Using Cultural and National Myths in Worldbuilding

Dear Reader: Thank you for indulging me in this on using cultural and national myths in your fictional worldbuilding. This was inspired by Richard Slotkin’s new book, A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America. Please note that I start in left field to cover some background. I promise this connects to storytelling, myths, and using them to make your world building more realistic.

Filling the Information Vacuum

Humans often abhor an information vacuum. As such, we seek out explanations or models that help us interpret novel experiences we encounter in the world around us.

Please keep in mind that I am not saying that we have a universal desire to seek truth. If that were the case, then trolls and bots on social media or Generative AI wouldn’t be such misinformation threats. Instead an explanation will usually be a good enough tool for most of us to use if:

• We generally trust the source of the explanation with information on this topic, (with all the biases that come with trust),
• It usually roughly fits in with other information models we already use to view the world (confirmation bias among others),
• The explanation’s complexity or fidelity of detail is about equal to the level of importance we invest into the topic.

We can’t always get a good explanation or find an existing explanation unsatisfying for our social or emotional needs. In these cases, we are really good at using storytelling to invent explanations that mesh with our existing models. These could be:

• Whole-cloth inventions,
• Adapting an existing explanation to a new situation,
• Attempting to simplify a complicated explanation,
• Elaborating on a simple explanation that did not meet our needs.

An Example of Storytelling an Explanation

As an example, let’s use a situation that will hopefully be familiar. Let’s say you are a regular at a coffee shop or takeout place. Harper is an employee there who normally greets you kindly. However, today they are short and gruff when taking your order and don’t apologize when their colleague messes up your order. What would be some of the first thoughts going through your mind as you go to leave the counter?

Depending on your general outlook and personal experiences, you might have come up with all sorts of explanations for Harper’s behavior. Some I have heard before include: 

• Harper was having a bad day, 
• Harper’s previous happy behavior was a “customer service” face. It slipped to show you a more of how they are outside of work,
• Some negative social dynamic between Harper and the colleague who messed up your order was leaking out on everyone else. 

There is little evidence for any of this speculation but this is the kind of story-weaving we do on a daily basis.

Social Construction, Modification, and Rejection of Myths

As social creatures, we also have a tendency to make the storytelling behind our explanation models collaborative. As they spread more widely and are used over and over again, they gain power. This is how collective memories, allegories, theories, or beliefs–from here on called myths–are born. They act as tools to explain physical phenomena, justify social action past and present, and so much more.

Again, these myths can be based on truth and even may try to be as accurate as possible, but none of us have the capacity or time to understand the intricate details of every particular topic. We need to keep things relatively abstract to make it easier to recall and to use as an explanation model. Remember, these are tools. Think of how you might explain gravity to a young child versus how a graduate-level astrophysics text might explain it. Different tools to meet different needs.

More Clearly Defining what We Mean by “Myth”

To clarify, I am using this term a bit differently than Richard Slokin does. In “Mythogenesis” from the The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism, Slotkin defined the way he uses ‘myth’ as “stories drawn from a society’s history, which have acquired through persistent usage the power of symbolizing that society’s ideology.” These myths are often created or become powerful when invoked in moments of crisis.

This is ideal for his focus on how cultures view their values and history. For this article, I am expanding this beyond ideology to mean any story that has gained power in society through persistent collective use as a tool to to explain:

• How and why we believe things are the way they are now (both socially and physically), 
• How we believe things were in the past and why they have changed (or not), and 
• How we believe things should be. This could be using the model to predict the future or to describe a divergent–but ideal–future state of being.

The Flexibility of Myths and How We Use Them

Because these myths as explanatory models are ultimately social constructs, they can be shaped, changed, and rejected over time. In his newest book, A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America, Slotkin focuses on four major areas of American mythos, the Frontier, the Founding, the Civil War, and World War II, have been used as tools in American politics and society.

The way that we as an American society mythologize each these events has remained flexible. Each also has divergent, if not outright conflicting, myths about them that compete for prominence within society to this day. Classic examples are the Lost Cause, the romantic vision of the Founders creating the perfect Constitution to be the US’s foundation, and the WWII ‘Good War’ myth.

