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“AHH!! AHH!” the child screamed while rolling around on the ground in his swimsuit, with his parents monitoring him nearby. I was teaching a 6-year-old boy with autism how to swim. I didn’t expect that the YMCA would entrust a 14-year-old with the safety of a special needs child. I could see the joy escape from his eyes as he saw me standing in the kiddie pool. I later learned that he didn’t expect to float in the water because the water to him is floating in mud to us. Screaming ensued from the child until his parents and I finally calmed him down by letting him play with all the toy ducks in the bin. 

In my freshmen year during 2018-2019, after two incredible recommendation letters from my USA league swim team coaches, I was given the volunteer job of a private swim instructor at West Suburban YMCA in Newton MA after passing swim and safety tests. Basically, I had to deliver the three important aspects of swimming: float, blowing bubbles and having no aquaphobia. 

I was taught to eliminate aquaphobia from kids by submerging them underwater. That was exactly what I did to the child with autism when I assisted him into the water; bad idea. The parents sadly looked at me as they rushed to comfort their child. By then, his whole lesson was over and he spent more time on land than in the water. After that lesson, I read online about how to teach children with autism. 

By playing games and talking to him in a soothing voice, I realized that after each subsequent swim, the child had begun to trust me more and more. Initially, aquaphobia was present in the child, but after a couple of lessons, he was comfortable floating on his back with me assisting him. At the end of his program, I had taught him to a point where he was able to float and blow bubbles without being terrified. I was proud. 

When I informed my student that this was his last lesson, he wrapped his arms around my waist and subsequently sneezed on me. Volunteering to teach someone with autism had taught me many important life lessons: patience, the bonding of trust, and empathy. My job has also given me confidence in myself to accept challenges and be out of my comfort zone.

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue illustrates the journey main character Addie Larue takes as she makes a wish to the dark shadow gods. The book transitions between present day and her past self, shifting perspectives often. Addie once felt dissatisfied with life and longed for freedom. On the day of her arranged marriage, she made an agreement with a dark god who granted Addie her wish for freedom...but by granting her eternal life. The catch - no one remembered who she was and Addie couldn’t even say her name/communicate with others. Addie continues her life for 300 years, dwindling between New York, Paris, and her hometown. Suddenly, she meets a boy who can remember who Addie is. This leads into a whole series of events, memories, and incredible plot twists. I would give this book 5 stars because the concept was so new and I have not read anything like this before. The descriptions were so vivid and made me feel as if I was walking beside Addie as she went through her rollercoaster of a journey. I recommend this book if you are looking for a fresh new perspective on life and time. This book definitely made me think and reflect on my own choices and career aspirations. It really gets to the core of “what is my purpose in life and how do I achieve that?”.

Many readers today are familiar with the ending of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, in which the four children, now kings and queens of Narnia, wander upon the lamp post again. They stumble through the evergreen trees until they reach the fur coats, eventually falling through the wardrobe back home, all within in an hour of their first arrival to Narnia (Lewis 187). The time warp is one of the most iconic features of Narnia, and yet, Lewis did not invent the idea of Secondary World time distortion. J.R.R. Tolkien attempted similar time trickery in The Lord of the Rings (Hammond xlvi-xlvii), nor the concept is not unique to the Inklings. Time distortion is an old fairy-tale motif found in stories such as Niamh and Oisín where three years in the Land of Youth is three hundred years on Earth. This is one of the numerous folkloric and mythic elements found throughout Fantasy. Fantasy draws on a variety of mythologies for its framework, from the magical hippogriffs and phoenixes in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books to the dark elves of Dungeons and Dragons. 

One theme in particular, that of the “fairy lover” or “fairy romance,” has remained commonplace in fantastical literature for centuries. The fairy romance involves any attraction between a human, in this traditional often called a “mortal,” and a supernatural humanoid typically called an “immortal.” While the mortal is usually a wandering prince or common country girl, the immortal possesses unearthly beauty and magic. Most of these romances are of Celtic origin, such as Eithne the Bride, Echtra Condla and Tochmarc Étaíne with a few Germanic legends such as Hrolfs Saga Kraki and the Elvehøj and Elveskud ballads. Stories about the love of mortals and immortal fay date back to pre-Christian Ireland in the myths of the Tuatha Dé Danann and their lovers. Echtra Condla is one such myth about a man who joins a fairy mistress on a boat to the land of eternal bliss; Tochmarc Étaíne follows the story of Étaín, the wife of the Tuatha Dé Danann king, Midhir, who dies and is reincarnated as a mortal who to be reunited with Midhir. Chivalrous romances in The Matter of Britain tell of knights who win the hands of fairy maidens through deeds of valor. In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Fairy Queen, Titania, is tricked into falling for the donkey-faced mortal Bottom. In the 19th Century, Oscar Wilde’s mother, Lady Jane Wilde, recorded the stories Eithne the Bride and The Fairy Dance, in which mortal girls fall in love with fairy princes (Wilde 54 and 77). Francis James Child recorded several ballads about fay and human romance in his collection English and Scottish Popular Ballads including Thomas Rhymer, Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight, The Elfin Knight, and Tam Lin. When Fantasy began in the early 19th Century, the fairy-lover was incorporated into the genre soon after. This paper will map the authors and works of the fairy lover tradition in Fantasy.

