89-628: Ents are sentient beings in J. R. R. Tolkien 's fantasy world of Middle-earth who closely resemble trees ; their leader is Treebeard of Fangorn forest. Their name is derived from an Old English word for " giant ". The Ents appear in The Lord of the Rings as ancient shepherds of the forest and allies of the free peoples of Middle-earth during the War of the Ring . The Ent who figures most prominently in
178-493: A bushy, "almost twiggy" beard and deep penetrating eyes. Ents vary widely in personal traits (height, heft, colouring, even the number of toes), having come to resemble somewhat the specific types of trees that they shepherded. Quickbeam , for example, guarded rowan trees and bore some resemblance to rowans: tall and slender, smooth-skinned, with ruddy lips and grey-green hair. Some Ents, such as Treebeard, were like beech -trees or oaks . But there were other kinds. Some recalled
267-461: A city in the clouds with the birds and challenges Zeus 's authority. Ovid 's Metamorphoses and Apuleius 's The Golden Ass are both works that influenced the development of the fantasy genre by taking mythic elements and weaving them into personal accounts. Both works involve complex narratives in which humans beings are transformed into animals or inanimate objects. Platonic teachings and early Christian theology are major influences on
356-690: A feudal society hindering the modernization of China. Stories of the supernatural continued to be denounced once the Communists rose to power, and mainland China experienced a revival in fantasy only after the Cultural Revolution had ended. Fantasy became a genre of pulp magazines published in the West. In 1923, the first all-fantasy fiction magazine, Weird Tales , was published. Many other similar magazines eventually followed, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ; when it
445-616: A force of Green Elves waylay the force of Dwarves returning from the sack of Doriath , the Dwarves are routed and scatter into the wood, where the Shepherds of the Trees ensure that none escape. Ents did not know how to speak until the Elves taught them. Treebeard said that the Elves "cured us of dumbness", calling that a great gift that could not be forgotten. At that time, much of Eriador
534-564: A large audience. Lord Dunsany established the genre's popularity in both the novel and the short story form. H. Rider Haggard , Rudyard Kipling , and Edgar Rice Burroughs began to write fantasy at this time. These authors, along with Abraham Merritt , established what was known as the "lost world" subgenre, which was the most popular form of fantasy in the early decades of the 20th century, although several classic children's fantasies, such as Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , were also published around this time. Juvenile fantasy
623-424: A long sense of time; they considered a three-day deliberation "hasty". Ents are tall and very strong, capable of tearing apart rock and stone when "roused". Tolkien describes them as tossing great slabs of stone about, and ripping down the walls of Isengard "like bread-crust". Treebeard boasted of their strength to Merry and Pippin ; he said that Ents were much more powerful than Trolls , which Morgoth made in
712-471: A main plot element, theme , or setting . Magic, magic practitioners ( sorcerers , witches and so on) and magical creatures are common in many of these worlds. An identifying trait of fantasy is the author's use of narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from realistic fiction in that realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, where fantasy does not. In writing fantasy
801-412: A new style of "fuzzy" supernatural texts. The fantastic is on the dividing line between supernatural and not supernatural, Just as during this time period the women were not respecting the boundary of inequality that had always been set for them. At the time, women's roles in society were very uncertain, just as the rules of the fantastic are never straightforward. This climate allowed for a genre similar to
890-412: A noon of gold Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves the dreams of trees unfold, When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in the West, Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is best! Entwife: When Summer warms the hanging fruit and burns the berry brown; When straw is gold, and ear is white, and harvest comes to town; When honey spills, and apple swells, though wind be in
979-402: A perversion of good correlates to Christian theology regarding the existence of evil in a world made by a benevolent creator. Even Melkor's pride is Eru's will. As Eru himself declares "no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite". Although commentary on The Silmarillion has primarily focused on the work as a whole, the reaction to
