Historical Fantasy: Difference between revisions

A subgenre of [[Speculative Fiction]], '''Historical Fantasy''' is similar to [[Urban Fantasy]], except the setting will be a time and place in the past rather than modern times.

 

 

There can be some overlap with [[Alternate History]] if the fantastic elements are shown to have actually changed history as we know it. See also [[Historical Fiction]] for non-fantasy works. [[Gaslamp Fantasy]] and [[Medieval European Fantasy]] are subtropes.

 

* ''[[The Mysterious Cities of Gold]]'' is set in the 16th century during Spain's exploration/exploitation of the New World, but with [[Lost Technology|Lost]] [[Magitek]].

* ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' is set in the 1920s in America, and features a [[Church Militant|nun-with-a-gun]] and [[Deal with the Devil|the demon she's contracted to]] fighting demons and other supernatural threats. The manga also fits under [[Alternate History]] towards the end, but the anime makes a point of working in the 1981 Pope John Paul II assassination attempt into the finale of the show.

* ''[[Gate Keepers]]'' likewise is set a bit further back, in 1969-70 Tokyo, with a dash of [[Alternate History]]. Aside from the Invaders and super powered heroes, it does manage to capture the real economic and social changes in Japan during that time.

* Arguably due to the presence of [[Anthropomorphic Personifications]], ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' would likely count as well. Especially in the way the Nations are presented in contrast to [[Muggles|their citizens]].

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* [[David Gemmell]] has a few series like this, one set in [[Ancient Greece]] around the time of Philip II and Alexander the Great, and another in [[King Arthur|Arthurian Britain]]. He's also got one set during the siege of Troy, though that one is presented in such a way that almost all of the supernatural things apart from [[Cassandra Truth|Cassandra's precognition]] have obvious natural explanations.

* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[Stardust (novel)|Stardust]]'' is an odd example, since most of the action takes place outside of historical England. The majority of the mystical parts are contained within the land beyond the wall. The wall is just a low stone wall running across the bottom of a village, which happens to contain a gate to the world that is spoken of in fairy tales. The part of England in that world is full of living stars and lightning smugglers. The real world, however, is so mundane that any part of the fairy realm that isn't at least partly from the real world would not survive the trip, turning into lifeless matter.

* ''[[The Cats of Seroster]]'' by [[Robert Westall]] is set in a fairly realistic version of 16th Century France, with the tactics, weaponry and technology of the era preserved intact. It's just that there also happen to be [[Telepathy|telepathic]] cats and mystical knives that grant immortality to the wielder.

* ''The Cardinal's Blades'' series by Pierre Pevel is [[Alexandre Dumas]] with dragons and dragon-kin, and also a [[Perspective Flip]] since the heroes are agents of Richelieu.

*LLoyd Alexander's [[The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio]] hovers around this. Geography and history are identified loosely but the reader can recognize it as the Medieval Silk Road.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[Highlander]]''

* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' was set in a loose early 18th century setting until the 4th movie set the year in 1750 and introduced historical characters such as Blackbeard,<ref>He's still alive thanks to Voodoo</ref> George II of Britain and Ferdinand VI of Spain.

* ''[[Indiana Jones]]''

* ''[[Ars Magica]]''

* White Wolf's ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'' features a detailed alternate history of the world, in which powerful supernatural forces rage behind the scenes of most major historical events.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

[[Category:Show Genres]]

[[Category:Literature Genres]]