Fantasy world
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A fantasy world is a type of imaginary world, part of a fictional universe used in fantasy novels and games. Typical worlds involve magic or magical abilities and a medieval theme. Some worlds may be a parallel realm or dimension tenuously connected to Earth via mystic gates (like Narnia and the Dreamlands); a fictional ancient Earth (examples are Arda, of which Middle-earth is a continent, the Hyborian Age of Conan the Barbarian, Earthdawn) or future (Dying Earth, Zothique); or the world may have no reference to Earth at all.
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[edit] Common Elements
The most common fantasy world is one based on medieval Europe. Such a world is often called "pseudo-medieval" -- particularly when the writer has snatched up random elements from the era, which covered a thousand years and a continent, and thrown them together without consideration for their compatibility, or even introduced ideas not so much based on the medieval era as on romanticized views of it.
Heavy and faithful use of real world setting for inspiration, as in Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds, clearly derived from China, or Lloyd Alexander's use of real world cultures such as Welsh for The Chronicles of Prydain or Indian for The Iron Ring, make the line between fantasy worlds and alternate histories fuzzy. The use of cultural elements, and still more history and geography, from actual settings, such as Lawrence Santoro's use of the American upper Midwest in "Just North of Nowhere," pushes a work toward alternate history.
Conversely, the introduction of an imaginary country -- such as Ruritania or Graustark -- does not transform a world into a fantasy world, even if the location would be impossible owing to the lack of land to contain it, but such Ruritanian romances may be pushed toward fantasy worlds by the ambiguity of witches and wise women, where it is not clear whether their magic is effectual.
[edit] Constructed Worlds
- Further information: Constructed world
Fantasy worlds created through a process world building are known as a constructed world. Constructed worlds elaborate and make self-consistent the setting of a fantasy work. World building relies on materials and concepts taken from the real world.
Despite the use of magic or other fantastic elements such as dragons, the world is normally presented as one that would function normally, one in which people could actually live, making economic, historical, and ecological sense. It is considered a flaw to have, for example, pirates living in lands far from trade routes, or to assign prices for a night's stay in an inn that would equate to several years' income for a farmer. Furthermore, the fantastic elements should ideally operate according to self-consistent rules of their own; for example, if wizards' spells sap their strength, a wizard who does not appear to suffer this must either be putting up a facade, or have an alternative explanation. This distinguishes fantasy worlds from surrealism and even from such dream worlds such as are found in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
[edit] Examples
J. R. R. Tolkien created Middle-earth, one of the better known fantasy worlds, and he wrote at some length about the process of creating them, which he called "sub-creation".
C.S. Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia, takes place in a magical land called Narnia, which was inhabited only by animals and magical creatures (dwarves, fauns, etc.) at first, but when a magical ring leads two children in the first book, The Magician's Nephew, to Narnia, the speaking animals discover the "son of Adam" and "daughter of Eve". In the next book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, four children come to Narnia by a magical wardrobe that leads them to a snow- and frost-ridden land. The settings change throughout the series.
Russell Kirkpatrick, author of the Fire of Heaven Trilogy, created the three continents; Faltha, Bhrudwo and Elamaq. A professional cartographer, he took great lengths to create an entire atlas of his imaginary world.
[edit] Fairytale and Other Worlds
Fairytale fantasy may ignore the normal world-building in order to present a world operating by the same logic as the fairytales from which they are derived, though other works in this subgenre develop their worlds fully. Comic fantasy may ignore all possible logic in search of humor, particularly if it is parodying other fantasies' faulty world-building, as in Diana Wynne Jones's Dark Lord of Derkholm, or the illogic of the setting is integral to the comedy, as in L. Sprague de Camp's Solomon's Stone, where the fantasy world is populated by the heroic and glamorous figures that people daydream about being, resulting in a severe shortage of workers in the more mundane, day-to-day industries. Most other subgenres of fantasy suffer if the world-building is neglected.
[edit] The Retreat of Magic
When the fantasy world purports to be Earth in its mythic past, the question arises: why are these fantastic elements no longer present if they are real?
The story frequently contains a retreat of magic (sometimes called "thinning") that explains why the magic and other fantastic elements no longer appear:
- In The Magic Goes Away, Larry Niven depicted the exhaustion of "mana," the substance needed to power magic.
- In The Lord of the Rings, the destruction of the One Ring not only defeated Sauron, but destroyed the power of the Three Rings of the elves, resulting in their sailing into the West at the end of the trilogy.
- In Lord Dunsany's The Charwoman's Shadow, the magician ends the book by summoning to him all the creatures of romance and taking them with him outside the world.
A contemporary fantasy necessarily takes place in what purports to be the real world, and not a fantasy world. It may, however, include reference to such a retreat. J. K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them explains that wizards decided, at one point, to conceal from Muggles the fantastic beasts such as dragons.
[edit] Role-Playing Games
Dungeons & Dragons, the first role-playing game, has created several detailed and commercially successful fantasy worlds (called "campaign settings"), with established and recognizable characters, locations, histories, and sociologies. The Forgotten Realms is perhaps the most extensively developed of these worlds. These elements of detail can be a large part of what attracts people to RPGs.
Many established fantasy writers have also derided Dungeons and Dragons and the fantasy fiction it has inspired due to its influencing new writers toward reading the D&D Monster Manual instead of studying original mythologies from which the fantasy literature has sprung.
Due to the fuzzy boundary between fantasy and science fiction, it is similarly difficult to make a hard-and-fast distinction between "fantasy worlds" and planets in science fiction. For example, the worlds of Barsoom, Darkover, Gor, and the Witch World combine elements of both genres.
[edit] See also
For a list of fantasy worlds, see list of fantasy worlds, list of fictional universes, and Category:Fictional universes.
[edit] Reference
- Diana Wynne Jones: The Tough Guide To Fantasyland explains and parodies the common features of a standard fantasy world
