Forsaken Saga

Forsaken Saga
Online Cover for the first book Winds of Night Reign of Blood unnamed unnamed unnamed unnamed Tears of Dawn
Author	Şafak Bayrak
Language	English Turkish
Genre(s)	Low fantasy, High fantasy, Dark fantasy, Medieval fantasy
Media Type	ebook audiobook

Forsaken Saga series is an ongoing epic fantasy novel series written by Şafak Bayrak. The worldbuilding for the series began in 2015, with writing continuing since 2023. Designed to be a heptalogy, the first book, Winds of Winter, is available online on ForsakenSaga.com, RoyalRoad, and Wattpad. The series is written in both English and the author's native Turkish. The second book is titled Reign of Blood, and the final book is named Tears of Dawn.

The narrative of the Forsaken Saga series unfolds in a fictional and fantastical world, primarily set on the western continent of Wesyrim, with plans to naturally integrate the eastern continent of Essyrium in later books. While primarily rooted in the low-fantasy subgenre, certain sections carry elements of high-fantasy and grimdark themes.

The series is told in the third-person through the eyes of a number of point of view characters. The first part of Winds of Winter features six main characters, with plans to increase this number to eight in the second part. These main characters are primarily witnesses to major events and some will directly shape the functioning of the fictional world in which the story takes place.

Back story

The initial chapters of the Forsaken Saga series predominantly discuss the kingdoms located on the fictional continent of Wesyrim, which is nearly half the size of Asia and has an ancient history spanning over thirteen thousand years. These kingdoms include the Kingdom of Harrigton, the Kingdom of Riverlands, and the Kingdom of Aston. Previously, the continent was ruled under the dominion of the Wesyrim Empire, but a new era began nearly three centuries ago following the empire’s collapse. The series begins in the 275th year of the Era of Salvation, which started after the fall of the Wesyrim Empire. The kingdoms on the continent are ruled by King Andes VI Harrigton of the Kingdom of Harrigton, King Robert III Lorance of the Kingdom of Riverlands, and King Anrah IV Ross of the Kingdom of Aston.

The first theme of the story describes events that shape the destiny of the royal family of the Kingdom of Aston, House Ross. It has been twenty-three years since King Anrah Ross, known as 'Royalgriffin', ascended to the throne after ending his father's reign through a rebellion. Queen Alissa Pansymon, for whom Anrah Ross started the Royalgriffin Rebellion, has fallen ill for unknown reasons, has been in a deep sleep for weeks, and is on her deathbed. Princess Lena, their young daughter, is accompanying her mother. Meanwhile, King Anrah’s eldest son and heir, known as the 'Exile Prince', Rhael Ross, is in exile in the Marches and is on his way back to the capital to potentially attend his mother's funeral. King Anrah’s eldest daughter, Miane Ross, is dealing with her mother’s impending death in her own way, trying to come to terms with this reality.

The second theme takes place in the northwestern lands of the Kingdom of Aston, within the Kingdom of Harrigton. A knight, commander of the Shadow Cloaks—a brotherhood sworn to King—Addamd Rowdark witnesses the clash of powers that govern the kingdom following the awakening of Prince Willian Harrigton from deepsleep. Prince Willian is also rallying his supporters to defend the kingdom against the raiders known as the islanders or Morne Marauders, who are invading Harrigton's northern shores. In the only city of Harrigton, Darkmare, a group of friends made up of orphans and street children, led by Bugg, Pate, and Maslan, are trying to survive amidst all this chaos.

The third theme involves a noble, exiled knight, Seth Aldmont, who, after the brotherhood he served as a mercenary for was massacred by the Morne Marauders, is captured by the islanders. Enduring torture and humiliation, Seth Aldmont struggles to survive and live under the captivity of the raiders.

Themes of the novels

Unlike the typical fantasy genre, characters within the Forsaken Saga series are not classified as simply good or evil. This choice is made to allow readers to empathize with characters of varying characteristic structures and to analyze them more accurately. The novels are not narrated from a definite third-person or omniscient viewpoint. Instead, the chapters are shaped by the perspectives of the characters themselves, as they perceive the world they live in. Therefore, the narratives are not absolute; two characters' perspectives on the same event, situation, or even location can contradict each other, and their memories and pasts may differ from one another’s viewpoints.

Concept and creation

See also: Themes in Forsaken Saga

Background and Origins

From 2016 to 2023, the author collected materials for the worldbuilding of the series and the world in which the story is set, gradually shaping its existence. During this time, the author wrote short stories to refine his writing style; while some of these stories are not part of the series, others are included in it. In addition, the author primarily wrote fanfiction set in the universes of Asoiaf and Dune, which he published on Facebook. Some of his stories were published in a free fanzine called Fantastika. At the same time, he began writing the 'Fallen Angel Trilogy' following an improvisational and literary RPG played with his group of friends. Although the writing of this series initially progressed concurrently with the Forsaken Saga, the Fallen Angel Trilogy project was later temporarily paused by the author. Although the series was initially designed as the House of Ross Trilogy, the author found this design insufficient and completely revised it, extending the series into a heptalogy. The writing style was changed from first-person to third-person.

