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Hey guys!
I’m writing a Medieval adventure, and I’d like to know what you think of when you hear the words ‘Dark Ages’ and ‘Medieval’. Thoughts can be as crazy and wild as you want… I’m definitely that kind of writer 🙂
Heir of Splendor
@bella-d When I hear “Dark Ages” I think of the plague, grey stones, monks, Bibles with the really intricate hand-drawn colored pictures and font, and marauders. When I hear “Medieval” I think of knights with swords, jousting, rich women in dresses, castles, peasants in a town or village, and forests and rolling hills.
And for the record, I really enjoy Medieval adventure stories (might explain why I’m writing one too). They are so much fun. 🙂
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
Mud. That’s what comes to mind first: mud, and lots of it. ;P Other than that, fancy family crest thingies on flags, knights in shining (or muddy!) armor, guys with longbows, big battle horses, and those ice-cream-cone shaped hats that princesses wore.
And mud. 😀
Blog: https://weridasusual.home.blog/
@bella-d
Castles. Knights. Towers. Dragons. Princesses. Towers. Renaissance festival. The Honor code. Robin Hood. Jousting. Daring quests. King Arthur and the Round table. Swords. Special swords. Forests. Woodland creatures. Fairy tales.IMMA KAPEEFER! Til we're old and gray!
@bella-d I second all the comments above! 🙂
Something I think is interesting about Medieval times is that back then very few people knew how to read, and so almost all news was carried from castle to castle by minstrels who would make up songs about the famous deeds done, and would learn songs from other minstrels to carry the news of those deeds to the next castle.
Another thing that comes to my head when I hear the words “Medieval fiction” is the butchering of the old English. 🙂 Something to avoid is using old-style language, often referred to as “thees and thous,” incorrectly. A lot of people think if you throw a “thee” or a “thou” or an “Alas!” into a sentence, it automatically sounds Medieval. And it does. However, a lot of those people don’t realize there is a very complicated grammar system that comes with the use of those words, and to me using the old words wrongly feels as bad as if the author wrote a sentence like, “Him and her could have went with I to the game if they’re mom had let them.” 😀
Sorry for the little rant. 🙂 I hope it doesn’t throw you off, because I really do like reading about the Dark Ages and Medieval times.
"Sylvester - Sylvester!"
Medieval: Knights, tournaments, castles, swords, minstrels, chivalric romance. Not to mention serfs and primae noctis.
Dark Ages: The Plague. Lots of filth. That’s pretty much it.
OK, to be serious, I think most periods in real life history that are referred to as a “dark age” were actually preceded by rather advanced civilizations. But after these civilizations fell, there was a rise in barbarism and technology such as pottery became rudimentary. Writing and literacy skills were lost so we don’t know much of what happened during that time of history, hence a “dark age”. If you haven’t heard of it, there’s an interesting channel on Youtube called Extra Credits that covers the Bronze Age Collapse in one of their Extra Credits History video series. The Bronze Age was followed by a dark age.
So if you’re creating a setting that is set during a dark age, you might want to explore in your worldbuilding the reason why there is a dark age in the first place because there should be a point of comparison that makes that age “dark”. Maybe there was once a flourishing empire in your history and you can have oral legends about it falling victim to a great catastrophe or something.
@bella-d Dark ages = The plague. Dirt floors and poor peasants. Farming. And medevil.. Elegant rich princesses sitting in castle towers.
And also, stained glass!!! Like, seriously, though. whispers stained glass. And the endless arguments over popes and kings over whos more powerful /rolls eyes.I can't believe it's not butter!
Thank you all for your great input! I’ll be using all of it!
Special thanks to @rochellaine and @valtmy
Heir of Splendor
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