High VS Low Fantasy | EXPLAINED
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- I took it upon myself to investigate the distinctions between these two sub-genres to discover the defining characteristics of high fantasy vs low fantasy. I also briefly touch on epic fantasy and portal fantasy. We're all fans of fantasy books but which sub-genre do you prefer to read?? Let me know!
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#fantasy #books
Which do you prefer, high or low fantasy? Any recommendations for either?
I love both! Low fantasy is easier to get into, but High Fantasy’s worldbuilding is so intriguing.
I prefer high fantasy 100%. It's very rare that I enjoy low fantasy as much.
My favorites are well known... WoT, Robin Hobb, etc. but for a less known reccomendation I'd say Jane Lindskold's Firekeeper Sega, especially the Tor published original series. For those who don't like series, I still recommend Through Wolf's Eyes since all of her books have satisfying conclusions if you don't want to read on.
High/epic for SURE
I keep recommending P. C. Hodgell's Kencyrath series. Check out the reviews on her books. Love 'em 😊
Both can work just fine... I prefer high tho, now I'm not much of a reader, (Which is why books like Stormlight scares the shit of me with it's massive page-count.) but I like it more when they have their own unique worlds.
I think the "walk into a bookstore" bit is a bit misleading. Like yeah, all the High Fantasy stuff will be in the Fantasy section. But the thing about Low Fantasy is it often ends up in other sections of bookstores. Like Outlander, for example. Definitely Low Fantasy, but you're definitely going to find it in the Romance section of any bookstore as opposed to the Fantasy section.
That's a fair point! I still hink overall there's more high fantasy out there then low fantasy, though that's not to say one is better than the other. And usually low fantasy is what's more likely to get adapted to film/tv since it's easier to make a fantasy movie taking place on earth
@@CapturedInWords low fantasy is definitely miscategorized and horribly neglected right along with urban fantasy. Karen Moning is in the same realm as Gabaldon but more romancy in her earlier work. then, due to a life altering illness her writing became darker and no longer focused on romance. she wrote an entire series that was by definition urban fantasy. i followed the series very closely and like many fans waited anxiously for the latest installment (this was back when people still went to book stores!) so when her book hit the shelves i raced out to buy it and couldn't find the bloody thing anywhere in the fantasy section. i finally broke down and asked a clerk..... who found it immediately in the ROMANCE section. it did NOT belong there.
i'm only ranting about this because anyone who likes fantasy (urban, high, or low) but hates romance would never even think to look there for anything to read. I certainly don't go hunting for romance in the fantasy section... which seems amusingly ironic since most romances are pure cotton candy fantasy lol there are some that are low fantasy - by your definition- but are miscategorized simply because the lead character is female. one series - can't remember the name - involves a psychic whose family runs a match making service. but since she can't read auras - which helps match people with their perfect other half- she turns to private investigation because her abilities help her find lost things. for instance, someone asks her to help find a missing person via photograph. in the photo the person is wearing a ring. she focuses on the ring and gets a vision of it around a fingerbone.... meaning the wearer is dead.
pandemonium ensues. but not much in the way of romance. but that didn't stop the book store from putting it on that shelf!
My dude! I read the first 2 or 3 amulet books when I was in middle school, then I completely forgot the name. For the last 10-15 years, I’ve thought about it from time to time, but never figured out what it was called. You just mentioned it and showed a brief picture and now I’m gonna go and read them all. Thanks dude!
Oh wow haha! That's awesome!! I read several of them back in middle school too, they're definitely worth revisiting! Glad I made you remember the name!
While I think your definition for Low Fantasy is fine, I think there's a better term for that. Urban Fantasy. Fantasy stories set in the real world, but also with magic.
Low Fantasy, in my experience, refers more to fantasy stories and settings where magic is rare. Low Fantasy stories can absolutely have their own unique worlds and highly fleshed out lore. The Gentleman Bastard books fall under this definition of Low Fantasy, as do the early books of the Song of Ice and Fire, and the Queen's Thief books.
Thank you! I'd never even heard of "high" vs "low" fantasy until I found Booktube.
Now, if you could just explain magical realism!
As someone who is returning to the genre as an adult, these videos are invaluable. Thanks for your hard work!
This video is pure shit. The clown who made this shit video doesn't know what he's talking about.
2:56 I'm probably still new to fantasy but i noticed every fantasy world is just Skyrim. Just a bunch of Skyrim clones.
