Magical swords, books of the dead, cursed rings – occult objects are actually quite prevalent in writing. But how can we use them effectively, particularly in writing works in the Horror or Gothic genre? And why would we want to?
That’s what we’re talking about today!
It may surprise most people to realize that they’re probably well-acquainted with the idea of occult objects. After all, how many of us haven’t seen the Disney version of The Sword in the Stone, in which a young Arthur pulls the enchanted sword out of the stone and secures his right to the throne?
Or how about the family movie, The Mummy, in which The Book of the Dead is used and accidentally calls forth the evil mummy Imhotep. And the Book of Amun-Ra, which they successfully use to combat the evil in the end.
How about the magical One Ring in The Lord of the Rings – a cursed object that must be destroyed before it can be used to enslave all of Middle Earth.
Before we go any further, note two things. One: an occult object is something that supposedly contains some magical powers, something that links the physical world to the supernatural one. (Occult technically refers to those things that are hidden or secret; the things that can’t be seen or sensed physically.)
And two: there are different ways to handle objects like these. They can be treated as objects of wonder and blessing, as a source of beneficial power to the recipient. Although of course, there may still be consequences to the use (or overuse) of them. That’s essentially how The Sword in the Stone presents such things. Or they can be treated as dangerous tools that, though powerful, should be avoided. That’s how Tolkien presents the One Ring. And lastly, there’s a middle ground, such as that in The Mummy, in which some occult items are beneficial and others should be destroyed.
Regardless of your opinion of these things, there’s a way to incorporate them into your writing. I would even go so far as to say that doing so reflects reality more accurately. Why? Because I believe that the supernatural world is real. And to represent it in our writing imbues our stories with more truth than they would otherwise have. For me, the real question isn’t whether they should be in there, but what should we say about them?
Regardless of how you want to present these things, my goal is to show you how to use them in your writing.
[Minor plot spoiler ahead.]
This post came about because of a book that I recently featured on my YouTube channel: Summer of Night, by Dan Simmons. In that book, he uses an accursed object: the Borgia Bell as the source of the evil in the town’s schoolhouse. The bell, an object that had come pre-cursed, grows in strength over the years in the bell tower of the school until it has the power to call forth all kinds of evil and with that, to ensnare a number of the townspeople.
To the best of my knowledge, there’s never been a Borgia Bell. I tried to find a reference to one, but so far, haven’t found any such thing. However, there was a Borgia family, of which many of us are at least nominally familiar. This Spanish family came about during the Italian Renaissance and has been suspected of many crimes, including adultery, incest, simony, theft, bribery, and murder (especially murder by arsenic poisoning).1 In short, the name Borgia has become synonymous with immorality and crime.
The Historical Link
Which is why I mention it. Though it’s not necessary, tying an occult object to a historical person or event can give it an enormous amount of weight. Tolkien pulled his idea for the One Ring from Wagner’s four ring operas. Wagner, a man who was interested in the occult, took his idea from several Scandinavian and German sources, primarily The Saga of the Volsungs.[2]
Even though, as with the Borgia Bell, such a thing may have never existed, the Borgia name lends credence to the object itself. And because of the Borgia reputation, readers immediately view such an object with suspicion. That response that will imbue your story with more terror.
In addition, with the historical link, there’s no need to be too specific about how the object gained its magical power – for good or evil. Sometimes less of that backstory carries more power with readers. Regardless of whether your object is tied to a historical figure or incident, what you don’t want is for your extensive understanding of how the object became cursed to result in a technical manual that breaks the tension of the story. Keep it to the bare minimum that readers absolutely need to know.
But what object should you choose?
What Object?
The object you use should tie to the central point of the story. In Summer of Night, the bell makes perfect sense because the story is focused on the beauty of childhood and the extent to which modern society has resulted in a loss of the kind of freedoms that children used to enjoy. Thus, the bell – an object that resides in a schoolhouse that’s set to be boarded up and never used again – parallels the central theme.
In The Lord of the Rings, a trilogy that sets out to showcase the battle between good and evil, it makes perfect sense that the tool of the dark lord, Sauron, a tool that he uses to control all of the earth, would be the central object. Its existence or destruction, and the other characters’ ability to overcome its sway over them, mirrors that theme.
Start by asking yourself, what is the overarching point of what you are writing? What are you trying to say? Then brainstorm ways that an object could encapsulate that theme.
For example, if you’re writing a Horror novel about a family in which the father gained his wealth and reputation in business by swindling and ruining others, perhaps the object could be a specific, luxury pen, the tool he used in his shady business contracts. The pen contains all of the deceit and greed that he inadvertently poured into it over the years. Perhaps one of his children – or one of the family’s longstanding enemies – finds the pen and uses it, unleashing a storm of revenge on the family. All your readers see is that something terrible is happening to this family and it all seems to stem from the pen. It’s up to you to use the novel to reveal the pieces of the family’s history and to force this family – who may also be complicit – into a corner where they have to face their past and address it.
Gothic vs. Horror
Which brings us to a final thought: how might you use the object differently if you’re writing in the Gothic genre versus the Horror one?
The example I just laid out is a great example of a Horror theme: the past secret sin, or moral failing, of this man (and possibly his family with him) is catching up to him, forcing upon his family the consequences of his actions.
But what would a Gothic example look like?
Let’s say that the irrational theme you want to explore is the following: Is a person in control of her own life, or is it all a predetermined thing? Your belief is that it’s all predetermined. A pen could work with this theme as well.
Your character, a young girl who’s deeply frustrated after a series of bitter disappointments encounters a fortune teller who tells her the direction that her life will go. The girl, who sees that future as her worst nightmare – the culmination of all of her disappointment – goes to a witch who fashions a pen for her. The pen gives her the ability to write her future. But there’s one caveat. She can’t write the end result. She can only write the next step. The girl takes the pen home and embarks on a journey in which she consistently writes each next step in order to attempt to steer herself away from the future she thinks is her destiny and towards the one she wants instead.
But, the harder she tries to go a different direction, the more what she writes takes her away from her desired future so that she finally finds herself with the exact future that the fortune teller had told her. Perhaps it takes a different form than she expected, but is, in spirit, identical. Perhaps she’s resigned to it in the end. Perhaps she’s surprised by how much it suits her.
That’s for you to decide. But the point is, in this case, you’ve used the same occult object to support an irrational (Gothic) theme rather than a Horror one.
Conclusion
Frankly, I think both would be wildly interesting. But the key is to keep your object central to your theme and to use it in conjunction with your genre. And to let us all know about it so that we can enjoy the result of your hard work!
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1 “House of Borgia”. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Borgia. Referenced October 23, 2021
2 “Ring Literary Sources”. Texas Liberal Arts. https://www.laits.utexas.edu/wagner/ringsources/ringsources.html. Referenced October 23, 2021