Historic Influences

Within Forsaken Saga, some of the characters, events, and locations are directly inspired by history. The relationship between Anrah Ross and his son Rhael Ross is directly inspired by that of Suleiman the Magnificent, the 10th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and his son Şehzade Mustafa. The character Miane Ross is inspired by Umay Ana, a figure from ancient Turkic beliefs.

The historical Griffon Wars in the series are inspired by the Interregnum that followed the Ottoman Empire's decline after its war with the Timurid Empire. Similarly, the father of the brothers who fought for the throne during the Griffon Wars is inspired by Bayezid the Thunderbolt.

Although the overall theme of the series is early Western European history, the Asurhan People and cultures living in the eastern parts of the Wesyrim continent are inspired by the ancient Turks of Central Asia. Similarly, the Da’qa Natives in the southeast of the continent are inspired by the Kurds living in southeastern Turkey today, and their ancestors, the Medes.

The prevalent belief in the The Supreme in the lands of Harrigton in the west of the continent is also inspired by Zoroastrianism, a religion formerly believed in the Middle East and still having followers today. The conquest of the Wesyrim continent, also referred to as the Iron Invasion and the Iron Conquerors, is inspired by the conquest of England by William the Bastard and the Crusades.

Literary Influences

Regarding content, there are some major differences between the series and much of the high fantasy genre, but its structure has much in common with The Lord of the Rings. Martin states, "Although I differ from Tolkien in important ways, I’m second to no one in my respect for him. If you look at Lord of the Rings, it begins with a tight focus and all the characters are together. Then by end of the first book the Fellowship splits up and they have different adventures. I did the same thing. Everybody is at Winterfell in the beginning except for Dany, then they split up into groups, and ultimately those split up too. The intent was to fan out, then curve and come back together. Finding the point where that turn begins has been one of the issues I’ve wrestled with." Martin has acknowledged his debt to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Jack Vance and Tad Williams, but the series differs from Tolkien's inspiration in its greater use of realistic elements. While Tolkien was inspired by mythology, A Song of Ice and Fire is more clearly influenced by medieval and early modern history, most notably Jacobitism and the Wars of the Roses. Likewise, while Tolkien tended toward romantic relationships, Martin writes frankly of sex, including incest, adultery, prostitution, and rape. As a result, illegitimate children play prominent roles throughout the series. This has led to the series being cited as the forerunners of a 'gritty' new wave of epic fantasy authors that followed, including Scott Lynch and Joe Abercrombie. On his website, Martin has acknowledged historical fiction authors such as Bernard Cornwell and George MacDonald Fraser to be influences on the series. Martin has cited the cover blurb by Robert Jordan for the first book to have been influential in ensuring the series' early success with fantasy readers.

Publishing history

Overview

A list of the seven books planned for the series and their projected titles. The series is originally designed as a heptalogy.

• Winds of Night (2024-)
• Reign of Blood (not published)
• unnamed third book
• unnamed fourth book
• unnamed fifth book
• unnamed sixth book
• Tears of Dawn (not published)

Forsaken Saga Side Stories

• The Widow of Mount Neqra (not published)
• Joal the Fox (not published)
• Acorn King (not published)
• Knight of Wood (not published)
• Follower of the Shadow Trail (not published)
• The Innkeeper (not published)
• Dagga and the Sinkwood (not published)

The planned 'history compendium,' a companion book to the main series.

• Years of Sunsted (not published)
• Lands of Blood (not published)
• Dreamsongs (not published)

First novel (2024-current)

Following the worldbuilding that has been underway since 2015, the first book of the series, 'Winds of Night,' began to be written in 2024. Although designed for traditional print publishing, the chapters are actively published on RoyalRoad, Wattpad, and ForsakenSaga.com. Two history compendium-type books, 'Years of Sunsted' and 'Lands of Blood,' written before 'Winds of Night,' are continuously updated during the series' writing process and have not yet been published. After a pause in writing, the series resumed online publication in 2024. The purpose of online publication is to allow the author to see readers' direct reactions and comments and to test whether the depth of the story is sufficient based on these comments. The book is being written simultaneously in both English and the author's native Turkish. Additionally, there are plans to publish the book and the series as audiobooks on YouTube.

Pronunciation of names

Main article: Pronunciation guide

The pronunciation of characters' names within the series does not adhere to strict rules. Pronunciations are entirely left to the reader's desire and preference. However, some characters' names should be pronounced specifically, and the number of these characters is relatively fewer.

References

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at A Song of Ice and Fire. The list of authors can be seen in the page history of A Song of Ice and Fire. As with Forsaken Saga Wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.