Ancient World Fantasy

The most common default setting for a secondary world Fantasy is a Medieval Europe inspired setting, some Fantasy Anime might have a Medieval East Asia aesthetic. 

But settings besides the Middle Ages do exist. We have Space Fantasy or Futuristic Fantasy, the kinds of Fantasy that get confused for Sci-Fi. We have Gaslamp Fantasy which is the Fantasy counterpart to SteamPunk. And Urban Fantasy refers to stories set kind of in the modern world.  And of course the settings inspired by the Ancient World also exist. 

But what I wanna talk about here is how Ancient World Fantasy so often defaults to the Bronze Age, at least in the Vibe they give off, they might be using Iron weapons but the Vibe is Bronze Age. From old Italian Sword and Sandal films, to the 90s Sam Raimi Hercules and Xena shows, the obscure 1991 OVA Majuu Senshi Luna Varga, the 2018 Isekai Anime The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar. And then the Fate/Grand Order Babylonia Anime also fits into this lineage. 

The Bronze Age is the largest age of Antiquity, it is about Two Thousand years from over 3300 to 1184 BC, Biblically that’s The Tower of Babel down to the end of Judges. The thing is the sub ages that can obviously be divided into are not all that distinguished by these kinds of Fantasy Stories. Those Sword and Sandal films will mix and match the Heroic Age of Greek Mythology with Sumeria and Egypt’’s Old Kingdom will look the same as the New Kingdom. 

Exceptions exist, I own some of them, but none of those have made huge impacts on Pop Culture.  At most we could have Classical Antiquity references being meshed into an otherwise Bronze Age aesthetic like 300 or all the Rome stuff in Xena, Xena’s timeline will not ever make real world sense and that’s what’s fun about it. 

One of the key early Trope Codifiers of Ancient Secondary World Fantasy was Conan The Barbarian and other works of Robert E Howard.  Howard was to Ancient World Fantasy what Tolkien is to medieval Europe Fantasy. And that includes how both were not strictly secondary worlds originally, they both technically set their stories in a prehistoric distant past of this world.  But they make a transition into modern Secondary World Fantasy because of how the detailed world building made their world seem distinct in ways prior stories doing technically the same thing more vaguely like William Morris stories could not. 

Fantasy Stories were originally drawing inspiration from the less well documented periods of human history (that’s what the term “Dark Age” originally meant, a period we don’t know much about), and the Bronze age was once even less well documented then it is now. Only once the transition to full Secondary Worlds was complete did writers of Medieval Fantasy realize they could start moving upward into the High Middle Ages and Renaissance for inspiration. But why didn’t Ancient World fantasy do the same?  

Each type of Fantasy Setting began with writers who were to some extent romanticizing the period they are drawing inspiration from, the Fantasy stories with more cynical takes on those time periods came later in response to the stories that first popularized it. 

And in the modern world the kinds of people who romanticize Classical Antiquity do so in a way that is functionally mutually exclusive with telling stories where real Supernatural stuff happens. Classic Antiquity is romanticized by principally New Atheists/Reddit Atheists who pretend the values of rationalism and empiricism were more popular in ancient Greece and Rome then they actually were, that it was a Golden Age of Science and Reason destroyed by the rise of Abrahamic Religion.

Now you may think “Christianity was born during Classical Antiquity so wouldn't Christians romanticize it?” but you'd be wrong. The world view of modern Right Wing especially High Church Christians is that Christianity was born into a broken world that needed fixing and the Medieval World was the product of Christianity fixing it.   Liberal Christians (especially Low Church Protestants) believe Christianity was born into a broken world and modern Liberal Democracy is the result of Christianity eventually slowly fixing it.  And a Leftist Christian believes Christianity was born into a Broken world and still hasn’t fixed it yet.  The point is that the context of The Gospel demands that Jesus wasn’t born into the best period of time to be alive Civilizationally speaking. The option I’ve been more willing to consider then most Christians is that there was value in the Hellenistic Civilization that was lost when it fell to the Romans, and the fall of the Hasmonean Kingdom was certainly lamentable. Ultimately though I am a Leftist with Liberal characteristics.

Atheists however, not all Atheist but the really devout ones who build their personality on being Atheists, have a world view built on inverting the Catholic view and appropriating the Puritan view.

And The Bronze Age is more popular than the Iron Age because it has the quality of being what was Ancient History already to the people of Classical Antiquity.

But another factor is the Western Bias, every time I said Classical Antiquity both you and I were first and foremost thinking of the Greeks and Romans more than the Persians or Carthaginians or Parthians or Late Period Egypt or Kushites or East Asia or Mesoamerica and certainly not the “Barbarians” of Western and Northern Europe.  And when we do we kind of think of them as being aesthetically still in the Bronze Age. 

The plot twist I've been building to is that perhaps a different style of Ancient World Fantasy has been hiding in plain sight this whole time.  That Tolkien’s legendarium was actually more Ancient than Medieval all along but pop culture perception has just run with faulty assumptions. 

