Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 3910618" data-attributes="member: 15538">What textbook are you reading? Before LOTR, there really wasn't a high fantasy genre, you have to look at what genre it would have been in at the time. It has swords, it has sorcery. It is not pulp, but then, neither is the Elric stuff, as you point out. LOTR:- Is set in a prehistorical Earth.- Has swords. Has sorcery.- Has mighty-thewed heroes overthrowing brigands, monsters, and unnatural horrors.The Belgariad is similar in tone to LOTR, but is not set in a prehistorical Earth and has less mighty thews and more miraculous spells. Thus, while it is similar to LOTR, it does not have those traits which make LOTR similar to other swords-and-sorcery series.Note that I am not making the claim LOTR exemplies s&s. Rather, I am pointing out that LOTR can be viewed, and is often useful to do so, as a swords and sorcery work that varies in some substantial ways from other S&S. It is also one of the most important foundations of epic high fantasy. Mainstream high fantasy, however, diverged quite a bit from LOTR. LOTR can also be read as Anglo-Saxon fairy tales/romances, along the lines of King Arthur and so forth. LOTR is difficult to categorize. The only reason it is so readily categorized as high fantasy is because of the profound importance it has in the appearance of that genre.It is the same as trying to categorize Frankenstein as a "science fiction story." Although it entered and influenced the category of SF, it was written before that genre existed, and can be understood simply as a wondrous story. Likewise, the adventure yarn 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, nowadays recognized as one of the founders of modern SF.</blockquote>

Verification