about everything

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1.4 Saga or series

2 See also

3 References

Genre overview[edit]

High fantasy is defined as fantasy fiction set in an alternative, entirely fictional ("secondary") world,

rather than the real, or "primary" world. The secondary world is usually internally consistent but its rules

differ in some way(s) from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy is characterized by being

set in the primary, or "real" world, or a rational and familiar fictional world, with the inclusion of magical

elements.[1][2][3][4]

Nikki Gamble distinguishes three subtypes of high fantasy:[3]

A setting in which the primary world does not exist[3][5] (e.g. The Lord of The Rings, The Legend of

Zelda, A Song of Ice and Fire, Warcraft, Inheritance Cycle, Discworld, The Earthsea Series, The Sword of

Truth, The Riftwar Cycle, The Shannara Series, The Edge Chronicles, The Wheel of Time, The Prydain

Chronicles, Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Kingkiller Chronicle, Gormenghast, and Memory, Sorrow,

and Thorn)

The secondary/parallel world(s) is entered through a portal from the primary world[3] (e.g. Alice inWonderland, Oz books, The Chronicles of Narnia,[3] His Dark Materials, Phantastes, The Dark Tower,

Xanth books, and Avantasia)

A distinct world-within-a-world as part of the primary world[3] (e.g. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson,

Stardust, Arthur series (Besson), The Spiderwick Chronicles, American Gods, The Gods of Pegana and

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)

Where the primary world does not exist, detailed maps, geography and history of the fictional world will

often be provided. The secondary world often is based on, or symbolically represents, the primary

world. The Oxford of Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights is similar, a world that is "both familiar and

strange". Pullman's preface to that book explains that the setting is "a universe like ours, but different in

many ways".[3]

In the case of a world-within-a-world, also known as a wainscot, the secondary world co-exists with the

primary world; however, the mundane inhabitants of the primary world are unaware of the secondary

world.


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Gamble suggests that The Lord of the Rings takes place in a setting where the primary world does not

exist.[3] This was something Tolkien often denied; rather, he suggested that Middle-earth was the

primary world, but in the past.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] This was not always clear, however, as a few of his

early letters described that while his stories take place on earth, elements of the stories as a kind of"...secondary or sub-creational reality" or "Secondary belief" in replies to letters, or "at a different stage

of imagination...".[13][14][15][16][17] In most cases he is adamant that the events ("history") occurred

on primary earth, and not another planet.[11][18]

Setting[edit]

These stories are often serious in tone and epic in scope, dealing with themes of grand struggle against

supernatural, evil forces.[19] Some typical characteristics of high fantasy include fantastical elements

such as elves, fairies, dwarves, dragons, demons, magic or sorcery, wizards or magicians, constructedlanguages, quests, coming-of-age themes, and multi-volume narratives.

In some fiction, a contemporary, "real-world" character is placed in the invented world, sometimes

through framing devices such as portals to other worlds or even subconscious travels. Purists might not

consider this to be "true" high fantasy, although such stories are often categorized as high fantasy

because they've yet to be classified as their own distinct subgenre, and often resemble this subgenre

more closely than any other.[original research?]

High fantasy worlds may be more or less closely based on real world milieux, or on legends such as the

Arthurian Cycle. When the resemblance is strong, particularly when real-world history is used, high

fantasy shades into alternative history.

The high fantasy genre's fandom ranges from Tolkien to contemporary. Recent screen versions of

Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as well as Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,

Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader have contributed to the subgenre's continuing

popularity. Moreover, film adaptations of some novels are in preproduction, such as David Farland's TheRunelords, and also Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom of Landover as well as The Elfstones of Shannara.

Characters[edit]


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Many high fantasy storylines are told from the viewpoint of one main hero. Often, much of the plot

revolves around his or her heritage or mysterious nature. In many novels the hero is an orphan or

unusual sibling, often with an extraordinary talent for magic or combat. He or she begins the story

young, if not an actual child.[20] Some examples of this are: Kathryn Lasky's Soren of Guardians of

Ga'Hoole, David Eddings' Belgarion in the Belgariad and Malloreon, Terry Brooks' Shea and Wil

Ohmsford of The Sword of Shannara and The Elfstones of Shannara, David Kier's Thomas Pitworth of

Ravenscroft and The Door to the Shadows, Terry Goodkind's Richard Cypher, Robert Jordan's Rand

al'Thor of The Wheel of Time, Pug and Tomas of Raymond Feist's Riftwar Saga, Philip Pullman's Lyra

Belacqua of His Dark Materials, Ursula K. Le Guin's Ged, Aerial of the Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Ann

