Is Sword and Sorcery synonymous with High Fantasy? IS there a difference?
Is Sword and Sorcery synonymous with High Fantasy? IS there a difference?
Julian Carter
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Justin Phillips
Yes, there is a difference.
Elijah Bennett
King Arthur is Sword and Sorcery, Lord of the Rings is High Fantasy.
Lincoln Lee
I thought Arthur was a king in Lord of the Rongs
Grayson Murphy
In sword and sorcery the characters could be put in any other setting and it would still be much the same.
In high fantasy the characters could be totally swapped out and it wouldn't matter.
Isaiah Nguyen
No, not all high fantasy settings are also sword and sorcery settings
Yes, because otherwise the above would not be true
Easton Myers
No, no, it's Rings Saga. Get your classics right.
Jaxson Bell
High/low fantasy is just the (subjective) amount of fantastic elements in a setting. High/low magic is either the prevalence of magic.
It's the equivalent to soft/hard science fiction.
Sword and Sorc is a subgenre of fantasy.
Ryder Watson
One is outdated and only looked at for nostalgic reasons
The other is poorly done on average
Together they're excellent
Mason Lopez
From a technical literary standpoint, low fantasy takes place on earth (or alternate earth) and high fantasy takes place in a totally different setting. Nowadays though most people use it to describe how prevalent magic is. This can naturally lead to some confusion.
One of the defining features of sword & sorcery, though, is that magic is usually used primarily by the villains, rather than being a ubiquitous force and helpful magicians being commonplace.
Oliver Young
As far as I know, Sword & Sorcery focuses more on the characters in the fantasy setting and their struggles within it, rather than it being about the setting itself, or some element of it.
Carter Lopez
This is just my opinion, and I haven't actually read any sword and sorcery novels so I'm probably wrong
>Sword and Sorcery
It's just some guy doing what he wants against supernatural and evil powers that threaten to stop him. Magic is powerful but untrustworthy and unreliable.
>High Fantasy
The Chosen One is super special and despite the world being magical the Chosen One is Prophesized to stop the Evil One. The Chosen Ones personal interested don't matter and in fact the Chosen One probably doesn't have much of a personality at all other than what will drive the plot forward. Magic is the best shit ever that for some reason no one else can or bothered to learn how to do except the Chosen One, his mentor, and the Evil One.
Michael Morales
So half of you are saying High Fantsy is a setting and the other a genre which is it
Thomas Powell
Fantasy is a genre. Sword and sorc is a subgenre. High fantasy is a setting.
Bentley Stewart
S&S is something where sorcery isn't uncommon but may be feared.
High Fantasy has common magic, to the point where you can't go fishing in a lake without seeing a wizard tower.
Colton Murphy
Fantasy is a genre.
High fantasy, epic fantasy, low fantasy, sword and sorcery - all subgenres of fantasy.
Elijah Perry
>high fantasy
takes place in a world other than earth
>sword and sorcery
some guy fighting miscellaneous supernatural forces
>epic fantasy
chosen one shit
Ayden Taylor
>Lord of the Rings is High Fantasy.
No it isn't
Kevin Powell
Mason Carter
it's literally the work that defined high fantasy
Robert Lopez
Isn't Conan the Barbarian the archetypal S&S series?
Carson Parker
And somehow Elric of "summoning fucking God swords and unleashing Gods and armies of undead spirits within a kingdom that would make the Dark Eldar/Elves blush" Melniboné is S&S
Cameron Hernandez
>Sword and Sorcery
Pulp action fantasy, possibly high or low fantasy, high or low magic even, but tends to be lower magic
>High fantasy
Any fantasy set in a world that's not Earth
Jose Sullivan
SS isn't determined by "low magic". Hell, Eddison is arguably the grandaddy SS more than Howard, tough it's worth pointing that Conan had the "for profit" angle that is kinda important - tough not by any chance an absolute necessity.
I'd venture to say the distinction is mostly that in SS the event/action is the point. In high fantasy it doesn't really happen that often, tough it certainly does happen (Conan is HF and of course SS).