Why I love Sword and Sorcery

Hint: Because I like some Adventure in my Fantasy

I am a simple man. Being simple, I long for an escape.

That’s where Sword and Sorcery comes in. Also known as Heroic Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery is designed to take the reader and pull them into another world, thrust them into an adventure unlike any they had ever seen, and toss them back into reality before they can say “barbarian”.

I grew up with fantasy fiction. My favorite book, to this day, is probably The Hobbit. I think I have played every Legend of Zelda game out there and I can’t resist a good King Arthur story. If it involves quests, dragons, elves, dwarves and castles, I probably love it.

I love a good quest to save the world. I love getting lost in the details of the environment, and being amazed at the magic, nobility, and the various races that populate the story. I love the hero’s journey, the notion that you are called into a destiny that transforms you. It’s epic, poetic, powerful, and it’s a lot of fun.

But when I realized there was a difference between Epic Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery, something inside of me shifted. It dawned on me that fantasy does not have to be written in 2000 page books. It does not have to involve chosen ones who save the world. It does not have to utilize magic systems and the writers don’t have to develop entire languages.

It can instead be more like Indiana Jones. More like Batman the Animated Series. Fantasy could in fact hold much in common with a western or even the mummy. It could be just like everything else I love and enjoy!

Sword and Sorcery was not concerned with epic quests, nor with saving the world. It is not concerned with prophecies or the heroes journey. Instead, Sword and Sorcery is concerned with one thing; high adventure.

Lets use this as an example.

The Hobbit features Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit! He enjoys his cozy lifestyle until Gandalf comes and voluntells Bilbo to host a band of Dwarves. This incident pulls Bilbo into a journey that sees him travel the world, confront a dragon, rescue the dwarf kingdom and discover a magic ring. Years later, Bilbo’s nephew, Frodo, inherits the ring only to learn that the Ring is evil incarnate, and he must journey across the world to cast the ring into the fires of Mt. Doom, where it was forged by the Dark Lord Sauron. Frodo must show courage as he faces betrayal, treachery, war, and temptation in order to save the world from darkness.

Contrast that against a Sword and Sorcery plot.

Conan the Cimmerian has found himself in prison. A city official comes to him and offers to set him free if he kills the high priest. Conan readily agrees, and at his earliest convenience he makes his escape. After seeking revenge on the woman who had him imprisoned, Conan finds the home of the high priest, where all is not as it seems.

Or how about this?

A tower rests in the distance, and a wolf is howling. Fafhrd the barbarian and the Gray Mouser are a pair of swordsmen and thieves. They have traveled far from their home city of Lankhmar and now sit by their fire and see the tower in the distance. They fall asleep, but the following morning, Fafhrd is missing. The Gray Mouser goes to the one place Fafhrd could have gone, the tower. As he approaches, he realizes that he does not hear a wolf howling, he hears the tower howling! Now he must ascend the tower and face the living and the dead in order to rescue his friend from peril.

Do you see the difference between the Lord of the Rings and Conan? The difference between the grand plot of the Hobbit and the straight forward storytelling of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser? This is the difference that hooked me.

Sword and Sorcery is local. It’s stakes are personal, not global. It’s heroes are more interested in fortune and glory, freedom, and getting out of the dungeon in one piece. It moves quick, it is offered in shorter formats, and it is focused on episodic adventures rather than grand quests.

In this respect, it feels a lot like Batman the Animated series. Short episodes, featuring one adventure at a time. The focus on personal stakes, for fortune, glory, and survival is very much like Indiana Jones. The focus on action and adventure over details and the hero’s journey just… did it for me.

I remember laying there at two in the morning, listening to “The Tower of the Elephant” by Robert E Howard and being completely transported. I had no idea that Sword and Sorcery was not just another word for fantasy. It’s pulp fiction. It’s a western in an ancient world. Instead of train robberies, they rob shimmering palaces. Instead of showdowns in the middle of town, they have swashbuckling duels on pirate ships. Instead of mad scientists, they have evil sorcerers.

Sword and Sorcery is exciting. It keeps you moving and doesn’t let you go. None of this is to say that there is no depth, quite the opposite in fact. The characters can be rich and complex. The worlds can be as detailed as Hyrule or Middle Earth. In fact, I would argue that Robert E Howard can do in a few sentences what it took Tolkien five pages to do.

This is why I love it so much. It resonated with me. It felt like the stars aligned and I realized that fantasy and adventure fiction can share the same space. I can step into another world for the weekend and face down Monday with a grim glimmer in my eyes. After all, I had just plunged to the depths of an ancient pyramid and defeated a vampire queen and looted her forgotten treasures.

Through Sword and Sorcery, I was able to sail high seas, rescue unwilling victims of human sacrifice, battle demi-gods, and slaughter a barbarian horde. I was able to rule over a kingdom, lose it, and climb back out of the pit to reclaim it. I could infiltrate the thieves guilds headquarters and live to tell about it. I was able to witness horrors untold… and bring swift death upon them with my sword.

And I was able to do it in an afternoon or over the weekend.

That’s why I love Sword and Sorcery. It’s vivid and fun. Fast and fearsome. There is always a tavern somewhere where thieves, mercenaries, and monster hunters raise their mugs and drink to adventure!

In the posts that follow, I will be going into more detail about Sword and Sorcery and shedding more light on what it is and why it is so great. Stay tuned!