# High / Epic Fantasy - Genre: Literature genre - Date: 1890s (William Morris); defined by Tolkien, 1954–55 - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/high-fantasy/ > The genre of the map in the front of the book: invented worlds, world-ending threats and quests that span trilogies — Tolkien's legacy, from Morris and Eddison to Jordan and Sanderson. **Why it matters:** High fantasy is the commercial and imaginative center of the genre and the default setting of the roleplaying hobby. Its invented worlds became the template for D&D's campaign settings, the CRPG, and the MMORPG. ## Quick answers **What is High / Epic Fantasy?** The genre of the map in the front of the book: invented worlds, world-ending threats and quests that span trilogies — Tolkien's legacy, from Morris and Eddison to Jordan and Sanderson. **What are the hallmarks of High / Epic Fantasy?** A fully invented secondary world with its own history, languages and maps; World-scale stakes: a Dark Lord, a returning evil, the fate of kingdoms; Clear moral struggle between good and evil, even when its heroes are flawed; A quest or war told across many volumes and many viewpoints; Heroes who grow from humble or hidden origins, often orphans or heirs; Non-human peoples — elves, dwarves, dragons — with their own cultures. **When did High / Epic Fantasy emerge?** 1890s (William Morris); defined by Tolkien, 1954–55. **Where does the name “High / Epic Fantasy” come from?** "High fantasy" coined by Lloyd Alexander in a 1969 talk published in 1971 as "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance" **What are the key works of High / Epic Fantasy?** The Lord of the Rings, The Well at the World's End, The Worm Ouroboros, Earthsea, The Sword of Shannara, The Belgariad, The Wheel of Time and Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. ## What it is High fantasy — used here interchangeably with epic fantasy — is fantasy set wholly in an invented [Secondary world](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/secondary-world/), told at the largest scale the genre allows. Its stories concern the fate of nations or of the world itself: a [The Dark Lord](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/dark-lord/) rising, an ancient evil stirring, a kingdom needing its lost heir. It is the genre of maps, appendices, invented languages and multi-volume series, and of heroes who grow from farm boys and orphans into kings and saviors (the trope the archive files as [The Chosen One](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/the-chosen-one/)). The "high" is a literary term, not a judgment of quality. When [Lloyd Alexander](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/lloyd-alexander/) coined it — in a talk to children's librarians in October 1969, published in 1971 as "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance" — he was borrowing from Northrop Frye's scheme of literary modes, in which "high" stories concern heroes superior to ordinary people. Its antonym is [Low Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/low-fantasy/): magic intruding on our familiar world. ## Origins The genre's ancestors are epic and romance (see [Myth & Epic](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/myth-and-epic/)), but the modern form begins when writers stopped setting their marvels in a legendary version of our world and built a separate one. [William Morris](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/william-morris/)'s prose romances, especially [The Well at the World's End](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-well-at-the-worlds-end/) (1896), are often named as the first high fantasies. [E. R. Eddison](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/e-r-eddison/)'s [The Worm Ouroboros](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-worm-ouroboros/) (1922) staged a Jacobean-flavored war of heroes on a nominal Mercury, and [Lord Dunsany](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/lord-dunsany/) invented whole pantheons. [J. R. R. Tolkien](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/j-r-r-tolkien/) defined everything that followed. [The Hobbit](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-hobbit/) (1937) and above all [The Lord of the Rings](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-lord-of-the-rings/) (1954–55) supplied a world with deep history, real languages, a Dark Lord and a fellowship of peoples, all underwritten by Tolkien's theory of sub-creation. When the unauthorized [Ace Books](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/ace-books/) paperback of 1965 and the authorized [Ballantine Books](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/ballantine-books/) edition put the book in American campus bookshops, demand for "more like Tolkien" created a market almost overnight. ## Evolution Publishers answered that demand. [The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/ballantine-adult-fantasy/) reprinted Morris, Eddison and Dunsany from 1969; [Terry Brooks](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/terry-brooks/)'s [The Sword of Shannara](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-sword-of-shannara/), an early flagship of the new [Del Rey Books](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/del-rey-books/) imprint in 1977, proved Tolkienian fantasy could be a bestseller in its own right. [Stephen R. Donaldson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/stephen-r-donaldson/)'s [The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-chronicles-of-thomas-covenant/) (1977) gave it a leper antihero; [David Eddings](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/david-eddings/)'s [The Belgariad](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-belgariad/) (1982–84) made its farm-boy-to-destiny arc cozy and funny. [Tad Williams](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/tad-williams/)'s [Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/memory-sorrow-and-thorn/) (1988–93) deepened it, and [Robert Jordan](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/robert-jordan/)'s [The Wheel of Time](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-wheel-of-time/) (1990–2013) stretched it to fourteen volumes. The 21st century brought "systems" fantasy. [Brandon Sanderson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/brandon-sanderson/)'s [Mistborn](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/mistborn/) and [The Stormlight Archive](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-stormlight-archive/) foreground rule-bound [magic systems](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/magic-system/), while [Steven Erikson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/steven-erikson/)'s [Malazan Book of the Fallen](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/malazan-book-of-the-fallen/) and [George R. R. Martin](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/george-r-r-martin/)'s [A Song of Ice and Fire](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/a-song-of-ice-and-fire/) kept the epic scale but abandoned the clean moral lines (see [Grimdark](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/grimdark/)). Games made high fantasy their home. D&D's elves, dwarves and [halflings](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/halfling/) came from Tolkien; its [campaign settings](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/campaign-setting/) — [World of Greyhawk](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/world-of-greyhawk/), [Forgotten Realms](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/forgotten-realms/), [Dragonlance](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dragonlance/) — are secondary worlds in the high-fantasy mold. [Baldur's Gate](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/baldurs-gate/), [Final Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/final-fantasy/), [The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-elder-scrolls-skyrim/) and [World of Warcraft](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/world-of-warcraft/) all inherit the invented continent with an ancient evil waking beneath it. Critics pushed the form to earn its grandeur. [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/ursula-k-le-guin/)'s 1973 essay "From Elfland to Poughkeepsie" attacked imitators who wrote high fantasy in flat, modern prose, arguing that style is the substance of an invented world; her own [Earthsea](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/earthsea/) (from 1968) showed how much a short book could hold. The debate between Tolkien's heirs and his critics — about language, morality and scale — is still the argument that defines the genre. ## How to tell it apart - **High vs. [Sword & Sorcery](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/sword-and-sorcery/):** the cleanest test is stakes. High fantasy asks "will the world be saved?"; sword and sorcery asks "will this person survive and get paid?" High fantasy's heroes serve something larger than themselves; S&S protagonists serve themselves, and magic is usually the enemy's weapon. - **High vs. [Grimdark](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/grimdark/):** both can be epic in scale, but high fantasy believes in heroism and a meaningful victory of good. Grimdark keeps the war and the world map and removes the faith. - **High vs. [Dark Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/dark-fantasy/):** dark fantasy imports horror's dread; a high fantasy may have dark chapters, but its tone is ultimately heroic and often hopeful, ending in [Eucatastrophe](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/eucatastrophe/). - **High vs. [Low Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/low-fantasy/):** high is a whole invented world; low is magic breaking into ours. - **High vs. [Mythic Fantasy](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/mythic-fantasy/):** high fantasy builds a new world and its own legends; mythic fantasy retells legends that already exist in ours. ## Where to start - [The Lord of the Rings](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-lord-of-the-rings/) — the foundation; read [The Hobbit](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-hobbit/) first if you like a gentler door. - [Earthsea](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/earthsea/) — Le Guin's compact, philosophical answer to Tolkien. - [The Belgariad](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-belgariad/) — the classic farm-boy epic at its most readable. - [Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/memory-sorrow-and-thorn/) — the bridge between Tolkien and modern epic. - [Mistborn](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/mistborn/) — the modern "magic system" epic in a single first volume. ## Hallmarks - A fully invented secondary world with its own history, languages and maps - World-scale stakes: a Dark Lord, a returning evil, the fate of kingdoms - Clear moral struggle between good and evil, even when its heroes are flawed - A quest or war told across many volumes and many viewpoints - Heroes who grow from humble or hidden origins, often orphans or heirs - Non-human peoples — elves, dwarves, dragons — with their own cultures ## Facts - [Lloyd Alexander](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/lloyd-alexander/) coined "high fantasy" in a talk to children's librarians in October 1969, published as an essay in 1971. - In 1961 [Michael Moorcock](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/michael-moorcock/) proposed "epic fantasy" as the name for Howard-style adventure; Fritz Leiber's "sword-and-sorcery" won instead, and "epic" drifted to Tolkien's side. - [William Morris](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/william-morris/)'s The Well at the World's End (1896), set in an invented medieval world, is often called the first high fantasy. - The Lord of the Rings was split into three volumes in 1954–55 largely for reasons of postwar cost; Tolkien regarded it as a single novel. - [Robert Jordan](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/robert-jordan/) died in 2007 with The Wheel of Time unfinished; [Brandon Sanderson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/brandon-sanderson/) completed it in three volumes, the last in 2013. - TSR's [Dragonlance](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dragonlance/) project (1984) married a D&D campaign to bestselling epic novels, a template for tie-in fantasy. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia — High fantasy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fantasy) - [Wikipedia — Fantasy literature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_literature) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.