When early Rings of Power images started coming out I saw one person on Twitter not at all inclined to say nice things about Rings of Power say that at least its costume design is more inline with Tolkien’s actual intent then the Peter Jackson films. Peter Jackson’s costume design went all in the High Middle Ages when the Third Age of Middle Earth really was Early Middle Ages at the latest. Literally the Norman Conquest is when Tolkien felt everything went wrong.  Eomer shares a name with a 5th century king of the Angles for a reason, the Rohirrim and Rhovanion are meant to be ancestors of the pre-migration Anglo-Saxons. 

Even if the Third Age is Medieval, it’s not just Western Europe, Gondor is kind of Byzantium, the rump in South Eastern Europe of the fallen Empire of the West.

The First and Second Ages however are definitely Ancient, they are basically imagining that the Celts had a “Civilization” before the Greeks and Romans. And in so doing it results in Numenor feeling very Roman and Eregion feeling a little Athenian, and I would even call Mordor kind of Sparta how Anti-Spartan Athenians saw them. The Fall of Golodin was partly based on Troy as many have written about before. 

And capturing all of that is part of why I love Rings of Power, especially season 2. 

Biblical Israelite Fate/ Servants

There is in my view only one real Biblical Israelite Servant in Canonical Fate/ material still, that being David.

Solomon and Martha are nominally Biblical Characters but everything about who they are in Fate/ lore is defined by Extra Biblical traditions about them.  

There is nothing in The Bible to support Solomon being any kind of Mage nor does he perform any miracles. The only Biblical basis for Solomon potentially being a Caster would be the same logic by which Shakesphere and Alexandre Dumas are Casters, apparently just being a sufficiently influential writer can make you a type of Caster and Solomon is the traditional author of some of The Bible, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and two of the Psalms. Yet even that is far from what he's mainly known for.

And Martha in Fate/ is even more divorced from who she is Biblically, she’s basically a French Hero given the role she plays in FGO. I have to admit what defined her character in her Gospel appearances is being a House Wife, hard to see how taming an Ankylosaurus naturally extends from that. But also since she’s New Testament she’s someone Jewish players of the game would feel hesitant to say represents them.

So the thought has entered my head of what if we made an effort to give the Ancient Israelites a true Servant for each Class like so many other cultures have? 

The Archer Class is the one already filled, and Archer is the correct classification for David. A slingshot being the same class of weapon as a Bow and Arrow has been burned into my thinking since Ocarina of Time. 

I would have Joshua be the Lancer.  Joshua 8:18-26 tells us he had a Spear, and one popular Christian Card Game has a Joshua’s Spear card so people besides me have considered it notable. His Noble Phantasm could be called Wall Breaker.

For the Saber I am going to stretch the definition of Biblical a bit and say Judas Maccabeus.  The books of Maccabees are considered Canonical by only some Christians and no Jews, but all Jews celebrate Hanukkah so his accomplishments are revered in Judaism more than in Christianity.  1 Maccabees 3:12 refers to Judas taking the Sword of Apollonius and fighting with it for the rest of his life. And 2 Maccabees 15:15-16 refers to Maccabeus being given a Golden Sword.  

Also Judas Maccabeus is the person mentioned in this post I’d be most fine with Fate/ doing their typical Gender Bend thing with. Because I have my own theory about this Judas already being made a Judith as the title of another Deutercanonical book based on his relationship with Nicanor/Holofernes. 

Since the Berserker Class is associated with being more brawn then brains the natural choice for that one is Samson the main character of Judges 13-16. 

For the Assassin Class my first instinct was Jael from Judges 4:17-22 and 5:24.  But she’s called a Kenite meaning she might not actually count as an Israelite???  She’s clearly considered part of the Israelite tradition by most readers so she’ll work fine.

The Caster class could be given to any of the Prophets, Moses, Samuel, Elijah, the title characters of the Prophetic books. Moses is the most important obviously. 

The Rider Class is actually the most difficult. The Ancient Israelites were not known for their Calvary, that’s part of the reason they conquered the mountainous regions first while the Canaanites held out longest in the plains according to Judges 1:19, it was the Canaanites who had Horses and Chariots. It was during the Kingdom period that changed, both Solomon and Rehoboam had Chariots but that isn’t central to what they are known for. 

There is a famous Chariot linked to Elijah, but he’d be a caster first and since he never died I would argue maybe shouldn’t be in the Throne of Heroes. Jehu rides a Chariot in 2 Kings 9:16. 

That’s the seven main classes, but there are also the non standard ones to think about. 

For the Ruler Class I’d easily pick Deborah of Judges 4-5 since the initial precedent for what kind of person would be a ruler is Jeanne d’Arc.

Shielder seems to be the least well defined class besides what you can guess from the name. I’m kinda thinking of Nehemiah, who rebuilt the Walls of Jerusalem. 