Best known for his children’s books such as The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald, wrote one of the first notable uses of the fairy romance in the first chapter of his first Fantasy novel, Phantastes: A Faerie romance for Men and Women (1858). The protagonist of the story, Anodos, wakes up one morning to discover a minute woman in his room. Anodos does not believe that a woman can be so small, so she transforms into a beautiful fairy woman in front of him (MacDonald 8):

Overcome with the presence of a beauty which I could now perceive, and drawn towards her by an attraction irresistible as incomprehensible, I suppose I stretched out my arms towards her, for she drew back a step or two, and said—

“Foolish boy, if you could touch me, I should hurt you. Besides, I was two hundred and thirty-seven years old, last Midsummer eve; and a man must not fall in love with his grandmother, you know.”

“But you are not my grandmother,” said I (MacDonald 8)

The woman warns him that he will enter Fairy Land and disappears. She does not appear again, but as the story progresses, Anodos discovers that he has fairy blood in him (MacDonald 15). Though the encounter with the fairy woman is little more than an homage, it is a significant use of the element. It was not until another one of Fantasy’s most celebrated authors that theme took center place in a Fantasy novel.

Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter (1924) was one of the first High Fantasy novels; High Fantasy being is subgenre of Fantasy set in a fully enclosed Secondary World (Mendlesohn and James 253). The story follows Alveric of Erl who, at his father’s request, is sent to win the hand of the princess of Elfland. The story follows Alveric’s journey into Elfland, his escape from Elfland with the elven princess, Lirazel, his separation from Lirazel, and the story of their son and their family’s reunion. Instead of incorporating the fairy lover theme as a minor encounter like George MacDonald, Dunsany created an entire world surrounding Lirazel and Alveric, with witches, trolls, and magical runes.  

Perhaps no Fantasy author incorporated the fairy romance into his writing more than J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien was familiar with George MacDonald from an early age (Mendlesohn and James 43) and would have known of the tradition from Shakespeare, The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, The Mabinogion and other mythic sources. Tolkien first incorporated the theme into his High Fantasy legendarium in The Tale of the Fall of Gondolin (1917). The story recounts the raid and ruin of the elven city of Gondolin and of its core hero, Tuor. Tuor wanders upon the city by the graces of the sea god, becomes of a lord of the city, and marries the elven king’s daughter, Princess Idril. In Tolkien and the Great War, John Garth writes, “Tolkien [drew] upon the old motif of the faëry bride, with the intermarriage of human Tuor and Idril of Gondolin” (Garth 217). The Tale of the Fall of Gondolin may have been the first of Tolkien’s prose tales, but it was not the last fairy romance of his. Inspired by his wife dancing through a meadow early after his return from the Somme (Garth 238-9), Tolkien started writing a romance tale that would shape his legendarium forever. Begun in 1917, Beren and Lúthien tells of the mortal man, Beren, the immortal elven princess, Lúthien, their doomed loved, and their quest for a Silmaril from the iron crown of Morgoth. The story has many similarities with The King of Elfland’s Daughter. Both feature an upstart hero who sets out on a quest to win the beautiful daughter of an elven king. Both princesses name has three syllable names and start with “l”. Both kings are at first hostile to their daughter’s suitors before having a change of heart. In addition, both couples bear half-elven sons who play a part in their respective narratives. Despite these similarities, the stories were conceived entirely separately. The framework set by Beren and Lúthien and The King of Elfland’s Daughter is found in other fairy marriage stories including Tolkien’s own tale of Aragorn and Arwen in The Lord of the Rings. Aragorn, the successor to the kingdom of Gondor, in similar way to Alveric being the heir to Erl and Beren being the rightful successor to the people of Bëor. Like Beren, Aragorn must prove his worth to Arwen’s elven father to marry her. And, like Alveric and Beren, Aragorn succeeds in winning the elf-princess’s hand in marriage and earns the favor of her father.

The three fairy marriages of Tuor and Idril, Beren and Lúthien, and Aragorn and Arwen are the primary fairy-marriage in Tolkien’s work though not his only. Tolkien wrote The Debate of Finrod and Andreth which recounts the romance of Aegnor, one of Galadriel’s brothers, and Andreth, a wise woman of human lands. It is Tolkien’s only fairy romance where the immortal is male and the mortal female. Unlike his main three male-mortal female-elf fairy romances, Aegnor and Andreth’s end tragically with Aegnor’s abandonment of Andreth and his death in battle. Also, in Middle-Earth, the elven princess Finduilas falls in love with the mortal man Túrin Turambar in The Children of Húrin. Like the tale of Aegnor and Andreth, it ends tragically with Finduilas murdered by orcs. 

Tolkien employed the fairy marriage frequently by drawing on earlier sources to create new tales of tragic love and epic romance. The Lord of the Rings permanently changed the course of High Fantasy. The traditions and tropes laid down by Tolkien’s legendarium have been recycled and reimagined numerous times over the course of the last nine decades. One of the features perpetuated by Tolkien was the use of different humanoid races, most notably Elves, Men, and Dwarves. Because of Aragorn and Arwen and the mentions of half-elves in The Lord of Rings, the usage of elf (fay) and human romances spread along with the concept of half-elves. For example, Terry Brook’s The Sword of Shannara (1977) continued the fairy lover trope in Tolkien’s shadow. Shea Ohmsford is the story’s protagonist, a half-elf in the same fairy lover tradition as Tolkien. Brooks was soon followed by other authors in his use of half-elf protagonists.  

