Bona fide peasants in Fantasy

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JoanDrake

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Are there any good fantasies anyone knows of where the situation of peasants vs nobles is depicted with more accuracy than just the nobles riding about overtop of them, or the total ignoring of their existence?

Frex. In feudal Edo era Japan, which was probably more formalistically feudal than even medieval Europe (but generally lacking the fratricidal warfare among nobles) there were, I think, close to 800 peasant revolts in about 200 years. In 19thc Russia there were close to 1000 peasant revolts and more AFTER the serfs were freed.

I've not got any figures on Medieval Europe but I've been told the situation depicted in the fictional movie The War Lord is accurate. The peasant had no real rights but the Lord oppressed them totally only at his peril.

Are there any fantasy books where the role of the peasant is more than just to stand in the field, look stupid, and be killed?

And yes, I can think of one, Lord of the Rings, but that is an exception to most rules
 
Lord of the Rings has peasants??

The only book I can recall at the moment that seems to give proper treatment to peasants is Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth, which is marketed as historical fiction, even though the majority of characters and locations are imaginary.
 
Historical accuracy is a slightly odd thing to look for in a fantasy novel if you are going to allow dragons, fairies, etc, usually in a cod-medieval setting. I mean, Conan is a peasant, but not exactly historically rigorous. Or the Princess Bride: Wesley and Buttercup are both definately peasants. Or the much older Princess and the Goblin and its sequel The Princess and Curdie by George McDonald: Curdie is very lowly.

Animal Farm is has peasants as its central characters and is about as accurate as any, being a fairly direct historical allegory. There's also Robin Hood in its various incarnations, most of which have a whiff of Merrie Old England about them.

LOTR does not have peasants. It has hobbitses, which as any fule kno are really little Englishmen dressed up in disguise. Their home is not called the Shire for nothing.

An old history teacher of mine used to say that the best representation of medieval peasants was that depicted in Monty Python and the Holy Grail: sitting miserably in damp mud complaining about being oppressed etc. Comparing that film with the usual Hollywood fodder, he had a point.
 
as any fule kno
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Nice! Just reference Captain Beaky and you've pretty much covered my childhood.

The only example of peasants actually doing stuff besides farming, cheering and dying that I can think of comes in The First Law by Joe Abercrombie. They rise up under a peasant agitator and have a revolt. Of course, nothing gets better and they are tortured in a big pile of mud and poo. Rules is rules.

I was once told by a teacher of Ninjutsu that some martial arts were invented by runaway peasants, hiding out in mountainous areas like the Maquis. I don't know if this is true, but there is mileage in a fantasy set in "bandit country".
 
Sharing Knife books by Lois McMaster Bujold would qualify for the more peasant side - but not the relationship to nobles. Fawn Bluefield (one of the two PoV characters) is a farmer's daughter. So not as low down as a peasant, but the impact of family members needing land, the labour of family members being an important economic factor, what the work on the land and in the kitchen (preserving what was produced on the land) is definitely part of the story.
The economics of one of the other parts - the Lakewalkers - also comes into it.
Should be noted it is a fairly egalitarian world of settlers without an aristocracy. The maximum level of government mentioned is town councils.

Juliet McKenna's Einarin books - again not peasants as such, but neither are the characters leaders of armies or particularly high up the food chain - except right at the end where there is a noblewoman character. One character is an armsman for a noble.
JM covers the economics in a background way and there is an ongoing need to make a living and the impact of events on people's living. (Settlers invading hunting grounds for example.) The need to make money is the driving force for "The Thief" in the first five books, certainly in the earlier books. (Mental blank on her name today.)
The Lescarii Chronicles (part way through the Einarinn books) deals with the ordinary people getting fed up with the constant warfare of the nobles.
I think the Lescarii Chronicles could be read without reading the first five Einarinn books before them.

Julie Czerneda - A Turn of Light - all takes place in a farming village and its surrounds. Quite a different village as it gradually emerges in the story, but still a farming village. No nobles on stage, so doesn't fully qualify. (There are off stage nobles and there are former nobles living in the village.)

Other than that, I think a lot of fantasy, the main involvement of peasants, or land workers to make it more general, is
a) An invasion trashing everything
b) Them leaving the land to do something more exciting. (e.g. Elizabeth Moon Sheepfarmer's Daughter).
 
hitmouse said:
LOTR does not have peasants. It has hobbitses, which as any fule kno are really little Americans dressed up in disguise. Their home is not called the Shire for nothing.
Click to expand...

There, fixed it for you.
 
Gramm838 said:
There, fixed it for you.
Click to expand...

heheh. That might do just as well.
By Little Englishmen I meant small-minded, conservative and parochial with (in Tolkein's mind) mysterious reserves of pluck when faced with a sticky situation.
 
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hitmouse said:
heheh. That might do just as well.
By Little Englishmen I meant small-minded, conservative and parochial with (in Tolkein's mind) mysterious reserves of pluck when faced with a sticky situation.
Click to expand...

