Or more specifically, megadungeons. Are there any megadungeons who have played a significant role in fantasy (and/or any of its "offshoots") literature in the last twenty-five years?
The Mines of Moria are perhaps the most well-known example of a megadungeon in fiction. And while they are important to the Lord of the Rings as an obstacle to be overcome by or as a road to be traversed by the Fellowship or, if I remember correctly, as a means to separate Gandalf from the others, they don't play much of a role in the story. The time spent in their halls by that adventuring group (in words) isn't all that great compared to the entirety of the trilogy.
But are there any other examples of megadungeons in modern fiction? I'm interested and would really appreciate any other examples. Thanks!
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This isn't within the last 25 years, but the Underworld in C.S. Lewis' The Silver Chair comest to mind. I can't think of any others off the top of my head.
ReplyDeleteThese are older than 25 years, but REH's Conan story The Scarlet Citadell features a huge dungeon filled with weird creatures under the castle of the wizard Tsotha-lanti, and in Vance's Dying Earth story Guyal of Sphere there is the remnants of the Museum of Man, which is actually called a "dungeon" in the story.
ReplyDeleteBut no, I cant think of any dungeons from more recent fantasy literature.
Blame! is manga, and sf, but it's set in a megastructure that's a bit dungeony. Similarly, the hives from warhammer 40k.
ReplyDeleteFantasy, though? The deep road in Dragon Age, perhaps. Other than that… mega dungeons always were a d&d original.
Margaret St. Clair, Sign of the Labrys. A kind of post-apocalyptic megadungeon.
ReplyDeleteFarmer, Lupoff and Coville's "Dungeon" series sounds like it's a recent take on this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sfsite.com/05a/du151.htm
"The Man in the Maze" (Robert Silverberg, 1969).
ReplyDelete@Lektu: "The Man in the Maze"... was that on a 'maze planet', where the character was the only one who managed to survive there for long?
ReplyDeleteNot sure about a megadungeon, but in _Divided Allegiance_ (second book of _The Deed of Paksennarion_) she was part of a mission into an abandoned elven city underground (and later a few other places that might qualify).