But J.R.R. Tolkien was not the only Fantasy world-builder to read original mythology and early Fantasy. Dungeons and Dragons creator Gary Gygax was one a of mythology and Fantasy from an earlier age (Crawford 312). He read Tolkien (Crawford 312) which influenced the creatures and features of the game he would later create. One such influence was the existence of half-elves in Gygax’s original Monster Manual (1978) (Monster Manual 39). Gygax would have been familiar with half-elves, and through them the fairy romance, from The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, but also through The King of Elfland’s Daughter and Thomas Keightley’s Fairy Mythology (Crawford 312) (“Books are Books” 28-29). Over the last four decades, half-elves and the concept of the elf-human romance have remained in RPGs and video games from Skyrim to Pathfinder. In addition to the Dungeons and Dragons game itself, multiple best-selling Dungeons and Dragons novels have used the fairy romance and half-elves.

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman created the Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting Dragonlance. Since the franchise premiered, over been 22 million books have sold and it even spawned a boot-leg Russian musical. The Dragonlance books began in 1984 with The Dragonlance Chronicles, a Tolkienesque High Fantasy trilogy consisting of Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, and Dragons of Spring Dawning. Weis and Hickman incorporated the lore of the RPG manuals into their creative writing including half-elves and elf-human marriages. Like in The Sword of Shannara, published several years before, the protagonist of The Dragonlance Chronicles is a half-elf. Tanis Half-Elven begins the story engaged to the elven princess, Laurana, with the disapproval of her elf-king father. Together they run away, go on an adventure, and happily marry at the end of the trilogy in a narrative strikingly similar to Beren and Lúthien and The King of Elfland’s Daughter. In addition to Laurana and Tanis, in the second book, there is a brief liaison between the human knight Sturm Brightblade and another elven princess named Alhana Starbreeze. 

Beyond the Dragonlance books, Dungeons and Dragons has hosted numerous other RPG novels mainly in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. Mostly notable of these is The Legend of Drizzt by R.A. Salvatore. Begun with The Icewind Dale Trilogy (1988), the series has been continuously written since then with over thirty novels, many of which have been on the New York Times best-seller list in Fantasy. Since 1988, over 17 million “Drizzt books” have sold. The series tracks the story of the renegade dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden and his companions, one of which is the human woman Catti-brie. Drizzt and Catti-brie’s elf-human love story spans almost all the volumes filled with adventure, dragons, magic, and clichés. Also in the realm of dark elves is The Legend of Drizzt spin-off trilogy Starlight and Shadows. The series follows the dark elf princess Liriel and her human lover, Fyodor. This story is the fourth in a pattern of similar elf-human romance. Liriel, Laurana, Lirazel, and Lúthien have striking similarities with a three-syllable “l”-named elf princess, a rugged human lover, a disapproving but powerful elven father, and epic stakes. Coincidence or not, these parallels suggest that farther excavation into these similarities would be worthwhile.

In recent years, Young Adult Fantasy has boomed mostly due to the influence of Harry Potter. This mostly female-targeted genre has hosted several Fantasy series (both High and Low) that dabble with the fairy marriage. These books often have male elves/immortal love interests and female mortal protagonists to appeal to their mostly female audience. Sarah J. Maas is successful author in this subgenre of fay and human romance. As a reader of both Tolkien and Brooks, Maas’s books are filled with fay creatures or “High Fae” as she calls them (she never refers to them as elves) and the mortal women they fall for. Maas’s debut series Throne of Glass (begun 2013) is about the adventures of the assassin Caelena Sardothien and her quest to regain her lost throne. Caelena goes from assassin to rebel warrior to queen, encountering mysterious shapeshifters and demon goddesses on her journey. Maas’s second series, A Court of Thorns and Roses (begun 2015), tells the tale of the mortal girl Feyre and her often bizarre romantic adventures in the fairy realm of Prythian (the name Prythian bears resemblance to the enchanted realm of “Prydain” from Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain). In a Beauty and the Beast -style first book, Feyre is taken to the Spring Court of Prythian where she falls in love with the High Fae “High Lord” Tamlin. Feyre and Tamlin’s story is loosely based on the Tam Lin ballads collected by Francis James Child in the 19th Century. The first book, which bears the name of the series, follows the general plot of Tam Lin with Tamlin’s capture by the queen of Fairyland, Janet/Feyre’s rescue, and an out of place reference to Tamlin having a “heart of stone.” The later A Court of Thorns and Roses books become increasingly sexual and bloated. Maas’s third series, first Urban Fantasy series, first officially adult series is Crescent City (begun 2020). The protagonist, Bryce Quinlan, is the child of a fairy romance struggling to find her place between the human and Fae worlds. Bryce’s struggle between her human and elven sides is a common theme found in other half-fay offspring. In The Dragonlance Chronicles, Tanis Half-Elven faces similar angst same as Shea in Shannara. In Star Trek, though not the child of a fay specifically, Spock faces challenges between reconciling his dual Vulcan and human heritage. In all, Sarah J. Maas stays loyal the age-old fairy romance elements with magical trials and royal feuds while adding a new layer of deviant eroticism. 

Another Young Adult author writing fairy romances is Holly Black. Holly Black has published two Young Adult fairy romance series, Modern Faerie Tales (2002-2007) and The Folk of Air (2018-2019). The Folk of Air follows the mortal girl, Jude Duarte. Jude is raised in the fairy world where she is forced to navigate the ruthless fairy court where she eventual falls for her hated enemy, the fairy prince Cardan. Black’s story is different form the normal fairy romance mold in a couple way. Instead of Jude being raised in the human world like Alveric, Beren, or Maas’s protagonists, Jude is a fish-out-of-water human living in Elphame with an estranged connection to other humans and the human world. She differs from Maas’s protagonists with a deep-seated hatred of the fay. Unlike Feyre, Jude tries to resist her googly-eyed attraction to the fay and makes up for her lack magical ability, not through boons of superpowers like Maas’s heroines, but through her own cunning. Black’s work is more complex than Maas’s with greater plot development and exploration of complex character relations with Jude’s tyrannical step-father, Madoc, and her two sisters. 

