The Horned God in Modern Paganism and Fantasy Fiction

A look at the Horned God's role as an environmental figure in modern paganism, fantasy fiction and Live Action Role-Play, this book explores how narratives informed by pagan thought are uniquely suited to introduce environmental concerns and their possible solutions.

Tracing the development of the Horned God from the figure's coalescence in the Romantic period to the popularisation of the term by Margaret Murray in 1931, author Anna Milon considers his composite characters - Cernunnos, Pan, Sorcerer of Trois Freres, and Herne the Hunter and more - his connection to the Wild Hunt, ritual, the literary Maiden, and the trope of the Dying God. Not just alert to portrayals in a broad range of speculative and eco-fantasy fiction by writers including Susan Cooper, Lucy Holland, William Rainer, Mark Chadbourn and Terry Pratchett, the book also examines how related narratives are taken up in Live Action Role-Play games such as Curious Pastimes to show how LARPing offers a locus for consumers of narrative to respond and develop those narratives in real time.

With the Horned God revealed as a nature deity and a liminal figure between humanity, animality and divinity, the book positions him as a vehicle for considering human relationships with the environment without falling into didacticism or alienating people with traumatic depictions of ecological collapse. With readings of eco-fantastical narratives as a meaningful way of engaging with environmental activism, Anna Milon charges the Horned God with encouraging us to reconceptualise our relationship with the more-than-human world.