What is St. Tristan of Dintagel

The creation of St. Tristan of Dintagel symbolizes the magic of storytelling, both in the supernatural sense of magic and in the prosaic sense of wonder. Within the novel’s fantasy conventions, the act of inspiration that begins a story is a magical act, in which the storyteller draws ideas from other Strands in order to tell a story that seems realistic because it is, in fact, true in a different aspect of reality. The Tristan story thus moves to multiple Strands and becomes a part of reality across all Strands. However, storytelling is also a magical process of evolution and embellishment, with each new storyteller adding a twist or a detail until the story seems to take on a life of its own. The Tristan story becomes an epic song about a knight, and its hero is subsequently sainted by the Catholic Church on more than one Strand.