In addition to Maas and Black, other lesser-known authors have taken to writing these female-targeted paranormal romances, sometimes veering into full-on erotica novels. Elven Alliance by Tara Grace, The Dark-elves of Nightbloom by Miranda Honfleur, Elvish by S.G. Prince, The Otherworld by Emma Hamm, Otherworld Academy by Jenna Woldhart, Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, An Enchantment of Ravens Margaret Rogerson, and Need by Carrie Jones are all examples of female-lead Adult or Young Adult paranormal romance in the tradition of the fairy lover. It should be noted that these paranormal romance stories have many similarities with other popular paranormal romance book such as Twilight. In most, a mortal woman (or a part-fay who believed they were a mortal woman) encounters a mysterious fay man. 

The theme of fay and human love began centuries ago with legends and old ballads that have now passed into modern literature. The fairy romance is a story that anyone can love. The is the fairy tale that all “mortals” dream of, of one day encountering beautiful and magical person who loves with otherworldly passion. The fay in these stories are reflections of human desire that have passed down over centuries. All authors of fairy romances have been enamored by the fay from Shakespeare to Sarah J. Maas. The fairy romance is core trope of High Fantasy in the same realm as dragon-slayers and ambitious archmagi. The fairy romance is beloved by millions of readers today and continues to steer the genre into a new frontier. 

Works Cited

Black, Holly. The Cruel Prince. London, Hot Key Books, 2018.

Costabile, Giovanni C. "Fairy Marriages in Tolkien's Works." Mallorn the Journal of the Tolkien Society, no. 59, Winter 2018, pp. 6-13.

Crawford, Jeremy, et al. Player's Handbook. Renton, Wizards of the Coast, 2014.

Cunningham, Elaine. Daughter of the Drow. Renton, Wizards of the Coast, 2003.

---. Tangled Webs. Renton, Wizards of the Coast, 2003.

---. Windwalker. New York, Wizards of the Coast, 2011.

De Rosario Martínez, Helios. "'Fairy' and 'Elves' in Tolkien and Traditional Literature." Mythlore, vol. 28, nos. 3/4 (109/110), 2010, pp. 65-84. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/26814912. Accessed 30 Nov. 2020.

Dunsany, Lord. The King of Elfland's Daughter. New York, Ballantine Pub. Group, 1999.

Garth, John. Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth. Revised edition, with chronology ed., London, HarperCollins, 2011.

Gygax, Gary. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Monster Manual: Special Reference Work : An Alphabetical Compendium of All of the Monsters Found in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, including Attacks, Damage, Special Abilities, and Descriptions. 3rd ed., Lake Geneva, TSR Hobbies, 1979.

---. "Books Are Books, Games Are Games, and Never the Twain..." Dragon Magazine, digital ed., vol. 31, pp. 28-29.

Hammond, Wayne G., and Christina Scull. The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

Maas, Sarah J. A Court of Thorns and Roses. Paperback edition. ed., New York, Bloomsbury, 2016.

MacDonald, George. Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women. 1905.

Mendlesohn, Farah, and Edward James. A Short History of Fantasy. Revised and updated edition. ed., Faringdon, Libri Publishing, 2012.

Salvatore, R. A. Book II: The Crystal Shard, Streams of Silver, The Halfling's Gem. 25th ed., Renton, Wizards of the Coast, 2013.

Shippey, T. A. J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2002.

Tolkien, J. R. R, and Christopher Tolkien. Morgoth's Ring. Paperback edition. ed., London, HarperCollins, 2015.

Tolkien, J. R. R, et al. Beren and Lúthien. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.

Weis, Margaret, et al. Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Lake Geneva, TSR, 2003.

---. Dragons of Winter Night. Renton, Wizards of the Coast, 2000.

---. Dragons of Spring Dawning. Renton, Wizards of the Coast, 2011.

In August of 2021, the United States Armed Forces withdrew from Afghanistan, ending the U.S.’s twenty year long armed intervention in the perilous nation. Almost immediately, the Taliban, the terrorist and Islamist group that controlled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, launched a rapid offensive to reoccupy the country. The Taliban’s rapid advance culminated in the Fall of Kabul on August 15th, 2021, during which the Former President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, fled Kabul to Tajikistan or Uzbekistan via air, allegedly taking $169 million with him in four cars, later arriving in the UAE; it was also shortly reported that Vice President Amrullah Saleh also fled to Tajikistan. Thus, the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the U.S.-style democracy put in place by the U.S., went into exile and lost de-facto control, and the oppressive Islamist regime of the Taliban, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, was reinstated.

However, not all hope is lost for the currently chaotic and turbulent nation. As of this very moment, a new resistance, commonly known as the “Panjshir Resistance,” akin to the old Northern Alliance that existed before the U.S. Invasion, is reassembling, regrouping, and rearming in the heart of the Panjshir Valley, the Valley of the Five Lions.

But to understand this new resistance movement, one must first understand the history and ideals of the original Northern Alliance. The Northern Alliance was founded by Ahmad Shah Massoud, an ethnic-Tajik Sunni from the northern Panjshir district, to resist the destructive rule of the Taliban following the Afghan mujahideen’s defeat of the Soviets and their satellite communist government in Afghanistan, a regime that Massoud himself had earlier fought to end. 

