clashing kings

[BeccaPrice]

In my fairy tale, I have a gargoyle king, seeking the return of a magic amulet that is (currently) held by a human king.

It has to be held by the human king of the country, because of the old myth that what affects the king affects the land. I don't think the magic works if it's only held by a prince or a knight of the country; I think it has to be king.

so I've got the confrontation scene between the (unnamed) gargoyle king and the human king. To keep separate who is doing what to whom, should I continue to differentiate between gargoyle king and human king? ("the gargoyle king menaced the human king, saying...") or do I just assume that the reader will assume that a "king" is human, and only modify the word king when it comes to talking about the gargoyle king?

-becca, going cross-eyed over this last part of the story.

[gmw]

The simplest way would be to have an empire and a kingdom.

However ... exactly what is right with two kings is very much a contextual thing.

Your example ("the gargoyle king menaced the human king, saying...") may actually sound right within a given text. (Some text makes a deliberate choice of such explicit phrasing, usually as part of a rhythm in the text.)

Even if that is not the case, if your story treats the gargoyles as persons of equal merit to humans, then I would not resort to assuming "king" meant human. If they had names I would use them, or if only the two kings are in the scene then "king" can be dropped from some instances of the text. Or perhaps the context would allow one or other attribution to be inferred: "In a gravelly voice he told the human king,..." vs "The gargoyle king menaced the flimsy fleshy human, saying..." etc. etc.

[Nancy Fulda]

Perhaps one could give them names?

[BeccaPrice]

I'm thinking of using Telemarc as the Gargoyle king - don't know where I came up with that name, and it sounds vaguely familiar, so it may be from some fantasy novel I read a long time ago... Trouble is, the emphasis is not on the kings as individuals, but as representatives of their respective kingdoms. (and past people here will tell you that I have a lot of trouble with naming characters...maybe that's why I write fairy tales, because so few characters in them actually have names.)

[Penforhire]

I happened to be reading Joe Abercrombie lately and he often deals with this by using different titles (e.g. King, Emperor, Prophet). He also imbues enough character into the cast that he can survive people talking about his King of the Union and King of the Northmen in the same discussions by switching to names.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by BeccaPrice

I'm thinking of using Telemarc as the Gargoyle king - don't know where I came up with that name, and it sounds vaguely familiar, so it may be from some fantasy novel I read a long time ago... Trouble is, the emphasis is not on the kings as individuals, but as representatives of their respective kingdoms. (and past people here will tell you that I have a lot of trouble with naming characters...maybe that's why I write fairy tales, because so few characters in them actually have names.)

There is a Telemark in Norway (a county). Maybe you read about Norway recently and just changed the k to a c in Telemark.