The Dark and Gritty

You could say that there has been elements of dark and gritty in the fantasy genre for many years, with the past thirty years brewing the flavor of today’s edgy fantasy. From Glen Cook’s The Black Company, released in the mid-80’s, to George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones in the mid-90’s, to today’s popular authors like Joe Abercrombie (author of the First Law books), popular fantasy has moved away from the likes of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. The straight edge hero has been replaced by the anti-hero, a character that is capable of womanizing, stealing and killing, but could be our hero on the basis that there are people worse than they are.

Grey and flawed characters are the norm in today’s fiction, and it’s what readers desire the most. But, in dark and gritty fantasy, flawed protagonists can be too flawed. The whole purpose of producing imperfect characters in fantasy fiction is so that readers are able to relate more to the characters, but how many of us are assassins and mercenaries? How many of us are capable of rape and murder? Can we really relate to these troubled characters, or is it more like watching reality TV? After all, edgy fantasy is being called “Realistic Fantasy” now (which is oxymoronic).

I remember when the movie Million Dollar Baby came out, starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. It starts out as a feel-good movie, almost like watching Rocky or the Karate Kid, yet the ending took us all by surprise. It was unexpected, shocking—depressing. But we all loved it, because of the unpredictability and the drama. Clint Eastwood directed another movie called Mystic River, which gave us another unpredictable, depressing ending. And, again, we loved it. I use these two examples in cinema, because they were critically acclaimed and award winning for having such dramatic, tragic stories. This same effect is sweeping the fantasy genre. Readers are craving for “realism”. Readers are longing for characters that they can either identify with, or love to hate, or hate to love. Readers no longer want to use fantasy as an escape from reality, but now they want the best of both worlds.

With all the above said, I still believe, that at the end of the day, no one (at lease most of us) do not want to be caught in a world where there is no hope and no redemption for the characters. Death and despair is a part of reality, but so is hope and triumph. Some of these worlds that we read about in these dark fantasy books are so depressing you almost wonder why the characters even bother to keep on living. There’s almost nothing worth living for. And if readers cannot balance between dark fantasy and not-so-dark fantasy, but only seek the gritty, then they kind of get caught into enjoying the demise of others, and never walk away from a book having some thought of redemption or the overcoming of a tragic past. A lot of readers cannot even return to the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien or Terry Brooks, because they are addicted to the edge in fantasy fiction.

Personally, I think a good story should produce a degree of trouble in a character—an inner struggle, an obsession, a troubled past, or a declining or deadly lifestyle. But the story should be about the character’s triumph over some part of their struggles. And if a main character dies, there should be a good cause to their death, where it is not just shocking and upsetting to the reader, but believable and bringing worth to the story.

I’ll use another Clint Eastwood movie as an example: Gran Torino. The movie gives you another element of unpredictability at the end, but it’s not tragic and depressing; it’s sacrificial and, to a degree, uplifting. A character’s unanticipated death was not just a scene to disturb us, but to show us that even a flawed character can have true heart and sacrifice.

So, if we’re going to start calling the dark and gritty fantasy “realistic”, because it has sex, rape, death, cussing, and characters with troubled pasts—like that which is common to mankind—then let’s not forget that mankind is capable of much more. There’s a lot of hope in reality, more so than one may think. Men and women throughout history have done great and horrific things, and fantasy can reflect such things in its pages, but let’s not lose the elements that the founding fathers of the genre brought us… KEEP HOPE ALIVE!  :-)


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The Fairy Ingredient

Fairies are the stuff of myth and folklore from long ago; and they have been rather active in the fantasy genre. Fairies, Faeries, Fae, Fey, Fay—we see all the different types of spellings and representations. In fiction, we generally see two types of fairies: the small sprite or pixie (like Tinker Bell) and fae folk (human-sized). Children’s fiction tends to use the small fairies more so than teen and adult fiction, which leans more to the human-sized fae folk.

The depiction of small fairies in fiction ranges from kind to mischievous to evil. The fae folk take on the same depiction, depending on the author’s story, but we mostly see the fae as good-looking humans with magical abilities. The fae are more likely to turn up in Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance; however, books like Jack Vance’s Madouc and Michael Swanwick’s dark fantasy, The Iron Dragon’s Daughter, are some exceptions. Also the fae character, Felurian, in Patrick Rothfuss’ The Wise Man’s Fear is another example in the epic fantasy genre.