Massoud became affiliated with anti-Soviet resistance movements while he was studying engineering at the Polytechnical University of Kabul and joined the Jamiat-e Islami party, which advocated for communitarianism based on moderate Islam. Massoud assumed command of the military wing of the party, which was founded and mainly led by Burhanuddin Rabbani, and defended his birthplace of Panjshir against the Soviet forces by waging an ingenious guerilla war, for which he is known as the “Shir-e Panjshir,” meaning “Lion of Panjshir” in several local languages, and one of the greatest guerilla commanders of the twentieth century.

After the Soviets were defeated by the united Afghan mujahideen, Massoud participated in the Peshawar Accords of 1992 and the subsequent formation of the Islamic State of Afghanistan (ISA), a new predominantly-conservative government created by powerful warlords who had collectively defeated the communists; the new government was to be a means of establishing stable control of Afghanistan, and control over the government was split between many of the most powerful warlords. Because of his contribution to the armed effort against the communists, Massoud was awarded the Defense Ministry. Other powerful individuals and parties, including Burhaddin Rabbani who became President, were given other posts, creating a fragile balance of power. However, this fragile peace was not to last. As a result of the disagreement among the many warlords who shared control over the new government, the ISA became dysfunctional and almost immediately broke down; mainly, some powerful figures, including the hardline Islamist and currently Taliban-affiliated Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his Hezb-e Islami party, refused to participate in the Peshawar Accords that established the new government. Hekmatyar turned down the appointment as Prime Minister that was offered to him in the Peshawar Accords and wanted to seize control of the entire nation for himself and opposed the power-sharing settlement. Ethnically Uzbek liberal warlord, Abdul Rashid Dostum also opposed the Accord and sided with Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar and Dostum began fighting the government’s forces, many of which were commanded by Massoud, to take control of Kabul and the Afghan nation as a whole. In 1993, Massoud agreed to resign his post as Defense Minister in return for a truce with Hekmatyar. In the ensuing peace agreement, the Islamabad Accords, it was established that Rabbani was to remain President, and Hekmatyar was to assume the role of Prime Minister. However, the Hezb-e Wahdat, a primarily ethnic Hazara Shia militant group allied to Hekmatyar, began attacking Kabul with rockets a mere two days after the Islamabad Accords. Hekmatyar and Dostum continued to siege Kabul and began secret negotiations with the Pakistan ISI, Iran, and the Karimov government of Uzbekistan to orchestrate a coup to unseat the Rabbani administration and Massoud, who had established control over the northern part of Afghanistan, much of which was inhabited by fellow-Tajiks. 

By January of 1994, Hekmatyar and Dostum mounted a coordinated bombardment campaign against Kabul; however, Massoud’s ISA forces attained the upper hand in the struggle for the capital by mid-1994. While the mujahideen-era warlords were preoccupied quarreling over Kabul, a new force, one which was destined to shake the world, emerged from the Afghan-Pakistani border regions: the Taliban. Originating from Islamist and Jihadist-indoctrinated Aghan refugees in Pakistan, the Taliban sought to wrestle control over southern Afghanistan from the independent governors that ruled it. The Taliban, which was initially funded by the Pakistani ISI using finances provided by the U.S. as part of the anti-Soviet Operation Cyclone, advanced to the gates of Kabul in 1994 and early 1995. At the same time, Massoud also began initiatives to foster pan-Afghan unity, gathering twenty-five out of thirty-four provinces and several influential parties/factions to participate in nation-building. Massoud also reached out to the Taliban to take part in the government of the nation, believing that working with all political and military factions was crucial to maintaining peace and stability in the war-torn nation. The Taliban refused to acquiesce and began a two-year siege of Kabul in early 1995; the major western city of Herat, which was under the control of the ISA-aligned Mohammad Ismail Khan, was also attacked by the Taliban. However, the Herat offensive was crushed after Massoud air-transported 2,000 of his soldiers to defend Herat. After their defeat in Herat and other devastating losses elsewhere, the Taliban was on the verge of collapse; the Taliban, which had presented themselves as liberators and harbingers of peace as compared to the southern warlords, had just revealed itself as yet another warring faction. However, the Taliban’s founder and leader, Mullah (cleric) Mohammad Omar, regrouped his forces with the aid of Pakistani funds that were originally given to them by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. The Taliban, having gathered 25,000 new personnel from Afghanistan and Pakistan, finally captured Herat in a surprise assault on Mohammad Ismail Khan’s forces and besieged Kabul over a period of one year following starting in September of 1994. Massoud’s forces defended Kabul valiantly once again and the Taliban was once again barred from taking the capital.

Massoud and Rabbani had simultaneously been working on internal policies and government. By February of 1996 all of the armed groups, except for the Taliban that is, in the country had agreed to participate in the ISA government. The Taliban recognized that the central government was becoming too powerful through its efforts to unite the many warring factions and decided to act fast. Using their bases and allies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, the Taliban began an unprecedented offensive campaign to capture Jalalabad, a major Pashtun city near the Pakistani border. After capturing Jalalabad, the Taliban approached the eastern limits of Kabul. Massoud’s forces had hitherto been concentrated in the southern part of Kabul to counter the encroachment of the Taliban from southern regions under their control. Massoud was caught by surprise by the opening of an eastern front. Massoud, realizing that he could not defeat a three-pronged Taliban assault on Kabul, ordered a strategic retreat through the northern sections of the city. 

