The Purpose of National Mythologies & How to Court a Civilization - Why Every Civilization Currently BURNS for a Great Romance

Jack Wayne is seriously awesome

Recently I came across

Jack Wayne

’s excellent post about how every civilization needs All Civilizations Need a Great Romance and a little earlier today

Rabid Spirit Animal

mentioned a desire to see me go back to writing about the need for a Great Romance.

Those who have been around my Stack will know I wrote about this topic once or twice, yet not in all that great depth. To be quite honest, I think Jack Wayne’s essay does a fantastic job highlighting all my thoughts, all my ideas and all my notions about this particular topic.

I’ll first encourage people to check out his essay, as it is very well written, very bold and highlights some of the greatest founding myths that many nations have. And when I say ‘founding myths’ I do not mean those like the ‘founding of America’ or how Clovis founded Francia but rather the unifying myths that help mould and shape a civilization.

And the thing about what I tend to term ‘Great Epics’ or to use the more appropriate term ‘Great Romance’ is that since the French Revolution, most nations have been utterly divorced from their roots and from their ‘Great Romances’. This is the sad Truth about Modernity, in that it has done more to cut people off from their roots, to cut them off from what is most important to them.

And what is most important? Is it a common cultural set of values? Ethnicity? Family? Religion? Yes and no to all these things. Really, a Great Romance can in some ways be of greater value in bringing people together, than any of these factors. One need only look to a multi-ethnic empire like China.

I know many people will scratch their heads and say; ‘do you mean the conquered people by the Han Chinese? ‘Cause there aren’t any other ethnicities there,’ when in reality there are. China is fairly multi-ethnic, it is only that those ethnicities are all what you might term (at least for the most part) Asian.

What is the Great Romance of China? Well it would be the great novels from their Medieval period; Dream of a Red Chamber, Romance of the Three Kingdoms & Journey to the West.

Now let us examine the Great Romance of Japan… well there’s a few but interestingly in my experience they have proven to be; Genji Monogatari, Heike Monogatari and Yoshikawa Eiji’s Musashi.

So great, we have two Civilizations, both with a great deal in common between one another who have clung to their Great Romances. What about the rest of the world Honestly it isn’t looking so good, as France once had the stories of the 4 Fils d’Aymon & Geste de Roland, and any other Medieval stories about Charlemagne there might be. The Greeks had Homer, the Romans Virgil’s Aeneid. The Anglo-Saxons of the world once had Lord of the Rings & Silmarillion.

Yet disturbingly in recent times, there’s nothing for most countries. Germany has lost her way from having any such thing. The Irish have none, the Italians have none, the French have none, and nor does most other nations. Now when I say they have none, I mean that they had some, but that they’ve since the spread of Liberalism become disconnected in some manner from their premordial roots (the French are admittedly the most guilty of this one).

The purpose of a Great Romance is to instill in a people a sense of belonging, to pass down the society’s values and ideals to the next generation and also to serve as something a little (or a lot) grander than any national anthem could be.

Anthems are great things, comics can also be great as are great films, but the fact is only literature and poetry I think can properly capture a Great Romance. The closest film has ever come to this in some ways is Star Wars (eps 1-6), and film is a great field but there’s limits to a cinematic experiences. I do not say this to attack cinema, but rather acknkowledge (quite reluctantly) that most societies typically turn to literature to find their unifying myths to help define their people.

Yet as mentioned, since Modernity we’ve been disconnected from these things, and have since then become lost.

In a way, a Great Romance is our raft in the ocean of eternity. Many people have tried looking to the future, to the idea of ‘progress’ to help define them, yet this has failed. Not just for the leftist-globalists but also for the ‘right-wing’. Even the Musk-bros who love Elon and his personal goal to get to Mars look to progress rather than literature and history to define their civilization.

But the trouble with this is that a people not only without a past but without a Great Myth, a Great Romance are a people without a future. They are without hope also for themselves, and without self-love.

Because such a story is about the story-telling ‘romancing’ or recounting his great passion for the Civilization that birthed him. The Truth of the matter is that much as many of us might say; ‘I love my country’ but the question is; do you really? If you’ve not connected with the defining epic that shapes it, personifies it and that was someone’s attempt to romance it, can you really love it?