Emma Bull’s 1987 Urban Fantasy book, War for the Oaks is a story of good and evil faeries at war with each other. Much of it takes place in the real world; and the fae require a willing mortal in their war to bring mortality to their immorality, so that they can have a proper war of killing each other. But, of course, the book is more than that.

Raymond E. Feist’s horror/dark fantasy, Faerie Tale, depicts faeries in the many forms of Irish folklore, from tiny sprites to the human-sized. In this story, the real world and the faerie world are intertwined, and there are faeries with a malicious intent against mankind.     

 

The fairies described above are a far cry from Disney or The Spiderwick Chronicles, but so are most of the fairies in the genre, from YA fiction to “adult” fiction. Most of the fiction involving fairies are fairies mixing in our world, and/or characters from our world going into their world. Two popular YA books, Holly Black’s Modern Faerie Tale series and Aprilynne Pike’s Wings series, both center around a teen girl who discovers that she’s an actual faerie. Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series has the same kind of protagonist, yet she finds out that she’s half faerie. The bestselling Meredith Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton is probably the most popular in the Urban Fantasy genre, where the main character is a faerie princess dealing with political intrigue in her faerie world and private investigating in the real world. The Meredith Gentry books border on erotica, and I dare not read them, because of such content.

Books for the younger readers, like the Artemis Fowl series, the Dreamdark series, and the Faery Rebels series, put sprite-like fairies in more adventurous stories. The Artemis Fowl books actually divide fairies into a family of eight different types (elves, dwarves, goblins, gnomes, pixies, sprites, centaurs, and demons). The Dreamdark books have a fairy that hunts devils, and the Faery Rebels books deal with a faery realm on the verge of extinction.

Another popular YA series is the Fablehaven books by Brandon Mull. I thought Mr. Mull did a great job of depicting fairies in his stories, giving them the usual image of tiny, exotic, mysterious and feisty creatures. But they can also be well accomplished warriors as well.   

There are many other books with their different spins on fairies and fae folk, and the fantasy genre has its quiver full with tales for all types. For me, personally, I would like to see more of the sprite/pixie fairies cast in epic fantasy in some creative ways. Imagine fairies in books like The Malazan Book of the Fallen series or A Song of Ice and Fire series. I don’t know how that would work, but if done well it would be pretty cool (or not).

I would like for the influences of folklore, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Disney to kind of fade out a bit, so that this modern time of fantasy could expand a little more on the myth and carve out some interesting fairy characters. It’s been done with many other types, like demons, dragons, werewolves and vampires. Just the fact that some of the folklore about fairies is based on them being a race of creation that kind of got caught in the conflict between God and Satan, and they were neither allowed into heaven nor allowed into hell. How would a race of beings caught in such an unfortunate position react—not only to mankind, but to God, angels, Satan and demons? That could be an interesting story, if done well, and from the fairies’ perspective. That’s the great thing about fantasy fiction; you can take mythology, reality and imagination and just let them create something fantastical.

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The Dragon Ingredient

Dragons are probably the most famous of all beasts to dwell in the fantasy genre. Like eggs and flour are used in making cake, so dragons and magic have been used to make up a fantasy story—at least that seemed to be the norm for many years. Dragons have been written in many ways: from wild beasts that are to be slain; exotic creatures needing to be tamed for riding; or the talking colossal being to make alliance with.

Let’s list a few small examples in popular literary fiction:

• Smaug is probably one of the most notorious dragons in the genre. He was the treasure-hoarding beast in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, that plagued the town of Dale and took over the Lonely Mountain from the dwarves.

• Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern books placed dragons in a Science Fiction setting where they were the product of creation through genetic manipulation. Their riders could communicate with them through telepath.

• In the YA books, Dragons in our Midst by Bryan Davis, dragons of long ago (King Arthur times) have transformed into human beings with long lives, and they married and had (human) children with their human spouses in modern time. These children had special abilities that were useful in their struggle against modern-day dragon slayers who sought their demise.

