The unnamed Fantasy Novel (幻想小説, Gensou shousetsu)? is a book and important plot device in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
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The book was written by King Hythlodaeus V and depicts a world with only one tribe, where people are born equals, their civil rights enshrined within law. There is no magic, and people must rely upon their knowledge and skills. Citizens of this world enjoy freedom of security, democracy, protection from discrimination, faith, freedom of occupation and a rightful ruler. The novel's utopia however, is in fact, no fantasy but based on ideals from what the world once was before the discovery of magla regressed the world to a post-apocalyptic, medieval-era-like state.
The book was quickly banned by the Sanctist Church in order to prevent a second repeat of the wars that utterly destroyed the World Before that it was based on, and ordered all copies of the novel to be burned. That being said, the king can still distribute at least two books in the Ancient Eldan Sanctum, where his ideals would be more-or-less accepted with open arms. These books are owned by the prince and Louis Charadrius, although the prince's book has been transferred to the protagonist's following his assassination attempt in the hands of the Sanctist Church and the subsequent extraction of his soul by the eldan queen to create the protagonist.
In the wake of the prince's death after defending the Eldan Sanctum from Cirsium Zorba, the voice of the eldan queen revealed the truth to the protagonist. He is actually a physical manifestation of the late prince's soul, ideals and desires. Using the book as a vessel, the eldan queen created a body of pure magla to house the prince's soul, similar to the divine relics' power to create dragons, allowing him to travel the world as a different person.
During the final confrontation with Louis, when he attempted to transform the protagonist into a human again, the latter fought back against the spell by ripping out and destroying his own heart. More then managed to save him from the brink of death by pulling his spirit into Akademeia via the fantasy novel. There, More would attempt to convince the protagonist to stay with him by recreating an imaginary version of Shibuya from his novel and fleeing into this "real world." Choosing to agree with More will result in a bad ending where the protagonist is stuck inside the illusionary Shibuya forever.
Usage
The protagonist uses his fantasy novel to access Akademeia, where he can bond with More and upgrade his and his party's Archetype abilities.
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Trivia
- The inspiration for the fantasy novel may be linked to the socio-political fiction satire titled Utopia, written by Thomas More in 1516. Both books share the similar narrative of a fictional perfect world, and both are written by authors who share the same name.