Humanizing Nature: How "The Rooted and the Winged" Blends Fantasy with Climate Change

Have you ever looked at an ancient, majestic tree and wondered what stories it would tell

if it could? If you have, then The Rooted and the Winged by Samantha Curran is the novel for you! A whimsical, environmental fantasy with over forty illustrations, this self-published novel targets readers ages thirteen to eighteen. I've been enjoying it immensely as a thirty-year-old reader for its fascinating worldbuilding rooted in both ecology and Celtic mythology.

Faeries and dryads occupy this fictional land, depending on each other to keep the

ecosystem of their forest in balance. In the name of their Ancient Law, by age one hundred,

every faerie must Unite with a dryad and give up their immortality. In return, the dryad gives the faerie wings made of their own leaves. Through this ritual of Uniting, both faeries and dryads become fertile, allowing them to later sprout new life with their own kind.

However, this centuries-old tradition changed when one thousand years ago, a faerie

named Fafnir convinced the Faerie Queen to revoke the Ancient Law and give faeries the choice to reject Uniting with the dryads. Fafnir just wanted to keep his own immortality, and, in his blissful ignorance, he didn’t expect a majority of the faerie population to choose immortality over Uniting with the dryads. Now, because too many faeries refuse to Unite, the dryads are dying off, and because of this, natural disasters are repeatedly striking their forest. Realizing this, Fafnir deeply regrets his decision to influence the Queen. Unable to convince her to put the Ancient Law back in its place, he goes behind her back on a quest to convince faeries to Unite once again.

Esen is a hazel dryad that wants to help her forest but isn’t sure how. A disastrous flood

causes her sister to sprout from the ground too early, making her frail and susceptible to the cold, harsh winters. When Fafnir journeys through her lands, Esen realizes his mysterious quest might hold the key to her sister's survival. To save both her sister and their home, she joins him on a treacherous journey to Unite their species once again.

This novel uses the dying forest as an allegory for climate change in our world. Curran

uses scientific facts to have Fafnir explain to the other faeries how dire their crisis is. He shows them how the roots of dryads stabilize the soil of riverbanks, preventing erosion. When plants like dryads die off, the topsoil becomes eroded, which causes riverbanks to collapse and water levels to rise, leading to dangerous floods. He also later explains that the rising temperatures they are experiencing are due to the lack of shade from the dryads’ leaves. This leads to rainwater running off the dry soil, causing more floods, droughts, and wildfires.

In a novel where many of the characters are dryads of various trees (rowan, hazel,

blackthorn, willow, etc.), nature is humanized in an intimate way. Curran shows readers that trees deserve the same amount of love and respect that we show people. By grounding her fantasy in both personified nature and ecological facts, The Rooted and the Winged illustrates the delicate, interrelated balance of all life. We are connected to the trees, the insects, the animals, and even the wind itself. Fanir tells Esen on page 251:

“’Wind is the force that stirs your leaves and carries the scent of the flowers to us faeries

below. Without the wind, the forest is still; lifeless. The clouds would not glide through the sky, water would not pass from the rivers into the sea, and rain would not be gathered to fall upon the soil. All of life depends on the wind. It is the breath, the lifeblood of the land. Therefore, it is reasonable for us to worship such a force.”

The Rooted and the Winged is a magnificently crafted novel that can teach readers about

the importance of remaining united with nature and each other. Right now, our world is in just as much danger as the world in Curran’s fantasy novel. We need to think about how our actions are impacting the fragile systems at work in our world and ask ourselves what we can do to try and make a change. The answer probably isn’t going to be an epic quest like Fafnir and Esen’s, but maybe it can just be educating ourselves, educating others, and making simple changes to our everyday lives.

Image credit: Cover design and art by Samantha Curran