First off, hi there, it's Agrippa and I know I haven't posted here for some time. Got distracted by a few other sites and new interests, but I'm back. I'm post this thread in the Legends of the Heroes forum largely because I don't know where else to put it. With all that out of the way, here's my thread.
It's safe to assume that everyone here is familiar with fantasy and its subgenres. High fantasy, low fantasy, dark fantasy, historical fantasy, contemporary fantasy, urban fantasy and ect. These are all major and minor divisions of the fantasy genre, and in some cases can even be combined. But first, let's nail down what fantasy is, for our purposes at least. Fantasy is the genre of the uncanny, the supernatural and the superhuman. Tales and scenarios of happenings not only outside the norm for our daily lives, but entirely outside the realm of at least known possibility of our world.
As for the high/low division of fantasy I'll be using the more traditional literary definition, with high fantasy taking place in a secondary world, aka completely fictional world, and low fantasy taking place in the primary world, or a fictional version of the real world. Another way to say it, is that whether or not a work is high or low fantasy is about the degree of separation from reality, with high fantasy, secondary or fictional world fantasy, having a
higher degree of separation from reality as low fantasy, fantasy that takes place on a fictional version of our world. This is because I find the more recent/TvTropes definitions of
high fantasy and
low fantasy both too narrow (secondary world only), and internally inconsistent, each defined by elements that have little or nothing to do with each other. So here we go.
Fantasy SubgenresLow Fantasy: Fantasy stories and scenarios that take place in a fictional version of our world.
- Historical Fantasy: Fantasy stories and scenarios that that take place in real world historical periods.
- Contemporary Fantasy: Fantasy that takes place in the real world and during the time period of its writing/publishing. What TVTropes means by Urban Fantasy.
High Fantasy: Fantasy stories and scenarios that take place in a completely fictional world.
Dark Fantasy: Not so much a subgenre of fantasy as it is a hybrid genre. Namely of fantasy and horror.
Cosmic Horror: Our universe is ruled by or at least shared with godlike beings beyond our useful comprehension. These entities are innately hazardous to us and oftentimes have no love nor concern for us.
Science Fantasy: This is also a hybrid genre, just of fantasy and science fiction. I'd say the difference between fantasy and science fiction is that the extraordinary elements of fantasy are outright impossible in real life, while the extraordinary elements of science fiction are theoretically possible but are practically impossible due to lack of technology and infrastructure needed for them. That doesn't preclude combining the two genres though. This is where the impossible meets the merely highly improbable. Where the wizard and scientist* shake hands, work together and hopefully don't blow up the room they're in.
Space Fantasy: Simply put this is fantasy that takes place in space, and oftentimes features travel between planets. Usually this is high fantasy but can in theory be low fantasy.
Urban Fantasy: Fantasy that revolves around city life. It's usually contemporary or at least low fantay.
Industrial Fantasy: Fantasy that takes place during or in the aftermath of an industrial revolution.
Portal Fantasy: Fantasy that transports a character/group to a completely fictional world (high fantasy), to a different part of a completely fictional world (still high fantasy) or to a different place and or time on our world (low fantasy, historical fantasy to be exact if it's to the past).
Superhero Fiction: Yes, superheroes are fantasy. You can fight me about this, I doubt anyone will though. Usually, they're low fantasy. Oftentimes science fantasy too.
Wainscot Fantasy: Fantasy that involves a hidden or secretive society of magical beings.
Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy: Fantasy that takes place after devastating and oftentimes world or region altering calamities.
Epic Fantasy: Fantasy works with truly momentous stakes, broad wide-sweeping ramifications in world and perilous quests against great and terrible evils. Mostly considered strictly part of high fantasy, but I see no reason that bars low fantasy from also being epic fantasy.
*Yes, I know that scientists are the ones who conduct experiments to test hypotheses and establish theories while engineers are the ones who actually apply scientific research to practical ends. Blame this on decades if not centuries of cultural inertia.
I'd like to note that this is not an exhaustive list of fantasy subgenres and hybrid genres, so feel free to offer additional subgenres if you want to.
