Use of the word 'the' in titles

[Kelb_Panthera]

For some reason I'm just not feeling a whole lot of difference in titles with or without "the."

When reading through Gwyn Chan's list there, the only one that stood out was mountains of madness. At mountains of madness doesn't work for being grammatically incorrect, but the rest of them feel like they could go either way and not make any difference at all.

I guess I just started ignoring the word "the" unless it was heavily emphasized or noticeably absent; as in the title (or sentence) fails grammatically without it.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

At mountains of madness isn't grammatically correct. Nothing about the prepositional phrase demands that the noun phrase have a specifier. At Mountains of Madness makes it sound more abstract, rather than in a specific mountain range.

[Rawhide]

At Mountains of Madness is grammatically correct. If Mountains of Madness is a place, it's perfectly possible to be there.

[GolemsVoice]

It does, however, sound somewhat like a restaurant or a diner.

"Great savings at Mountains of Madness! Our prices are INSANE! Shur nab shur-nab Shub-Niggurath!"

[Rawhide]

It does, however, sound somewhat like a restaurant or a diner.

"Great savings at Mountains of Madness! Our prices are INSANE! Shur nab shur-nab Shub-Niggurath!"

You go check the savings, I'll be in Sanity.

[GolemsVoice]

Proof that, as so often, reality is stranger than fiction. Why Sanity?

[Rawhide]

Proof that, as so often, reality is stranger than fiction. Why Sanity?

Sanity is overrated.

[GolemsVoice]

Alternatively, it's for the weak

[Kelb_Panthera]

At Mountains of Madness is grammatically correct. If Mountains of Madness is a place, it's perfectly possible to be there.

I suppose that's true.

It really doesn't work as a title though, especially for the work it would be attached to. Maybe if "Mountains of Madness" was the name of a town in the miskatonic valley?

Great piece, btw. Started getting a little claustrophobic in a well lit room in the middle of a sunny day the first time I read it.

I can't really say much for Lovecraft's characters but his ability to convey atmosphere was top-notch, IMO.

[Aedilred]

When it comes to "Mountains of Madness", the best thing to do is probably drop both the "at" and the "the". "Mountains of Madness" is a great title, although it does seem to suggest - to me, at least, some sort of introspective philosophical tract, rather than a primordial horror. I think if you're going to keep the "at", you need the "the" there too to make sense of the phrase.

[Haruki-kun]

At Mountains of Madness is grammatically correct. If Mountains of Madness is a place, it's perfectly possible to be there.

Unless you're not specifying Mountains of Madness as either a specific place (as Rawhide suggests) or a specific mountain. If referring to multiple mountains, therefore multiple areas, this could be (the story of what happened) At Mountains of Madness.

That being said, I think this is an artistic choice by the author. Sure, Mountains of Madness could have been the title, but he just decided on "At" instead.

[nedz]

Heck, I'm this dates all the way back to ancient civilizations.

Odysseus in The Illiad and The Odyssey.
Note also the use of The.

[Fiery Diamond]

hmmm... as a test of this, compare these titles of random science fiction works, as chosen from being some of the most expensive sci-fi books on Amazon:

Earthblood vs The Earthblood
Everborn vs The Everborn
Dark Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft vs The Dark Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft
At Mountains of Madness vs At the Mountains of Madness
Ringmakers of Saturn vs The Ringmakers of Saturn
Ringworld vs The Ringworld
Dune Messiah vs The Dune Messiah
To Escape Stars vs To Escape the Stars

as another interesting one, here's a bunch of random ones from the cheapest . See if you can guess which one's the original. I'm just gonna pick the cheapest Fantasy books.

Kingdoms of Light vs The Kingdoms of Light
Bewitched and Betrayed vs The Bewitched and Betrayed
Honoured Enemy vs The Honoured Enemy
Tomes of the Dead: Words of Their Roaring vs The Tomes of the Dead: Words of Their Roaring
Revenge of Rose vs Revenge of the Rose
World Fall vs The World Fall (bonus points: is the series Seven Circles or The Seven Circles?)
Shapechangers vs The Shapechangers

I have never read any of these and, not knowing what the actual titles are, am going to go through this list and say which of the alternatives sounds better to me (if one of them does stand out to me, which isn't always).

Earthblood
Everborn (if one person); The Everborn (if a category of people)
Dark Worlds (if only some of them); The Dark Worlds (if all of them)
At the Mountains of Madness
The Ringmakers of Saturn
Ringworld
-either one-
To Escape the Stars (honestly, without "the" it makes me think of outrunning movie stars)

The Kingdoms of Light
Bewitched and Betrayed (unless about a category of such people)
Honoured Enemy
the title that includes "the"
Revenge of the Rose (unless "Rose" is being used as a person's first name)
The World Fall
-either one-



EDIT: @OP- you have a typo on the "Magic" page on the wiki near the top; you have Ice-Darkness listed as opposites instead of Light-Darkness.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I have never read any of these and, not knowing what the actual titles are, am going to go through this list and say which of the alternatives sounds better to me (if one of them does stand out to me, which isn't always).

Earthblood
Everborn (if one person); The Everborn (if a category of people)
Dark Worlds (if only some of them); The Dark Worlds (if all of them)
At the Mountains of Madness
The Ringmakers of Saturn
Ringworld
-either one-
To Escape the Stars (honestly, without "the" it makes me think of outrunning movie stars)

The Kingdoms of Light
Bewitched and Betrayed (unless about a category of such people)
Honoured Enemy
the title that includes "the"
Revenge of the Rose (unless "Rose" is being used as a person's first name)
The World Fall
-either one-

Ones you got wrong: Ringmakers of Saturn, Kingdoms of Light, Tomes of the Dead, and World Fall.

[Fiery Diamond]

Thanks for the input all. The Parallel Planes it is. Peruse if you wish.

So, are these things that you're writing and trying to get published? I have perused (as I wished) and am finding the premises and setting (as much as is available) interesting. And now I want to read the works, which are, alas, not available for me to read.