What you’re calling low fantasy is also called urban fantasy. I read a mix of types. What are my favorites? How much time do you have? 😁 I don’t care what you call it, I just want to read good stories! 😊
He is kind of mistaken.
High fantasy can happen in real earth, like the Arthurian cycles it is high fantasy.
The Dresden files is High Fantasy.
GoT is low fantasy at the beginning and then becomes high fantasy.
High and low has to do directly with the mundanity of the world it takes place.
For example "The Tin Drum" is as low fantasy as low can be.
Conan the Barbarian is low fantasy and the world it takes place is fictional.
The Dresden Files is High Fantasy and it is set in a fictional Chicago.
@@allopez8563 I think people really have a hard time distinguishing between Low/High fantasy and Low/High magic
@@allopez8563 I will also point out that Conan the Barbarian does actually take place on our earth just so far in history as to be unrecognizable, this would make it high fantasy
@@devourlordasmodeus High magic or mythical elements are part of high fantasy.
@@devourlordasmodeus But mythical elements and magic are so uncommon and life is so mundane that it falls into low fantasy.
What do you call a story that takes place on another earthlike planet, with different geography, different cultures, but has no magic or supernatural elements whatsoever?
Would love the see the subgenre ultimate guide video!!! Cant wait for that!
I disagree with your opinion that Low Fantasy has to take place on Earth while everything else setting in another world that ISN'T Earth is instantly High Fantasy, what you are describing as Low Fantasy is URBAN FANTASY, which is characterized by having fantastical elements in a mundane modern world, this is a sub-genre of Fantasy and can be either High or Low Fantasy, what differentiates High from Low fantasy is the scope of the fantastical elements in the story and how central they are to the conflict, A Song of Ice and Fire IS Low Fantasy as the Fantastical Elements are never heavily focused beyond the Dragons and the White Walkers, Magic and the Fantastical are extremely rare and impractical to use which are also things that define Low Fantasy, while in contrast what defines High Fantasy is most certainly how common and even mundane Magic and the Fantastical elements are to the world, how everyone in the setting of the story can see someone flinging spells or seeing magical and otherworldly creatures as a thing that just happens casually, common folk understanding of the Fantastical isn't a factor, to bring an example from Golarion from Pathfinder RPG the world is a High Fantasy world that Canonically exist in OUR universe and there are adventures that take the players to Earth to fight Rasputin, but that isn't the point, the point I am going to illustrate is, the common people of Golarion are Highly ignorant about Magic and the Fantastical/Supernatural which makes them extremely Superstitious in the worst ways possible, yet they live in a world where they don't find Clerics using Magical Healing strange, nor random travelers wielding offensive magic, this enforces the fact that wide spread understanding of the fantastical isn't a requirement for High Fantasy.
Ironic how he himself got the things mixed up
Interesting! I've never heard of this distinction before, is it newer? Fantasy (all sub genres) has been my go to genre for decades. But I have always called 'Low Fantasy' by 'Urban Fantasy'. Maybe my categorization is just outdated? Or is it still a separate sub genre?
Urban fantasy is separate but very similar! Low fantasy can take place on earth during the 1800s for example (or any time frame) while Urban fantasy needs to specifically take place during a more modern time. So low fantasy can be urban fantasy if it's modern.
@@CapturedInWords Not sure I agree. Nightside isn't even on Earth and I'd call it Urban. Categories are only useful if you need to make a distinction. A PI wizard and the Queen of Air and Darkness' Knight don't have to live in two different genre. You might as well try to divide all the space opera into real space opera and space musicals. As long as I enjoy an author's work why should I care what box a wannabe librarian wants it in? It's not about the setting or how many others try to copy it. It's about the writing. A good writer can take formulaic stories and elevate them to something special. A bad writer can take an innovative twist and still murder the story.
Ngl, always get confused with this stuff
Because always thought the axis was about the commonality of magic so you could get High fantasy on Earth and Low fantasy out of it
Great vid but I disagree with the distinction that low fantasy takes place on this earth while high on another. Could you not create a series set in this world based on true history but twist the story to include a massive amount of fantasy elements such as dragons/made up races/mythical beings/a lot of magic with hard magic systems, and argue that it's "high" fantasy due to having a high level of fantasy elements implemented within the plot and world? While you could also create a world that functions almost exactly the same as this one with a made up setting, only sprinkle a couple of miniscule pieces of magic throughout, and argue it's "low" fantasy due to the low amount of fantasy elements involved.
