Why is fantasy traditionally set in medieval times?

Xelebes

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It seems to me the medieval setting provides a major theme of fantasy that other settings lack. A king or lord could pass laws but they only extended a short distance, and beyond this there was no laws at all, not even the laws of physics. In very few other settings is the hedge so close.

I think some fantasy stories in other periods have difficulty getting the reader away from the law and have to resort to portals and other geegaws to accomplish what could be done by an afternoon walk in a medieval setting.

The problem with that is that is not true with rural America where you can have magicians, castaway circus animals, scarecrows, pumpkinheads, the populist belting sheriff who can enforce laws ad hoc, wendigos, Bigfoot, swamp devils, moose-men, wise gophers, watching sunflowers, laughing cornfields, thunderbirds, and so on and so forth.

But I guess everyone wants to be king and princess. So, like whatever.
 

Roxxsmom

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Would be cool to read more about fantasy in ancient Greece, Africa
WWII, etc.

I'm fairly new to fantasy, so I'm definitely open to suggestions there.

Judging from the number of agents I've run across who have fantasy that's not set in a society that resembles medieval Europe on their wish list right now, I suspect you're not alone there.

I think the reason for its commonality is twofold--early fantasy (in the west, anyway) is descended from a style of romantic epic that became popular in medieval Europe, and it often attempted to recapture the feel of that kind of mythology.

The success of some of the earlier novels written in that sort of style (Lord of the Rings is probably the best known today, though there were much earlier ones) encouraged imitation.

And once that trope became established, people developed a fondness for it. And given that the US and UK fantasy markets are huge, and many of the readers were of European descent, then reading about romaticized and fantastical versions of their own history probably felt cool.

For me, pre-modern era UK settings press my coolness buttons, because I've actually been to the UK and have been to some of the old castles, stately homes, open air museums, ruins and reconstructed villages and so on. It has brought those medieval to Early modern era settings to life in my mind. They're easier to imagine.

And I like ale. Stories with ale. It's important to note that a lot of "medieval" fantasy isn't really all that medieval, though. Tolkien's world really wasn't.

Though there are certainly heroic epics that predate the middle ages (The Iliad, for instance) and from other cultures too (The Romance of the Three Kingdoms). And I too enjoy fantasy in other settings, both inspired by real-world locations, cultures and eras, and completely made up.

Some novels I've read recently (or am planning to read) that aren't set in something that looks and feels like medieval Europe include:

Brian Staveley's The Emperor's Blades
Django Wexler's Shadow Campaign novles
Brian McClellan's Gunpowder Mage novels
Kameron Hurley's Mirror Empire and sequels
Karina Sumner Smith's Radiant
NK Jemisin's books
Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett's Havemercy and sequels
Saldan Ahmed's books
Kate Elliott's Spiritwalker books
Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs
Mary Robinette Kowal's books
Anne Lyle's Night's Masque Trilogy
Francis Knight's Rojan Dizon trilogy
Jay Lake's Green and sequels
Amanda Downum's Necromancer books
Glenda Larke's Stormlords books
Some of Guy Gavriel Kay's books
 
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CrastersBabies

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Games like D&D take place mostly in medieval-esque worlds and realms. And the fantasy novels for RPGs alone are plentiful.

Medieval literature is also an inspiration, especially Arthurian tales. Beowulf has a similar flavor. Folktales of this area, other mythology, etc.

For me, I've spent so much time researching medieval type information that starting in a random time period or era just to be "different" would set me back considerably. And there is a big audience for faux medieval fantasy.
 
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BradCarsten

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Let me chime in as a narrow minded consumer. As others have pointed out, I too grew up with adventure stories set in medieval Europe, from the prince Valiant cartoons in the Sunday newspaper, and on TV, to Grimms fairy tale classics and the Wheel of time, not to mention the toys and action figures I played with as a kid, and movies like lady hawk and Robin hood. The romantic idea of medieval Europe is firmly planted in my mind. Even though I have discovered how terrible those times actually were, the very idea of it still bubbles up some of that wonder and excitement from my childhood, and so naturally I seek those stories out.

Unfortunately, while I can travel to other destinations, and enjoy learning about the different cultures as an intellectual exercise, they just don't hold that same childlike wonder, and so, when it comes to fantasy, given the choice, I will choose romantic Europe every time.
In fact this draw in so strong in me that Robert Jordan's wheel of time includes many cultures and settings, from desert dwellers, to Arabic sea merchants to a Chinese type culture, and I just have no interest in those sections. Sad but true.
 

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It's interesting that fantasy so often features settings that feel like a cliched version of a given culture with the serial numbers filed off, rather than creating unique cultures that have completely novel clothing, food, architecture, religion and whatnot.

I think some of it is that it's hard to make something completely new up without subconsciously incorporating things we're familiar with into our description. It's also, possibly, a bit uncomfortable if a writer makes a fantasy culture too novel, since as readers we often like to imagine ourselves in the settings.

