high fantasies
Grand magical daydreams
High fantasies are works of fiction set in entirely invented worlds with their own elaborate systems of magic, mythology, and often invented languages.
The genre is distinguished from low fantasy, which typically places magical elements in the real world.
High fantasy usually features epic scope—world-threatening conflicts, quests, and clearly drawn moral struggles between good and evil.
Tolkien's Middle-earth novels established many conventions of the genre.
She prefers high fantasies to urban fantasy because she likes complete immersion in another world.
- wizardsPractitioners of sorcery
- dragonsMythical fire-breathing reptiles
- phoenixesSelf-resurrecting mythical birds
- elvesMythical small beings
- swordsEdged fighting weapons
unicorns · ancient prophecies · hobbits · realms · medieval setting · sacred artifacts · ancient evil · epic quests · enchanted forests · mystical creatures · imagination · speculative · chosen one · fictional · escapism · magical realms · world-building · heroic journeys
high fantasieslow fantasy
Magic entering our world
literary realism · realistic fiction · social realism · urban fantasy · slice-of-life
high fantasiesrealistic fiction
Invented yet plausible storytelling
documentary fiction · naturalism · nonfiction · autobiography · memoir
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