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#17327807204721068-613: A single source. The Welsh tradition has been particularly influential, due to its connection to King Arthur and its collection in a single work, the epic Mabinogion . There are many works where the boundary between fantasy and other works is not clear; the question of whether the writers believed in the possibilities of the marvels in A Midsummer Night's Dream or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight makes it difficult to distinguish when fantasy, in its modern sense, first began. Although pre-dated by John Ruskin 's The King of
1157-463: A tree shall feel the bite of their iron without pity." She went to Manwë and appealed to him to protect the trees, and they realized that Ents, too, were part of the Song of Creation . Yavanna then warned Aulë, "Now let thy children beware! For there shall walk a power in the forests whose wrath they will arouse at their peril." The Ents are called "the Shepherds of the Trees". Much later, when Beren and
1246-458: A version of the Ainulindalë . That was followed, between 1983 and 1996, by the twelve volumes of The History of Middle-earth , which revealed and annotated the many drafts of the overlapping stories of the legendarium, including other versions of the Ainulindalë . The Ainulindalë recounts the creation of Arda by the deity Eru Ilúvatar . The story begins with a description of
1335-622: A wide audience, with the success of Robert E. Howard 's Conan the Barbarian and Fritz Leiber 's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. However, it was the advent of high fantasy , and most of all J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , which reached new heights of popularity in the late 1960s, that allowed fantasy to truly enter the mainstream . Several other series, such as C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and Ursula K. Le Guin 's Earthsea books, helped cement
1424-624: Is One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) , which is a compilation of many ancient and medieval folk tales. Various characters from this epic have become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin , Sinbad and Ali Baba . Hindu mythology was an evolution of the earlier Vedic mythology and had many more fantastical stories and characters, particularly in the Indian epics . The Panchatantra ( Fables of Bidpai ), for example, used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate
1513-417: Is a genre of speculative fiction which involves themes of the supernatural , magic , and imaginary worlds and creatures . Its roots are in oral traditions, which became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film , television , graphic novels , manga , animations , and video games . The expression fantastic literature
1602-726: Is also often used to refer to this genre by the Anglophone literary critics. An archaic spelling for the term is phantasy . Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these can occur in fantasy. In popular culture , the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that emulate Earth, but with a sense of otherness. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Many works of fantasy use magic or other supernatural elements as
1691-659: Is powerful enough to prevent him from succeeding. Ilúvatar ends the music, chastises Melkor and leaves the Ainur to their thoughts. The deity takes the Ainur to see how music, at the end of the Void, created Arda. When the third theme results in the arrival of the Children of Ilúvatar, the Elves and the Men , many Ainur want to go into the world to visit them. Although Melkor was the first of
1780-552: Is spelt "Melko", and Ilúvatar weeps before he creates the third theme. At the end is a section about the Valar, which was later moved to the " Valaquenta ". Tolkien abandoned the Ainulindalë for many years. Although it did not appear in the "Sketch of the Mythology", in which he summarised his legendarium in 1926, the subject was briefly mentioned in " Annals of Valinor " and " Quenta Silmarillion ". Tolkien rewrote "The Music of
1869-565: The Ainulindalë between November 1918 and the spring of 1920, while he was working on the Oxford English Dictionary . The first draft of the story, written in pencil, does not vary significantly from the published version; future changes involved the addition of Manwë and Aulë. The narrator in the earlier version is the elf Rúmil of Tirion and the language differs from that of the Silmarillion version. "Melkor"
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#17327807204721958-418: The Ainulindalë has been generally positive. Joseph Pearce , a Roman Catholic commentator, called it "the most important part of The Silmarillion " and said, "The myth of creation is perhaps the most significant and most beautiful of Tolkien's works." The scholar of humanities Brian Rosebury considered the Ainulindalë a success, with "appropriately 'scriptural'" prose. Several Jesuits have praised
2047-632: The Epic of Gilgamesh . The ancient Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Eliš , in which the god Marduk slays the goddess Tiamat , contains the theme of a cosmic battle between good and evil, which is characteristic of the modern fantasy genre. Genres of romantic and fantasy literature existed in ancient Egypt. The Tales of the Court of King Khufu , which is preserved in the Westcar Papyrus and