As Kabul fell to the Taliban, and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was established on September 27, Massoud’s forces marched north and consolidated their control over the northeastern regions of Afghanistan close to Tajikistan. From there, Massoud organized the Northern Alliance, a coalition of anti-Taliban warlords and parties to resist the Taliban. The participant parties and individuals in this Alliance hailed from several of the nation’s ethnic and religious groups, including both Sunni and Shia Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmens, and Hazaras. Diverse influential figures, ranging from the likes of the Uzbek liberal Dostum to the Pashtun brothers Abdul Haq and Haji Abdul Qadeer, rallied around Massoud and his Northern Alliance. From 1996 onwards, the Northern Alliance resisted the advance of the Taliban, albeit while gradually losing territory to them; Dostum and his Uzbek forces were defeated, leaving Massoud as the only powerful military leader in the Alliance. Massoud’s forces never gave up the northeasternmost areas of the country to the Taliban, who repeatedly offered Massoud an influential position in their government, an offer which Massoud repeatedly declined citing his ideological differences. 

Massoud and his allies continued to fight on and made great ideological and political progress after their loss of Kabul. During his role as the main leader of the resistance, Massoud championed democratic institutions, women’s rights, moderate interpretations of Islam, and the freedom of religion. At the same time, Massoud acknowledged that many of these values clashed with traditional Afghan culture and that surpassing local norms would take at least a generation. Nevertheless, Massoud began to establish democracy, gender equality, and the freedom of religion throughout the territory he controlled. Democratic councils were called to choose political leaders, women were free to unveil themselves, girls were able to attain formal education, and people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds were able to live in peace without fearing for their lives.

Massoud also established ties with foreign nations. He appealed to the European Parliament in Brussels, and the western world by extension, to cease their support for Pakistan and urge them and other nations to stop funding the Taliban; he warned that, if the U.S. did not stop Pakistan’s support for the Taliban, Afghanistan’s problems would soon become America and the West’s problems. Massoud’s attempts to warn the world about Taliban’s links to foreign terrorist organizations and role in terrorist operations abroad went unheeded, a grave mistake for which the West suffered greatly.

The Shir-e Panjshir was not able to evade the Taliban and their terrorist allies forever. Three weeks before September 8, 2001, two men who presented themselves as Belgian interviewers of Moroccan descent arrived in Massoud’s territory. On September 8, the men warned that if they were not allowed to interview Massoud by September 10, they would leave. Finally, on September 9, the men were granted an opportunity to interview Massoud. As they set up their equipment for the interview, the two men detonated explosives hidden in their equipment, including their camera. Massoud, along with those near him, was severely injured and had to be airlifted to the nearby Indian hospital at Farkhor Air Base in Tajikistan. Unfortunately, Massoud died enroute on September 9, 2001, a mere two days before the 9/11 attacks.

Massoud’s assassins were revealed to be Tunisian nationals who were likely affiliated with Al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden, the man behind 9/11, which likely was the major terrorist attack on the West that Massoud had warned about. Laden possibly orchestrated Massoud’s assasination in order to ensure the Taliban’s cooperation. It is also believed that the assassins, one of whom was killed by the explosion while the other was captured and shot by Massoud’s forces, were allowed into Northern Alliance territory by Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a radical Islamist anti-Soviet Pashtun veteran warlord who had close relations with Saudi Arabia and potentially Al-Qaeda but nevertheless was part of the Northern Alliance. Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Pakistani ISI, the Soviet KGB, the Afghan communist KHAD, and Hekmatyar’s forces had all tried to bring about the Shir-e Panjshir’s demise over the preceding twenty-six years.

The Lion of Panjshir was finally laid to rest in his native village of Barazak in the Panjshir Valley, and his funeral, although being in a remote rural area, was attended by hundreds of thousands of people. Massoud was posthumously awarded the title of “National Hero of Afghanistan” by Hamid Karzai, the first President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which came to power after the American liberation of Afghanistan from the Taliban following 2001. 

Today, Massoud is  remembered as a politician, guerilla commander, ardent learner, nationalist, and above all, a humanitarian who defended the rights, freedom, morals, and values of the Afghan people against any and all enemies that challenged them and sought to lead his nation to a prosperous future. Thanks to Ahmad Shah Massoud’s determination, the Afghans were eventually able to overthrow the oppressive Taliban regime and finally embrace the democratic institutions that Massoud had long championed.

In the wake of the fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Taliban twenty years after Massoud’s martyrdom, not all is lost. Massoud’s son, Ahmad Massoud, has returned to his native Panjshir Valley and has gathered a new resistance to desperately halt the Taliban and defend the Shir-e Panjshir’s vision for Afghanistan; he has been joined by other important political figures from Panjshir, including Vice President Amrullah Saleh and Commander Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, who were appointed Caretaker President and Minister of Defense respectively under the resistance government. The new “Panjshir Resistance,” a name by which the resistance is now commonly referred to, has gathered around 8,000 soldiers to defend Panjshir and the surrounding regions; however, they lack sufficient arms and equipment and are currently surviving off of old Cold War-era Soviet and American equipment. Only time will tell if Ahmad and his father’s visions and ideals will emerge triumphant, and whether a new beacon of democracy and liberty will shine over the Graveyard of Empires. 

