World Building Words
The very first appearance of a simile in this book sets the stage for what is to come. “Ahead the sky was bright pink, like the bubbling rim of a great crystal goblet brimmed with effervescent red wine for delight of the gods, while the paler pink glow rising therefrom drove the last stars west.” What could be a very simple comparison of the sky is instead presented with dense and poetic imagery that serves to enhance the expectation of “sword and sorcery” discourse. The use of “therefrom” punctuates the florid description of the crystal goblet. The fantasy novel genre is unusually dependent upon the specifics of language to sustain a sense of setting.
Character Description
Even the simplest delineations of character are endowed with this elevated formality of language. “Then a voice sugary and unctuous, senescent though keen—a voice like a quavering flute—spoke from amidst those dimmest glows.” The actual simile here is simple enough—almost anyone can imagine a voice that sounds like the fluttering notes coming from a flute—but the lead-up to that concrete image is adorned with fanciful embellishment. “Senescent” even sounds like a word from another time while “unctuous” gives the sugary quality of the voice a greater sense of gravity.
The Devourers
In “Bazaar of the Bizarre” the reader is introduced to a fascinating group of characters known as Devourers who are, collectively, a metaphor for extreme capitalist business executives. They sell only trash, which requires reducing consumers to submissive suggestibility, which puts a strain on their time that they “have not an instant to spare in considering the worth of what they sell. Indeed, they dare not concern themselves with such matters.” Key to the metaphor is what drives the Devourers to keep selling garbage. Their sole purpose in making money is to make more money in order to compete with each other to see who can make the most money.
Establishing Shot
The author often turns to metaphor and similes to commence a story, using the comparative qualities to establish a precise mood. “Fear hovered in the moonlight over Lankhmar. Fear flowed like mist through the twisting thoroughfares and mazy alleyways, trickling even into that most intricately curved and crevice like street where a flickering lantern marked the doorway to the tavern of the Silver Eel.” This opening paragraph of “Claws from the Night” situates fear as something which pervades the city in a way that is the norm. This idea will be built up throughout the text with fear slowly intensifying from something barely even recognized to being dismissed as silly to something almost tangible and visceral. The story will end with the explicit assertion that fear had left Lankhmar though it leaves behind vestiges of its appearance.
The Bond That Ties
The comparative quality of the simile is subtly put to use to illustrate the close bond existing between Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. They are like living embodiments of the simile as if they are mirror reflections of the other. “As Fafhrd and the Mouser, though leagues apart, simultaneously tore like terrified mice from the two black pavilions, they each sighted to the east a steel-blue flame rising like the longest and gleamingest of stilettos.” The comparison of both heroes to terrified mice and the dubious existence of the word “gleamingest” underscores what is often an ironic representation of the two heroes who blur the distinctions of morality in their actions and often appear seem to be making things up as they go with no clearly defined plan.