I guess you could say being set in a fictional world that isn't this earth is a good argument for it being high fantasy, because in that sense it relates more to the literal meaning of "fantasy", but when referring to books that make up what we know as the 'fantasy genre' as a whole, and trying to categorise them, within the subgenres "high fantasy" and "low fantasy", it makes more sense, to me personally at least, to use those terms to refer the amount of commonly used fantasy elements known to the genre and how heavily they are used.
I'm currently reading a series that is set on a fantasy world that can definitely be considered high fantasy, with epic battles, large amounts of magic, huge mystery/lore/history to the world and universe, but there are characters from what is supposed to be this earth we live on. So even though it is a fictional world, it's still meant to be a planet within the same universe as ours. Where do you draw the line with that if being set on this world is low fantasy and not being on it is high fantasy?
Great video, I’ve had the definition wrong . I always thought it was about the magic system. High fantasy was fantasy where the magic is “endless” or you can do so much with it (like HP, WoT etc). And low fantasy was when there was little magic
You were right. The video is wrong and the person who made the video is full of shit.
Not wrong but low fantasy and low magic isn't the same thing, the order goes like this, no magic, low magic, mid magic, and high magic, no magic is just a real life story, low magic would be stories like game of thrones, mid would be harry potter, and high would be Marvel/DC
@@mdgames1243 GOT is low fantasy. Harry Potter is a mix of High Fantasy and Urban/Portal Fantasy. LOTR is High Fantasy. Conan is Sword and Sorcery.
@@ge0metr1xx Sword and Sorcery and low fantasy is almost a synonym. Or you can say S&S is a sub-genre of Low fantasy
@@admaerable not true at all. There is more magic in Conan than in LOTR. It's presented much differently.
Sword & Sorcery can be in secondary or primary world, and is not epic (coined by Fritz Leiber in the 60s). It’s good to remark that the term “High Fantasy” was coined by Lloyd Alexander in 1971.
Robert E Howard's Conan, and other series are good examples of sword and sorcery tales...
Your body is teleporting all across the screen… and I’m here for it. 👍
Lost the controller for my teleporter and now it keeps teleporting me at random, it can get VERY dizzying at times 😵
I think almost all the fantasy books I've read end up being high fantasy. Exploring the history and lore of the world is just as fun as the story itself to me.
I agree! Worldbuilding is so fun to explore
If I remember correctly the lord of the rings is placed in an earth ages before our world was built soo low fantasy? I dunno 🤣🤣
Listened to an entire video about the difference between low fantasy and high fantasy. Got explanations, but zero definitions.
You mention Harry Potter and Neverwhere as examples of low fantasy, but to me they feel more like portal fantasy. Hogwarts (and other Wizarding World locations, like Diagon Alley) and London Below may not be completely separate magical worlds, the way Narnia or Oz are, but I think they feel and function in much the same way.
I NEED TO KNOW WHERE YOU GET THESE SICK FANTASY PJOTO 4 UR BACKGROUND
Another great video - I think your editing is getting even better (and I already thought it was the best on booktube)
I absolutely adore the high fantasy genre so much
You’re adding to your definition of High Fantasy concepts like Hard Magic as a requirement (which is straight up wrong), and I’m surprised there’s no mention of how High and Low fantasy can both be High and Low magic. Example: LOTR is High Fantasy but Low Magic with a Soft Magic system, whereas something like DC comics is “Low Fantasy” by your definition because technically is based around Earth, but is High Magic with several Hard and Soft Magic systems.
You can’t generalize like this or you simply sound wrong. High and Low Fantasy can be High Magic or Low Magic, with either Hard systems, Soft systems, or both.
I definitely wasn't trying to say High Fantasy needs to have a Hard magic system. High Fantasy puts a larger focus on magical/fantasy elements, as it takes place in a fictional world. So LOTR has a lot of magical/fantasy elements to it, but like you said it has a soft magic system. But in High Fantasy everything is influenced by the magical elements even if it is soft magic (LOTR still has a ton of magic in it's worldbuilding & lore). There's plenty of Low Fantasy books that have a hard-magic system and vice versa, so I agree with you that High & Low fantasy is not defined by Hard or Soft magic.
In the video I do say that "High fantasy worlds OFTEN have very specific, well-defined magic rules" and I should have clarified more that I didn't mean ALL high fantasy needs to be hard magic.
In the future I plan on making a video all about Hard VS Soft Magic-Systems and I'll make sure to clarify things better there.
