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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 953908" data-attributes="member: 463"><p>High Fantasy for me is about the feel of the setting (wondrous), not the power level of the characters. </p><p></p><p>High Fantasy - Tolkien, Donaldson (Thomas Covenant), Le Guin (Earthsea), Cheryh (Chronicles of Morgaine), CS Lewis (Narnia)</p><p></p><p>Low Fantasy (sword & sorcery) - Conan, Leiber (Lankhmar), Thieves' World, Wolfe (Book of the New Sun).</p><p></p><p>Moorcock (Corum, Elric, Hawkmoon) does a sort of high fantasy sword & sorcery, in feel though he's closer to Leiber than to Tolkien or Donaldson.</p><p></p><p>Generally, High Fantasy has clear-cut good & evil and a hierarchical universe where the champions of good strive to maintain the status quo vs the forces of Change & Entropy - it favours Law, in D&D alignment terms. The strongest influence on high fantasy is Judaeo-Christian morality and dualist mythologies (eg Norse, Persian). Examples go back a long way, most tellings of Arthurian myth fit here.</p><p></p><p>Low fantasy tends to have fuzzy good & evil, and the protagonists are often agents of Change - it is Chaotic, in D&D alignment terms. Its universe is often democratic and individualist. It seems to be largely of 20th century post-WW1 origin. The strongest influencies would seem to be Enlightenment, Rationalist (or nihilist) and atheist philosophies, and pagan non-dualist mythologies (eg Greek).</p><p></p><p>Standard D&D and its derivatives (eg Diablo CRPG) mix the genres and is better classed as 'power fantasy' than either high or low.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 953908, member: 463"] High Fantasy for me is about the feel of the setting (wondrous), not the power level of the characters. High Fantasy - Tolkien, Donaldson (Thomas Covenant), Le Guin (Earthsea), Cheryh (Chronicles of Morgaine), CS Lewis (Narnia) Low Fantasy (sword & sorcery) - Conan, Leiber (Lankhmar), Thieves' World, Wolfe (Book of the New Sun). Moorcock (Corum, Elric, Hawkmoon) does a sort of high fantasy sword & sorcery, in feel though he's closer to Leiber than to Tolkien or Donaldson. Generally, High Fantasy has clear-cut good & evil and a hierarchical universe where the champions of good strive to maintain the status quo vs the forces of Change & Entropy - it favours Law, in D&D alignment terms. The strongest influence on high fantasy is Judaeo-Christian morality and dualist mythologies (eg Norse, Persian). Examples go back a long way, most tellings of Arthurian myth fit here. Low fantasy tends to have fuzzy good & evil, and the protagonists are often agents of Change - it is Chaotic, in D&D alignment terms. Its universe is often democratic and individualist. It seems to be largely of 20th century post-WW1 origin. The strongest influencies would seem to be Enlightenment, Rationalist (or nihilist) and atheist philosophies, and pagan non-dualist mythologies (eg Greek). Standard D&D and its derivatives (eg Diablo CRPG) mix the genres and is better classed as 'power fantasy' than either high or low. [/QUOTE]
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