The Goblin Emperor
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Goblin Emperor |
| Abbreviation(s): | TGE |
| Creator: | Sarah Monette, writing as Katherine Addison |
| Date(s): | 2014, 2021-present |
| Medium: | books |
| Country of Origin: | USA |
| External Links: | author website |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Goblin Emperor is a small fandom based on the The Goblin Emperor fantasy series by American author Sarah Monette, writing under the pseudonym Katherine Addison.[1] As well as the main book, The Goblin Emperor (2014), there is a series of books (two so far) called The Cemeteries of Amalo, set in the same world and following a side character from The Goblin Emperor.
Cemeteries of Amalo series:
- The Witness for the Dead (2021)
- The Grief of Stones (2022)
As of June 2022, it has over 500 works on AO3,[2] but it remains eligible for Yuletide and has been a popular Yuletide fandom in 2022 and previous years.[3]
Canon
The Goblin Emperor is about Maia, the disfavored and exiled youngest son of the Emperor of the Elflands, who is suddenly elevated to the thrown when a terrorist attack kills his father and older brothers. Unexpectedly thrust into a position of power, Maia must grapple with court politics, power struggles, bringing his family's killers to justice, and making allies with no training other than his own skills and innate kindness.
The Cemeteries of Amalo series follows Thara Celehar, Prelate of Ulis, as he takes a new job: Witness for the Dead in the city of Amalo. Witness for the Dead is somewhere between a legal and religious position, and the stories feature the cases he undertakes and the people he meets in the course of his duties.
Fandom
the goblin emperor is about being kind - it’s about choosing kindness at every opportunity because you weren’t shown enough of it and now you have the power to, you’re going to be better- do betterthe goblin emperor is about breaking cycles. it’s about recognising you’ve been caught in a near endless ouroboros of pain and neglect and power trips and recognising how easy it is for you to follow down that same path and how desperately you want to do better
the goblin emperor is realising that power is only worth a damn if you are willing to let it flow, let it circulate, if you release some of your breath so that others may breathe too. (why shouldn’t your sister study the stars?)
the goblin emperor is hearing that a river is too fast, too dangerous, too high - that your ideas are too ‘forward-thinking’, too naive, too dangerous - and knowing that may not always be the case
the goblin emperor is about finally enjoying a shared meal after years of torment with family members excited to get to know you, about a flower finally being allowed to flourish after years of drought and dark and a heavy boot’s stomp
the goblin emperor is is about building a bridgedreamer-of-thieves [4]
Fans passionately love the main character, Maia, and his relationships with his aides and allies in court. One large area of focus is on Maia and his Nohecharei, or formal guardians, with explorations of the relationships in both platonic and romantic manners.
There is also a lot of love for the complex world building of the series, from the court politics to the conlang to cultural nuance. Many of fanworks on AO3 are gen works exploring the complexities of the world.[5]
A small but dedicated fandom has developed for the Thara Celehar/Iana Pel-Thenhior relationship which develops in the Cemetaries of Amalo series.
Pairings
As of May 2022, there were over 550 fanworks in the series tag on AO3.
Favourite pairings included:
- Csethiro Ceredin/Maia Drazhar (m/f, canon husband and wife) - 90 works
- Csevet Aisava/Maia Drazhar (m/m, the Emperor and his trusted secretary) - 67 works
- Cala Athmaza/Deret Beshelar (m/m, two of the Emperor’s bodyguards) - 32 works
- Csethiro/Maia/Csevet - 19 works
- Thara Celehar/Iana Pel-Thenhior, from the Cemeteries of Amalo spin-off series (m/m) - 17 works
Fanworks
Fanfic
- Sufficient, Archived version, by atheilen -- deaged Maia bonds with his Nohecharei
- Give My Hands True Purpose, Archived version, by nooziewoozie -- Maia and Csethiro wedding day, post-canon fic
- Take These Tower Stones, Archived version by hermitknut -- post-canon, Maia/Csethiro/Csevet
- A Nuisance Though Thou Art, Archived version by wedgetail -- pre-book canon divergence AU in which Setheris dies when Maia is eleven and crown prince Nemolis takes over his welfare.
Podfic
- (Podfic) Sufficient, by zahnie, 2016. Tethimar's bastard comes to court.
- (Podfic) All Cats Are Royalty, by sisi_rambles, 2018. A Our Dark Materials daemon AU.
- (Podfic) can't fight against the youth, by sisi_rambles, 2022. Idra-centric.
- (Podfic) Late Night Tea, by greedy_dancer, 2022. Csevet/Maia gen.
- (Podfic) An Imperial Patron, by lattice_frames, 2022. Thara Celehar/Iana Pel-Thenhior.
Fanart
Meta
- I got to go shopping for the first time in like a year..., meta and book recommendation by honourablejester, June 2021
Resources
- The Goblin Emperor fandom.com wiki
References
- ^ Sarah Monette (11-13-2009). "Announcement". WayBack Machine archive of author’s LiveJournal post.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=and|archive-date=(help) - ^ The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison works on AO3, Archive.org backup created 3 June 2022.
- ^ Yuletide collection's TGE works -- featuring 80 works total and 11 works for Yuletide 2022.
- ^ tumblr post by dreamer-of-thieves, Archived version. 18 January 2022. Accessed 15 February 2022
- ^ Archive.org snapshot of the AO3 Tag on Jan 2, 2023 showing that 251 out of 585 works (about 43%) are labeled Gen, and that "Worldbuilding" is one of the top 10 additional tags used in the fandom.