Fantasy

Fantasy literature is a genre of narrative fiction that grows out of supernatural elements, like magic.

History

Characteristics of Fantasy

Sub-genres

Portal
Secondary World

Secondary World consist of many different fictional scenarios and mirrors the author’s thoughts then what actually happens in the world itself.[1] In this type of world things go above and beyond measures. Different fantasies have a variety of twists and plots, but in secondary world the author puts your mind in another world. It seems unreal but it explores and unveil the rules and nature of that world. It contains having characters that nearly have more power then one man himself could bear. Low, High, Heroic, and Dark fantasies are some different fantasies that have secondary world. High Fantasies are characterized by its setting, characters, and even the plot. In these stories characters such as dragons, elves, wizards, and dwarfs can be found all over in secondary world.[2] “The Lord of The Rings” is one the best great high fantasy novels created [3]. In Lord of The Rings the ring symbolized power and evil. The Dark Lord Sauron created this ring to overrule all other ring of powers as the supersonic weapon to overtake middle-earth. The second fantasy characteristic is the “Eye of Sauron”.[4] The Eye represents a dark symbol. The Eye was used to protect the surroundings of Mordor, a way for Lord Sauron to see all. Heroic Fantasies is like a timeline of events for a character in the secondary world.[5] Heroic is a bit different from high fantasies, its problems are generally those of the heroes, not the world. A great example of this would be, Frodo Baggins from Lord of The Rings.[6] Frodo is a hobbit who takes on a quest with a wizard, dwarfs, and others to destroy the “ring” in the fire of Mount Doom. The journey Frodo takes is a test of survival. Having to travel thousands of miles by foot, escaping the black riders, and fighting off Sauron’s men. With Froto holding the only Ring to control middle earth. While the journey continued he lost the urge to destroy the Ring, wanting to retain the ring for himself. Eventually he gets passed “the Eye” and reaches the volcano to destroy the Ring, but Gollum attacks and bites off his finger but loses his balance and falls off the cliff, so the ring was destroyed.

Epic Fantasy
Sword and Sorcery
Urban Fantasy
Folklore

Folklore comes from tales passed down by word of mouth. It’s made up of informal expressions passed around long enough to have become recurrent in form and content, but changeable in performance.[7] This subgenre consist of myths, legends, fables, and fairytales. Myth is that which occurs in time-out-of-time. A myth is concerned with why the world is the way it is, and so unfolds in a setting that is distinct from time or place as it’s currently recognized.[8] Its stories from every culture, that, for centuries have explained natural phenomena and answered questions people have about the human condition: origin and creation stories, stories about life, death and life after death.[9] Legend occurs in “historical time” though it typically mixes fact with fiction. Usually with legends there is doubt about its credibility. They are unexplainable tales warped by the human imagination. A legend can be either about a person or a place. For example, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Atlantis are all types of legends. Fables are described as a didactic lesson given through some sort of animal story.[10] In Western society, the most common fables are by Aesop, consisting of short stories like The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Ant and the Grasshopper. Fairytales are short stories, typically with no author, but it still can be recognized despite many variations of the story. A fairytale is similar to myths, legends and fables. It can be either told orally or in text, the content of the story can come from historical content, and usually have a moral at the end of the story. Fairytales typically feature European folkloric fantasy characters, such as dwarves, elves, fairies, giants, gnomes, goblins, mermaids, trolls, or witches, and usually magic or enchantments.[11] These type of stories withstand long periods of time because they are and embodiment of a culture, contain fundamental human truths by which people have lived for centuries, or they are simply entertaining.[12]