High
and Low Fantasy: the Difference Lies in World Building
Low fantasy literature is normally seen as informal and a
cop-out, compared to high fantasy. This is because of a number of differences,
but mainly how world-building is addressed. Both types of fantasy tell
interesting, thought provoking, and imaginative stories, but their
world-building is different. High fantasy allows the author to create an
incredibly new environment, and incredible characters within that world. Low
fantasy cannot do the same.
When we read, we are looking for something to distract us
from our lives; we want something that tells us there is more to life and to us.
When I read, I search for the most badass characters. I want to see the ones
who have it all: the strength, the looks, and the abilities. And then I
foolishly tell myself “that could be me, if I just tried hard enough.”
Unfortunately, for low fantasy, characters like these aren’t put in the
spotlight. They are found as supporting characters, like the ever-gorgeous and
badass Hunter from Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, “whose smile would have
stopped a revolution,” but not as the main character. This is normally found in
high fantasy, where not only can the world be completely redesigned to exceed
high expectations, but so can the characters. Just look at the epicness that is
the world of Pandora
in James Cameron’s Avatar! The environment and setting
is fantastic!
In Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword, Harry was able to be
more than just Harry. She was a barer of kelar, speaker of the Old tongue,
winner of the laprun-trials, the second Damalur-sol in Damar’s history, and, of
course, queen to the great Corlath. She wasn’t normal by any standards: she
didn’t act like a normal lady should (liking horseback riding and reading more
than socially acceptable) and she was “taller than most of the men.” She stood
out from everyone in her normal life and continued to stand out after being taken
by Corlath, with Lady Aerin and Gonturan as her special perks.
High fantasy allows the world, and the characters contained
within, to be truly fantastic.
In contrast, low fantasy requires a basal level of
familiarity, in both the fantastical world and the main character. This is
because the setting normally starts in our world, before the setting changes
and our main character is either invited to, dumped into, or stumbles into the
fantasy world that exists in tandem with the normal, boring world. Since the
setting starts off as familiar, the character has to be too. We, the readers,
are not going to just buy into any fantasy that is created. This explains why
Richard Mayhew in Neverwhere is
painfully ignorant throughout the whole book. He starts off normal, struggles
his way through London Below, and is still normal in the end. The only part of
him that changes is his perspective and which of the two worlds he wants to
stay in.
High and low fantasy show two ways to write and narrate a
story with magic and other fantastical elements. In high fantasy, the world and
the main character in that world have no limits, except what the author’s
imagination can offer. Because of this, readers must follow Tolkein’s three
aspects (Recovery,
Escape, and Consolation) when reading high fantasy stories. They must also
abandon all predispositions and reasoning they have learned from the world we
have all grown up in. If readers fail to do this, the fantasy world created
will not be sufficiently engaging, the readers will not be able to pass the
recovery stage, and they won’t be able to escape into that world.
The world building of low fantasy, however, is more
constricted than that of high fantasy, since the reader needs to be able to
connect to the main character, given that they share the same world originally
and the reader follows them on their “Hero’s Journey” into the parallel fantasy
world. This relatability is the key to capturing and holding the reader’s
attention and belief in the story, so the writer must be better at creating the
world and actually telling the story. High and Low fantasy are both rich in
world building and storytelling techniques, and, contrary to popular belief,
implementing those skills into low fantasy is more difficult and important than
in high fantasy
You might be overstating your case a bit early on when you label low fantasy as having a rep for being "a cop-out." According to whom? Perhaps some populations of readers, yes, but I don't know that this statement captures the broad voice of the sf/f readership, and certainly publishing trends now seem to indicate that low fantasy is more in demand than high.
ReplyDeleteI do like how you point out that world-building effectively in a low fantasy setting may be more challenging than in a high setting, as the author doesn't have the luxury of wiping the setting-slate entirely clean. That "basal level of familiarity" provides a framework for the story they have to carefully manipulate, or work around, and show clear indications to their reader as the story progresses about just HOW things have changed. Adding those markers in unobtrusive ways is a true challenge!