Sources:

1. https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2021/07/taliban-advances-as-u-s-completes-withdrawal.php

2. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/18/uae-confirms-hosting-former-afghan-president-ghani

3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/18/mujahideen-resistance-taliban-ahmad-massoud/

4. https://thediplomat.com/2021/09/ahmad-shah-massoud-an-afghan-napoleon/

5. Shahram Akbarzadeh; Samina Yasmeen (2005). Islam And the West: Reflections from Australia. University of New South Wales Press. pp. 81–82.

6. Amin Saikal (August 27, 2004). Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival (2006 1st ed.). I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. p. 215. ISBN 1-85043-437-9.

7. Ahmed Rashid (2001). Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. Yale Nota Bene Books. p. 39. ISBN 978-0300089028.

8. Barry Bearak (November 9, 1999). "Afghan 'Lion' Fights Taliban With Rifle and Fax Machine". Nytimes.com. Afghanistan. Retrieved November 28, 2021.

9. John F. Burns (October 8, 1996). "Afghan Driven From Kabul Makes Stand in North". Nytimes.com. Gulbahar (Afghanistan); Afghanistan. Retrieved November 28, 2021.

10. Marcela Grad (2009). Massoud: An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan Leader. Webster University Press. p. 310.

11. "Ahmad Shah Massoud". September 16, 2001 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
    
    

12. "9/11 Represented a Dramatic Failure of Policy and People". U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. 2004. Archived from the original on March 6, 2013. Retrieved Retrieved November 28, 2021.

13. "Taliban Foe Hurt and Aide Killed by Bomb". The New York Times. Afghanistan. September 10, 2001. Retrieved November 28, 2021.

14. John F. Burns (September 9, 2002). "THREATS AND RESPONSES: ASSASSINATION; Afghans, Too, Mark a Day of Disaster: A Hero Was Lost". The New York Times. Afghanistan. Retrieved November 28, 2021.

15. "Massoud's Last Stand". Journeyman Pictures/ABC Australia. 1997. Archived from the original on September 27, 2009.

Mother Teresa stretched out her hand like a beggar towards a merchant on the streets of Calcutta. “Give me something for the poor, the hungry, the sick and the lonely,” she said. He smiled diabolically and barked, “Here, take this”, and spat on her open palm. She moved her frail, quivering arm to her heart, wiped her fingers on her sari, bent low and whispered, “Thank you. This is for me. Now give me something for my children.” He was then moved to tears. (Mitra, D. (2016, August 31). Stark White, With Lines: Outlook India Magazine. Retrieved from 

https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/stark-white-with-lines/297789.) In the current tide of social norms, where superheroes adorn capes, masks and have exceptional body strength, we have an ordinary, fragile woman of extraordinary mental strength, my hero: Mother Teresa. In the narrative above, where any of us can easily be a reactionary, we have a feeble woman who takes action. Similar to the defenders of the dark who exercise their power and strength, while setting out on a mission to save the world, Mother Theresa, too, has numerous admirable qualities. The three that I believe which deserve the most attention are: her unaltered focus on her mission, her unbendable mental strength, and her great sense of responsibility. Mother Teresa had an unaltered focus on her mission. Nothing deterred her in her goal of helping and caring for the sick, the poor and the underprivileged. She left the comforts of her home and everything that she knew to take care of the downtrodden. Her dedication to her work was so strong that nothing of this world could deter her from what she felt was important. It was clear that she loved what she did and was committed to every aspect of it. If every student had this kind of determination and focus, imagine where the world would be today! On a personal level, I try to focus on what needs to be done each day, and give it my best effort. There are times when I cannot love some tasks that need to be completed, but I try to focus on the big picture and work through them. 

Another “superhero” quality that Mother Teresa had is her unbendable mental capacity. She was not just a woman, but a woman who was called to be a cloistered nun, in the service of the church. All odds were against her, as she stepped into the crowded, dangerous and trash-filled streets of Calcutta to undertake a new mission beyond the walls of her convent. In spite of negative circumstances such as a lack of money, language and cultural barriers and superiors who hindered her work, she had to demonstrate extraordinary mental strength. Having tremendous mental capability to continue despite odds is a continuous process, that cannot be achieved overnight; it requires years of patience and endurance. In everything that she did, she did not break under stress and maturely controlled her thoughts and words, always displaying nothing but kindness, humility and simplicity. As I grow older and try to achieve my goal, there may be many hurdles in my way. It is in those moments that I will need to imitate the mental capacity of my superhero. In the future, it will become important for me to have a strong mental capacity as I face difficult challenges and immense stress. Like Mother Teresa, I hope that I also, one day, will be able to remain cool under pressure and radiate only kindness. 

The final and most important attribute of my superhero, Mother Teresa, is her sense of responsibility. She knew that she needed to complete a certain amount of responsibilities each day. She also knew that if she slacked off, it would affect others who depended on her. Despite the hardships that she faced more often than not, she continued doggedly in her missionary work. Having a sense of responsibility as a teenager or at any age is vital but lacking in many. I have to learn to take ownership for my actions and to have the integrity to repair wrongdoings. In the future, this quality will help me not just with academics, but to be a better citizen overall. 

Standing at 4’9”, my superhero is no match for The Hulk, but her attributes surpass that of any superhero. Learning more about Mother Teresa’s life has taught me not to be distracted from my goals and visions in life but rather to stay positive 

and strong through the whirlwinds in my life. Finally, Mother Teresa and her life has highlighted to me the importance of having a great sense of responsibility. Here I stand today at 5’ 8” and 120 pounds and definitely not a superhero! However, by focusing on my goals, staying mentally strong and having a great sense of responsibility, I aspire to make a positive impact on the world, like Mother Teresa.

