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This is something I was thinking about the other night. In the real world, animals don’t have souls. Humans, who are made in the image of God have souls. But what about fantasy where there are talking animals? In Narnia, for example, the animals have souls, I guess. I mean, they are the ‘people’ of that world. I’m not arguing one way or another, I just thought it could be an interesting discussion. I have some talking creatures, like griffins and falcons, in stories of my own. They have personalities and loyalties and wills, but I don’t know if they actually have souls, not like the people do anyway. Thoughts? Counter-thoughts? Ramblings? Other points…?
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
Ooh, good discussion! I don’t know that there’s a right or wrong to this one, actually— I think it’s a person to person thing, and everybody’s different.
For me, reading about talking animals (mostly in the Chronicles of Narnia) didn’t teach me to respect animals as living beings with souls at all— it taught me to recognize an intelligent being when I saw one. It highlighted the difference between having an intelligent soul and merely being able to think and move and eat and breathe. I was never confused about whether or not animals actually had souls— I knew it was fantasy, but it taught me some good things and made me think at a stage in my life when I wasn’t much prone to thinking… 😛
There is of course the danger of making very sensitive little children overly protective of animals (Mom how could you kill our turkey for thanksgiving; he was my friend, you murdered him, how am I ever going to eat someone you just murdered?!) but I’m pretty sure that’s something even a sensitive child would grow out of.
What do you think?
Oh, and I’m pretty sure the animals from Narnia have souls— Reepicheep made it to Aslan’s country, as did Jewel the unicorn and Fledge the flying horse, and the dogs from the Last Battle and a boar and a Bulgy Bear and a host of others… 😀
Great topic! @kate-flournoy brought up some good points, about the sensitive child. *clears throat* (I had one of those in my family :p ) But you’re right Kate, he did grow out of it.
In the world of writing, there are so many things that could happen that can’t in reality. With animals having souls, like as in Narnia, I would just say to be sure that you don’t raise those creatures above humans. Meaning that animals are just as important and capable or even more so than humans. In Narnia, even though animals and humans interact together, the animal creatures still had more of an animal role, (did animally things) 🙂 There was a good distinction that humans were still the dominant, specially created creatures.
I haven’t seen this film, but I heard about Disney’s The Good Dinosaur. It seems that the dinosaurs in the film are like as humans and the dinosaurs own “humans as pets”.
So yeah, I’d say that humans should still be placed as the dominant creature, even if the fantasy animals are portrayed to have souls.https://rolenahatfield.com/
@Rolena-Hatfield egg-zactly. Couldn’t have said it better myself. 😀
I agree with you both. Animals should never be more important than humans. Worlds with animals having souls can work in some fantasy, though I do think it should be carefully handled so it doesn’t seem like the writer is making animals as important as humans.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
Interesting topic, @hope!
I’d definitely say humans are on a higher scale of priority for creatures with souls. 😉
Hmm… I’ve never done talking animals before, but they fit into a side-character/pet role more. Though generally, if they die, I give the impression that they went to heaven… don’t know if that counts?@writefury I have some talking animals. They aren’t really pets, but they aren’t ranked quite as high as people either. But I’m not sure what I’d do if one died…just leave the question open, perhaps.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
I was once writing a story and an old dog died in the fist half. The grand-daughter of the dog’s owner asks him, “Will Bess go to Heaven, Grandpa?”
Bill tried to smile down at her. “Do you think she will?”
Wendy pondered the question for a bit. “She was a good dog,” she replied. “So yes I think that Jesus would like to have her in Heaven.”
So maybe that’s an option for animals and Heaven.
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