So if the characters are wearing clothes that sound at least a little like something we've seen (and might not mind wearing ourselves), eating food that seems somewhat familiar (and actually sounds like it tastes good), and are living in buildings with a layout that's like something we've seen at least pictures of and can imagine ourselves chilling in, plus they're praying to gods and having ceremonies that make sense to us at some level, we can just relate more.

Plus, there's the whole worry about cultural appropriation if you're portraying a culture that's not part of your own ethnic history and has been under or misrepresented.

I've envisioned a tropical setting for a novel (trying to decide if it should be more like Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, or some mix of the three in terms of topography and flora and fauna). I don't have a set racial group or culture in mind, aside from skin color, architecture, clothing, ceremonies, food and other things making sense in terms of the climate.

So I'm sort of trying to figure out how to thread the needle, in terms of TV tropes, for how PoC are often portrayed in fantasy: Ambiguously Brown, and Fantasy Counterpart Culture. I do worry a bit that no matter how I handle it, I'll either commit cultural appropriation, or I'll make my culture feel too much like Europeans with brown skin in the tropics, or a nonsensical (and possibly offensive) blend of real cultures, or just bland and generic.
 

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I think Medieval Europe is an easier option . Most Europeans have a vague idea what it would look like , believe that there are no complex ideas that need explaining and everybody lived a simple life.The mythology is in place. To set a fantasy in China or India would interesting, but it would be challenging to write.
 

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Let me chime in as a narrow minded consumer. As others have pointed out, I too grew up with adventure stories set in medieval Europe, from the prince Valiant cartoons in the Sunday newspaper, and on TV, to Grimms fairy tale classics and the Wheel of time, not to mention the toys and action figures I played with as a kid, and movies like lady hawk and Robin hood. The romantic idea of medieval Europe is firmly planted in my mind. Even though I have discovered how terrible those times actually were, the very idea of it still bubbles up some of that wonder and excitement from my childhood, and so naturally I seek those stories out.

Unfortunately, while I can travel to other destinations, and enjoy learning about the different cultures as an intellectual exercise, they just don't hold that same childlike wonder, and so, when it comes to fantasy, given the choice, I will choose romantic Europe every time.
In fact this draw in so strong in me that Robert Jordan's wheel of time includes many cultures and settings, from desert dwellers, to Arabic sea merchants to a Chinese type culture, and I just have no interest in those sections. Sad but true.

I'm almost exactly the opposite kind of consumer. I'll read faux medieval fantasy, but I'm going to be far pickier about it. At the first or second sign of bad or boring writing, it will have a stronger chance of being thrown across the room/put back on the bookshop shelf/discarded as Kindle Sample/returned to library unfinished. The setting is a character to me, not a placeholder. Two Euro-style settings that did pass my tests were Jaqueline Carey's Terre d'Ange from the Kushiel books, and Melissa Scott's city Astreiant from the 'Point of Hopes' novels.

Stories set in non-European Terran settings, their AU counterparts, or completely secondary-world setting are far more interesting to me. I give them preference and much more leeway.
 

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To echo what others have said, I think it's because it feels familiar and comfortable to a western audience (thanks to stuff like LotR and D&D).

Also, it's at the right level where people are somewhat civilized but not so interconnected and organized. Lots of opportunity to contrast urban/rural in terms of resources, law, lifestyle, and so on.

Also, not too much technology. More isolation. More superstition. Magic feels natural there. Not so much in a modern setting (not even just prior to electricity).
 

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Mercedes Lackey wrote a series of fantasy books (the Elemental Masters) set in Victorian England. If I remember correctly, one of them was set in the American West of the same time.
 

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Check out Michelle West, Saladin Ahmed, Aliette de Boddard, and NK Jemisin. I wouldn't say there's a lot, but it's encouraging to see more variety now.
 

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Mercedes Lackey wrote a series of fantasy books (the Elemental Masters) set in Victorian England. If I remember correctly, one of them was set in the American West of the same time.

I believe that was The Fire Rose, which retells Beauty and the Beast in turn-of-the-century San Francisco... and I'm not sure if she called it the Elemental Masters series or not at the time (Lackey seems particularly prone to renaming stuff), but it's definitely the same setup. In that one, she also introduces the Asian elemental system.
 

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Because trying to sell an epic fantasy set in modern times to agents and publishers is an uphill struggle.
 

Reziac

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Know what I want to see? More historical fantasy set in Australia. I can only think of one offhand, and the title escapes me (and the book is still packed up), but it was something like The Burning Woman.
 

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In a way, I'm with Ave. I love medieval tales and it conjures up such magic for me. I really can't explain it any other way.

That's not to say that other settings would, but not in the same way.
 

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Conan the Barbarian takes place in an ancient age way before the times of medieval and the Egyptians. It is typical, but dark.
 