2136-480: The Ainur as "children of Ilúvatar's thought". They are taught the art of music, which becomes the subject of their immortal lives. The Ainur sing alone or in small groups about themes given to each of them by Ilúvatar, who proposes a "great" plan for them all: a collaborative symphony where they would sing together in harmony. Although the Ainur embody Ilúvatar's thoughts, they are expected to use their freedom to assist
2225-625: The Battle of Helm's Deep by herding a forest of angry, tree-like Huorns there, to destroy Saruman's army of Orcs . Nick Groom suggests some other possible sources, besides Shakespeare. The Gospel of Mark has the speech by a man cured of blindness "I see men as trees, walking."(Mark 8:24) Algernon Blackwood 's 1912 story "The Man Whom the Trees Loved" suggests that "trees had once been moving things, animal organisms of some sort, that had stood so long feeding, sleeping, dreaming, or something, in
2314-519: The Book of Genesis . As Tolkien has Elrond say in " The Council of Elrond " in The Lord of the Rings , "For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so." In the Ainulindalë , Ilúvatar creates everything good; evil intrudes later. Though evil is brought about in the creation song by Melkor's pride, Ilúvatar incorporates it into the conclusion of his divine plan. The theme of evil being
2403-521: The Elder Edda and the Younger Edda , includes such figures as Odin and his fellow Aesir , and dwarves , elves , dragons , and giants . These elements have been directly imported into various fantasy works. The separate folklore of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland has sometimes been used indiscriminately for "Celtic" fantasy, sometimes with great effect; other writers have specified the use of
2492-650: The First Age in mockery of Ents, as Orcs were of Elves . Tolkien wrote almost nothing of the early history of the Ents. After the Dwarves were put to sleep by Eru to await the coming of the Elves, the Vala Aulë told his wife Yavanna , "the lover of all things that grow in the earth," of the Dwarves. She replied, "They will delve in the earth, and the things that grow and live upon the earth they will not heed. Many
2581-430: The chestnut : brown-skinned Ents with large splayfingered hands, and short thick legs. Some recalled the ash : tall straight grey Ents with many-fingered hands and long legs; some the fir (the tallest Ents), and others the birch , ... and the linden . Ents are somewhat treelike, with extraordinarily tough skin; they can erode stone rapidly, but are vulnerable to fire and axe-strokes. They are patient and cautious, with
2670-458: The story is framed by a fictional narrator, the elf Pengoloð. The Ainulindalë , written early in Tolkien's career, demonstrates the importance of music in his legendarium . According to John Gardner, "Music is the central symbol and the total myth of The Silmarillion , a symbol that becomes interchangeable with light (music's projection) ." The scholar Verlyn Flieger , too, stresses
2759-447: The Æsir are alike in influencing the world and being influenced by their actions; Manwë has been compared to Odin in this context. Despite the story's Norse pagan elements , such as the Ainur performing the creative work of Ilúvatar, other aspects of the Ainulindalë reflect Tolkien's Catholicism. His pre-Christian story has been called "Tolkien's Genesis essay"; according to another source, "The Biblical parallels evinced by
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2848-639: The Ainur to be named, Ulmo was the first to take action in Arda. Despite Melkor's efforts, Ulmo's water cannot be ruined by heat or cold; he and Manwë are revealed as the primary agents of Ilúvatar's plans. Some Ainur remain in the Timeless Halls with Ilúvatar, and others go into Arda as the Valar and Maiar . The Ainur begin to prepare for the arrival of the Children of Ilúvatar; Melkor repeatedly thwarts their preparations, desiring to rule Arda. Manwë summons
2937-456: The Ainur to resist Melkor, who retreats. When the Valar later assume bodily form, the first war of Eä begins, but Manwë's efforts make the Earth habitable for Elves and Men. Tolkien initially intended the Ainulindalë ("The Music of the Ainur") to be part of The Book of Lost Tales , which he wrote in the 1910s and 1920s. In a letter, Tolkien stated that he had written the first version of
3026-521: The Ainur" during the 1930s, leaving most of its storyline intact. In 1946, while he was drafting The Lord of the Rings , Tolkien wrote a new version of the Ainulindalë of which only half a torn page survives. His legendarium then changed radically , so that Arda had always existed, the Sun existed when the world was formed, and the Moon was formed as a result of Melkor's destruction. Tolkien's concept of
