A small portion of this swamp lies inside the Kingdom of Vanyanin Aran'dor; the rest extends beyond the borders. There is a reason for the name "Hopeless Swamp", for it is a hopeless place. Those who enter here, usually do not return. Those who have returned, have returned changed. They have become morose, depressed, pessimistic. They no longer find hope or joy in life. They are devoid of everything . . . . The swamp is vast, ugly, dull. No happiness lies here within its marshes. There is no beauty. There is no joy. There is no love. There is only hopelessness and despair.
There really are no stories surrounding the swamp, save for one. It concerns a fae who had lost her soul mate. He had been killed in battle, and she could not bear the thought of any kind of life without him. On the battlefield where he died, she fell to her knees in a brokenhearted agony . . . and shed one single, hopeless tear . . . and where that tear fell, the swamp began to appear. It swallowed up the battlefield, and the faerie with it. And to this day, within those marshy waters, her heartbroken sadness still resides. There are no more stories known surrounding the swamp. No one who returns from it ever willingly talks about it again . . .
My advice? Do not travel here, even out of curiosity. |