The Chinese love China. We can safely say this, as they do still read Journey to the West & Romance of the Three Kingdoms. But do Texans love Texas with all their hearts if they’ve not read Hour of the Dragon by Robert E. Howard? Do the English if they’ve not read the Arthurian myths and Tolkien? Do the Japanese if they’ve not read Genji, Heike and Musashi? Do the French if they’ve not read the Matters of France? Do the Scots truly love Scotland if they’ve not read the Bruce or Nigel Tranter’s Robert the Bruce?

And does a Civilization have a hope of surviving if she does not have a defining Myth to bind her people together, to bring them together and rally them in hard times? I know we’ve all heard the phrase; hard times breed strong men, strong men create easy times, easy times breed weak men and weak men create hard times. But can Men truly be strong if they’ve no Mythical aspirational examples to follow after? If they’re disconnected from their own Civilization?

In more recent times, which is to say the 20th century Tolkien & Howard happened upon the idea of creating new myths for their people. Ones set in a mythological past, and that sees the values of their people given crystallized format, they both set down the desire for future generations to continue to create in this fashion.

And yet, have they? No.

Why is this? Could it be that it is also that disconnected people create art that divides, art that divides creates hard times, and that inspired people create art that unifies and art that unifies creates good times?

Is that what has happened? It seems as though every country on earth has become ever more divided, ever more fractious. People have stopped looking to their Great Romances for guidance, they have lost their place in society and thus people are lost. They watch trash shows on Netflix, don’t pay attention to their history and don’t have any ability to commit to one another on account of having no idea what love truly looks like.

Great Romances give examples of what love truly looks like, what honour looks like and what our values are. It seems in recent times of course, people have lost perspective of these values. And the trouble is that they are unlikely to see it at all if things continue as they are.

The reason is not hard to discern; publishers don’t want Great Romances. You see they are captured and are paid by Vanguard and Blackrock to produce nothing beautiful.

“Yet what about writers and poets? Surely, they want to impart some sort of Great Romance to define our age and their Civilization!” I hear you say, and there’s indeed a few (myself included) but there’s also some who want to simply grift, or who lack the talent or who otherwise have been utterly crushed in spirit so that they will never deliver on this one.

No shame there. I will freely admit that to my mind I’ve met a few writers on Substack strangely enough who look like this is what they’re doing, and I really appreciate and admire them. But for now they languish in obscurity.

Here’s a clip of Tucker Carlson discussing how Russian Architecture is better than Modern Architecture, and honestly how he describes Architecture can easily be said also about recent art and literature.

A Great Romance is just like he describes; a Society that fails to make one, fails to produce one, to produce something that uplifts and inspires and brings a people together is a very sad, and dark one. Do you really want to live in such a society? Are you even living if you don’t have a love for your people, for your nation, for your home? Or are you existing?

A nation without a Great Romance is a people who are not a people but what is termed an ‘Economic Zone’. You are replaceable as a people, you mean nothing and will never have any real value.

This is the message. It has been heard loud and clear, hence why most modern men are killing themselves. Christians might say; ‘well just find Christ’ but in what form? Literature and Romance are believed by Christians to be him speaking out to us, so that the question is; can you really feel loved without a Great Epic? Something to make you feel loved, feel wanted and make you feel as though you belong with those around you?

This is why a Great Romance in our times is so sought after by millions of men and women. They need some sort of mythological-glue to bring them together, to rally them and to provide a voice for their collective energy as a people, a tribe and a nation. Once this Romance arrives upon the scene, they will rally, they will do great works and great wonders because this Romance will motivate them, move them and help them to push forward once more.

Progress is borne from not more progress but from the past, from one’s confidence in oneself. How to find it? By being proud of who and what you are. And how do you feel so? By being uplifted as a person and people. Best way to do so, is via a great myth, great stories that bind people together.

Cinema is quite good at this, as are video-games and comics. They can help to bring awareness and people together socially, but a Great Romance does more than link them together socially, they link people together nationally. And helps to crystallize a people’s values.

And just what are our values? Our traditional values that is?

The philosphy of the English are; Democracy, Rule of Law, Respect and Tolerance, Individual Liberty. I must admit I’m not sure about any of these, but okay.

The American Philosophy is; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The first is fine, second I don’t care for (I don’t care about ‘Liberty’ I like Freedom better) and pursuit of happiness? Sounds great.

