u/GetTheGuillotine143

This is a question for all the sad ones. I keep circling around the distinction between tragedy and lament.

Tragedy asks: “How did this destruction happen?”
Lament asks: “What does it mean to lose something irreplaceable?”

But can a lament sustain an entire novel on its own? Or does it always need the bones of tragedy underneath it?

I think yes, and I think more fantasy is lament than we give it credit for, and what we often call tragedy is actually lament.

For example I would argue The Return of The King is a lament, but I’ve never heard it described that way.

In fact the “lost kingdom.” “Lost magic.” Trope is all over fantasy and is deeply…lamentic?