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Whether the Middle Ages or the Hyperborean Age or somewhere in between, most fantasy has had features that were common through most of human history: monarchy, landed nobles, polytheism, serfdom and/or slavery, bladed weapons, etc. There is more similarity between Sumeria and Iraq in 1000 CE than between Iraq now and in 1000 CE, even though Sumeria was five times as distant in time. Things changed quickly in the last few hundred years. Any time before the machine age looks much the same, and that makes it easier to slide a story in.
 

Roxxsmom

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Because trying to sell an epic fantasy set in modern times to agents and publishers is an uphill struggle.

Even assuming that this is true, there are loads of times and settings that are neither "medieval Europe" nor "modern times."

You can choose to believe me or not, but as someone who is currently querying a novel, I've encountered many agents who have fantasy set outside of medieval Europe on their wish lists right now.

And even medieval Europe is a much more varied setting than many people suppose. What is now referred to as the middle ages lasted around 1000 years and Europe is a fairly large geographic area where many governments, cultures, and social norms existed simultaneously, let alone across the entire period.
 
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kristin724

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Yes to Conan! :D I'm reading thru it again now and came in to post about it!

Stardust comes to mind for a Victorian set tale. I'm sure there are more. I'm surprised something like Highlander isn't super popular- a premise that allows the time and place of the fantasy to change as needed.

Oddly, if I want to read fantasy or adventure that isn't medieval, I just like to read the tale of the times, like Arabian Nights or the Epic of Gilgamesh. There's the raritan fantasies, too. Tarzan also, if you want to call it fantasy.

I'm an Arthurian and medieval obsessed though, so I can't complain. :)
 

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Even assuming that this is true, there are loads of times and settings that are neither "medieval Europe" nor "modern times."

You can choose to believe me or not, but as someone who is currently querying a novel, I've encountered many agents who have fantasy set outside of medieval Europe on their wish lists right now.

.

It's from querying agents and publishers my opinion was formed.

An epic fantasy that strays too far out of the normal historical is going to struggle.

There are the likes of "Across the Nightingale Floor"; "Alchemist of Souls" etc but it has to be historical.
 

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It's from querying agents and publishers my opinion was formed.

Then we're talking to different agents and publishers. There will always be a market for the standard Euro-medieval model, but I'm seeing quite a few wishlists for other cultures and original secondary-world fantasy.

An epic fantasy that strays too far out of the normal historical is going to struggle.

Sorry, I just find that hard to believe. 'Standard' works may get some wider airplay because of that familiarity, but that can be detrimental, too.

There are the likes of "Across the Nightingale Floor"; "Alchemist of Souls" etc but it has to be historical.

Things that riff off historical periods, sure - but that includes works that explore very different tangents. The online fantasy magazine 'Beneath Ceaseless Skies' is a great example of shorter works set in secondary-world locations, some slightly familiar, many not. I've seen more than a few awards nominations and major novel sales come out of authors who showed up in BCS first.

The unifying theme that I'm hearing? Quality writing and high concept (easily accessible ideas) trump or reinforce setting.
 

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It's from querying agents and publishers my opinion was formed.

An epic fantasy that strays too far out of the normal historical is going to struggle.

There are the likes of "Across the Nightingale Floor"; "Alchemist of Souls" etc but it has to be historical.

It depends on what you're querying. If you have something different, then "it's a tough market and publishers are looking for something with an established audience" and if you are querying something medieval, then "Thanks, but not for us- we are looking to break out of the traditional fantasy setting." :cry:
 

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It's an odd one, isn't it? Especially when you consider that the Middle-Ages lasted for, what, about ten centuries, and contains tonnes of elements that tend to get jumbled together in traditional High Fantasy settings.

I suspect to some extent the prevalence of the medieval High Fantasy settings is, as others have pointed out, because High Fantasy has a lot of roots in old mythology (tales like King Arthur and Robin Hood, fields and castles and gods and magic... and thanks to Tolkien, there's a surprising amount of Norse in there as well).

These legends reflect times in history where magical superstitions were thought to be real, and exert a tangible effect in the world (for instance, wind rustling through houses was once thought to be a result of old ghosts). So if you're going to create a world where magical forces are real and exert a tangible influence on the characters, there's an obvious appeal in going back to a period of history where people commonly operated in this psychology.

EDIT: Though actually, this psychology would absolutely still in play if you were setting your story in, say, an Aztec-type world, where gods and magical forces were treated as extant, so maybe this is just Tolkien's template making everyone lazy.
 
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Lillith1991

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Would be cool to read more about fantasy in ancient Greece, Africa
WWII, etc.

I'm fairly new to fantasy, so I'm definitely open to suggestions there.

Some of it is comfort, but I don't think that is all of it. Tolkien alone spent years just creating notes and languages for his races, and the world of Arda itself. That makes me think that a certain amount of it is laziness, because for all the purple prose you can tell how dedicated Tolkien was to his world. While I see a dedication to the story often times in Epic Fantasy and other subgenres, I don't normally feel like the writer had the same level of dedication to the world they created. It is more like the world exists for the purposed of telling the story, and isn't an extension of the story that lives well beyond the page.