How fantasy authors build worlds by manipulating your cognitive estrangement
In short: To make a fictional world feel real, authors must balance two opposing forces: making the setting feel alien enough to be magical, yet familiar enough to be understood. This delicate tension is known as cognitive estrangement, and it is the engine that drives immersion in high fantasy.
In Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, worldbuilding relies heavily on 'neologies'—new words created specifically for the fictional universe. According to research on the Finnish translation of The Final Empire, these words must achieve a specific duality. They need to provide an 'estranging effect' to signal that the reader is in a different world, while remaining 'cognitive' enough for the reader to grasp the underlying logic of that world's physics or society. The study analyzed the first 62 neologies in the first novel to assess these effects. These specific terms are essential for introducing the reader to the series' unique setting.
The success of this immersion often depends on translation choices. In the Finnish version, Viimeinen valtakunta, researchers found that most neologies were 'retentive,' meaning they preserved the original sense of estrangement to maintain the fantasy feel. However, some were 'recreated' to prioritize 'generic fluency'—making the text smoother and more accessible to the local audience. When a translator chooses fluency over estrangement, it can significantly alter the reader's experience of the world's unique identity. Researchers noted that many translations were chosen automatically rather than being judged individually. This suggests that the methods used for neosemes often relied on direct translation or direct transfer.
Beyond linguistics, the series utilizes structural formulas to ground its world. Analysis of The Final Empire shows that the narrative integrates three distinct formulas: adventure to drive the plot, mystery to engage the reader intellectually, and romance to provide emotional depth. By layering these traditional storytelling structures, Sanderson creates a framework where the reader can navigate complex new concepts, like the political turmoil of Luthadel or the mysterious 'Well of Ascension,' without losing their sense of narrative direction. In the sequel, the city of Luthadel faces a siege from three distinct armies. One of these forces consists of koloss, which are massive blue creatures once controlled by the Lord Ruler.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Building Worlds with Words : Strategies of Translating Neologies into Finnish in Brandon Sanderson’s The Final Empire
- Also: Mistborn: The Well of Ascension
- Also: JURNAL RISET RUMPUN ILMU BAHASA — Literary Formula in Novel Mistborn: The Final Empire · cc-by-sa
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