• The Temeraire series, by Naomi Novik, brings dragons into the Napoleonic Wars, where they are used in warfare.

Let’s face it, dragons are cool. They have been in fiction since the beginning; and they’ll never go out of style. But, with that said, are dragons becoming tiresome in fantasy? Are they turning into a monotonous cliché? I think it all depends on how an author uses them in their story. I, personally, don’t care too much for stories where dragons are the main focus; however, I think it’s different in regards to cinema (e.g., Reign of Fire, DragonHeart, How to Train Your Dragon, and Eragon).

To me, in literary fiction, the characters and the story plot have to be solid and engrossing. An author should not throw dragons in their story just to have dragons in the story, thinking that it’s going to add some kind of excitement (or bonus points) to the tale. If the writer is putting dragons in, then they better be crucial to the story or the setting; not just there for show. That’s been done enough times already. Dragons should be used in a unique way these days.

Naomi Novik’s Temeraire books are an interesting spin on the story of dragons. Even though there is absolutely nothing new about dragons being used in combat, putting them in our world in the historical setting of the Napoleonic Wars is appealing. Whether it was done well or not, that is in the opinion of the reader.

The release of Marie Brennan’s new fantasy book this year, A Natural History of Dragons, is the start of a new series set in a quasi-Victorian age. The book is written in the narrative of the character, Lady Isabella Trent; like she’s writing a memoir of her years of studying dragons. In this tale, dragons are simply mysterious wild animals that are difficult to study.

Another interesting take on dragons is Jo Walton’s Tooth and Claw book. This is a story with a Victorian-like setting with nobles and servants in an established civilization, filled with family honor, political intrigue, romance and marriage (they even have a church); yet, all the characters are dragons. The only fantasy element in this book are the dragons themselves. They fly, (some) breathe fire, and it’s customary for the children to eat their deceased parents, or for the strong to eat the weak, to gain strength and power.

Dragons are not necessary for a fantasy book, but when they are used in the right way, they can bring phantasm to a basic story, or embellish the setting of an engrossing epic. Dragons have become trite in the genre, and there’s really not much reason to use them anymore. In this day and age, great characters and great worldbuilding are the main ingredient in fantasy.  

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Flintlock Fantasy

In the past recent years, the sub-genre of “Flintlock Fantasy” (also labeled Gunpowder Fantasy and Muskets and Magic—a take off Sword and Sorcery) has been growing and gaining popularity. Some may describe this sub-genre in a few ways, since it derives from Historical Fantasy, but could be very much Epic Fantasy, depending on the world setting, and the foundation of magic and/or fantastical creatures.

First of all, Flintlock Fantasy is fantasy that has moved out of the typical Medieval European setting that we’re all accustomed to in the fantasy genre, and into a more industrialized period (like the 18^TH and 19^TH century). Magic, gods and other fantastical creatures still exist, but we get to see guns and cannons (gunpowder) used in the setting. This makes for a different type of world than the usual fantasy novel, because warfare has changed completely. In addition, this description of Flintlock Fantasy takes place in a secondary world, which is the norm in the epic fantasy genre.

Examples are as follows… Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer series is a wonderful example of good “Flintlock Fantasy”, complete with a unique magic system (involving colors) and muskets. Chris Evans’ Iron Elves series is a series I have not gotten a hold of yet, but it falls into this same category. A debut author that has been getting really good reviews with his new release is Brian McClellan, author of Promise of Blood (book one in The Powder Mage Trilogy). He created a magic system in his world where there are people called Powder Mages who have the ability to manipulate gunpowder as their magic ability; all set in a world of other kinds of magic users and gods. Another new author coming on the scene as having a Flintlock Fantasy book released this year is Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names (first in The Shadow Campaigns series). I’m looking forward to reading both Mr. McClellan and Mr. Wexler’s books.

Just to mention a few more authors; Bradley P. Beaulieu’s The Lays of Anuskaya series may fall in this sub-genre as well. Col Buchanan’s Heart of the World books have gunpowder and airships; not to be mistaken for steampunk, despite the airships. Margaret Weis & Robert Krammes’ Dragon Brigade series had their characters fighting with pistols and muskets, mixed with dragons, floating land masses and airships. Even the notorious Brandon Sanderson did a cool spin by writing a Mistborn novel set 300 years after his successful epic fantasy, The Mistborn Trilogy. The novel is called The Alloy of Law; and Mr. Sanderson shows his world of Scadrial as industrialized, with a late 19^TH century-ish kind of setting, with revolvers, railroads, electric lighting, and the building of a skyscraper.

