The Speech (fiction) facts for kids

In many fantasy and science fiction stories, there's a special idea called a trope. A trope is like a common theme or idea that shows up a lot. One cool trope is the idea of a central language, often called The Speech. This language is sometimes thought of as the very first language, or even the true words that helped create the universe itself.

What is The Speech?

In stories, The Speech often has special powers and uses. It's not just any language; it's usually very important to the world of the story.

Special Powers of The Speech

This amazing language often has several unique abilities:

• It lets people understand all other languages, even those spoken by animals.
• It can be used to perform magic and cast spells.
• It's often spoken by important or powerful characters, like wizards or ancient beings.
• It can be very hard or even impossible to lie when speaking The Speech.

The Speech in Young Wizards

A great example of The Speech is found in the Young Wizards book series by Diane Duane. In these stories, all creatures and things can understand The Speech. They can even speak it a little bit without learning it.

However, it's the wizards who use The Speech as their main language. They use it to do all their magic. The Speech is very detailed and can describe things that other languages cannot. Wizards must be very careful when using it. If they describe something incorrectly, it could cause big problems. It might even change the thing they are talking about! Because of this, wizards are told never to lie or curse when using The Speech.

When wizards cast spells, they describe what they want to happen using The Speech. Then, with a final word, the spell is released to do its work. The written form of The Speech in these books looks a bit like Arabic writing. In one book, Deep Wizardry, a character even mistakes it for Arabic letters.

Other Stories with a Special Language

Many other fantasy books also feature a powerful, central language:

• In the Pellinor series by Alison Croggon, the Bards are magic users. They use "the Speech," which is an ancient language that helps them activate their magic.
• Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle features an old language called the Ancient Language. Elves use it, and it's also used for casting spells.
• In Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series, the True Speech is the language of magic. It's the natural language of dragons. Wizards have to study hard to learn it. Humans cannot lie when speaking the True Speech, but dragons can. This language is known by many names, like the Old Speech or the Language of the Making.