High fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction, defined either by its setting in an imaginary world or by the epic stature of its characters, themes and plot. The term "high fantasy" was coined by Lloyd Alexander in a 1971 essay, "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance".
Genre overview
High fantasy is defined as fantasy fiction set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world, rather than the real, or "primary" world. The secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ 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.
The romances of William Morris, such as The Well at the World's End, set in an imaginary medieval world, are sometimes regarded as the first examples of high fantasy.
The works of J.R.R. Tolkien, especially The Lord of the Rings, are regarded as the archetypal works of high fantasy.
Stephen R. Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is an example of a high fantasy series.
Nikki Gamble distinguishes three subtypes of high fantasy:
- A setting in which the primary world does not exist. That is, the primary is either separated from the setting entirely, or is separated from it by a great distance in space and/or time.
- The secondary/parallel world(s) is (are) entered through a portal from the primary world
- A distinct world-within-a-world is part of the primary world
Where the primary world does not exist, detailed maps, geography, and history of the fictional world are often 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".
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.
Gamble suggests that The Lord of the Rings takes place in a setting where the primary world does not exist. This was something Tolkien often denied; rather, he suggested that Middle-earth was the primary world, but in the past. 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 serve as a kind of "secondary or sub-creational reality", "secondary belief", or reality "at a different stage of imagination". In most cases he is adamant that the events ("history") occurred on primary earth, and not another planet.
Setting
These stories are often serious in tone and epic in scope, dealing with themes of grand struggle against supernatural, evil forces. Some typical characteristics of high fantasy include fantastical elements such as elves, fairies, dwarves, dragons, demons, magic or sorcery, wizards or magicians, constructed languages, 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.
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 The Runelords, and also Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom of Landover as well as The Elfstones of Shannara.
Characters
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 as an actual child. In other works he is a completely developed individual with his own character and spirit. High fantasy is not limited to a male protagonist.
The hero often begins as a childlike figure, but matures rapidly, experiencing a huge gain in fighting/problem-solving abilities along the way. The plot of the story often depicts the hero's fight against the evil forces as a Bildungsroman.
In many books there is a knowing, mystical mentor/teacher. This character is often a formidable wizard or warrior, who provides the main character with advice and help.
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. In some works the villain may have had a predecessor/s who might have been superior or inferior to them.
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.
Good versus evil
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, 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. 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". In some works, as in large parts of Jordan's The Wheel of Time, the struggle 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 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.
Saga or series
From Tolkien to the modern day, authors in this genre tend to create their own worlds where they set multi-tiered narratives such as Shannara, The Belgariad, The Malloreon, The Wheel of Time, Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Inheritance Cycle, The Black Company, The Sword of Truth, and Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.
Role-playing campaign settings like Greyhawk by Gary Gygax, Dragonlance by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis and Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood are a common basis for many fantasy books and many other authors continue to contribute to the settings.
See also
- Heroic fantasy
- Sword and sorcery
- Eric Rücker 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
- List of genres
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