Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997)
Omens
Tagged: Theme.
These take many forms in fantasy: any phenomenon, from a rainbow to a rain of frogs, may be interpreted within the Story context as a pointer to future events. Usually the importance will not be left to the reader's imagination: thus in Piers Anthony's A Spell for Chameleon (1977) the troubling omen of a chameleon seized by a hawk is finally interpreted by the hero as his own capture (by marriage) of the woman named Chameleon. Omens, despite their reflection in the word "ominous", may presage favourable as well as unfavourable events – unlike Portents. [CB/DRL]