High fantasy

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High fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction that is set in invented or parallel worlds. Built upon the platform of a diverse body of works in the already very popular fantasy genre, high fantasy came into fruition through the work of authors such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. While it's nowhere near the oldest fantasy subgenre, it, alongside sword and sorcery, has become one of the two most commonly associated with the term fantasy.

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Genre overview

These stories are serious in tone, often epic in scope, dealing with themes of grand struggle against supernatural evil forces. It is one of the most popular subgenres of the fantasy fiction. Other typical characteristics of high fantasy include fantastical races (such as elves and dwarves), magic, wizards, invented languages, coming-of-age themes, and multi-volume narratives.

The term can also have another meaning. This definition of the term separates between high fantasy and low fantasy. In this case, high fantasy and low fantasy simply describes the amount of supernatural forces in the world, and does not describe anything else. In some high fantasy, a contemporary, "real-world" character is placed in the invented world. Purists might not consider this to be "true" high fantasy, although such stories are often categorized as high fantasy due to the fact that they've yet to be classified as their own distinct subgenre, and often resemble this subgenre more closely than any other.

High fantasy is the most popular and successful subgenre of the fantasy fiction. Its fandom steers from Tolkien to nowadays and with recent screen versions of The Lord of the Rings its popularity doesn't look diminished in the least. Moreover some novels are in preproduction status for movie adaptations like David Farland's Runelords and Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom of Landover.

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Concepts

One of the main concepts of the high fantasy storylines is the main hero's storyline. Most of the main characteristics revolve around his heritage. In many novels he is mostly an unusual orphan or an unusual and strange sibling with some (or more) incredible abilities and skills in a particular area (most of the times - magic) - e.g. Terry Goodkind's Richard Rahl, Robert Jordan's Rand al'Thor of The Wheel of Time, Raymond Feist's Pug of Riftwar Saga, Christopher Paolini's Eragon of Eragon, David Eddings' Belgarion of Belgariad, Tad Williams' Simon of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. In other works he is a completely developed individual with his own character and spirit - David Eddings' Sparhawk of Elenium and Tamuli.

In most of the stories, considering his dark and murky heritage, throughout his development slowly he is gaining knowledge of his past and with knowledge comes the power, and the self-confidence. In many books there is love interest surrounding the main character. Usually, she is as self-centered and good as the main character.

In the beginning of the storyline, there is one important twist or event in the life of the character. He is threatened by the unknown force. Many times, the character is destined to destroy the evil force, or to be a threat himself of some importance. In many books there is one mystical persona, who is providing the main character with advices and help. Mostly he is a formidable wizard or warrior. The wizard Kulgan of Riftwar saga, Tolkien's Gandalf, Allanon of Terry Brooks.

The main downsides are the character overpower or underdevelopment. Also plagiarism sometimes makes some novels rather dull or very repetitive. Many of the novels are strongly influenced by Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, which is considered the groundwork of the genre. The oversature is a constant problem of the popularity of the genre, too.

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Saga or series

The role-playing campaign settings like Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance [1] are excellent bases for many fantasy books and many authors everlasting continue to contribute to the settings. The most famous works include the Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis' Dragonlance sagas revolving around the powerful mage Raistlin with his warrior brother Caramon, the half-elf Tanis, his love – the elven Lauranthalasa – and the undead wraith knight Lord Soth. Among fans they are cited as the finest novels of this particular famous campaign setting and Hickman and Weis continue to contribute chiefly to the world. Nevertheless the two authors have many other epic fantasy projects like the Dark Sword series and The Death Gate Cycle.

In Forgotten Realms the ruling name is that of Robert Salvatore [2]. His drow elf Drizzt Do'Urden is fan-favourite. Wielding his two scimitars, he is one of the greatest warriors on Faerûn and one of the most beloved characters. Salvatore being highly productive author is contributing every year one book of the stories around Drizzt. Also Drizzt has a company, including the ranger Cattie-brie, the dwarven fighter Bruenor Battlehammer, the thief Regis the Halfling and Wulfgar the barbarian. Salvatore also writes frequently to his Demon Wars' setting, where he has a couple of sagas.

From Tolkien to nowadays, most authors are creating their own worlds and mini-settings where they are creating multi-movement suits like Riftwar saga, Belgariad and Malloreon, Memory, Sorrow and Thorne. There are other authors like Robert Jordan, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., and Terry Goodkind who centralize around one story and are writing many volumes of everlasting series. However they are critisized for the tendency of running dry of ideas and lackluster latest efforts. The opposite goes for the other shorter suits, who don't have enough depth or character development in themselves.

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Sample high fantasy sources

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Books

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Other media

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Fantasy movies

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ja:ハイ・ファンタジー fi:High Fantasy zh:严肃奇幻