3115-442: The Ainur") is the creation account in J. R. R. Tolkien 's legendarium , published posthumously as the first part of The Silmarillion in 1977. The Ainulindalë sets out a central part of the cosmology of Tolkien's legendarium , telling how the Ainur , a class of angelic beings , perform a great music prefiguring the creation of the material universe, Eä , including Middle-Earth . The creator Eru Ilúvatar introduces
3204-456: The Ents and the Entwives were to be "unified", they would "balance and complete each other", but they face "moral dangers" without such balance: in the case of the Ents, the danger is of letting their life in nature "lapse into mere lassitude". He gives as examples the "apathetic isolationism" of Skinbark, who refuses to come out of his hills, and Leaflock's "somnolent oblivion", just standing in
3293-455: The Ents march to war against the tree-destroyers represented a wish-fulfilment on Tolkien's part, concerned as he was with the increasing damage to the English countryside in the 20th century. In their book Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien , Matthew T. Dickerson and Jonathan Evans see Treebeard as vocalizing a vital part of Tolkien's environmental ethic ,
3382-763: The Ents numbered about 50, plus an army of Huorns. They destroy Isengard, tearing down the wall around it: "If the Great Sea had risen in wrath and fallen on the hills with storm, it could have worked no greater ruin". Saruman is trapped in the tower of Orthanc . The word "Ent" is from the Old English ent or eoten , meaning "giant". Tolkien borrowed the word from a phrase in the Anglo-Saxon poems The Ruin and Maxims II , orþanc enta geweorc ("cunning work of giants"), which describes Roman ruins. In Sindarin , one of Tolkien's invented Elvish languages ,
3471-558: The Entwives. Treebeard lamented that forests may spread but the Ents would not, and he predicted that the few remaining Ents would remain in Fangorn forest and dwindle or become "treeish". The Ents, angry at Saruman for cutting down their trees, convene an Entmoot. They decide to march on Saruman's fortress at Isengard - 'the last march of the Ents'. Led by Treebeard and accompanied by the hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took ,
3560-600: The Golden River (1841), the history of modern fantasy literature is usually said to begin with George MacDonald , the Scottish author of such novels as Phantastes (1858) and The Princess and the Goblin (1872); the former is widely considered to be the first fantasy novel ever written for adults. MacDonald was a major influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis . The other major fantasy author of this era
3649-492: The Lamps of the Valar was abandoned in favour of a more coherent creation myth, with scientific elements. The idea of a spherical world was abandoned after a reader said that she preferred a flat one. In 1948 Tolkien began a new version, eliminating mentions of the Sun and the Moon, and introducing the concept that Ilúvatar created the world after the visions of the Ainur died away. In this version, which added several new details,
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3738-592: The RPG products sold in 2005. The science fantasy role-playing game series Final Fantasy has been an icon of the role-playing video game genre (as of 2012 it was still among the top ten best-selling video game franchises ). The first collectible card game , Magic: The Gathering , has a fantasy theme and is similarly dominant in the industry. Fantasy encompasses numerous subgenres characterized by particular themes or settings, or by an overlap with other literary genres or forms of speculative fiction. They include
3827-458: The Rings . He described The Lord of the Rings as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work", rich in Christian symbolism . He however spent much of his life working on his Middle-earth legendarium , which remained unpublished in his lifetime. That large body of stories was edited after his death by his son Christopher , initially in 1977 as a single text, The Silmarillion , containing
3916-689: The Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson , and the Harry Potter films, two of the highest-grossing film series in cinematic history. Fantasy role-playing games cross several different media. Dungeons & Dragons was the first tabletop role-playing game and remains the most successful and influential. According to a 1999 survey in the United States , 6% of 12- to 35-year-olds have played role-playing games. Of those who play regularly, two thirds play D&D . Products branded Dungeons & Dragons made up over fifty percent of
4005-602: The Rings: The Rings of Power , set in the Second Age , features Ents. Two of the Ents that appear in the season two episode " Eldest " are Snaggleroot and Winterbloom (voiced by Jim Broadbent and Olivia Williams ). Ents appeared in the earliest edition of the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons in the 1974 white box set , where they were described as tree-like creatures able to command trees, and lawful in nature. In 1975, Elan Merchandising, which owned