I don't think that Harry Potter is simply low fantasy. It's somewhere between the lines of low fantasy and high fantasy. Hear me out :
Yes, it is set in the real world like low fantasy series but it doesn't scatter magical and fantastical elements randomly here and there. It says the magic exists in our world all along and it's very real but people without magical powers (aka Muggles) don't know it or fear it if they somehow encounter it. So, a whole magical society and magic is concealed by the joint efforts of magical and non-magical governments (as it is first explained in the first chapter of The Half-Blood Prince. It's actually one of the main storylines of Fantastic Beasts series, especially the first one). There aren't random fantasy tropes and magic scattered in Harry Potter, there is a whole magical community the history of which goes back centuries ago all over the world. They have their own traditions, own magical laws and rules, own governments, own prisons and education/healthcare systems. They have their own history and historians, their own legends (like Deathly Hallows), wizarding battles and so on.
Well, if you look at this way and for example take the very same story from London and put it in a secondary imaginary world like Middle-Earth, Harry Potter is easily high fantasy in my opinion. The fact that J.K. Rowling never fully explored and explained the background of the Wizarding World in the books shouldn't mean Harry Potter is simply a low fantasy/urban fantasy series. She definitely hinted that the roots of the magical setting goes way back and way deeper. She also showed this to us in the books through wizarding legends like The Hallows or many important dates about wizarding history. Yes, it is a low fantasy if you just look at the setting being in our real world but it's in the borders of high fantasy if you consider the background of the wizarding community.
And I think that what makes Harry Potter so unique compared to other modern fantasy series. It's both loved by children and adults at the same time because it's both a coming of age story of an orphan boy with lots of fun and exciting adventures with his friends in a setting not so complex and intimidating for children audience and it also has many back stories with solid character arcs and world building elements that appeal more to adult readers. Honestly I don't think many children really care about the political intrigues around/between The Ministry of Magic and The Order of the Phoenix in books 5, 6 and 7 or the wizarding lore given in the later books beginning with book 4.
This video makes me wonder how Medium Fantasy would be like
You gave great examples of low fantasy books, but forgot the granddady of them;
Twilight
🤢
I thought I broke the comment section when I tried to view the whole comment
😂 haha, honestly, worth the scroll
@@thesunshineseekers yay
@@TLBainterlols
I want non-epic high fantasy tbh
I think the Dresden Files still counts as High Fantasy because there's still a sense of tropes and escapism. The magic is described as magic, wizards are called wizards and there just isn't as much of a sense of realism as you'd expect to see in low fantasy.
I don't know if I'd say the magic is low in A Song of Ice and Fire. It's definitely subtle and not at the forefront, but if you compare performances of magic to something similar like Lord of the Rings, you'll see clear displays of magic that happen far more often than in Lord of the Rings. Within Lord of the Rings, most of the magic is performed by the Wizards, mainly, Gandalf. Aside from the Balrog, Sauron's eye, the Witch King, Galadriel, and depending on what you consider magic there are a few other things, like Trolls turning to stone, Tom Bombadil, (Also things happen differently in the books than in the show, so Arwen's river scene, the ghost army of the oathbreakers, Tree Ents, and nazgul. Of course, the ring itself is a magical item that Frodo and Sam use along with golem. The fact that I can list most of the magical occurrences within the series of the Lord of the Rings compared to a story like Harry Potter where most scenes contain something magical says something about the level of magic within the world.
Now within a Song of Ice and Fire, the magic is far more subtle and happens mostly in the background in clues and hints, but somethings are more blatant. Like the Red Priests bringing people back from the dead along with ice zombies. But you also have the weirwood where greenseers can see through them, at least rumored to be able to. Then there's the Dragons. The Wall itself is a form of magic that prevents things from walking through it. The children of the forest have some weird magic. Then you have the gods who can do unexplained things. Obviously, R'hllor being the most prominent with magic, but then there's others like the Drown God who is possibly some Eldritch diety, the god of many faces, and many others that may or may not have power. Then you have a lot of small things like the Candles, the Warlocks of Qaurth, whatever is going on in Valeryia, Ashaii, and tons of other places mentioned, like the city with the grease black stone that was made from a meteor that fell from the sky and everyone who goes into the city vanishes. Then there's the one blood witch or magi or whatever her name is that tricks Dany into killing her unborn child and taking the soul out of Khal Drogo. Then there's Quaeth or whatever her name is and her abilities which she probably uses a candle to enter people's dreams and talk to people miles away. Then there's the Shadowlands. Not to mention skin changers and alchemy. And the magical horns, the one we see in a book is rumored to control dragons and whoever blows it dies. There's so much magic within A Song of Ice and Fire, but it's so subtle hidden beneath the political drama that goes on. It's definitely more of a soft magic system compared with other systems like in DnD that have more rigid rules. Although, it could be a hard magic system disguised as a soft magic system, but without knowing the rules, we have to use Brandon Sanderson's system and consider it a softer magic system. But either way, it's got a deep magical world that's hidden within the politics and war.
