Christian Viewpoint by John Dempster: Fantasy saga can be read through Christian eyes
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“Haven’t you figured out that I’ve always been with you?” says the silver Eagle, Fir-eun to Aiden. “You just can’t always see me.”
“Yes!” I exclaimed, punching the air.
I was reading Eagle’s Path, the newly-published second volume of local author Lindsey Stirling’s gripping young adult fantasy saga. It tells the story of heroic young people – Aiden, Branwyn, Tristan and Erin – wiser at times than their elders, struggling to overcome the dark wizard Sorcier and his twisted magic.
I realised that the Eagle symbolised Christ, and the parallels between Fir-eun’s engagements in the land of Teraan and God’s activities in our world resonated powerfully.
Lindsey is a gifted storyteller with a powerful imagination, building a world for her characters with a creator’s joy. Since childhood, Lindsey tells me, she has centred her life on God. When writing Eagle’s Path, she began each session in prayer, entrusting her storytelling to God, opening herself to God-given inspiration, putting the book “in God’s hands”.
Her perspective on ancient history (she is an able archaeologist) and her extensive knowledge of Gaelic, and of Celtic and Scandinavian mythology, enrich the novels.
So too does her strong Christian faith. The books are not explicitly Christian, and can be enjoyed by anyone, but read them through Christian eyes and you will find yourself surprised by God, just as Aiden is surprised by the fleeting glints of silver which reveal that Fir-eun is not far off.
In her archaeology, Lindsey is inspired by an awareness that God is with her, and often seeks wisdom from God because “he knows more about archaeology than I do”. She wonders whether the ancient peoples whose lives she painstakingly reconstructs knew the silver Eagle.
Aiden was called to be an Eagle Rider; Lindsey is called to storytelling. For each, their calling and dreams of future possibilities are inescapable. As it was said of Aiden, so it can be said of Lindsey: “I am glad to see you did not run from your destiny.”
CS Lewis, whose Chronicles of Narnia were among Lindsey’s sources of inspiration, said that having encountered the great Lion Aslan in his work, we may perhaps find him present in our world too.
In the same way, readers of Lindsey’s work may, as she does, hear in everyday life the beating of Eagle’s wings.
As Fir-eun acts and speaks in the novels, so God acts and speaks in our enchanted universe. Fir-eun is with us always, hearing us even when we can’t see him. Fir-eun is the protector, the healer. “Seek the Eagle’s Path,” he says. “Follow me!” Fir-eun both challenges and allures us: “You can never know what lies down the path until you fly it.”
