On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness

There is much debate in Christian circles about whether the fantasy genre is compatible with Christian values, and many Christians refuse to engage with fantasy in general. When J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was first popularized, for instance, many Christians accused the books of promoting Satanism or luring children into the occult, despite the fact that Rowling is Christian and despite the Christian allegories present in the series (Halford, Macy. “Harry Potter and Religion.” The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2010). Christian opponents of fantasy novels typically object to the presence of elements like magic, witchcraft, or esoteric spirituality, which they consider antithetical to Christianity. Peterson, on the other hand, is one of several Christian writers who engage with fantasy to promote Christian themes. C. S. Lewis’s series The Chronicles of Narnia is perhaps the most well-known example of Christian children’s fantasy, and Peterson’s work draws heavily on Lewis’s fiction. Works like J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time are similarly influenced by Christian themes without being explicit about doctrine. 

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness is a didactic text that brings Christian ideology to the fantasy genre. It contains similar elements to other didactic Christian fiction like The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, wherein a girl learns that she is the heir to the kingdom of Moonacre. Like the Igiby children, she sets an example for Christian children on how to behave, embodying values like obedience and respect for her elders while upholding patriarchal gender roles. As a general rule, the child protagonists of secular fantasy stories tend to disobey authority and go against the established order to accomplish their quests. Additionally, the worlds of The Little White Horse and On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, like many works of Christian children’s fantasy, mostly lack magical elements, reimagining the fantasy genre to be more compatible with Christian beliefs about magic. In this novel, some magical elements are introduced in association with the Fangs, aligning the concept of magic with evil.