I think 2 good examples as to where High and Low Fantasy mix are Wheel of Time and Broken Earth where it is Earth, however cataclysm or vast amounts of time/turnings of the wheel have happened. Also, I'd say they are both epic in scale as it seems both stories focus on potential world-ending situations, possibly more so WoT. One interesting example of Low Fantasy with Epic scale is the Dresden Files. Always Low fantasy, happening in today's Earth (and other magical realms), but goes from low scale to epic scale across the series.
In any case, thanks for the video, and Happy Holidays!
I don't think Wheel of Time could be considered low fantasy by any measure. It's squarely in the high fantasy genre.
Im currently working on a project that studies the worldbuilding in the Stormlight archive and was so frustrated that the alien element feels so secondary on descriptions about the books. I was wondering if there was a specific genre for when fantasy and sci fi are kinda mixed? Or is sci-fi too much of a stretch. There is so much technology in Roshar that that the medieval inspirations kinda not fit anymore for me… what do you think?
my problem is I LOVED the Hobbit, LOTR, Narnia, Camulod Chronicles (which is probably more in the realm of historical than fantasy, but it deals in Arthurian legends) and Never Ending Story... as much as I LOVED Dresden and Potter....
But when I try to explore new titles in either genre I lost interest incredibly fast. I TRIED to like the game of thrones novels. bought the entire set... and barely made it past chapter seven. and for some reason that's the magic number for me. if a story hasn't picked up pace or made me care about the characters or done SOMETHING hook my attention the odds of me finishing that book are absolute zero.
but when it comes to high fantasy the standard is even higher. i rarely make it past the first chapter. Half the time all i see is someone trying to ride on coattails or someone who published fifty years worth of daydreams with way too many characters, way too many details, no discernable plot or goal.
i've always had a short attention span. but that's not due to a chemical imbalance in my brain. it's because the content is boring as hell and I would rather be doing something else with my time.
i have no trouble reading history books, biographies, journals, memoirs or chronicles. but i am incredibly picky to the point where i had to force myself to STOP buying books all together. i have an entire room full of books i started and couldn't finish, all different fiction genres. i only keep them around because my library has a trade in option... you have to leave a book before you take a book... or bookS.. so they're worth something at least.
the whole reason i'm here was in the hopes of finding something new and interesting. instead all i found was titles i've already read or don't want to read.
not your fault of course.... i'm looking for something that may not even exist.
yet?
please make a sub genre video. i’m writing a book and don’t even know what genre it is
Don't listen to this guy. He 's a wiki parrot and he doesn't know a thing about what he's actually talking about.
Did you see there's a Stormlight Archive tabletop RPG coming out soon? Looks great. Thanks for the clarification in your video. I hadn't heard of Portal Fantasy before. Very nicely done. Thank you!
Summary:
Low Fantasy - Harry Potter
High Fantasy - Brandon Sanderson
Yes
To a point, but remember Sanderson also wrote The Recliners series which is definitely not high fantasy
@@wilsonwoman3 I believe you mean the Reckoners, but yeah that'd be low fantasy. It's a bit more obscure work though, most people just think of the Cosmere when you mention Sanderson, which definitely is high fantasy.
Now I'm imagining a Sanderson book series with a magic-system involving La-Z-Boy Recliners 😂😂
2:21 the source, the current inspiration, the first inspiration: berserk,darksouls then eldenring
I would argue Harry Potter is portal fantasy more than low fantasy. Like it starts on Earth, and technically stays on Earth, but it all happens on a hidden subculture that's isolated from our world and you have to access it through magical places or objects.
We also can read wikipedia. Some of us can even read history of edit of this wikipedia article. TL\DR: wikipedia is wrong. LotR is a High fantasy, Game of Thrones is a Low fantasy (at the beginning at least).
I have never heard this concept categorized like this. And it completely falls apart when you back away from books and look at video game examples, which are frequently spread between both of your categories due to the way games are structured in comparison to books or movies. Heck, Final Fantasy 6 is a 30 year old game and it checks near every bullet point you gave for both categories.
