Sword and sorcery (S&S), or heroic fantasy, is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus mainly on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters.
A film genre tangentially related to sword and sorcery, at least in name, is sword-and-sandal, though its subjects are generally oriented to biblical times and early history, instead of fantasy.
Read more about Sword And Sorcery: Origin, Sources, Seminal Works, Revival, Women Creators and Characters
Famous quotes containing the words sword and/or sorcery:
“We soon saw, as he saw, that he was not to be pardoned or rescued by men. That would have been to disarm him, to restore to him a material weapon, a Sharp’s rifle, when he had taken up the sword of the spirit,—the sword with which he has really won his greatest and most memorable victories. Now he has not laid aside the sword of the spirit, for he is pure spirit himself, and his sword is pure spirit also.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“To the intelligent, nature converts itself into a vast promise, and will not be rashly explained. Her secret is untold. Many and many an Oedipus arrives: he has the whole mystery teeming in his brain. Alas! the same sorcery has spoiled his skill; no syllable can he shape on his lips.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)