So What Is a Worldgate Anyway?

In science fiction and fantasy, a worldgate is a
portal which joins two worlds, generally the mundane
world of everyday life and the world of wonders in
which the story will be set. Generally the protagonist
or protagonists travel through it at or near the
beginning of the novel, and after the conclusion of
their adventures they return to mundane life, taking
with them only what they have learned in the course of
their experiences.

There are exceptions, of course. In the first book of
Andre Norton's Witch World series, the protagonist
does not have to return to his own world at the
conclusion of the book, but instead is able to remain
in the Witch World with his new-found love, there to
found a dynasty. But the general pattern is for the
protagonist to return home in the end.

Another kind of worldgate is part of the deep
background of a fictional world, and permitted whole
populations to migrate from a rather ordinary world to
worlds of wonder. In Sherwood Smith's world of
Sartorias-deles (Crown Duel and the forthcoming Inda),
the human population is not native, but came from
Earth via one or more worldgates. My own fictional
world of Ixilon was repopulated in a similar manner
after its original inhabitants wiped themselves out in
a terrible war. The short story "Spiral Horn, Spiral
Tusk" makes reference to the subsequent migrations of
Boston Yankees and of Cavaliers from the English Civil
War, and how their two societies formed an uneasy new
nation.

In a more metaphorical sense, any work of science
fiction or fantasy is a worldgate, for it takes the
reader, however briefly and at second hand, to another
world to have adventures and experience wonders. The
very best of them can make us forget that we are
sitting in a chair with a book in our hands, and make
us feel as though we are actually there.