Using Social Myths in Your World-building

I am sure you can imagine I want to encourage you to go beyond creating myths your world’s cultures might use to explain their religious practices or their deep past! Lets dive into some different kinds of myths that would be useful and how they might show up in your world.

Legitimizing Myths

What myths are used to legitimize the social structure and the power of the elites? The myths of legitimacy like the Right of Kings or Heavenly Mandate are immediate examples. There are also legitimizing myths that rely on claims of continuity like the European monarchs who claimed to be successors to Imperial Rome, the claims that Bolivarianismo make to Simón Bolívar’s legacy, or the regular appeals in US politics and legal disputes to the “intent of the Founding Fathers” as both an attack and a defense. 

Show Myths that Change

When legitimizing myths become less important or get in the way of a desired change in power, it is important to remember that these myths can be changed and not just discarded. Those of you familiar with Star Wars, think of the myth of the Jedi as just protectors of the Galaxy. There are times when it is useful for our mostly Jedi protagonists in the prequel movies, though different myths about the Jedi in different regions can make things complicated.

However, this “just protector” myth became very fractured by the closing days of the Clone Wars. We as the audience knows that Palpatine is the true mastermind, but the Chancellor-turned-Emperor seems to successfully spin the whole cause of the war and the attempted arrest/assassination of himself as a complex Jedi plot to grab power. This new myth painting the Jedi as a conniving threat to the new Empire’s prosperity is a useful tool to continue building up the Empire’s security apparatuses to ostensibly hunt down the remnants of the Order and their supporters.

Disagreements over Myths

What are the stories that bind the different peoples together into a nation? How accurately are they remembered? These questions can create an especially potent storytelling tool when you think about the different ways that groups might be interpreting a particular myth or subject of myths.

For example, I created a story many years ago where a famous philosopher that had been mythologized for his wisdom based on the historical figure Mòzǐ. Two groups on either side of a current war honored him, but for very different reasons. An empire remembered this figure as a warrior and supporter of state power, using him as a saint-like idol to legitimize the monarchy and his teachings to justify their wars of expansion and suppressing individuals for the general benefit of the state. The other side resisting imperial rule remembers him for his teachings of universal care for others and self-empowerment.

The two sides can’t even agree on basic facts about the philosopher. The empire claimed he was a human noble. The main group of the resistance instead said he was an orcish craftsman of more humble origins.

Local Myths and Current Myths

Remember that myths don’t need to be big or old. They can focus on a local figure or event like the original myths about Robin Hood, or on a recent event or a person alive now that has had a wide-ranging impact on the world.

Think of all the different mythical sides you can see of Napoleon in the period propaganda: the Liberator, the Despoiler, the Lawgiver, the Genius General, the Egomaniacal Tyrant, the French Nationalist. All of this storytelling obscures the man he was and glosses over the role that the many people around Napoleon played in his rise and time in power.

We can also use myths like his to see how they change over time as the figures pass further into faded memory. To quote Henry Ridgely Evans who wrote The Napoleon Mythin 1905, “Legend-makers eighteen hundred years from now will perhaps characterise [Napoleon] as a ruthless vandal from the barbarous island called Corsica, who swept over the civilized world[…] Many will express doubts that he ever existed. He will appear in the light of a mythic hero like King Arthur of Britain.”

Making Myth Creation a Game

Finally, creating these kinds of myths for your fictional worlds can also be a game all of their own! A number of cooperative world-building and story-building games exist out there. A specific one that would be very helpful for this is Adam Bell’s Legend Has It. This game uses a deck of cards and segments from books to create a new story. Options range from origins myths, local folklore, religious texts, and stories on struggle. It can be used as a solo experience or with a group. Ben Robbins’s games would all also assist nicely, especially Microscope or more specifically Microscope: Chronicle that is currently playtesting as I write this.

Hopefully this has posed some questions and given you tools on how you might want to use cultural and national myths in your stories and worldbuilding. They can serve as powerful tools to explain how a people view themselves and how they differentiate themselves. Adding these kinds of aspects to your storytelling will help your worlds feel more realistic, but also provide your readers and players a chance to gain a deeper understanding.

If you liked this post, don’t forget to check out other worldbuilding posts on our blog!