http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mythopoeia

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Mythopoeia (from the Greek words that mean "myth-making") is a narrative genre in modern literature and film where a fictional mythology is created by the author or screenwriter. The word mythopoeia and description was coined and developed by J. R. R. Tolkien in the 1930s. The authors in this genre integrate traditional mythological themes and archetypes into fiction. Mythopoeia is also the act of making (creating) such mythologies. Notable mythopoeic authors aside from Tolkien include C. S. Lewis, Robert W. Chambers, H. P. Lovecraft, George MacDonald, and Lord Dunsany, among others. While many literary works carry mythic themes, only a few approach the dense self-referentiality and purpose of mythopoeia. It is invented mythology that, rather than arising out of centuries of oral tradition, is penned over a short period of time by a single author or small group of collaborators.

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As opposed to fantasy worlds or fictional universe aimed at the evocation of detailed worlds with well-ordered histories, geographies, and laws of nature, mythopoeia aims at imitating and including real-world mythology, specifically created to bring mythology to modern readers, and/or to add credibility and literary depth to fictional worlds in fantasy or science fiction books and movies.

Mythopoeia can be created entirely by an individual, like the world of Middle-earth, or can be formed as a result of an amalgam of writings, like the Cthulhu Mythos. An Expanded Universe can result in the creation of one of these, particularly for Long-Runners.

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Examples:

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Arts

American artist Trenton Doyle Hancock's paintings take place in an elaborate mythical framework involving a race of plant persons called the Mounds and a shaman figure known as Torpedo Boy.

Comic Books

The Sandman, though it borrowed elements from the "parent" DC Universe (as well as many mythologies). And Neil Gaiman seems not to have planned it all in advance.

Films — Live-Action

Avatar: The Na'vi mythos has a strong resonance with many of the film's fans — to the extent of some becoming adherents.

Star Wars: George Lucas has explained that he was heavily influenced by The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell — which describes how to do this in detail.

Literature

Live-Action TV

Babylon 5: The Minbari and the Narn cultures are the best examples of mythmaking on this show. In some ways the whole show is designed to be a myth in itself.

The Stargate-verse creates some of its mythology from whole cloth, but also integrates aspects of real-life mythology into the story. The best example is probably the altered Camelot mythos in seasons nine and ten of Stargate SG-1.

Star Trek There are hints at the myths of various races. Vulcans and Klingons are most noticed. Star Trek: Picard: Romulan mythology is explored for the first time since Vorta Vor in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. In Season 1, we're introduced to the Romulan (and possibly proto-Vulcan) The End of the World as We Know It story that Rios compares to Ragnarök or Judgment Day. Narek provides the most detailed account of the tale. note The quote below has been edited slightly from the original dialogue. "A story of the end of everything. Some say it dates back from long before our ancestors first arrived on Vulcan. The story of Ganmadan ("the Day of Annihilation") begins with two sisters, twin khalagu ("demons") who come at the end of time to open the way and unleash the ch'khalagu ("very bad demons"). One sister is called Seb-Natan, the Foreteller. She plays a drum made from the skin of children. She strikes it with a chain of skulls so hard and so long that her heart bursts from the effort. The other sister is called Seb-Cheneb ("the Destroyer"). She carries the horn from a great pale hellbeast called Ganmadan. When she blows a blast on the horn, it will unleash all the ch'khalagu who have been waiting since the beginning of time. The sky will crack, and through the crack in the sky, the ch'khalagu will come ravening. You know about the Thousand Days of Pain. The streets will be slick with entrails of half-devoured corpses. The worlds will burn. And the ch'khalagu will feast and nurse their brats on blood, and pick their teeth with bones."

Twin Peaks: Twin Peaks has its own layered symbols, its own centers of goodness and evil (the Lodges), and its own prophesies ("That Gum You Like Is Going To Come Back In Style").

