By the time I’ve said ‘fantasy setting’ you’re probably already visualizing a picture in your head with generalizations of fantasy media. Now ask yourself more precisely, what exactly are you visualizing? How is it structured, what makes it fantasy, and does it even make sense? In this first of three steps, I examine the elements of fantasy that I find most interesting and might want to involve in the creation of my own setting, independent of plot or lore.
Besides the definition of the genre, the most consistent aspect that frames fantasy settings is the hierarchy of abilities. There is always a distinction between the common, mundane mortal (e.g. muggles) and those that have ascended above them. There is always a line separating the mundane and the fantastical, and those that wield the later I label as ascended. There is often an additional layer of fantastical ability that is fundamentally different, that I call transcendent. Transcendent beings or abilities are different in that they define the reality of the setting more than they are defined by it. For example:
- Things like time travel or changing the past
- The ability of the wardrobe leading to Narnia defines the setting
- Thanos with the infinity gauntlet saying "Reality Can Be Whatever I Want"
Transcendence regards creating reality directly, while other abilities (even fantastical ones) follow a process that is already considered ‘natural’ in the setting. In a setting with magic for example, it’s usually implied that casting spells relies on underlying natural laws akin to laws of physics, whereas the infinity stones can just control reality without any real causal process.
Most commonly, beings are implied to be some combination of mind, body and soul. The mind and body are intuitively understood, but despite the ubiquity of souls in fantasy settings, it is rarely precisely defined. A soul is arcane, mysterious, and used to explain just about anything, particularly abilities. It sometimes seems to represent sentience or will, but is almost always distinctly different from the mind:
- There are often characters that are entirely sentient and strong willed, but have a weak or lesser soul than another, hence soul doesn’t consistently equate to sentience or will
- Souls of the dead often have reduced awareness and cognition, indicating that even if the soul remains, the mind might not
- One can have great intelligence without a great soul
The characteristics of soul that seem to be most consistent across fantasy settings are twofold:
- The soul can contain information (memories, personality, etc.)
- The soul is a source of being’s fantastical abilities or properties
Following the second point, the soul can be considered the “fantastical source” itself, but is more easily thought of as a door to it:
- The door can have information on it
- Bigger or greater doors imply greater fantastical ability.
Finally, from a meta perspective, maybe the soul is just a tool the author uses to point to each being. After all, if a character can lose their mind or even turn into a ghost and lose their body, it may not always be possible to reference the being without the concept of a soul. I’ve never heard of a fantasy being with the defining characteristic of not having a soul, if a character’s soul is destroyed it always means the character is too. This is not always the case for the mind or body, so the soul can be seen as a way to keep track of beings in a fantasy setting.
Outside of the reality of the setting, by definition there is unreality. We don’t really talk about where reality ends unless other realities are involved (e.g. in a crossover episode, or when breaking the 4th wall).
Because this is fantasy, there are necessarily some fantastical things unexplainable by reason, and so it is useful to name a “fantastical source” as a conceptual component of the setting. When there is no reasonable explanation for something, I attribute it to this fantastical source.
The material world where most things occur I’ll call the overworld. It might be as vast as a universe or as small as a continent on a flat earth, but it is recognizable (at least superficially) as a material world; with familiar physical properties like gravity, and reasonable features like land, sea, and sky. In general, the vast majority of information about the overworld can be assumed to follow ‘common sense’.
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A story might not need more than an overworld, but it often features at least one conceptually distinct space that serves some (usually supporting) purpose. This could be part of the material world of the setting (like a demon continent) but still conceptually different from the overworld in some way. It often serves as a space where others different from the common mortal reside: immortals, elemental spirits, demons, gods, the dead etc. Most commonly, there is a different existential plane for each type of extraordinary existence featured in the story: a heaven, an underworld or hell (18 of them in Chinese mythology), an elemental plane for each element, etc.
Everything called magic in any fantasy setting can be viewed as communication. Chanting, enchanting, and rituals can all be seen as forms of communication, the question is who or what are we communicating with. Rituals are usually seen for communicating with great beings like demons or gods, who then perform some action in response. Magic spells or chants are sometimes described as a way to communicate with spirits, natural forces or even concepts. Enchanted items feature text or symbols that serve the same purpose as chants or rituals, except the communication is engraved permanently. As for why natural forces or concepts would respond in any way to communication, that’s an entirely different and rarely answered question. Even sympathetic magic, the idea that one can influence something based on its relationship or resemblance to another thing, can be considered communication. By communicating that two objects are one in the same, a sympathetic mage might deceive themselves, the objects in question, or perhaps reality itself, into believing that they really are the same.
If communication is the common denominator in what is called magic in fantasy settings, then abilities considered different from magic are those that don’t rely on language in any way, like superhuman strength or fire breathing.
Fate and prophecy are very common themes in fantasy settings. From a meta perspective, fate is just the creator’s intentions for the story, or in other words the plot and lore. Every story has a plot, but not every setting explicitly features fate. Explicitly featuring it can be very advantageous: it allows foreshadowing and building anticipation, but perhaps more importantly it’s an easy way to overtly guide the plot. The plot feels forced and unnatural with too many ‘deus ex machina’ style coincidences? Just say it’s fate! Not the author’s laziness or lack of attention to detail.
Elementals / spirits
Animism is the belief that animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork--and in some cases words--are each imbued with a soul. This is a common part of fantasy settings, most often in the form of elemental spirits: the elements (fire, water…) are imbued with souls, but we also see artificial objects like swords possessing spirits. It is often the case that these types of beings cannot truly die (or perhaps aren’t truly alive): they can simply be re-summoned once destroyed.
Immortals, angels, gods and other divinities
They are considered above the common mortal in ability, either born as such or born lesser and later ascend. Though the reason is not always explained, they often seem to gain some kind of benefit from having worshipers. To the extent that they collect the souls of dead worshipers in some form of heaven. Curiously, they don’t like to act directly in the overworld, another point that’s rarely explained.
The dead
This one is confusing:
- they can possess lifelike flesh (like vampires) but still be considered undead.
- They can possess lifelike emotions but still be considered undead (like ghosts with an obsession that keeps them on earth)
- They might be dead in emotion and body (like a zombie), but still move about.
Demons
They’re violent, evil, sinful, often irrational… and are associated with hell. They stereotypically consume other beings, especially their souls. As they can often be resummoned when destroyed, it is unclear if they are even truly alive.
Devils
In fantasy settings ‘Devil’ and ‘Demon’ are often used interchangeably with no consistent fundamental difference, but 'devil’ certainly comes with a different connotation. They’re depicted more as cunning swindlers than violent butchers. They manipulate and tempt others into selling their soul, which they presumably have a use for, perhaps as a food source like demons.
Outer beings
The trope of ‘outer gods’ is common enough to include here. These are generally terrifying and malicious existences outside of the overworld or even reality itself that seek to infiltrate and corrupt it, though the reason is not always explained.
Mortal races
Humans, elves and dwarves are some of the most common races found in fantasy settings, each with their own stereotypes that we have come to expect. For the most part, these mortal races follow our intuition on how humans or animals work… except those chimeric humans with animal ears and tails. It doesn’t make sense how they could have come to exist in the first place, unless created by a mad god as they don’t make sense biologically either. If you couldn’t tell, I hate that the abominations are so common in fantasy settings.