Tolkien looked down his nose at Americans (in the privileged and snooty Oxbridge-of-old way, not in the European political left way), but he does seem to have liked his hobbits, so I think you were right the first time. :)
 
I think part of the reason we don't see more peasant focused stories is because Fantasy is usually an escape for people. Do you want to escape into poverty and hard times?

I do like a book where the common person is the focus though. I use the Tom Cruise , War of the Worlds version as an example. I loved the fact that we didn't know what was happening, or why...we didn't have government agent viewpoints, Bruce Greenwood didn't play the president making an address..we just went through a story from a working mans view point. It was cool.

It translates well to a book if you could use the same concept. Something big going on, and how the common man deals with it on his end. I am sure there are examples out there.
 
ratsy said:
I think part of the reason we don't see more peasant focused stories is because Fantasy is usually an escape for people. Do you want to escape into poverty and hard times?

I do like a book where the common person is the focus though. I use the Tom Cruise , War of the Worlds version as an example. I loved the fact that we didn't know what was happening, or why...we didn't have government agent viewpoints, Bruce Greenwood didn't play the president making an address..we just went through a story from a working mans view point. It was cool.

It translates well to a book if you could use the same concept. Something big going on, and how the common man deals with it on his end. I am sure there are examples out there.
Click to expand...
In think another good cinematic example is Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress". This follows large events from the POV of two peasants. Although we see a lot going on (including the rescue of a princess), the plot always follows the peasants around and centers upon them. Interestingly, it was based on this use of two peasants in The Hidden Fortress that a certain Mr Lucas decided to tell his fantasy film set in space by following and centering on the two characters with the lowest status (in this case 2 robots). It also features the rescue of a princess of course.
 
Plus there's the fact that, among the medieval societies that generally populate the epic fantasy world, peasants generally lacked access to the various types of specialized training/knowledge that epic fantasy heroes typically require.

I don't think that's a proper argument for why peasants should be ignored, but helps explain why they have been.
 
ratsy said:
I think part of the reason we don't see more peasant focused stories is because Fantasy is usually an escape for people. Do you want to escape into poverty and hard times?
Click to expand...

Actually, I wonder if it's a bias from history. It used to be taught with a focus around kings, queens, emperors, etc, underlying their importance - but even though it's changed to cover daily life and ordinary people, it's always with a sense of society being static.

I think the result is that there is still an inherent bias against the lower classes, with too much emphasis on thinking only the rich and powerful could be important enough. It's certainly one I want to challenge myself.
 
There have been risings of the ordinary man. In the UK they've not really been that successful. I have a vague memory of several in the medieval period and then there was the Putney Church matter at the end of the Civil war. Parts of the Parliamentarian army held a massive meeting at Putney Church to put together a petition to Parliament regarding having a constitution, health care and civil rights. Didn't get them anywhere - and it was their own glorious leaders they were petitioning, not the monarchy. Worth reading what they asked for - we still don't have some of it.
 
I said:
Actually, I wonder if it's a bias from history. It used to be taught with a focus around kings, queens, emperors, etc, underlying their importance - but even though it's changed to cover daily life and ordinary people, it's always with a sense of society being static.

I think the result is that there is still an inherent bias against the lower classes, with too much emphasis on thinking only the rich and powerful could be important enough. It's certainly one I want to challenge myself.
Click to expand...

Good. I am in the middle of the Feist's last book and I am more than tired of reading about the self important Duke's and children of Dukes and Princes and so on... I really enjoyed as an example, Abercrombie's Red Country. Main character was a poor girl chasing after her abducted brother and sister...while there are hints hierarchy (mayors?) most of the characters are down on their luck, peasant types.

I know in my WIP (that I am struggling with) I have a woman MC who was raised extremely poor. She now finds herself brushing elbows with some royalty. That being said I have no Royals as POVs...

But I do like the idea of a book with big things going on in the world and the "small" people that actually deal with it on the front lines and how they are affected.
 
hitmouse said:
heheh. That might do just as well.
By Little Englishmen I meant small-minded, conservative and parochial with (in Tolkein's mind) mysterious reserves of pluck when faced with a sticky situation.
Click to expand...


My reference to small Americans was Elijah Wood, actually.

Anyway: small minded, conservative and parochial...count me in!

I haven't checked my pluck for some years but there may be some hidden away somewhere.

And having previously worked at the Oxford Colleges for about 11 years, it's rather funny how many of them have found a way to associate themselves with Tolkien, although he was only ever a member of Pembroke, and Merton.
 
Other fantasy novels with Peasants:

The Dark is Rising Susan Cooper (farmers, farmboy hero, rustic country folk)
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen Alan Garner (again, rustic farming types)
Mythago Wood Robert Holdstock

The thing about these books is that class and social structure is not a major concern, and there is no derivative stuff about lords and ladies etc. More about protagonists who are in tune with the ancient land
 
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