Giants!
Giants! What does the word conjure up for you? Is it the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk? Or perhaps the Cyclops from Greek mythology? David and Goliath? There are many others that could qualify, but, as I mentioned in a previous post about kelpies, I wanted the monsters of The Gemstone Chronicles series to be unique. This caused a lot of headaches and research before I settled on the right giant for Book Two: The Amethyst.
History:
Before I go deeper into that, though, I want to talk more about giants in general. Giants have been part of human history forever, it seems. Just Google the term and you get over 87 million hits. Granted, some of those are for sports teams, but still. So, where do giants exist in mythology and legend? Most people are familiar, as I mentioned above, with David and Goliath. But, Goliath isn’t the only giant mentioned in the Bible. The Nephilim were on the Earth before and after the Flood.
Other civilizations have giants, too. According to Wikipedia, the giants of Hinduism are called Daityas and they fought against the gods. In Native American lore, the Si-Te-Cah were a race of red-haired cannibalistic giants. Other cultures that feature giants are the Greeks, Romans, Norse (and who doesn’t like the idea of frost giants, fire giants, and mountain giants), Baltic, and many others.
Irish mythology:
This research lead me to a great tale from Northern Ireland. According to Irish legends (listed in Wikipedia), the giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool in English) tore some of the land from the ground and threw it at a rival. Finn missed, and the chunk of land became the Island of Man. I used that legend as the basis of the Island of Man in the book.
Another cool story is the that of the Giant’s Causeway. I used that tale, too, as it involves our giant from the Island of Man legend. In this story, Finn McCool built the causeway so that he and another giant Benandonner could meet and fight. Finn wins in one version of the story. In another version, Finn sees that Benandonner is much larger than he is, so Finn’s wife disguises him as a baby. Benandonner, seeing how large Finn is, believes that Finn’s father must be truly huge and he flees to Scotland, tearing up the causeway behind him. Here is a picture of the Giant’s Causeway!
I morphed the tales into the story of Brendan, the giant who controls the Island of Man in The Amethyst. I loved the way the story turned out, but you won’t get any spoilers from me. You just have read it to find out!
To be sure, giants aren’t always malevolent. For instance, the giant in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a friendly giant. In the US, we have the Jolly Green Giant advertising vegetables. Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox Babe are seen in various towns in North America. This tempers the image of Cyclops, Frankenstein’s monster, or any of the other more unpleasant giants.
Which of the giants are your favorites? Scary, man-eating monsters, or gentle, helpful creatures of immense stature? Whichever you prefer, giants are awesome!!!
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