Hedy Lamarr was a famous actress and inventor from the 1940s who became famous after developing new communication technologies that would help advance mankind despite facing gender discrimination.The technology that Hedy invented would later contribute to Bluetooth. Even today, we can see the effects of her contributions on our everyday lives, such as in modern computers, phones, and televisions. Hedy proved that women could have beauty and brains to change the world.

Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler on November 9, 1914 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Her first husband, Friedrich Mandl, did not allow her to be an actress, although he did train Lamarr in applied science which helped her when she was inventing and making discoveries. Later, Hedy met her second husband Louis B. Mayer in Paris who was looking for talented people in Europe. Louis was then able to help Hedy achieve her dream of becoming an actress. She later starred in a few movies such as Algiers.

Despite her success in Hollywood, Hedy wasn’t satisfied. There was a war in Europe. Lamarr was concerned about the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II and how U.S. torpedoes kept on getting blown off course by enemy radio frequency jamming. She wanted to help the US Navy fight enemy vessels with ease. With help from George Antheil, Lamarr designed a secret communication system that used a punch-card-like device, similar to a player-piano roll. This system is also known today as spread spectrum technology, which is used in Wi-Fi and cell phone technology, allowing people from all over the world to communicate easily. The system functioned by using 88 frequencies, equivalent to the number of keys on a piano which “hopped” from one to another, making a radio-controlled torpedo nearly impossible to jam. Lamarr and Antheil received a patent in 1941 for their invention. Thus, Hedy was able to use her talent in applied science to aid in the war effort, which contributed to the women-powered workforce during World War Two. Despite these contributions, women and their inventions in the technology area were neglected.

Hedy Lamarr faced many problems in her life. First, her husband didn’t allow her to be an actress, which was her initial desired occupation, so she took initiative and found someone who could support her dream. Even after becoming a successful actress, she was still looking for ways to help the world with her scientific knowledge, leading to the development of spread spectrum technology. Although the Navy initially rejected her invention, several people used her technology later on as a template to create advanced communication systems. Hedy was able to overcome many obstacles to not only achieve her dreams, but to be an inspirational woman, inventor, and person to myself and countless others.

The US Navy adopted this technology in 1961. As time passed, the updated version of spread spectrum was later refined and used as a basis for Wi-Fi, CDMA, GPS, and Bluetooth technology in today’s communication. However, Lamarr did not live to see these refined versions of her technology being mass produced due to her death on January 19, 2000. Even after passing away, Hedy Lamarr is credited for her technological inventions.

In the Second Century A.D., Marcus Aurelius reigned at the height of the Roman Empire. As the last of the Five Good Emperors, he ruled over the entire Mediterranean Sea from Spain in the West, Africa to the South, to Britain and along the Danube River in the North, and as far East as Mesopotamia. Marcus, although a strong emperor, had a difficult rule. He dealt with floods, famines, earthquakes, plague, and even defended against military invasions from the North and the East. Because of these pressures, Marcus wanted to help himself better manage his stress, be a better person, and prepare himself for death in his old age. Towards the end of his reign, Marcus spent his time defending his empire’s Northern border against invading Germanic tribes. It was at this time that he wrote a journal to himself that is now known today simply as Meditations. This personal journal was never meant for others to read, and it is how Marcus practiced Stoic philosophy to better himself and better his life. Meditations is a book of actionable advice which can help the reader learn how to practice self-reflection and to offer the reader new ways to think about his or her own place in the world.

In Meditations, the reader will notice five main recurring themes. Namely, change, death, and the shortness of life; the role and importance of the rational mind and will; dealing with others and accepting their shortcomings; avoiding the chase for pleasure and fame; and living in accordance with nature and fully accepting its course. Passage 11 Book 8, for example, says, ”What is this, fundamentally? What is its nature and substance, its reason for being? What is it doing in the world? How long is it here for?” This demonstrates the importance of the rational mind by representing critical thinking and how the rational mind is best used.

I would recommend reading a simple English translation of Meditations as it was originally written in Ancient Greek. I read Gregory Hays’s translation of the book which I think is the easiest to understand compared to translations by Meric Casaubon or Francis Hutcheson and James Moor. This is likely not an appropriate book for people younger than thirteen years old due to the complexity of some of the language and high-minded ideas. If readers have trouble understanding any of the content, I suggest going to Shmoop’s online explanation of the book for further explanations and guides.

I would most certainly recommend this book for others to read, especially to those who can understand complex texts, because it contains a lot of useful advice for leading a less stressful life. In general, it helps people become more good-natured and helps them deal with difficulties in life with relative ease. For example, Passage 20 Book 7 says, “My only fear is doing something contrary to human nature —the wrong thing, the wrong way, or at the wrong time.” This reminded me of several mistakes that I have previously made, by not completing certain tasks the most efficient way possible. This did not usually lead to errors but time was wasted. This book helped teach me to strive to find the best time for actions in order to avoid the problems that arise after doing the right thing at the wrong time. This passage and others can assist the reader to be more mindful about the influence of their decisions and actions on themselves, others, and their community.

Although it was not originally meant to do so for others, Meditations provides advice on how to prioritize certain things in the future. What’s fascinating about Meditations is that much of the advice within it is still relevant today. We, just like the Ancient Greeks and Romans, are still often vexed by various things in life. We are still pressured to pursue pleasure, but our rational minds can help us redirect our attention to more important things by choosing to do the right things, the right way, at the right time to the best of our ability.