4094-786: The Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Treebeard is a combination of a large animatronic model and a CGI construct; he is voiced by John Rhys-Davies , who also portrays Gimli . The Fall of Troy has a song entitled "The Last March of the Ents" on their self-titled debut album released in 2003. Permission was granted for a statue of Treebeard by Tim Tolkien , near his great-uncle J. R. R. Tolkien's former home in Moseley , Birmingham . The TV series The Lord of
4183-476: The Supernatural in the 1890s and 1920s , Lizzie Harris McCormick, Jennifer Mitchell, and Rebecca Soares describe how the social climate in the 1890s and 1920s allowed for a new era of "fantastic" literature to grow. Women were finally exploring the new freedoms given to them and were quickly becoming equals in society. The fear of the new women in society, paired with their growing roles, allowed them to create
4272-543: The West, I'll linger here beneath the Sun, because my land is best! Olsen sees in Tolkien's song of the Ents and the Entwives, supposedly written by Elves, "compelling insights on the complexities and conflicts of life in a fallen world." The song goes through the four seasons of the year, each time with a stanza by the Ent and then one by the Entwife. Olsen comments that the Ent is passive, even "languid and somnolent" in summer,
4361-505: The air of uncertainty in its narratives as described by Todorov. Jackson also introduces the idea of reading the fantastic through a psychoanalytical lens, referring primarily to Freud's theory of the unconscious, which she believes is integral to understanding the fantastic's connection to the human psyche. There are however additional ways to view the fantastic, and often these differing perspectives come from differing social climates. In their introduction to The Female Fantastic: Gender and
4450-438: The author uses worldbuilding to create characters, situations, and settings that may not be possible in reality. Many fantasy authors use real-world folklore and mythology as inspiration; and although another defining characteristic of the fantasy genre is the inclusion of supernatural elements, such as magic, this does not have to be the case. Fantasy has often been compared to science fiction and horror because they are
4539-469: The book is Treebeard , who is called the oldest creature in Middle-earth. At that time, there are no young Ents (Entings) because the Entwives (female Ents) were lost. Akin to Ents are Huorns , whom Treebeard describes as a transitional form of trees which become animated or, conversely, as Ents who grow more "treelike" over time. Tolkien stated that he was disappointed by Shakespeare 's handling of
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#17327807204724628-536: The central Indian principles of political science . Chinese traditions have been particularly influential in the vein of fantasy known as Chinoiserie , including such writers as Ernest Bramah and Barry Hughart . Beowulf is among the best known of the Old English tales in the English speaking world, and has had deep influence on the fantasy genre; several fantasy works have retold the tale, such as John Gardner 's Grendel . Norse mythology , as found in
4717-644: The circular effect that all fantasy works, even the later The Lord of the Rings , were therefore classified as children's literature . Political and social trends can affect a society's reception towards fantasy. In the early 20th century, the New Culture Movement 's enthusiasm for Westernization and science in China compelled them to condemn the fantastical shenmo genre of traditional Chinese literature. The spells and magical creatures of these novels were viewed as superstitious and backward, products of
4806-419: The coming of "Great Birnam Wood to High Dunsinane hill"; he wanted a setting in which the trees would actually go to war. Commentators have seen this as wish-fulfilment, as he disliked the damage being done to the English countryside in his lifetime. Scholars have seen his tale of the Ents as a myth, mostly without analysing it. Corey Olsen interprets the song of the Ents and the Entwives as a myth which warns of
4895-646: The convention. The first WFC was held in 1975 and it has occurred every year since. The convention is held at a different city each year. Additionally, many science fiction conventions, such as Florida's FX Show and MegaCon , cater to fantasy and horror fans. Anime conventions, such as Ohayocon or Anime Expo frequently feature showings of fantasy, science fantasy, and dark fantasy series and films, such as Majutsushi Orphen (fantasy), Sailor Moon (urban fantasy), Berserk (dark fantasy), and Spirited Away (fantasy). Many science fiction/fantasy and anime conventions also strongly feature or cater to one or more of
4984-408: The creation account of the Ainulindalë ... are inescapable." The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns , who studied the different versions of the Ainulindalë , said that Tolkien increasingly Christianised the Valar and reduced the influence of Norse mythology in successive revisions. In the story, Tolkien expresses a global view of Christianity, with good and evil parallelling the stories in
