Lesson 1: What is Fantasy? -- What is Epic Fantasy?
Epic Fantasy
Fantasy like Fiction can be broken down into several sub-categories or sub-genres. Each sub-category of Fantasy has its unique elements though still deals with magic and impossible events. The largest, most popular sub-category of the genre is Epic or High Fantasy. This lesson will cover the sub-category of Epic Fantasy, its themes and some of the authors and series.
Objectives of this section:
If possible, students can prepare by seeing the movie “Lord of Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” or star reading the book. It’s not absolutely necessary to understand Epic Fantasy, but could help in discussions.
Fantasy languished for years in the genres of fiction. The popularity of one book of epic proportions was responsible for creating the genre as it is today. This one book made Epic Fantasy the most sought after category by readers. In recent years, many Epic Fantasy books have reached the Bestseller lists. Readers love the epic stories of grand adventure and want more of the same. Many Epic Fantasy books stretch out into multi-volume series that seem to never end. Epic Fantasy is a popular sub-genre that continues to grow.
What is Epic Fantasy? Epic Fantasy usually takes place in a secondary world that involves magic and strange beings. It uses noble characters, archetypes and elevated style. Writers either ignore our world, set the secondary world in some relationship with ours or use a world within a world technique. Stories use a commoner hero that rises to the occasion or a morally ambivalent hero who can't decide between good and evil.
Another important characteristic of Epic Fantasy is world building. Each book has a vast world with history and vital parts of a society for the story to play itself out. Authors create all the details of their worlds including cultures, history, religion, economy and all the other elements that make up a world. They do not use every detail, but the background work they do to create their world gives a book a more realistic feel. This depth of world building brings the fantastic worlds of magic to life.
The themes of Epic Fantasy are part of the reason the sub-genre draws so many readers.
Themes of Epic Fantasy:
Two major themes run through most Epic Fantasy books. One is a great struggle between opposing forces and the other is the quest.
A struggle between good and evil, light and dark or order and chaos is usually at the center of these books. Characters strive to defeat one of the forces or at best achieve balance. Authors use this theme to create suspenseful stories with strong characters to keep a reader interested.
The other major theme is the quest. A quest is a search for a magical object or person which can save the world. Quests are always toward something; they are a spiritual or religious undertaking. A quest follows a pattern:
1. A precious object and/or person to be found and possessed or married.
2. A long journey to find it, for its whereabouts are not originally known.
3. A hero because the precious object can't be found by anybody, but only by the one person who possesses the right qualities of breeding or character.
4. A test or series of tests by which the unworthy are screened out, and the hero revealed.
5. The Guardians of the object who must be overcome before it can be won. They may be simply a further test of the hero's qualities, or they may be malignant in themselves.
6. The Helpers (may appear in human or animal form) who with their knowledge and magical powers assist the hero and but for whom he would never succeed.
