A Fantasy World

Some thing about 

FantasyWorld


  A fantasy world is a fictional universe created in fiction media, such as literature, film or games. Typical fantasy worlds involve magic or magical abilities, nonexistent technology and sometimes, either a historical orfuturistic theme. Some worlds may be a parallel world tenuously connected to Earth via magical portals or items; a fictional Earth set in the remote past or future; or an entirely independent world set in another universe.
The setting of a fantasy work is often of great importance to the plot and characters of the story. The setting itself can be imperiled by the evil of the story, suffer a calamity, and be restored by the transformation the story brings about.Stories that use the setting as merely a backdrop for the story have been criticized for their failure to use it fully.Even when the land itself is not in danger, it is often used symbolically, for thematic purposes, and to underscore moods.
Early fantasy worlds appeared as fantasy lands, part of the same planet but separated by geographical barriers. For example, Oz, though a fantasy world in every way, is described as part of this world.Although medieval peasants who seldom if ever traveled far from their villages could not conclusively say that it was impossible that, for example, an ogre could live a day's travel away, distant continents were necessary from theRenainec onwards for such fantastic speculation to be plausible, until finally, further exploration renderessad all such terrestrial fantasy lands implausible.

 Even within the span of mere decades, Oz, which had been situated in a desert in the United States when first written about in 1900, was relocated to a spot in the Pacific Ocean.An early example of the fantasy land/world concept can be seen in the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), where places of which little was known, but where the occurrence of marvels was thus more credible, had to be set "long ago" or "far away". This is a process that continues, and finally culminates in the fantasy world having little connection, if any, to actual times and places. A more recent example of a fantasy land with definite connections to the actual world is Austin Tappan Wright's Islandia. Islandia's remoteness and aura of mystery, as well as its preservation of an arcadian society, are explained by means of a law which allows only limited contact with foreigners.

Dream frames were also once common for encasing the fantasy world with an explanation of its marvels. Such a dream frame was added to the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for the movie version; in the book, Oz is clearly defined as an actual place.H.P. Lovecraft made active use of the dream frame, creating elaborate geographies accessible to humans only when they were asleep and dreaming. These dream-settings have been criticized,and are far less frequent today.

This change is part of a general trend toward more self-consistent and substantive fantasy worlds. This has also altered the nature of the plots; earlier works often feature a solitary individual whose adventures in the fantasy world are of personal significiance, and where the world clearly exists to give scope to these adventures, and later works more often feature characters in a social web, where their actions are to save the world and those in it from peril.

Constructed worlds

Further information: Constructed world

The Creation of the Two Trees figured in Tolkien's fantasy world, Arda

Fantasy worlds created through a process called world building are known as aconstructed world. Constructed worlds elaborate and make self-consistent the setting of a fantasy work. World building often 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 as are found in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

Examples[edit]

• L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its original sequels. He was one of the few authors before Tolkien to use consistent internal geographies and histories to enrich his world.
• C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, which takes place primarily in a magical land called Narnia. A colleague of Tolkien, their fiction worlds share several key elements.
• Terry Pratchett created Discworld, a large disc resting on the backs of four huge elephants, which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, as it slowly swims through space.
• J. R. R. Tolkien created Middle-earth, a famous fantasy world, especially in the 20th century. He introduced several revolutionary concepts to fantasy fiction and popularized the idea of intricately detailed fantasy worlds. He wrote at some length about the process, which he called "sub-creation". Middle-earth is intended to be Earth's Old World in a fictional ancient era.
• George R. R. Martin created a fictional world for A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin said in 2003 that complete world maps were deliberately not made available so that readers may better identify with people of the real Middle Ages who were unilluminated about distant places. Most of the story is set in the western continent of Westeros, though some is set in the Eastern continent Essos. The Southern continent of Sothoryos is also shown on maps, with a possible fourth continent, Ulthos, to its East. A map of the world is shown in the title sequence of the HBO TV adaptation, Game of Thrones.

Fairytale and comic fantasy

                     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 fantasymay ignore all possible logic in search of humor, particularly if it is parodying other fantasies' faulty world-building, as inDiana 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.