Today I’m happy to welcome to my blog, Jennifer Meltzer the author of Edgelanders.
There is something primal inside us all, something feral and dark that relishes in the notion of freeing itself from the chains that bind us.
Whenever I think of that primal essence, of the inner-beast, I am reminded of the werewolf archetype, and of Fenrir of Norse mythology.
Son of Loki and the wolf mother, Angrboda, Fenrir was the very embodiment of destruction. When allowed to rampage, he destroyed and devoured everything in sight, simply because he could. By the time he reached adulthood, he’d grown so powerful the gods asked the dwarves to forge a golden chain strengthened by six impossible elements he would never be able to break: the nerves of a bear, the roots of a mountain, the steps of a cat, the beard of a woman, the spit of a bird and the breath of a fish. And with this impossible chain, they imprisoned Fenrir in a cave beneath the mountain, where he bides his time until Ragnarok, when it is prophesied that he will slay many a god, including the Allfather, Odin, during the final battle of this world.
On a symbolic level, the primal nature that resides in us all is so powerful, it must be chained in the deepest part of ourselves to ensure it does not overrun our lives.
But what if the beast was just as much a part of the man, as the man himself?
The beauty of the werewolf archetype, beyond the fact that there’s something intriguing about a beast who can also compose himself and with rational thought at times, is that he is driven by his own dual nature. He is fierce, powerful and just a little bit unhinged, and while there’s nothing sexy about someone so unhinged you’re worried he’ll start stalking you like prey, there is something appealing about a potential mate who’s not afraid to be reckless or take risks to ensure the survival of that which he holds dear.
Historically, wolves have a rather bad reputation. The “Big Bad†ate Red’s granny. He preyed on the three little pigs, huffing and puffing and blowing their houses down. His presence in the untamed woods filled Peter’s grandfather with so much fear he locked the boy inside the house and forbid him to go outside.
Predatory by nature, our fear of this primal beast has seen the wolf population dwindle over the centuries. This topic inspired me while writing Edgelanders, the first novel in my epic fantasy series, Serpent of Time. Centered around the U’lfer, a race of men with the ability to shape-shift into wolves and embrace their primal nature, they are a people all but extinct, and with so few mated pairs left among them, they can’t reproduce enough offspring to ensure their survival in the world.
Despite the negative image history presents us with, wolves are very protective of their own. They are pack and family oriented and it has been said they mate for life (so long as their mating is producing enough offspring to ensure the survival of the species.)
Writing about werewolves has given me the opportunity to explore the most primal aspects of man, the facets we often find dangerous and frightening. With just the right spin on the struggle between man and his inner-beast, the werewolf becomes a sympathetic character we can all relate to on some level we might not like to admit.
We are all subject to our primal nature from time to time, to the unforgivable urges of the beast within; most of us have just learned to ignore those urges and carry on as though they don’t exist. We keep that part of ourselves chained in the cavern of our soul, bound by impossible things like a fish’s breath and the roots of a mountain.
But sometimes the wolf howls strong, and in those moments we remember and know that one day we must answer the call, embrace the beast and let go our inhibitions.
Bio: Jennifer Melzer spent the majority of her life as a writer denying she actually liked to write romance, only to wake up one morning and discover every single tale she’d ever written somehow revolved around the heart. She has since given into the whim.
She resides in northeastern Pennsylvania with her husband, daughter, a bunch of dragons and a dog who thinks he’s a wolf. She dreams nightly of laying on the beach and watching stars fall over the Atlantic Ocean.
Website: jennifermelzer.com
Twitter: jennybeanses
I don’t believe in New Years resolutions; promises to yourself that are destined to fail. I do however believe in re-organising yourself, a realignment if you will. For the last few years of being a full-time writer I have been struggling with time management and productivity. The move from a traditional desk job, where the boss tells you what they expect each day, to a job where you are at home by yourself with the ability to distract yourself with a thousand things, has been a bit of an adjustment.