Xena: Warrior Princess: While the series is based largely on Greek mythology (and anything else that didn't ran away fast enough), it accumulated background so fast that one is tempted to declare the result a genuine "Xena mythology" (this viewpoint having the advantage to explain away a whole lot of headscratchers).

Myths & Religion

Though not created as "intentional" fiction, the Lost Continents of Mu and Lemuria were created out of whole cloth a century and a half ago, one to explain a now-discredited anthropological theory, the other to explain a now-discredited theory of continental formation, and both kept afloat by Spiritualists and Theosophists who wanted mysterious but unresearchable lands to say that their dead friends came from. Atlantis, also, was created by Plato as a moral metaphor, not a literal location.

One critical approach to the Old Testament argues that some of the pagan Canaanite religions were, if not invented by the Israelites, then at least exaggerated in their evil (e.g., the frequency of child sacrifice) in order to retroactively justify the violent displacement of the Canaanite people. Notably, the cult of Moloch and the god Moloch itself may never have existed at all, which would make it mythopoeicthis theory is, of course, highly disputed by Old Testament scholars. On a similar note, the story of Canaan being cursed for his father Ham looking at Noah naked (or raping him, depending on the interpretation) may also be a better example, as few take the story literally anymore, plus it seems just a bit convenient to say Canaan's descendants would be slaves for the Israelites.

Roleplay

Adylheim uses this extensively, not only creating an internal mythology which mimics parts of real life greek and norse pantheons, but also making references to an ambassador to faerie named Tamlin, a dragon hunter named George, and so on.

Tabletop Games

Nobilis, a Tabletop RPG centering on the machinations of beings for the most part above our ken.

Exalted, with its involved cosmological backgrounds, also has some stories about the gods, demons, and titans, and ancient legends about the Exalted themselves. The game is strongly inspired by The Gods Of Pegana.

Glorantha from Runequest. It has many elaborate mythologies, from the barbarian Orlanthi deities to the monotheistic Invisible God.

Warhammer has developed a rich and diverse mythological background to complement the histories and cultures of its many peoples. There are several pantheons of gods, a handful of different creation myths and cosmogonies and many details of how the peoples of the world relate to their gods and myths. Generally the mythologies are race-specific, however, and it is altogether unclear how, for instance, the families of the gods of men relate to the gods of the elves, the Ancestor Gods of the Dwarfs, the Old Ones of the Lizardmen or the Gods of Chaos.

Warhammer 40,000 has built one up over time. Originally Warhammer Fantasy Battle IN SPACE!, the gradual fleshing-out of the backstory has created a mythic atmosphere. The most obvious is the 10000-year-past Horus Heresy, where the Emperor of Mankind and his ten loyal Primarchs (demigods in their own right) fought off the ten traitor Primarchs and the Dark Gods of Chaos, which directly lead to the sorry state the galaxy is in. Many of the figures involved in the Heresy are either still around (most of the traitor Primarchs are now immortal Demon Princes), or the echoes of their actions are still felt in the current day. Further back, there is the Fall of the Eldar, an orgy of excess so violent that it gave birth to the Chaos God Slaanesh and destroyed humanity's interstellar empire. Going back even further, there are the wonders of the Dark Age of Technology and the disastrous attempt at artificial intelligence known as the Iron Men. And all the way at the dawn of the setting, millions of years ago is war between the C'tan and the Old Ones.

Microscope: This World Building RPG will very often include a mythic elements. The game is not meant to be an exhaustive or precise history—broad themes and arcs are the rule.

Toys

Transformers has a considerable background mythos including a creator God (Primus) and a Satanic figure (Unicron).

The BIONICLE universe. The first few years had some influence from Maori culture, but the franchise has deliberately moved away from that and now has a complex mythology of its own. The best part is that it tends to subvert All Myths Are True by explaining that the characters tend to come up with their own explanations as to why things happen that may not be entirely accurate, making it a case of in-universe Mythopoeia.

Video Games

Web Comics

Web Original