Another look at describing the Flintlock Fantasy sub-genre could fall in the style of The Pirates of the Caribbean, or the pulp-fiction classic of the late 1920’s and 1930’s, Solomon Kane, created by Robert E. Howard (who gave us Conan the Barbarian). These two examples are set in our world, around the 17^TH and 18^TH century, but they have magic, fantastical creatures, along with the use of flintlock pistols, muskets, rapiers and dirks.

Books that may get confused with the Flintlock Fantasy sub-genre can be Andre Norton and Rosemary Edghill’s Carolus Rex series. These books take place in the Napoleonic Era, with elements of magic, faeries and machinations; but they seem to be more of a work of historical fantasy / alternate history. I would say the same of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire novels, which also take place in the Napoleonic Era. These books are basically Alternate History with dragons. Michael A. Stackpole’s The Crown Colonies novels take place in the late 18^TH century, giving us an alternate history of our world, complete with fantastical creatures, magic, and zombie soldiers. Last, but not at all least, is D.B. Jackson’s The Thieftaker Chronicles, set in Boston in the late 18^TH century, which could be described a little more akin to Urban Fantasy, just not set in contemporary times.

I personally embrace the definition of Flintlock Fantasy as epic fantasy that has been industrialized. The use of gunpowder in fantasy-like stories is nothing new—as mentioned above with Solomon Kane. And video games and indie writers have given the use of flintlock weapons in a fantasy setting a fun spin for a while now. But seeing Epic Fantasy evolve into something fresh and not overdone is exciting. As this sub-genre grows, it's going to be great to see how each writer develops their worlds using this element. Just like Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance has gotten out of control these past few years, I’d like to see Flintlock Fantasy begin to take up the shelves, continuing the great diversity of our beloved genre.

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Originality in Fantasy



Fantasy readers continue in pursuit of their favorite types of fantasy fiction; whether they be the typical sword and sorcery, quest fantasy, or dark fantasy. But many fantasy fans are growing weary of what seems to be the same old method in fantasy novels recycled over and over again.

There are a lot of complaints about books hanging on to the Tolkien-like setting. When most of us read the Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, the similarities to the Fellowship of the Ring was too obvious. When we read the Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, we could sense the same resemblances from the Lord of the Rings in some parts. Peter Orullian’s debut fantasy novel, The Unremembered, is said to have utter likenesses to Robert Jordan’s the Eye of the World.

How many of us have read the farm boy going to fight the great dark lord story? How many have read the story of the orphan seeking revenge for the death of their parents; or the orphan that becomes an assassin or great magician? How about the story about an empire having slave warriors to fight and conquer for them; only the slave warrior becomes the hero against the evil empire? Don’t forget the stories about magic swords; a boy/girl and their dragon(s); or the reluctant hero who was prophesied to save the world. I could go on about the different formulas that we see, not only in the fantasy genre, but in fiction in general.

This is not only an occurrence in books, but in cinema as well. How many romantic comedies have we seen where the male or female character has some kind of secret (or lie), and the love interest finds out about it. The love interest gets upset and never wants to talk to the other again; yet they make up at the end and live happily ever after. And what is it with all the action movies? We know that the main bad guy and the hero are going to fight at the end, and the bad guy is going to get destroyed; can we at least get a surprising twist?

There are a few formulas to storytelling, but hundreds of thousands of stories (if not more), using the same old formulas. Can we say that originality is dead in fiction? Can anything in Fantasy be original anymore? Some say no to the latter. I say yes.

I’m going to use two authors, whose stories I admire, as examples of what originality looks like in fantasy. Now, let me say that I think each book in their series goes on for too long, but they have characters that are interesting enough to keep reading about (even though it seems like they are doing next to nothing sometimes). The two authors are George R.R. Martin (A Song of Ice & Fire books) and Patrick Rothfuss (The Kingkiller Chronicle).

