Editing Approved Literature (section)

==Mythology==

*'''''Beowulf''''': Beowulf, the questing adventurer, rips off an arm of monstrous Grendel, then goes down into a lake to kill Grendel's mum after she offs his friend. Beowulf becomes a king and is eventually killed by a dragon, but makes his friend his successor before dying. Be warned: while it sounds like the manliest adventure ever, in reality it's incredibly dull to read.

*'''''The Epic of Gilgamesh''''': The original Conan, gettin' bitches and slayin' witches since 1800BC, baby. The story of Gilgamesh (no shit; might have been Bilgamesh originally), a demi-god Sumerian king who the gods continually try to beat down and/or kill because he's [[Awesome|just that fucking awesome.]] [[That guy|He's also a HUUUUUUGE dick.]] Eventually meets his best bro for life Enkidu and they go on fuckin' sick adventures. Unfortunately some parts of the story are lost.

*'''''[[Mythology#Xiyou_Ji_.28Journey_To_The_West.29|Journey to the West]]''''': One of China's most famous bits of literature, which covers a broad range of topics including Chinese myths, monsters, folk tales, and Buddhist thought in general. Best known on /tg/ for spawning [[Anime|everyone's favorite anime/manga about a certain half-monkey xeno super fighter]] and its main character featuring in a load of fantasy games, including [[D&D]] and [[Warhammer Fantasy]], and just about every known MOBA/"Aeon of Strife Styled Fortress Assault Game Going On Two Sides". Preferably find an abridged version below 400 pages, for the whole thing takes an entire bookshelf and is written in a sickeningly repetitive style of a Buddhist parable.

*'''''Kullervo''''': Some Finnish nationalist figured, how come ''we'' don'ts gots a mythology. So he made one - the Kalevala - but with even MORE grimdark and [[incest Smith|incest]]. JRR Tolkien edited a rendition of the Kullervo subset and, further, both he and Moorcock independently(?) took inspiration for their own antiheroes with magic souldraining swords, Turin and Elric respectively.

*'''''Mahābhārata''''': A Hindu epic story about family struggle for the rightful rule, performing your religious duty and also... pfft! Just kidding: it's wall to wall tits, ultra-violence and bullshit superpowers. But also family struggle, romances, political intrigues and handy panorama of nascent Hindu religion. Also - magnificent mustaches, the manlier you are, the bigger the stach. It's '''THE''' ultimate Bronze Age epic, long enough to take an entire bookshelf by itself. As such, you should be looking for an abridged version around 600-800 pages, rather than the whole thing.

*'''''Der Nibelunge liet (The Lay of the Nibelungs)''''': A ring is found at the Rhine; a dragon (Fafnir, for Wagner) finds it; dragon gets BTFOed by one Siegfried who is then corrupted himself. Written around AD 1200 by a High German, that is high up in Bavaria; with many parallels to similar stories in the ''Edda'' far north. Deemed too pagan for the Renaissance-era Germans, lost in the ensuing religious wars; rediscovered 1755 and became the national epic... for better or worse. Wagner's [[/pol/]]-approved take (Fafnir is a greedy dwarf, becomes that dragon) pulls more from the Norse. That's the one wherein wabbits are killed.

*'''''The Odyssey''''': Sequel to Homer's Iliad, possibly by a fan adopting that name. Odysseus, hero of the Trojan War with many cameos in the Iliad, has to go home to his wife - but he's in no hurry. Runs through many adventures before finally getting there; his wife somehow had stayed more loyal than ''he'' had. Many C.S. Lewis and then D&D monsters got aired here first. [Also] in Iliad / Odyssey fanfic may be included the Cypria and the Aeneid; Argonautica, concerning Jason's earlier voyage to the Black Sea, further had much influence from this book.

*'''''[[The Poetic Edda]]''''': A historical source, the Poetic Edda provides most of the basis for what we know about Norse myth and belief today. The mere fact that it's [[Viking]] myth poetry written in [[Awesome|Old Norse]] should entice most fa/tg/uys, but for those somehow unmoved still, it's basically THE sourcebook for the [[Lord of the Rings]] and all else [[Tolkien]]. If you want to know where Gandalf (who is basically Odin), [[Dwarves]] (and their names), [[Elves]], the phrase "[[Middle Earth]]" and that obsession he has for massive trees came from, then look no further. Also, pick up a copy of the Prose Edda while your reading this one, seeing as you're on a roll. Features a now-confirmed-to-AD-1022 visit to Newfoundland ("Markland"), whence the Norse bugged out in a generation because who the fuck wants to spend more time in Noof than one has to.