I'd classify Conan as high fantasy. Simply because the fictional world is called "Earth" it shouldnt be classified as low fantasy. Especially when its filled with all or most of the same elements of a high fantasy story. Its a fictional age of Hyboria. Its geography looks roughly like Earths Eastern hemisphere but not really. Its filled with sorcerers & strange creatures like most high fantasy stories.
I don't think these terms mean what you think they mean. Your definitions WOULD be good definitions, but they're not the definitions most people use, and the way people use a word or term determines what it means.
You've got High Fantasy right, everyone mostly agrees on that definition. But for Low Fantasy ... when people use that term, it's always meant to indicate a given story is different from High Fantasy, but HOW it's different can vary a lot. It can be, as you suggest, because it's set in the real world rather than a secondary world. But it could also be because there's very little magic in the setting compared to High Fantasy, or that it's rooted in moral ambiguity rather than clear cut good and evil. Obviously this covers a whole bunch of completely disparate stuff, and it'd be nice if Low Fantasy had a more concrete definition, but that's not how the term has evolved.
As for Epic Fantasy, while it might have originally been used to refer explicitly to fantasy stories with an epic save-the-world scale, over time it's come to refer to any fantasy adventure story set in an imaginary world (like, The Kingkiller Chronicles are almost always described and marketed as Epic Fantasy, and they're just about one guy wandering into adventures, trying to pay their bills, and not get kicked out of school).
This would have been accurate... in the 60s. Semantic drift of the terms means that low fantasy in particular isn't at all what you are describing, and the changes were well in place by the 80s, where low fantasy was usually grubby or "realistic" fantasy in a secondary world.
Not sure where Terry Brooks fits into this. The Magic Kingdom series flicks back and for, but Shannara I don't think I could class as low but technically it is.
High fantasy I like , I'm reading james patterson maximum ride second series of the first book im almost done with it.
I liked the video but the delivery was kind of ... over the top. Usually, this doesn't bother me, but it was a but much here to my liking.
where does KKC fall into the mix? It's in its own world with its own magic yet does not have anywhere near the number of characters that, say, the Stormlight Archive.
I get the feeling that a fair number of people confuse low vs high fantasy with low vs high magic. Hard to blame them tbh
I'm on the side of high fantasy. I like exploring the open world where magic, gods, people and other races are bound.😊
From my understanding:
Star Wars - High Fantasy
The Witcher - Low Fantasy
You try to explain that low fantasy is on earth en that there is little to no magic in the world but i gotta disagree with Dresden Files. For me its the exact same reason why you put Conan the Barbarian in High Fantasy and not in Low. This also applies to Dresden Files for me.
What if a fantasy world looks like our world, but with a different race with modern technology?
I was literally reading a Wikipedia page about this just now lol
So the planet of the apes is portal fantasy.
And the planet of the apes movie is low fantasy.
Amazing video!!! I never new the actual distinction and definitions!!!
Glad it was helpful!! :)
Do you know of a book that is an epic fantasy with a “magic system” but isn’t referred to as magic
Sleep. I too make content. You need rest. You doing too much like kvothe. Slow down lol
Lotr doesnt have Well defined Magic Rules... Its a mess.
Low Fantasy suggestions:
Alex Verus by Benedict Jacka - Similar to Dresden in style and feel but takes place in England
His Ragged Company by Rance D. Denton - A self pub fantasy western that takes place in Texas
The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell - Honestly, I'm not sure if this is best categorized as low fantasy or historical fiction. So I usually call it low historical fantasy.
I personally do not think harry potter is low fantasy.
Dude, no . Low Fantasy can absolutely be set in a secondary world
I once read that tolkein tried hard not to make his lotr books high fantasy
I'm actually doing both of them at the same time, I wrote plenty material over the years but ever since 2012 when I took it upon myself to write my first work in English I revisited my older stuff and reworked them with my better understanding of writing, right now, working on three projects at the same time, a low fantasy happening on a slightly alternative history earth, a trilogy I had finished years ago but this version of it is only bearing the skeleton of the old one, a high fantasy on an original world of my own, still has the Tolkien tropes but I really drove my own version of them for it and plenty other stuff I had to create, for now I have two stories developing a thousand years apart and I wish to put together a third but the current two are burning through a lot of my idea making capacity as they are, and a semi cyberpunk dystopian Sci fi... I did a trilogy space adventure before this but to test myself I dug myself this hole I had never tried before, a crime trilogy with politics... it either makes me a better writer or it will be a mess... time will tell... new to the channel but I learned plenty even this early. Thank you for the hard work sempai... it's quality material 👌👏🙌💯❤
What if a fantasy movie looks more like S-ficion , less like medieval ?