Pierce, Christopher Paolini's Eragon of The Inheritance Cycle and Ashalind of the "Bitterbynd Trilogy". In

other works he is a completely developed individual with his own character and spirit David Eddings'

Sparhawk of The Elenium and The Tamuli. High fantasy is not by any means limited to a male

protagonist, as seen in such works as Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion Cecelia Dart-

Thornton's Ashalind and P.C. Hodgell's Jame, though a man is perhaps more common.[21]

Siegfried kills Fafner, by Arthur Rackham

In the beginning of the storyline, the hero is threatened by the unknown force.[citation needed] One

reason for such a threat is that, unlike the typical sword and sorcery adventurer, the hero is seldom

bored stiff by ordinary life and therefore will not abandon it quickly and on any excuse.[citation needed]

Even though, like Bilbo Baggins, he or she may not be eager for adventure, he is willing or somehowbrought into a fantasy affair. By the same token, the hero of the high fantasy adventure is capable of

completing it and settling down to ordinary life again.[citation needed]

Typically, the hero slowly gains knowledge of his past through legend, prophecy, lost-and-found-again

family members, or encounters with "mentor" characters who know more about him/her than he/she

does. With that knowledge comes power and confidence; the hero often begins as a childlike figure, but

matures rapidly, experiencing a huge gain in fighting/problem-solving abilities along the way.[22] The

plot of the story often depicts the hero's fight against the evil forces as a Bildungsroman. However, the

epic adventure is not always quite so stereotyped. A good example of a less stereotyped epic is TheDeed of Paksenarrion in which the main character becomes a paladin through her own growing strength

instead of it having been forced on her at birth.

In many books there is a knowing, mystical mentor/teacher, associated with the Jungian archetype of

Senex, or wise old man. This character is often a formidable wizard or warrior, who provides the main


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character with advice and help. Examples would be: Tolkien's Gandalf of The Lord of the Rings,

Dumbledore of Harry Potter series, Merlin of Arthurian Legends, Lasky's Ezylryb of Guardians of

Ga'Hoole, Brooks' Allanon of The Sword of Shannara, Eddings' Belgarath and Polgara of The Belgariad,

Feist's Macros the Black of the Riftwar Saga, Jordan's Moiraine of The Wheel of Time (who at least starts

out as this kind of character), Goodkind's Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander of The Sword of Truth, Dart-Thornton's

Thorn/Angaver, and Paolini's Brom and Oromis of The Inheritance Cycle.

In some books, there is also a mysterious Dark Lord, often obsessed with taking over the world and

killing the main hero. This character is an evil wizard or sorcerer, or sometimes a kind of god or demon.

This character commands a huge army and a group of highly feared servants. Examples would be:

Tolkien's Morgoth of The Silmarillion as well as Sauron, the King of the Nazgl and the others of the Nine

Riders from The Lord of the Rings, Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter series, Lasky's Kludd and Nyra of

Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Brooks's Warlock Lord of The Sword of Shannara, Jordan's Dark One of The

Wheel of Time, and Eddings' Torak of The Belgariad and Zandramas of The Malloreon, Rick Riordan's

Kronos of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Goodkind's Darken Rahl and Emperor Jagang of The Sword

of Truth, Dart-Thornton's Moragon, and Paolini's Galbatorix of The Inheritance Cycle. In some works the

villain may have had a predecessor/s who might have been superior or inferior to them. Examples of this

would be Morgoth from the Silmarillion, Sauron's former commander, Goodkind's Panis Rahl, as well as

Galbatorix with Morzan and the Forsworn from the Inheritance Cycle.

The progress of the story leads to the character learning the nature of the unknown forces against him,

that they constitute a force with great power and malevolence.[23] Facing down this evil is the

culmination of the hero's story and permits the return to normal life.

Good versus evil[edit]

Good versus evil is a common concept in high fantasy, and the character of evil is often an important

concept in a work of high fantasy,[24] as in The Lord of the Rings. Indeed, the importance of the

concepts of good and evil can be regarded as the distinguishing mark between high fantasy and sword

and sorcery.[25] In many works of high fantasy, this conflict marks a deep concern with moral issues; in

other works, the conflict is a power struggle, with, for instance, wizards behaving irresponsibly whether

they are "good" or "evil".[26] In some works, as in large parts of Jordan's The Wheel of Time, thestruggle between good and evil is mainly used as a backdrop for more intricate conflicts of interest, such

as conflicts between different factions formally on the same side in the good vs. evil conflict.