George R.R. Martin has painted a dark and cold world where many dynasties are vying for power over a vast land (Westeros). We experience and learn of the world through the limited third-person point of views of many characters that you grow to love or hate (or a little of both). Though there’s magic in the books it’s subtle and builds up slowly through the series. There are dragons, but they are not set in the story with the same old casting as most books in the genre. Tyrion, probably my favorite character, is a dwarf—not the typical dwarf of fantasy, with the long beards, and living inside the mountains. No, Tyrion is just a normal human, born of “normal” people  with “normal” siblings; however, he was born a dwarf, like in the real world, and he’s a flawed and crafty individual. The books are loaded with political intrigue and battles; unlikely alliances; twists and turns; and disappointments (in regards to the fate or decisions of characters). You will not read Martin’s series and say to yourself, “Hey this looks similar to so-and-so’s book.” Why? Because it’s original. Writers are trying to emulate Martin now, because he has taken the Epic Fantasy genre and changed it into something unpredictable, gritty and realistic (for its period setting). As I stated in a previous post, I personally find the books too dark and graphic in some places, but I cannot deny that Mr. Martin is fantastic at what he does, and has produced an engrossing and epic tale.

Patrick Rothfuss only has two (fat) books out now, but he is definitely one of the giants in modern fantasy fiction today. The reason is because of his exceptional, original storytelling. His story of Kvothe in his Kingkiller Chronicle is interesting and entertaining. Rothfuss gives us a character that tells his own story (in first-person narrative) about his legacy. Kvothe becomes an orphan in the story, due to the death of his parents, and he wants vengeance for their death, but this is not the main plot of the books. Rothfuss tells a whole other type of story through Kvothe, giving us the tale of his life at the university, and his later tales of his adventures outside the university. The books have magic, but the magic system (mostly alchemy) is excellent, in my opinion; giving the readers something more than just the wizard’s staff or the magical object. The magic is a large part of the story, but it is not the drive of the story—the character is. Rothfuss makes it where the readers actually love following Kvothe through his story; and it’s a cool, interesting and fun piece. The books are completely original and memorable.

There are other original good stories out there, but the two authors that I’ve mentioned above are the ones that have stood out to me as being something refreshingly unique in the genre. Let’s not mistake originality with good storytelling. You can have originality, but to the point where it’s too original and does not make for good storytelling. There are writers that spend so much time trying to explain their “original” world instead of letting the story, through the characters, reveal the world to us. There are writers that can take one of the typical formulas described above and tell a great story, with a unique voice of their own, but it wouldn’t classify for originality.

There is nothing like opening a book by an author you’re not familiar with and discovering an original piece of fantasy fiction that was unexpected and different from anything else that you have ever read. It’s like finding gold in a pile of stones, or a diamond in the rough. 

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Long Fantasy Series… Are They Dying Out?

The long trend in the Fantasy genre is the multi-book series; mostly consisting of trilogies, but sometimes a couple of books more. However, over the past couple of decades or so, we’ve seen the “masters of fantasy” dish out these long-drawn-out stories, seeming to stretch their worlds to no end. These long series have fed fans for decades, giving them more and more of the worlds and characters they’ve grown to love. However, these long series have also brought disappointment to the fans; many complaining about the authors' decline in storytelling; plots going nowhere; characters loosing their flavor; etc. Despite these complaints, loyal fans continue to follow the series, in hopes that the authors will be able to pull themselves out of their creative decay, and return to the glory days (back when their story was in its prime). The fans that are not so loyal just give up and choose not to waste any more time on the series. I tend to fall into this category, because I have yet to be captivated by a long series where I can continue past the first three books (apart from Star Wars).

Let’s name just a few authors who’ve stretched their worlds through numerous volumes of books:

• Raymond E. Feist produced 30 books in his Midkemia world in multiple series, known as the Riftwar Cycle. The last book, Magician’s End, is due to release in the U.S. on May 14^TH. Mr. Feist had been writing these books for over 30 years.

• Terry Brooks has been writing in his Shannara series for decades (the first book, The Sword of Shannara, was released in 1977). He is still writing in this series today; with Bloodfire Quest released in March of this year, and Witch Wraith due for release this July. I have lost count of the Shannara books, but I believe that there are over 20 so far.