5073-603: The dangers of apathetically isolating oneself in nature, whereas the Ents' song "In the willow-meads of Tasarinan" is a lament. Inspired by Tolkien and similar traditions, animated or anthropomorphic tree creatures appear in a variety of media and works of fantasy. Treebeard , called by Gandalf the oldest living Ent and the oldest living thing that walks in Middle-earth , is described as being around 14 feet (4 m) tall, "Man-like, almost Troll -like", and clad in something that might have been tree-bark, with seven toes,
5162-419: The development of the "great" plan. The most powerful of the Ainur, Melkor , is introduced to the music. Although his "loud, and vain" music disrupts the harmony, Ilúvatar stands, smiles and raises his left hand to begin a new theme. When Melkor again spoils the second theme, Ilúvatar rises sternly and raises his right hand to begin a third. Melkor tries to corrupt this theme with the volume of his music, but it
5251-469: The difference of critical traditions of each country have led to controversies such as the one led by Stanislaw Lem . Rosemary Jackson builds onto and challenges as well Todorov's definition of the fantastic in her 1981 nonfiction book Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion . Jackson rejects the notion of the fantastic genre as a simple vessel for wish fulfillment that transcends human reality in worlds presented as superior to our own, instead positing that
5340-514: The fantastic is a liminal space , characterized by the intrusion of supernatural elements into the realistic framework of a story, accompanied by uncertainty about their existence. However, this precise definition is not the predominant one in English critical literature, and the French term fantastique is used to differentiate the French concept from the broader English term of fantastic, synonym of fantasy. The restrictive definition of Todorov and
5429-429: The fantastic represents the unspoken desire for greater societal change. Jackson criticizes Todorov's theory as being too limited in scope, examining only the literary function of the fantastic, and expands his structuralist theory to fit a more cultural study of the genre—which, incidentally, she proposes is not a genre at all, but a mode that draws upon literary elements of both realistic and supernatural fiction to create
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#17327807204725518-554: The fantasy publisher Tor Books , men outnumber women by 67% to 33% among writers of historical, epic or high fantasy. But among writers of urban fantasy or paranormal romance, 57% are women and 43% are men. Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other language studies, cultural studies , comparative literature , history and medieval studies . Some works make political, historical and literary connections between medievalism and popular culture. French literature theorists as Tzvetan Todorov argues that
5607-583: The fate of the Entwives, stating in Letters #144: "I think that in fact the Entwives have disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance...some may have fled east, or even have become enslaved..." After Aragorn is crowned king, he promised Treebeard that the Ents could prosper again and spread to new lands with the threat of Mordor gone, and renew their search for
5696-454: The first time, women started to possess more masculine or queer qualities without it becoming as much of an issue. The fantastic during this time period reflects these new ideas by breaking parallel boundaries in the supernatural. The fantastic breaks this boundary by having the readers never truly know whether or not the story is supernatural. Ainulindal%C3%AB The Ainulindalë ( Quenya : [ˌai̯nuˈlindalɛ] ; "Music of
5785-536: The following: In her 2008 book Rhetorics of Fantasy , Farah Mendlesohn proposes the following taxonomy of fantasy, as "determined by the means by which the fantastic enters the narrated world", while noting that there are fantasies that fit none of the patterns: Publishers, editors, authors, artists, and scholars with interest in the fantasy genre get together yearly at the World Fantasy Convention . The World Fantasy Awards are presented at
5874-536: The game licence to the Tolkien estate, issued a cease-and-desist order regarding the use of the word "ent", so the Dungeons & Dragons creatures were renamed "treants". Heroes of Might and Magic V includes Treants as a part of the Elven alliance; however, due to copyright infringement issues, their look was changed between the beta phase and the retail version, making them quadrupedal . Fantasy Fantasy
5963-528: The genre is inseparable from real life, particularly the social and cultural contexts within which each work of the fantastic is produced. She writes that the "unreal" elements of fantastic literature are created only in direct contrast to the boundaries set by its time period's "cultural order", acting to illuminate the unseen limitations of said boundaries by undoing and recompiling the very structures which define society into something "strange" and "apparently new". In subverting these societal norms, Jackson claims,
