What is the Fantasy Genre?
Ollie Ander
Is probably just a couple cats in a trench-coat—the hair shedding and sunlight napping are highly suspect.
The fantasy genre stands as a gateway to boundless creativity and endless possibilities. From the depths of haunted forests to the heights of sky-scraping castles, fantasy literature transports readers to worlds of magic and myth. This genre, rooted in ancient folklore and mythology, has evolved into diverse subgenres and tropes. Exploring invented politics, religions, geography, people, and creatures, fantasy invites readers to suspend their disbelief and immerse themselves in a brand new world.
What Is the Fantasy Genre?
Fantasy, at its core, is defined as a genre of speculative fiction that involves the use of imaginative elements—ones which do not have an external means of explanation outside of its own machinations; AKA magic.
Fantasy is often referenced alongside science fiction and horror, as those three genres can roughly fit all subcategories of fiction within themselves. One could argue that not all suspense stories could be called horror and not all horror is even scary, but fantasy has a much simpler means of determination:
Are there inexplicable elements in the story that don’t/can’t exist in real life? If the answer is "yes," you’ve got a fantasy on your hands! The caveat for differentiating science fiction from this, being that the technological elements in sci-fi could feasibly exist through some scientific means, which is why it is not seen as "magic".
What Are the Rules of Fantasy?
To call a story "fantasy" requires nothing more than the presence and prominence of magical elements, which could take the form of creatures to races, and even entire imaginary worlds! To put it plainly, fantasy requires glitter, and the amount used could be a little—or a lot.
That said, fantasy has many subgenres, and every subgenre has its own rules and expectations.
For example, high fantasy specifically refers to an epic story, entirely conducted in an alternate world imbued with imagination, whereas in low fantasy, the magical elements intrude into an otherwise normal world.
Going further into these subgenres, you will find even more subgenres that are specified down to the type of story they tell, as well as which elements they are expected to include (and how).
For example: Sword and Sorcery (also called heroic fantasy) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by—well, you probably already guessed it—a group of heroes which wield both sword and sorcery, going on extraordinary adventures.
Examples of Fantasy
Going from the definitions above, what are some examples of each?
High fantasy’s most notable player is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. The story of The Lord of the Rings takes place in an entirely imagined world called Middle Earth, and follows the character Frodo, who is a hobbit, alongside his friends on a quest to destroy Sauron (the villain trying to throw said world into chaos). Although there are humans in The Lord of the Rings, it checks all the boxes for a separate magical world, filled with mythical creatures and make-believe races.
Many consider A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin—more specifically, Game of Thrones—to be low fantasy. Although Westeros is not a historically accurate location, it convincingly models itself on a setting comparable to our Medieval Ages. The general characters and population in Martin’s work are regular people grappling with political power struggles within the realm. Although magic is present in A Song of Ice and Fire, in creatures like dragons and inexplicable powers granted by shady means, it is scarce and hard to understand, let alone be harnessed by the characters.
So, what of the Sword and Sorcery subgenre then? Don’t both our high and low fantasies examples count toward characters going on dangerous quests with sword and magic to restore the realm? Absolutely! That’s the beauty of the fantasy genre. Of course, not every subgenre of fantasy can intermingle and overlap with one another, but there are plenty of ways to harness multiple subgenres in one fantasy story.
Before you go mixing and matching, though, it’s important to understand the subgenre you’re writing in before playing around with the rules. You want to set the reader's expectations up for satisfaction with your story, not leave them disappointed because they expected something else. Check out this article on $ The Most Popular Fantasy Subgenres$ to see what’s popular in fantasy right now!
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