Niall And Shadow-Truth

The Dog And The Wolf, 1, 3.

Niall of the Nine Hostages ensures that the destruction of Ys is not listed among his achievements and also that his name is not mentioned anywhere in the legend of Ys. That explains why he is the villain of the story only in a work of fiction published in the twentieth century!

Something written by Neil Gaiman is relevant both to The King of Ys and to Poul Anderson's A Midsummer Tempest. Watching the first ever performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, before Auberon's court, Puck comments:

"This is magnificent - - and it is true!

"It never happened; yet it is still true. What magic art is this?"

-Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Dream Country (New York, 1995), p. 75, panel 9.

Gaiman's title character, who had inspired the writing of the play, explains:

Morpheus: They shall not forget you. That was important to me: that King Auberon and Queen Titania will be remembered by mortals, until this age is gone.

Auberon: We thank you, Shaper, But this diversion, although pleasant, is not true. Things never happened thus.

Morpheus: Oh, but it IS true. Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.

Titania: If you say so, Dream Lord. We are honored.

Titania (in the play): This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.

-Gaiman, op. cit., p. 83, panels 3-6.

Gaiman's mentor, Alan Moore, wrote:

"The battle, far too big to be contained by simple FACTS, has spawned so many different LEGENDS, each with its own adherents; as valid, if not more so, as the TRUTH.

"APOCRYPHA, IMAGINARY tales: the library at Olympus has a THOUSAND such upon its shelves."

-Alan Moore, Miracleman, No. 15 (Forestville, CA, November 1988), p. 9, panel 6.

So is there some verisimilitude to the narrative of Niall destroying Ys?