6052-633: The genre's popularity. The popularity of the fantasy genre has continued to increase in the 21st century, as evidenced by the best-selling status of J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter series, Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time series, George R. R. Martin 's Song of Ice and Fire series, Steven Erikson 's Malazan Book of the Fallen sweeping epic, Brandon Sanderson 's The Stormlight Archive series and Mistborn series, and A. Sapkowski 's The Witcher saga. Several fantasy film adaptations have achieved blockbuster status, most notably The Lord of
6141-433: The long grass all summer doing nothing. Olsen calls it "a cautionary tale" and "tragic", quite unlike Treebeard's "In the willow-meads of Tasarinan", again covering the four seasons, but which is a lament. Anne Petty comments that the song follows traditional gender stereotypes, the Ents liking wild nature, the Entwives preferring the more domestic realm of tamed nature and gardening. In Peter Jackson 's films The Lord of
6230-415: The major categories of speculative fiction . Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements. A science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seemingly possible through logical scientific or technological extrapolation, where fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. Authors have to rely on the readers' suspension of disbelief , an acceptance of
6319-463: The male Ents still visited them. The Entwives interacted with Men and taught them the art of agriculture. The gardens of the Entwives were destroyed by Sauron , and the Entwives disappeared. It was sung by the Elves that one day the Ents and Entwives would find each other. Treebeard indeed implored the Hobbits to send word to him if they had news of the Entwives. Tolkien spent much time considering
6408-510: The modern fantasy genre. Plato used allegories to convey many of his teachings, and early Christian writers interpreted both the Old and New Testaments as employing parables to relay spiritual truths. This ability to find meaning in a story that is not literally true became the foundation that allowed the modern fantasy genre to develop. The most well known fiction from the Islamic world
6497-412: The need to preserve and look after every kind of wild place, especially forests. Corey Olsen however criticises Dickerson and Evans's use of the Ents as "mere symbols". C. S. Lewis described Tolkien's tale of the Ents as a myth, "a story which has a value in itself". Ruth Noel likened the Ents to Germanic legends of "huge, wild, hairy woodsprites ". Ent: When Summer lies upon the world, and in
6586-410: The only active process being dreaming; whereas the Entwife's summer season is "simply bursting with activity". These are perhaps, Olsen reflects, not in competition; both contemplation and action are "valuable ways of celebrating natural beauty". He suggests that Treebeard's view of the song is however biased, and that the Ent is not as humble as he claims to be, especially with respect to the Entwives. If
6675-574: The pervasive themes of music and light from the creation onwards. "The Music of the Ainur", as it appears in The Book of Lost Tales , is based on Norse mythology . Like Hesiod 's Theogony or the Gylfaginning in the Prose Edda , it answers questions of cosmogony , and its style has been compared to that of old Norse texts. Although the wording differs substantially, the Valar and
6764-451: The power and audacity of imaginative genius Tolkien and his brilliant style" and the Ainulindalë has "organ tones". Although Ralph C. Wood called it "one of the finest and most original of [Tolkien's] writings", the stylistic differences between this story and the rest of The Silmarillion have been the subject of debate. The American opera singer Adam C. J. Klein composed an opera , Leithian , based on The Silmarillion , while
6853-448: The same place, that they had lost the power to get away", which Groom remarks sounds just like Treebeard's account of Ents going "sleepy and 'tree-ish'". He notes, too, Arthur Rackham 's drawings with "bristly, twisted, anthropomorphic trees that appear as the guises of Elves and other supernatural beings", while Disney 's 1932 Silly Symphony episode Flowers and Trees features trees that walk. Commentators have observed that having
6942-458: The several subcultures within the main subcultures, including the cosplay subculture (in which people make or wear costumes based on existing or self-created characters, sometimes also acting out skits or plays as well), the fan fiction subculture, and the fan video or AMV subculture, as well as the large internet subculture devoted to reading and writing prose fiction or doujinshi in or related to those genres. According to 2013 statistics by
