Difference between Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery?

[ro9ue]

Seriously wtf is the difference. Someone educate me.

[Gamdwelf]

What even?

[Independent voter]

Fantasy could be Harry Potter or Alice in Wonderland. Sword and sorcery is definitely medieval, there has to be magic and sword fighting.

[Cradyz]

It seems to be about the scale of the story and the characters involved. I plucked this of the interwebs.

epic fantasy tends to involve stories on a grand scale, where armies are involved in battles across sweeping landscapes, where stakes are global and detailed continent or country maps are de rigueur. There may or may not be a dark lord, but there are certainly multiple characters, maybe even hundreds of characters.

By contrast, sword and sorcery tales tend to confine themselves to one or two characters, concern themselves with low stakes and high action, and confine themselves to the moment. The heroes of sword and sorcery often aren't. The quintessential S&S protagonist is often someone who is morally ambiguous and self-serving.

For instance J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is sword and sorcery and The Lord of the Rings is epic fantasy. However there are no clear definitions as they are more like archetypes and authors combine aspects of both.

[Kujako]

Sword & Sorcery is a subgenera of Fantasy. So while all S&S books/movies/etc are fantasy, not all fantasy is S&S.

[Rukh]

Sword & Sorcery is a subgenera of Fantasy. So while all S&S books/movies/etc are fantasy, not all fantasy is S&S.

And I think we're done here. Unicorn sleigh, away!

[Lady Dragonheart]

I think that you may need to elaborate what you mean...

[Endus]

Sword & Sorcery is a subgenera of Fantasy. So while all S&S books/movies/etc are fantasy, not all fantasy is S&S.

Specifically, sword & sorcery is the classic "pulpy" style of Fantasy. Think Conan the Barbarian.

[Deleted]

I didn't even know there was a difference. Thank you mmo-c for educating me on this.

[Endus]

I think the current version of this is Game of Thrones... a low magic world.

Not really. Sword & Sorcery isn't necessarily low-magic. GoT easily fits into high fantasy with political overtones. High fantasy can easily be low-magic; see LotR. Gandalf really doesn't do all that much.

[Rukh]

Not really. Sword & Sorcery isn't necessarily low-magic. GoT easily fits into high fantasy with political overtones. High fantasy can easily be low-magic; see LotR. Gandalf really doesn't do all that much.

I think LotR doesn't really count as the whole origin of the world is pretty much pure magic. There's tons of other races, the main baddie is basically pure magic, the magic ring, ring wraiths, tons of magic weapons etc etc etc. Gandalf might not be the most extravagant wizard, but the LotR world is steeped pretty thoroughly in magic and magical things.

[Deleted]

I think the current version of this is Game of Thrones... a low magic world.

First of all, don't compare Game of Thrones to Conan, I will fly to San Diego and cut you for that.

Second, Endus was 100% correct because Sword & Sorcery isn't defined just by a low magic world, it's designed by the pulp factor of the story type like a Noir detective film is different from a detective film.

The easiest way to explain is that that Swords and Sorcery are often from a more singular perspective to one character, and methodical in the plot.

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I think LotR doesn't really count as the whole origin of the world is pretty much pure magic. There's tons of other races, the main baddie is basically pure magic, the magic ring, ring wraiths, tons of magic weapons etc etc etc. Gandalf might not be the most extravagant wizard, but the LotR world is steeped pretty thoroughly in magic and magical things.

Well now you're not even understand what the word magic is.

[Endus]

I think LotR doesn't really count as the whole origin of the world is pretty much pure magic. There's tons of other races, the main baddie is basically pure magic, the magic ring, ring wraiths, tons of magic weapons etc etc etc. Gandalf might not be the most extravagant wizard, but the LotR world is steeped pretty thoroughly in magic and magical things.

There's no firm marker, but compare LotR to, say, Harry Potter. Harry Potter is high-magic, low fantasy ("low fantasy" meaning it's set in the real world, as compared to "high fantasy", which is set in a fictional one). Everyone's throwing magic around, and magic items are bought in shops. Of the Fellowship of the Ring, the only one with anything magical are Gandalf and Frodo, and all Frodo has are Sting and the Ring.

Other races don't make it "high magic", either. It's not based on whether or not there's magic around, it's based on how prevalent and available it is.

[ro9ue]

I created this thread to learn more and somehow I just got more confused and syphilis.