Every fantasy world has a beginning, a tale that takes the audience all the way back to a time long before the events of the main story take place. This is called the origin story and it’s a vital component of worldbuilding and the world’s lore.
The goal of the origin story is to establish the foundations of the world your tale is set in. There are several elements that such a story needs and they are as follows:
This article will explore each in greater detail, so let’s jump in!
The first part of the origin story takes place in an era before the beginning of time. Before the world even exists. A race of beings who wield supernatural powers appears as if out of nowhere — though they come from a being far more powerful than them — and work to enforce their creator’s will.
The race has its own hierarchy with the oldest ones usually holding greater sway than their younger siblings. The oldest were the first to come into being and they have a greater understanding of their creator’s wishes than those who came later. Each deity has their own power such as water, fire, forest, and so on.
Each god and goddess has their own relationship with each other. Some get along just swimmingly while others compete against each other, determined to be better than their rival. Some even get married and have their own children!
A second race with less power than the gods appears later. They become servants of the deities and work with their master. This relationship is similar to that of God and Angels.
If you want to know more about how to create a race with godlike powers, take a look at The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien does a great job in explaining how the Valar comes into being and how each of them has their own personality.
The deities and their servants play major roles, not just in the origin story, but throughout the various eras of the world they forged. But before that happens, a world has to exist.
The second part of the origin story is the creation of the world. Here, the deities use their awesome powers to build a world from nothing, as if they’re literally wishing it into existence. Rocks of massive size smash into each other to form continents and other landmasses. Supermassive volcanoes belch oceans of lava to help shape the land. Large holes are carved into the bedrock. Great storms dump large amounts of water in these holes, forming oceans and lakes.
The first incarnation of the world is called the primordial world and it serves as the baseline for everything that comes later. This world is pure, as in wholly devoid of evil. It’s a product of love by the deities to create something uncontaminated, a place where those who would live there live happy, contented lives. Though much of the primordial world would change due to the first war between good and evil, this world is the physical embodiment of the deities’ ideals.
Creation of the world doesn’t just refer to the physical environment, it includes every single thing existing within such as animals, plants, and people. Though they would evolve into different species over the course of time, these creatures and plants form the world’s first ecosystem. They play the same role they do eons later, to provide sustenance for each other and to help keep the world going forward.
With the task of creating the world done, the deities tend to their part of the world. From afar, they watch events that would shape the world’s future and interfere only when they deemed it necessary.
Sadly, the history of the primordial world becomes lost over time with fewer and fewer people knowing the whole story.
The very first war of the world occurs in the origin story. It can be traced back to its version of the Fallen Angel, a deity who once was good but he had a different desire than his brethren. This longing was either a lust for power or control over the world. Seduced by his yearning, this deity fell from grace, and gave into the darkness lurking in his heart.
The Fallen Angel is the progenitor of all evil in the world. He creates new species, typically corrupted versions of those loyal to the gods and goddesses, to serve him and aid him in his plans for conquest. He raises great armies and before long, he unleashes them against those he once called family.
Thus the first war between good and evil begins. Since it features beings with godlike powers fighting each other, the war proves to be far more destructive than subsequent ones between mortals. These battles tend to be apocalyptical as mountaintops are ripped off, pieces of land are broken off the landmass, and so on.
The Faithful, those who fought on the side of good, worked to keep the world they loved from being ravaged by the forces of evil. Though it pained them to see the people they had created die fighting evil, they knew they had no other choice but to keep fighting until the war was won.
Tossing his wicked servants to fight those who wished to protect the world wasn’t the only weapon the Fallen Angel had at his disposal. He employed greed, jealousy, and the other flaws of human nature and used them to sow discord across the land. He pitted friend against friend, brother against brother, and husband against wife to weaken his enemies.
After a long, protracted war, both sides gear up for the Great Battle, the one that would determine the fate of the world. The Great Battle becomes the most destructive of all the battles of the war as both sides go all in, wanting to be the victor. Eventually the Fallen Angel’s forces lose ground and before long, he is defeated and imprisoned.
Victory comes to the forces of good, though at a great cost. The primordial world was destroyed due to the cataclysmic battles. As a result of the Fallen Angel’s desire to rule, the world that was once pure became contaminated due to evil touching it. This pureness was forever lost, never to return.
But the discord the Fallen Angel created with his policies would persist and cause the world much turmoil in subsequent eras. People were no longer content in their lives as greed and envy and other dark elements of human nature remained with them. And some would follow the Fallen Angel down the road to evil.
The origin story establishes the foundations of the world your story is set in. It also puts into place the eternal struggle between good and evil, the central drama of the world.
When designing your own, think about what message you want your audience to learn from it and how it connects to the story of the work you’re creating. A great origin story not only expands on the world’s lore, but puts the drama of your own in perspective. When developing your tale, think about how it’s connected to the origin story. Is it just a fight between two opposing forces or is it merely the latest incarnation of the endless war between good and evil? Or does it start out as a squabble between two factions that later becomes part of that endless war?
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Sunfire
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