7031-465: The social structure to emerge. The fantastic is never purely supernatural, nor can the supernatural be ruled out. Just as women were not equal yet, but they were not completely oppressed. The Female Fantastic seeks to enforce this idea that nothing is certain in the fantastic nor the gender roles of the 1920s. Many women in this time period began to blur the lines between the genders, removing the binary out of gender and allowing for many interpretations. For
7120-450: The story; James V. Schall said, "I have never read anything as beautiful as the first page of The Silmarillion " and Robert Murray said, "In all literature, from the formation of the sacred books of humanity, it is very difficult to find a comparable mythological story of creation by its beauty and imaginative power." According to Fantasy Literature: A Core Collection and Reference Guide , "Every part of [ The Silmarillion ] benefits from
7209-503: The theme of the sentient races of Elves and Men , not anticipated by the Ainur, and gives physical being to the prefigured universe. Some of the Ainur decide to enter the physical world to prepare for their arrival, becoming the Valar and Maiar . Tolkien wrote the initial version of the Ainulindalë between November 1919 and the spring of 1920 as "Music of the Ainur", and then completely rewrote it in 1930. He continued to make further revisions throughout his life. The early version
7298-494: The unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment, in order to write effective fantasies. Despite both genres' heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable from one another. Horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists' weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists. While some elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were a part of literature from its beginning, fantasy elements occur throughout ancient religious texts such as
7387-502: The word for Ent is Onod (plural Enyd ). The Sindarin word Onodrim means the Ents as a race. Tolkien noted in a letter that he had created Ents in response to his "bitter disappointment and disgust from schooldays with the shabby use made in Shakespeare 's Macbeth of the coming of 'Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill': I longed to devise a setting in which the trees might really march to war". The Ents ensured victory at
7476-603: Was William Morris , an English poet who wrote several novels in the latter part of the century, including The Wood Beyond the World (1894) and The Well at the World's End (1896). Despite MacDonald's future influence with At the Back of the North Wind (1871), Morris's popularity with his contemporaries, and H. G. Wells 's The Wonderful Visit (1895), it was not until the 20th century that fantasy fiction began to reach
7565-483: Was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, with the effect that writers who wished to write fantasy had to fit their work into forms aimed at children. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote fantasy in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys , intended for children, although his works for adults only verged on fantasy. For many years, this and successes such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) created
7654-469: Was eventually published by his son Christopher in The Book of Lost Tales 1 . J. R. R. Tolkien was an English author and philologist of ancient Germanic languages , specialising in Old English, and a devout Roman Catholic ; he spent much of his career as a professor at the University of Oxford . He is best known for his novels about his invented Middle-earth , The Hobbit and The Lord of
7743-598: Was forested; Elrond stated that "a squirrel could go from tree to tree from what is now the Shire to Dunland west of Isengard." The Entwives began to move farther away from the Ents because they liked to plant and control things, while the Ents preferred forests and liked to let things take their natural course. The Entwives moved away to what became the Brown Lands across the Great River Anduin , although
7832-401: Was founded in 1949, the pulp magazine format was at the height of its popularity, and the magazine was instrumental in bringing fantasy fiction to a wide audience in both the U.S. and Britain. Such magazines were also instrumental in the rise of science fiction, and it was at this time the two genres began to be associated with each other. By 1950, " sword and sorcery " fiction had begun to find
7921-548: Was probably written in the middle of the second half of the eighteenth century BC, preserves a mixture of stories with elements of historical fiction, fantasy, and satire. Egyptian funerary texts preserve mythological tales, the most significant of which are the myths of Osiris and his son Horus . Myth with fantastic elements intended for adults were a major genre of ancient Greek literature . The comedies of Aristophanes are filled with fantastic elements, particularly his play The Birds , in which an Athenian man builds
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