📜 Epics and legends: eternal repositories of peoples' stories

Long before writing appeared, people were already telling stories. Around the fire, on the road, at festivals, the voice of the storyteller carried listeners into a world of gods, heroes, and monsters. These narratives did more than entertain: they preserved laws, soothed fears, and explained how the world works. Today we call them epics and legends, and they still shape the cultural landscape of the planet. From Hollywood blockbusters to Korean dramas, from video games to podcasts, ancient plot structures work without fail because they speak to universal emotions: fear of the unknown, the hunger for a great deed, the need to belong to a community.

Where to start: how to read and rethink epics

The oral tradition has not died; it has simply changed its medium. In December 2025, as reported in a UNESCO press release, the lists of intangible cultural heritage gained 67 new elements submitted by 77 countries, and the total register reached 849 cultural practices in 157 countries. To avoid getting lost in this variety, start with a short route.

💡 Quick overview:

• Step 1: Identify the type of narrative: an epic is large-scale heroism with gods and the fates of peoples, while a legend is a local story with a real foundation overgrown with fiction.
• Step 2: Take two or three examples from different regions and outline the skeleton: setup, trial, resolution.
• Step 3: Identify the cultural code: what values the story transmits and how they resonate with a modern reader.
• Step 4: Transfer the structure to your own text: enlarge a local plot into a universal theme.
• Step 5: Check the oral rhythm: read what you have written aloud and remove bureaucratic phrasing.

Epics as a mirror of civilization

An epic is not just a long poem; it is an encyclopedia of the pre-literate world. The Iliad encodes military strategies, the Ramayana ethical dilemmas, and Beowulf the relationship between a community and an outsider. Researchers at National Geographic identify three functions of oral storytelling: entertainment, education, and norm-setting, meaning it establishes the boundaries of acceptable behavior in society.

An epic preserves not only fiction but also historical memory. The Epic of Sundiata from Mali describes the founding of the Mali Empire in the thirteenth century and is still performed by griots, the professional storytellers of West Africa. The Mayan Popol Vuh records beliefs about the creation of the world and the hero twins, while the Epic of Manas absorbed the memory of the Kyrgyz tribes' struggle for independence. That is why historians value oral traditions: they preserve details that never made it into written chronicles.

Structurally, epics from different continents are strikingly similar. Here is a comparison of four traditions that are still considered canonical:

The range of lengths is telling. The Kyrgyz Epic of Manas is considered the largest epic in the world, and its full version is dozens of times longer than the Iliad. The Manas trilogy is included in the UNESCO intangible heritage lists, and Kyrgyzstan holds annual festivals of manaschi, the storytellers who pass the epic down from generation to generation.

How an oral text works: formulas, rhythm, and memory

The main question that occupies researchers is how storytellers held an entire epic in memory without writing it down. The answer came from the oral-formulaic theory developed by Milman Parry and Albert Lord based on their work with South Slavic singers. They showed that epic verse is assembled from ready-made formulas, fixed expressions such as "swift-footed Achilles" or "wine-dark sea." A formula is not decoration; it is a mnemonic anchor and a building block: the storyteller does not memorize the text word for word but combines formulas on the fly.

A classic example of this approach is the Homeric epic. Analysis of the Iliad and the Odyssey showed that a significant part of the verse consists of repeated formulas governed by the hexameter. This explains why two great texts survived centuries of oral existence before they were written down. The same principle of economy works in prose as well: repeated rhythmic constructions help the reader hold the thread of a long text.

This knowledge is also useful for a modern author. Rhythm, repetition, and parallel constructions make a text memorable and audible. If you are writing an article, a screenplay, or a post, read the draft aloud: the places where your breath stumbles usually coincide with syntactic bottlenecks that should be simplified. Editors use the same technique when checking the oral quality of a final text before publication.

UNESCO and the global recognition of oral traditions

In December 2025, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee met in New Delhi for its 20th session and added 67 new elements submitted by 77 countries to the intangible cultural heritage lists. Of these, 11 elements were placed on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, 53 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and one program on the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices. According to official UNESCO data, after this addition the register numbers 849 cultural practices in 157 countries. The 2003 Convention on which this register is based has been ratified by the overwhelming majority of the world's states.

As noted in a UNESCO announcement, the session set a record for coverage: seven states appeared on the lists for the first time, including Barbados, Chad, Comoros, El Salvador, Gabon, Libya, and Sao Tome and Principe, while nine nominations were submitted jointly by 28 countries. The committee's next session will take place in December 2026 in Xiamen, China.

The British project "Homer and the Oral Traditions" examines the mechanics of oral transmission in detail: how the hexameter worked as a mnemonic anchor, why formulaic expressions such as "swift-footed Achilles" served as a navigation system within the text, and how generations of aoidoi held an entire epic in memory without a single written record. The same mechanism, according to EBSCO materials, underlies all Indo-European epic traditions, from Greek to Slavic.