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant also takes place on both Earth and another land. I believe it's definitely high fantasy though. This series is seldomly talked about but I thought it was great and I really enjoyed the first two trilogies in the series. Thanks for the video!
Highlander. I have the vhs. I’d say stargate too.
Iow fantasy -- Charles de Lint
I still do not now if my book series is high or low fantasy...
I love them all! Great video!
Good choice! And thank you!
i count harry potter toward medium fantasy.
What would be "mid fantasy?"
I'm baffled how to get this wrong.
What you described as Low Fantasy is actual Urban Fantasy (and no, both aren't the same). Low Fantasy is just grounded Fantasy without the world saving structures of High Fantasy. And isn't situated on Earth.
The most prominent example for Low Fantasy: Conan the Barbarian.
No offense, but if you want to make videos about a topic, please fact check if what you're telling is actually true.
But isn't Conan sword and sorcery?
These videos are so damn good, keep em coming!
I have no fucking idea.
I have an idea.
Would you class Hxh as high low fantasy?
The naming should be:
Fairytales - starting on or interacting with Earth
f.e. Potter,Dawn of..., war of flouwers, Alice in wonderland, Elias( Troja+Odisee), Darktower, Lovecraft
Not to convouse with children storys
Phantasy - an other world with or without magic
As The Hobbit+LoR( one of the first of its kind), Soi&f, D&D
Your definition is more of a low/hight/epic magic. On that ship, i am with you.
Low - no or spares magic
High - magic is commen
Epic - magic is used on world alltering levels
WoT f.e. starts as a low magic Phantasy and ends as epic magic Fariytale.
I read both, but my favorite is high fantasy!💜
What’s going on with your audio?
Harry Potter is low fantasy, Game of Thrones High Fantasy!! kkkkkkkkkkk
I'm getting more and more confused..
I read in several places people claiming that Game Of Thrones is an amazing example of low fantasy..
what about the middle?
Why do they always put Harry in a hat on the cover!? He hates hats! I know that has nothing to do with this video. LOL
Hahaha good point!!
Ah I had a totally different definition :P
I’m starting to believe you don’t have legs 😜
Shhh don't reveal my secrets 🤫
Dude, where do you find all of your epic book related background pics?
I find most of the art on ArtStation, though sometimes I search on Deviantart or Pinterest. I've spent hours and hours finding art and organizing them into folders 😂
0:02 ah, lost your chance to use a low/high pitched voice for each one
Ahhh you're right! Missed opportunity
god I love Neil Gaiman
I like both and by your takes The First Law and all are High Fantasy but not epic. There are other genres and sub categories for fantasy but I like to think of it as biology as in the animal kingdom (low) and the plant kingdom (high) and each has their own versions of sub genres such as grimdark.
I don't think that's the proper distinction, because there isn't one.
I've always considered low fantasy to be fantasy, where magic is sparse or the plot doesn't deal much with it. High fantasy - the opposite. Most people I talk to use these senses of the words. And when it concerns our relatively modern world - urban.
Hence:
ASoIaF - Low
First Law - Low
Harry Potter - High/urban
Dresden - Urban
Mistborn - High
That's how I use to define low fantasy as well, as fantasy with a low amount of magic- and high fantasy being the opposite. However:
"Low fantasy, also known as "intrusion fantasy," is a subcategory of the fantasy genre that showcases supernatural occurrences that happen on our earth." That's from NoFilmSchool.com and wikipedia also says that low fantasy is fantasy taking place on earth. There's other sites like TVTropes that define it the same as you did, so it seems to be quite mixed, though personally I'd stick with the wikipedia definition.
@Captured in Words Wouldn't that make Lord of the Rings both low and high fantasy in the same way Conan is? It takes place here on Earth, just in the far, far, past. Lord of the Rings is still epic fantasy, but low/high epic fantasy? I guess sub-genres have no clear lines.
Yeah it would be, same with Wheel of Time. They all take place on earth but during a time where it's almost unrecognizable. Personally I'd probably still just consider them high fantasy, but it's definitely hard to define since there's no clear line 😅
"Ths Stormlight Archive is an example of high fantasy"
Honestly, as far as I know, the entire freaking Cosmere is probably an example of High Fantasy, although not necessarely epic, as there's no way in hell I would consider Warbreaker to be an epic fantasy, the scale is just not big enough.