• Katharine Kerr gave us 15 books in her Deverry series, concluding with The Silver Mage (released in 2009). 

• Robert Jordan originally intended to write his Wheel of Time series in 6 books, but the story grew too big. He was only able to fully write up to 11 books in the series before his passing in 2007. Brandon Sanderson completed the last 3 books in the series, working with Jordan’s wife and the notes that remained. A Memory of Light, the 14^TH and final book of the series, was released at the beginning of this year.

• Terry Goodkind released his 12^TH Sword of Truth novel last year, with the 13^TH book, The Third Kingdom, supposedly due out later this year. I say “supposedly” because the book is rumored as coming out in August, but there’s no mention of it on the publisher’s website. 

• David Eddings wrote The Belgariad series in 5 books, and then wrote The Malloreon series as a sequel, also in 5 books. There was another 3 books that Eddings co-wrote with his wife, Leigh, that were related to the same world.

• After 13 books, Robin Hobb released her book, The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince, in February this year, continuing her Realm of the Elderlings series. 

• Stephen R. Donaldson has his book, The Last Dark, due to release in the Fall of this year, to conclude his long-running The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series. Altogether, this would make for 10 books.

• Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series ended with the publication of The Crippled God in 2011. Erikson completed the series in 10 books, but these books were ridiculously thick, with the shortest book consisting of 768 pages, and the longest clocking in at just under 1300 pages. That’s really more like over 20 books, if you put it altogether, based on the average book size. 

• I do not consider George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire to be a large volume series, since it is Mr. Martin’s intention to write 7 books to complete the series (5 released; 2 more to go). But he is taking such a long time to complete each book; and a lot of readers are nervous that he may not be able to finish. He’s not getting any younger, and, as we’ve seen, he is not the fittest man in America; and his books are getting above 1,000 pages. I know it takes time to write a really good book, but there was a five-year wait between book 4 and 5; and there’s no telling when book 6 will be released.  

The above list is not exhaustive. I could’ve included Terry Pratchett, considering his Discworld novels, which I believe may have reached 40 books. But those novels are different stories set in the same world; not an ongoing epic story. Also, Pratchett’s Discworld is more like Comic Fantasy (humorous and fun to read). Mr. Pratchett has been dealing with Alzheimer's for a few years now, so it’s not real certain how much longer the Discworld series will continue. I could also mention the Dragonlance series, which is mostly collaborated by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It’s a progressing world of many books, read by faithful followers, and continuing to stay true to the High Fantasy bloodline.

The series listed above are stories spanning from the late 1970’s on up to today. Most of these authors are well over 60 years old; and their long line of novels, of worlds and characters loved (and hated) by a multitude of readers over many years, are coming to an end. After these authors’ long running series are truly said and done, can we expect publishers to continue such lengthy cycles with the newer authors of today? Trilogies and tetralogies are the norm with today’s “younger” authors, and it’s difficult to tell who among them will be the next producer of a long, successful fantasy series. I have no doubt that there will be more long series, but will there be as much as we’ve seen from past to present? Will readers of today want to continue on with long drawn-out stories that span over decades?

As I’ve mentioned above, a lot of readers are growing weary with some of these series where the authors are not producing quality books in their created worlds. There’s nothing fresh coming forth in these long series; just the authors making their word counts. Can an author truly devote him/herself to a long, epic story for years and years and continue to produce quality? Has it been done, and can it be done? I’m sure we could get mixed answers on that question.

The industry is changing. With the successful rise of e-books, indie publishers, and self-published authors, a lot of books are becoming available to a wide array of readers. Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance continue to fill up the publishers’ yearly rosters and the bookstore shelves (including online bookshelves). These sub-genres have their own collection of series, but they are still modern and riding the waves of today’s trends. Publishers and authors will continue to spit out what they deem will sell; and we will still see a large collection of books that will not live on to be legendary.

I believe the Fantasy genre is evolving, but it’s tough to say whether or not long series will be able to remain in this young evolution. Like I said, there will continue to be long series, but how many, and for how much longer? Only time will tell.