Recent fantasy novels have begun to depart from the more common good vs evil background that

became prevalent after Lord of the Rings. Prominently, George R R Martin's acclaimed A Song of Ice and


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Fire series more or less abandons the good-evil paradigm in favor of a more politically based and

multifaceted struggle between different ruling families, most of whom display both good and evil

tendencies in pursuit of power, which takes the place of the main catalyst of the story. Although several

characters who have a civilised, trustworthy guise do perform terrible acts of cruelty marking them as

morally degenerate, their intentions are not necessarily "evil". Often the villain will try to convince the

hero either a) the villain is not in fact evil like the hero thinks he is, b) the hero is actually the

evil/immoral one, c) the mentor character has been using the hero's special qualities for his own ends

and does not really care about him/her. Most of these arguments will be followed up by a conversion

attempt, with promises of redemption for supposed misdeeds or glory, riches and power.[citation

needed]

Saga or series[edit]

From Tolkien to the modern day, authors in this genre tend to create their own worlds where they set

multi-tiered narratives such as the Belgariad, Malloreon, Wheel of Time, Malazan Book of the Fallen,

The Inheritance Cycle, The Black Company, The Sword of Truth, A Song of Ice and Fire, and Memory,

Sorrow, and Thorn

Role-playing campaign settings like Greyhawk by Gary Gygax, Dragonlance[27] by Tracy Hickman and

Margaret Weis and Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood[28] are a common basis for many fantasy books

and many other authors continue to contribute to the settings.[29]

See also[edit]

Portal icon Novels portal

Eric Rcker Eddison (The Worm Ouroboros and The Zimiamvian Trilogy) was a pre-Tolkien high fantasy

writer.

List of high fantasy fiction

List of High Fantasy Films and TV Series

Low fantasy

Medieval fantasy

Historical fantasy


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List of genres

References[edit]

Jump up ^ Buss, Kathleen; Karnowski, Lee (2000). Reading and Writing Literary Genres. International

Reading Assoc. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-87207-257-2.

Jump up ^ Perry, Phyllis Jean (2003). Teaching Fantasy Novels. Libraries Unlimited. p. vi. ISBN 978-1-

56308-987-9.

^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Gamble, Nikki; Yates, Sally (2008). Exploring Children's Literature. SAGE

Publications Ltd. pp. 102103. ISBN 978-1-4129-3013-0.

Jump up ^ C.W. Sullivan has a slightly more complex definition in "High Fantasy", chapter 24 of the

International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature by Peter Hunt and Sheila G. Bannister Ray

(Routledge, 1996 and 2004), chapter 24.

Jump up ^ That is, the primary is either separated from the setting entirely, as in the Sword of Truth,

where author Goodkind reveals that his setting and Earth are alternate realities separated by roughly

10,000 years, or is separated from it by a great distance in space and/or time, as JRR Tolkien was

adamant that Arda (both before and after it was made spherical) was in the history of the Earth as we

know it; The Book of the New Sun and the Shannara series are explicitly stated to be in Earth's far

future, as well is this implied in the Wheel of Time, with a cyclical view of time and 20th-century cultural

landmarks, such as a Mercedes-Benz hood ornament, being present as archaeological relics in-world.

Jump up ^ Return of the King, Appendix D, Calendars: '...long ago as those times are now reckoned in

years and lives of men, they were not very remote according to the memory of the Earth.'

Jump up ^ Letters No. 151, 212, 325, 328

Jump up ^ "The Lord of the Rings may be a 'fairy-story', but it takes place in the Northern hemisphere of

this earth: miles are miles, days are days, and weather is weather." Letters No.210, p.272

Jump up ^ "'Middle-earth', by the way, is not a name of a never-never land without relation to the world

we live in (like the Mercury of Eddison). It is just a use of Middle English middel-erde (or erthe), altered

from Old English Middengeard: the name for the inhabited lands of Men 'between the seas'. And though

I have not attempted to relate the shape of the mountains and land-masses to what geologists may sayor surmise about the nearer past, imaginatively this 'history' is supposed to take place in a period of the

actual Old World of this planet." Letters No.165, p.220

Jump up ^ "I am historically minded. Middle-earth is not an imaginary world. The name is the modern

form (appearing in the 13th century and still in use) of midden-erd>middel-erd, an ancient name for the

oikoumen, the abiding place of Men, the objectively real world, in use specifically opposed to

imaginary worlds (as Fairyland) or unseen worlds (as Heaven or Hell). The theatre of my tale is this