What are the French values? ‘Un loi, Un Roi, Un Foi,’ or at least it was in the Medieval period. It is what I was raised on, and it is what I love, but the trouble is there is no King and there is no Law for we the French anymore. The line of Kings are disinherited, and the Law has been weaponized against the people.

I know there’s that blasted phrase that has done nothing to strengthen and bind the people together; ‘Liberté, égalité, fraternité.’ Roughly this translates to ‘Liberty, Equality & Fraternity.’ The first word is fine, as it also translates to Freedom, but the second one has destroyed and shattered the exceptionalist spirit of the French.

Really it ought to be; Piété, Bonté, Fraternité (Piety, Goodness & Fraternity).

The Scots have; FREEEEEEEEEDDDDDOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM.

The Japanese the values of Bushido, which boils down to; Honour, Family and Nation.

The Spanish is…. they have values outside Inigo Montoya, the Fox-trot and Zorro??? Joking aside, it’s Family and Piety (seriously admire them for that).

Why do I bring these things up? Because your Civilization’s epics should encapsulate these values of yours. Your values define and are in turn defined by your Great Romance.

It is thus for this reason that when an artist undertakes the monumental task of gifting your people a Great Romance, they will often be in tune with the values of their homeland, of their people and will usually be motivated by a profound sense of love for their people, their nation and their culture. They are in effect romancing their people when they create these epics.

To deny a people them, is to deny them Love and also in some ways the most direct contact with the Divine.

In this way it is an act of the utmost hatred. It is an act that denies the Light of the World to a people. It is for these reasons that each Civilization needs their own Great Romance, and fast so as to fight the flattening forces of Globalism.

Certainly there’s old Epics, but beautiful as they are, every once in awhile a people need a new Great Romance to ‘re-affirm’ the old values and the love they have for themselves, for one another and to reunite with their nation. And sometimes values change; the values of England have changed from the 15th century, just as China’s values have changed, and so on.

Some haven’t such as Texas, Scotland and even if we’re being honest the likes of Spain and Japan. But they still need re-affirming, they still need to be reminded of the value of their homeland, still need a defining Myth.

And this is why I write, why I’ve written the likes of Darkspire Conspiracy, Brotherhood of the Gemstone, Herakles, Olympnomachi and other such works. They are attempts, I can’t really say they are perfect or they will stand the test of time. Yet I hope they will.

So that you can see that this is a topic very dear to my heart, and it is an important one. A work of art should be a work of pure love, of the purest distillation of passion for a people, whether your own or that of another.

You can support this substack if you’ve enjoyed this Substack by either contributing to the Crowdfund (you’ll get merch or books for your trouble of course), or you can become a paid subscriber for 8$ for a full year (and you’ll gain access to all the advanced chapters to all of our serials and an upcoming podcast further elaborating on topics such as this).

For an example of my fiction, if you are wanting to first examine my fiction to decide if it is worthy of pouring money into, then I will post the first chapter of Brotherhood of the Gemstone (only reasonable to let you decide if it merits the title of ‘Great Romance.’

But I want to part not on a mercenary tone, as that feels wrong to my mind and cold somehow.

I wanted to elaborate that if people want I’ll be posting up a reading list of Great Romances for them to enjoy, and will be trying to do a write up for this for around Friday. As this is an interesting topic and one that merits considerable attention, and it is one that I find is directly linked to a nation’s psyche.

So even if you don’t think your nation has one, do ponder about that. It might yet have one, now most of my readers are American and the US of A is interesting in that it has three; the Confederate South had Gone with the Wind, Texas’ Hour of the Dragon and then there’s Tolkien’s Legendarium.

You can let me know in the comment section what you think your Epic might be, but just know you do have value, your nation does have value no matter where you are born and your people (natal or adopted) do have value. If you feel displaced, it is natural in these Modern times, and just know that one way to combat this is to reconnect with your Great Romance, and to connect with other likeminded individuals, spread knowledge of it and to read it with a book-club, social group, friends, or family.

If there is truly none. They are on their way. Never fear, you WILL someday have that Great Romance you deserve, have faith, read, read, read. Authors the world over are working on it as we speak so take heart, deepen your connection with your nation and people around you and remember; God has blessed you with a nation and culture. That is a beautiful thing, and something worth clinging to.