Star Wars is Fantasy

 

I’m a big Star Wars fan; not to the point of being geeky or fanatical, but just enjoying the Star Wars universe, stories, and characters. It is big, fat epic fiction for all ages and all people. It is a phenomenon in and of itself. Nothing else can compare—not even Star Trek or Lord of the Rings (in my humble opinion).

I think, in general, Star Wars is seen (categorized) as Science Fiction. There has been a debate for years over whether Star Wars is in fact Science Fiction or Fantasy. There’s even a book based on such a debate called, Star Wars on Trial. I’m not going to waste time and brain cells being technical about what makes a story Science Fiction or Fantasy, but I’m just going to speak as the average reader and fan that I am, and just state the obvious.

Now, it’s assumed that since Star Wars takes place in outer space, with spaceships, laser guns, planets, and aliens, it is automatically classified as Science Fiction. A true Sci-Fi fan/expert would tell you that Sci-Fi has to have a degree of plausibility in the make and setup of the world of the story. When you think about it, there is no plausibility in the world of Star Wars. Things are just the way they are in the stories. There’s no grounds for plausibility with the Force (even with the vague explanation of the midi-chlorians). The Lightsaber is scientifically impossible. Spaceships speeding through a galaxy over thousands of light years in a matter of minutes, hours, or days is utter imagining. The hardcore Science Fiction fan would require that such things be scientifically explained, with just an inkling of possibility that such things could happen (like maybe sometime in the future—even if it’s the far future).

Now, George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, has been on record, stating that Star Wars is more Fantasy than Science Fiction; so that should just put the debate to rest. Think about how the story begins: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” Just this beginning right here tells you that you are getting into a story that does not even take place in our world, let alone our time. Science Fiction usually takes place in the future (even an alternative future—but still the future). Here, Lucas is starting his story, basically saying, “Once upon a time…” We all know that when someone starts a story with, “Once upon a time,” it’s going to be a made up fairytale, myth or fable. We’re not going to expect feasibility in the telling of such a story. No, we’re going to expect a fantasy-like story, typically consisting of kings, princesses, and knights. Stephen King wrote a booked called, The Eyes of the Dragon, published in 1987, which is told just like an old-fashioned fairytale: “Once, in a kingdom called Delain, there was a king with two sons.” When you hear a story start out like this, you know it’s going to be a tale, not Science Fiction.

What Lucas did differently was that he made his fairytale using a whole other type of setting. He’s using a galaxy as his world; planets as kingdoms; lightsabers as swords, Jedi and Sith as knights and wizards. Spaceships coasting the blackness of space are just a cool spin from the seafaring vessels. The blaster replaces the bow & arrow or crossbow. Speeders replace the horses. Luke Skywalker starts out as the typical farm boy seeking adventure. Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi are the wise old wizards. Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader are the dark lords, or dark wizards, that have put their brutal curse on the land (or galaxy). Princess Leia is the beautiful princess that must be saved (and she can kick butt too). The Force, of course, is magic.

I can go on and on here… Star Wars is nothing more than big, fat Epic Fantasy with a sci-fi-like setting. That’s what makes Star Wars so unique. It’s a thing of its own; never done before. It’s complete entertainment. It’s complete action. It’s complete fantasy.

Another comparison to Star Wars, in regards to advanced technology in Fantasy, is He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and ThunderCats. There are laser guns, spaceships, and all kinds of stuff in those cartoons, but they are total Fantasy—filled with swords, magic, princes, kings, wizards, dark lords, and on and on. That’s the beauty of the Fantasy genre, there is so much that can be done in it.

In closing, those of us Star Wars fans who actually read the books and see just how deep and epic the Star Wars universe is, we understand that Star Wars stands on it’s own, as an epic tale with a boatload of fantasy elements. Also, let me just note that there are quite a bit of Fantasy authors who have contributed to the mass of Star Wars books. Terry Brooks adapted The Phantom Menace into a book; as well as R.A. Salvatore and Matthew Stover who adapted episodes II and III (they have also written many other Star Wars books). Greg Keyes, Troy Denning, Christie Golden, Paul S. Kemp, Michael A. Stackpole, and Elaine Cunningham, have also authored Star Wars books, just to name a few.

So, Star Wars is Fantasy… Science Fiction is only its nickname.