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earth, the one in which we now live, but the historical period is imaginary. The essentials of that abiding

place are all there (at any rate for inhabitants of N.W. Europe), so naturally it feels familiar, even if a

little glorified by enchantment of distance in time." Letters No.183, p.239

^ Jump up to: a b "Arda 'realm' was the name given to our world or earth.... ... [I]f it were 'history', it

would be difficult to fit the lands and events (or 'cultures') into such evidence as we possess,archaeological or geological, concerning the nearer or remoter part of what is now called Europe;

though the Shire, for instance, is expressly stated to have been in this region (I p. 12). ... I hope the,

evidently long but undefined, gap* in time between the Fall of Barad-dr and our Days is sufficient for

'literary credibility', even for readers acquainted with what is known or surmised of 'pre-history'. I

have, I suppose, constructed an imaginary time, but kept my feet on my own mother-earth for place. I

prefer that to the contemporary mode of seeking remote globes in 'space'. However curious, they are

alien, and not loveable with the love of blood-kin. Middle-earth is not my own invention. It is a

modernization or alteration of an old word for the inhabited world of Man, the oikoumen: middle

because thought of vaguely as set amidst the encircling Seas and (in the northern-imagination) between

ice of the North and the fire of the South. O.English middan-geard, medival E. midden-erd, middle-erd.Many reviewers seem to assume that Middle-earth is another planet! *I imagine the gap to be about

6000 years: that is we are now at the end of the Fifth Age, if the Ages were of about the same length as

S.A. and T.A. But they have, I think quickened; and I imagine we are actually at the end of the Sixth Age,

or in the Seventh." Letters No.211, p.283

Jump up ^ "['Middle-earth'] is an old word, not invented by me, as a reference to a dictionary such as

the Shorter Oxford will show. It meant the habitable lands of our world, set amid the surrounding

Ocean. The action of the story takes place in the North-west of 'Middle-earth', equivalent in latitude to

the coastlands of Europe and the north shores of the Mediterranean. ... If Hobbiton and Rivendell are

taken (as intended) to be at about the latitude of Oxford, then Minas Tirith, 600 miles south, is at aboutthe latitude of Florence. The mouths of Anduin and the ancient city of Pelargir are at about the latitude

of ancient Troy." Letters No.294, 8 February 1967, p.375376

Jump up ^ Letters 180: 14 January 1956

Jump up ^ Letters 200: 25 June 1957

Jump up ^ Letters 328: Autumn 1971

Jump up ^

http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/papers/dreamlord/stages/stages_of_imagination.htm#24

Jump up ^ Dennis Gerrolt, Now Read On... interview, BBC, January 1971

http://www.lordotrings.com/interview.asp

Jump up ^ "...a searchlight, as it were, on a brief episode in History, and on a small part of our Middle-

earth..." Letters No.328, Autumn 1971, p.412


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Jump up ^ Philip Martin, The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature: From Dragon's Lair to Hero's Quest, p

34, ISBN 0-87116-195-8

Jump up ^ Michael Moorcock, Wizardry & Wild Romance: A Study of Epic Fantasy p 84 ISBN 1-932265-

07-4

Jump up ^ "EpicFantasyZone homepage". Retrieved 2 October 2008.[dead link]

Jump up ^ Casey Lieb, "Unlikely Heroes and their role in Fantasy Literature"

Jump up ^ Patricia A. McKillip, "Writing High Fantasy", p 53, Philip Martin, ed., The Writer's Guide to

Fantasy Literature: From Dragon's Lair to Hero's Quest, ISBN 0-87116-195-8

Jump up ^ Tom Shippey, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, p 120, ISBN 0-618-25759-4

Jump up ^ Joseph A. McCullough V, "The Demarcation of Sword and Sorcery"

Jump up ^ Ursula K. LeGuin, "The Question I Get Asked Most Often" p 274, The Wave in the Mind, ISBN1-59030-006-8

Jump up ^ "Dragonlance homepage". Retrieved 2 March 2006.

Jump up ^ "For Dungeons and Dragons, both TSR and WotC produced additional settings that can be

used with the core rules, two of the most popular being the magic-punk Eberron ... and the high fantasy

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting." Snow, Cason. "Dragons in the stacks: an introduction to role-

playing games and their value to libraries." Collection Building 27.2 (2008): 63-70.

Jump up ^ "Most role-playing games draw upon a universe based in high fantasy; this literary genre,

half-way between traditional fantasy ..." Squedin, S., & Papillon, S. (2008). U.S. Patent Application12/198,391.

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Mythology (based) Gaslamp Gothic Hard Heroic High list Historical Juvenile Lost World Low Magical girl

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Media

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