Oh yeah definitely! The Cosmere is 100% high fantasy, I just wanted to narrow down a specific example. That's a good point about Warbreaker, I wouldn't categorize it as epic fantasy either, though most of the other Cosmere stuff is epic excluding the novellas/short-stories
@@CapturedInWords Yeah. (Also I need to finish WB soon, so I can fight myself to decide if I'll read Stormlight or Mistborn Era 2 next lol.)
This was so helpful! You have no idea how much I needed this for my reviews lol.
Glad it was helpful! :D
Great video, as usual! Thanks for explaining the distinction, I was never quite sure what the difference was.
Happy to help! And thanks for watching :D
My guy just referred Urban Fantasy as Low Fantasy 💀
Yeah because they're both related?
From Fictionlit.com: Urban fantasy is a smaller subgenre of low fantasy with many similarities to each other. The difference is that urban fantasy takes place in an urban and typically modern setting anytime between the 19th and 21st centuries.
Holy crap thank you for doing this video! I've had sooooo many people insist that high fantasy is high only because it's epic. Yeah things like WOT and Shannara can get confusing but the general idea of high and low is still pretty specific
He isn't 100% right on his statement thou, High Fantasy isn't High because it happens in another world, High Fantasy is High because of how mundane the Fantastical elements are to the people in the story, which comes into conflict with his opinion that "A Song of Ice and Fire" is High Fantasy, when everyone in that world regards Magic and the Fantastical as some extremely alien thing that isn't common at all and just to be sure, no, people understanding the laws of the Fantastical isn't a factor in whether it is High or Low Fantasy, there are a million settings for High Fantasy Books and Tabletop RPG's with the common folk being completely ignorant to the rules behind Magic and the Fantastical and being extremely superstitious in ways that are ridiculous to most people in the known in said settings.
@@AyameAkitowhat about when magic is common and fairly understood but has great effects that people don't understand the complex inner workings of?
👏👌 excellent ❤
Is pokemon High fantasy or low fantasy?
High as it's set in a different world from ours.
(Well, Pokemon Go is set in your neighbourhood, but other than that...yeah)
Your definition makes the bible high fantasy... which I don't disagree with, by the way.
Well not really, I specifically say that high fantasy takes place on a secondary world that isn't earth
@@CapturedInWords but also epics with heroes and magic.
High fantasy is how much fantasy needed applied.
Gods, magic and miracles is a definition of fantasy in it's weakest form, cause all fiction is fantasy...
This was super useful Jay! Thank you! I recently just finished the Dresden Files stories and had no idea it was "low fantasy" until your wonderful video.
Dresden files is maybe not high fantasy, but it's *definitely* not low fantasy. The only reason it's even up for discussion is that Harry lives and works in Chicago, and high and low despite the names aren't actually juxtaposed. High is supposedly setting based, where low is to do with how much magic is in the world, or at least, in the character's world. If high was not 'it's in a made up world' but 'oh fuck there are wizards and fairies and demons and dragons and alternate universes everywhere' then Dresden would definitely be high fantasy.
For example, ASOIAF is listed by wikipedia as high fantasy even though it barely has any magic and is almost historical fiction mixed with chivalric romance. Meanwhile the uploader of this video called Dresden Files low fantasy (with his thumbnail) despite its world seeping magic from the seams. By all logical approaches, ASOIAF should be low and Dresden high. But because they're not measuring the same thing, Dresden is neither low nor high fantasy, and ASOIAF is 'high' fantasy despite being largely just historical fiction set in a different world.
This is further confused by the fact that the terms don't mean the same thing to everyone *or* the pair of terms are changing to a more logical black and white meaning over time. Most people who don't consult Wikipedia would 100% say that Dresden is high fantasy, because it is just intuitive with all its elements that (obviously) it is. So you have more nuanced definitions about worlds within worlds to make it consistent appear.
Is there an example of a fantasy that happens before written history? I mean, this could be interesting, between the first human and the begining of the neolithic period there is at least 80.000 years, maby more. I know that theoretically the events of wheel of time happened both in the future as in the part, so I would say that it doesn't count
Hmm there's The Clan of the Cave Bear which is an epic work of prehistoric fiction by Jean M. Auel. It follows a Cro-Magnon girl whose adopted by Neanderthals. I'm not aware of many others like this though, and I agree that this is a time period that could be very interesting to explore
@@CapturedInWords oh, interesting thank you very much for the recommendation
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