Legends: from local myth to global narrative

If an epic is a monumental canvas, then a legend is an intimate story tied to a specific place. The legend of King Arthur lives in Tintagel and Glastonbury, the legend of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest, the legend of the Flying Dutchman off the Cape of Good Hope. Paradoxically, this local grounding helps globalization: tourists travel to these places, filmmakers shoot movies there, and writers create new interpretations.

A telling case comes from the Japanese studio Ghibli. A significant part of its filmography is built on local legends and Shinto myths. Spirited Away (2001), the highest-grossing Japanese film in history, earned about $395 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo data. The plot grew out of everyday beliefs about kami, spirits that inhabit abandoned spaces, and out of legends about bathhouse witches and river dragons. The studio deliberately worked with folklore, and that is precisely what made a local story understandable to viewers in any country.

The economic impact of local legends is easy to see in tourism. Places associated with King Arthur or Robin Hood have attracted travelers for decades, and local museums and festivals build their marketing around a single recognizable story. For a writer, this is a lesson: a strong legend works as a ready-made brand that needs no explanation from scratch.

The same model works in book publishing. Mythological retelling, the retelling of ancient plots in modern language, has become one of the most durable genres of the decade. Publishers increasingly turn to ethnographic archives in search of stories with a built-in audience, understanding that a local myth, with careful adaptation, can attract a global readership.

The literature market: numbers and trends

The book market is one of the main beneficiaries of interest in epics and legends. Fantasy, historical fiction, and mythological retellings have consistently ranked among the best-selling fiction genres over the past five years. Here are the key figures:

Figures are based on a Grand View Research report. Analysts estimate the global book market will grow from $156.6 billion in 2025 to $215.9 billion by 2033, at a compound annual rate of 4.1%. At the same time, as NielsenIQ notes, fiction genres, including fantasy and mythological retellings, are driving the market's main growth in 2025, while nonfiction is declining.

The folklore and mythology trend is also supported by reader behavior. A young audience raised on BookTok is more actively buying genre fiction and classic stories in new covers. For authors and copywriters, this means the ability to work with the archetypes of epic and legend is now valued no less than mastery of sales copy structure.

Why do retellings sell? They offer readers double value: a familiar story lowers the barrier to entry, while a new interpretation delivers a sense of novelty. The publisher gets an audience already interested in the source material, and the author gets a solid dramatic foundation tested over centuries. This is a rare case where the genre's risks are lower and its recognition potential is higher.

⁉️🤔 Frequently asked questions

How is an epic different from a legend and a myth?

An epic is a large-scale verse narrative about heroic deeds, usually involving gods. A legend is a narrative tied to a specific place and time, based on real events but embellished with fiction. A myth is a sacred explanation of how the world works, with no historical anchoring. In practice the boundaries are blurred, and the Iliad contains all three layers.

How many epic traditions are recognized by UNESCO?

According to UNESCO data, after the session in New Delhi in December 2025, the intangible heritage lists include 849 cultural practices in 157 countries. Among them are dozens of epic and narrative traditions, from the Kyrgyz Manas to a whole range of Asian and African tales. The exact number depends on classification, since many elements include an epic component alongside other forms.

Why do ancient stories still work in film and books?

Because they are built on universal emotions and archetypes: fear of the unknown, the thirst for a great deed, generational conflict. Such stories do not depend on technology or era, so they are easy to transfer to any setting. The Spirited Away case shows how a local legend about spirits becomes a global hit with a box office of about $395 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

Can you make money from a modern retelling of legends?

Yes. Mythological retellings remain one of the most commercially resilient genres, and fantasy and historical fiction consistently rank among top sellers. As in the NielsenIQ review, in 2025 genre fiction backed by BookTok drove most of the market growth, while nonfiction declined. Success depends on how well the plot is reworked, not just on how recognizable the source material is.

Where do I start if I want to write a retelling?

Start by choosing a local story you know well and feel deeply. Write down its core: the hero, the conflict, the cost of victory. Then move the action into a modern or unexpected setting while keeping the archetypal framework intact. Read the draft aloud to restore an oral rhythm to the text, and check the ending against the emotion the original legend was told for.

Before wrapping up, watch a short lecture on how Homeric oral tradition worked in practice:

Summary

Epics and legends remain timeless repositories of a people's stories. They preserve cultural code, feed film and book markets, and give authors ready-made archetypes that never go out of date. UNESCO recognizes their value at the international level, while publishers and producers turn local myths into global products. The next step is yours: take the principles we have broken down, choose a familiar legend, and apply the structure of the epic to it in your own writing.