Legends Gone By

I am Legend. This is the title of the book and the last line. It never made sense to me until I finished the book. It describes Neville's state at the close of book. He is now a legend, much like how the vampires, were once legend, now humanity has become only a legend.

This is an interesting way to end the book, and it sheds light on our perception of history. Species are always coming and going from planet earth. We have evidence of past species, strikingly different from anything on earth today. Whenever I stumble across a brachiopod, trilobite, or similar fossil, I am transported back to a time of legends: The Cambrian, when arthropods roamed the seafloor, constituting the most complex form of life yet. The Ordovician, when immense fish ruled the world. The Mesozoic: when dinosaurs of all sizes lived on Gondwana and Laurasia. Then two hundred million years later, after countless other worlds have come and gone, did we appear. Yet we often feel like the present is how the world has always been. I am Legend reminds me that there are countless real world legends that have come and gone. Vampires are not on that list, but they represent times gone by, and times to come. Neville was the last of his species, and like every species, there will always be a last one. A last dinosaur, a last trilobite, a last human, or a last vampire, they will all be legends one day.