kept the history from being interesting until an unknown event raised the Epicness of the world by many orders, and beings comprehensible to modern man rose to power. However, such individuals are in the minority. As it is widely known that nothing can precede time, or The Heirarchs, who are as old as time itself, the Forlorn Era is regarded by every intelligent onlooker both inside and outside the Elemenstor universe as never having happened. Educated historians of Battal dismiss the Forlorn Era as unworthy of the term "legend".
This makes the War Men's myths practically unique, being the only myths in the entire written saga to be not based on historical fact but genuinely fictional.
Fiction relating to the Forlorn Era
The following is the sole canonical mention of the Forlorn Era:
"The
War Men used to tell stories about a 'time before time'. They called it 'The Forlorn Era Of Pensive Twiddle'. I used to think it was all balderdash, frankly." -
Scrooble, in
Book 5, chapter 21.
Some fan fiction - most notably the short story also called "The Forlorn Era" - is set in this blissfully non-specific era in an effort to cope with the massive scale of the world, but no official material is set in this era, despite repeated rumors of a pre-history Comic, and sightings of a storyboard of concept art.
Of this fan fiction, a few stories posit that The Forlorn Era is our own industrialized Earth, and all of ELoTH takes place in the distant future. Other fanfic posits that our own world is after The Ending Times, so they can be considered to more or less cancel out.
| Since this era is fanfic, should it be included in the Saga Timeline? Besides, The Hierarchs, being timeless beings, cannot be preceded or succeeded.-Koopa |
| The era is definitely _named_ in canon, and it is believed to precede the involvement of the Hierarchs in mortal affairs. |
| If this era is canonical, than it is definitely contradictory with the preestablished Hierarchy Period, which states that the Hierarchs were both "preceded and followed" by "Nothingness", and the Weighty Tome of Elemenstor, which clearly states in chapter 1 verse one, "The Ununlight could hold itself no more ... in lichtless stupor it rumbled a rumble that preceded the capacity to grumble. A chanting before speech: Ex Nihiloooom Disembruglioooom!" So there's something fishy going on here. |
| It's definitely stated (Book 5, chapter 21) that it's believed to precede the Hierarchs. It's not stated directly _who_ believes this, and on closer inspection it's probably talking about the beliefs of either the War Men or Dolphinthropes, neither of whom can really be trusted on historical matter. |
| It seems pretty clear to me that this era - which somehow precedes the unprecedable - is a work of fiction within the context of ELoTH in the same way that ELoTH is fiction in our world. That is, while the Forlorn Era never "really happened", individuals within the Saga may frequently be heard to tell (made-up) stories about it. This is actually an extremely handy explanation as it means we can simply regard the fan fiction as canonical ELoTH fairy tales. (Except those mentioning our Earth, of course.) - SamSim |
| Certainly this isn't the only fiction within the ELoTH universe. Somewhat Epic Trilogy: Hot Times on Little Earth is an excellent example of fiction within the fiction. |
| Ah, you're right of course. I have clarified this. -SamSim |
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.