Avenger feels like the most controversial class to apply to anyone. I could see the Character Arc needed to become an Avenger fitting chiefly Saul but perhaps also Jeroboam. Saul definitely feels more over all important. 

Years should begin and end around the Spring Equinox rather than the Winter Solstice.

This is as many know The Biblical Reckoning, the year begins with the month Aviv later named Nissan and ends with Adar. All the traditions about alternate New Years including the popular Tishrei New Year are Extra-Biblical, the only Biblically ordained reckoning for the year is the one that starts with Aviv. 

Weebs also eventually learns that while Japan nominally uses the Gregorian Calendar a lot about how they do things is clearly built around years that begin with April and end with March. Including their School Year. 

As a former fan of Wrestling I miss the days when the WWE’s calendar truly revolved around WrestleMania, that event in late March or early April was a culmination of many months of build up and then the Raw the day after felt like a new beginning. 

I feel like everyone intuitively, subconsciously, knows this way of thinking about years is what actually makes the most sense. 

Spring feels like a time of birth, of beginnings, or fertility. 

While Winter is poetically a time of Death, it clearly feels like the night time of the year.  Only the start of Winter is ever a time we feel like celebrating, after that it’s three months of waiting for Spring to arrive. 

For the last few years I’ve been buying Calendars built around screen shots from classic Video Games to use.  And I keep noticing that the ability to make the Levels associated with each month match the vibe of that month is hindered by the natural impulse to start with World 1-1. 

Video Games usually open with Levels that feel like the embodiment of Spring, Grass Land, Green Hill Zone, Green Greens.  Even when they aren’t named something like that just look at them, Bob-Omb’s Battlefield is a very Greek stage. 

Meanwhile Ice worlds are usually saved till late game, yes technically mainly because they are so difficult.  But it winds up creating a theme. 

This observation about Video Game design won’t pan out when applied to everything, clearly they aren’t usually consciously thinking of building the game around going through a Biblical Year.  And not all popular Level themes are as easy to pin to a time of year. I could say Desert Levels are summer because deserts are hot but also winter because they’re barren. 

The point however is that it feels natural to begin in a setting that looks like Spring.

How to Watch Evangelion

 Don't.

Don't watch Evangelion, it's overrated and countless newer shows have done what it did better.

Watch Sumphogear

Symphogear

Symphogear G

Symphogear GX

Symphogear AXZ

Symphogear XV

I finally watched Majuu Senshi Luna Varga and it was pretty good.

This is the OVA that Trixie The Golden Witch once described as revolving around the protagonist's Vagina transforming into Godzilla.

I initially suspected that she might have been exaggerating how much the creature actually looks like Godzilla.  Then the first time I looked at clips from it I went "yeah Toho could probably have sued them".

Now finally watching the OVA proper I'm back to thinking maybe he isn't quite that identical to Godzilla.  In episode 4 another Kaiju shows up, they are called Varuga, and it in some ways looks more like Godzilla and in some ways less.

All that was just the matter of if these Varugas look like Godzilla.  I was not expecting episode 4 to also possibly imply some Lore that makes the Godzilla resemblance perhaps thematically relevant.

Game of Thrones Universe Watch Order Post.

When it comes to adaptations there are more potential watch orders then just Release Order vs Chronological order (or purely individual preference made up order), there's also the idea of watching the Adaptation in the Release Order of the source material which may not be the same.

I only recently learned as it was airing that The Hedge Knight, the first book of the Tales of Dunk and Egg series, was first published between the first two A Song of Ice and Fire books.  Meaning for future reference when it's done season one of A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms would perhaps by be watched right after season 1 of Game of Thrones and before season 2.

Of course this would become less useful in this example as the shows tend to depart from the books more as they go on.

So here's the release order of The Books

A Game of Thrones (Game of Thrones Season 1)

The Hedge Knight (A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms Season 1)

A Clash of Kings (Game of Thrones Season 2)

A Storm of Swords (Game of Thrones Seasons 3-4)

The Sworn Sword (no adaptation yet, will be season 2 of AKotSK)

A Feast of Crows (kinda seasons 5-6 of Game of Thrones)

The Mystery Knight (no adaptation yet, will be season 3 of AKotSK)

A Dance with Dragons (kinda season 5-6 of Game of Thrones)

The Princess and The Queen (House of The Dragon, but not really)

The Rogue Prince (House of The Dragon, but not really)

Sons of The Dragon (House of The Dragon, but not really)

Fire and Blood (House of The Dragon, but not really)

BookTuber reviewing classic Fantasy Novels.

The name of the YouTube Channel is The Everyman Reads.

The idea is he's going to review 500 major Fantasy Novels in the order they were written.  He's still very early in the project having just reviewed George MacDonald's Lilith.  And it's a very good video everyone should watch it. 

In this video he defines how he divides Fantasy into 6 Eras. He's probably about right in what his divisions are, but the Pedantic in me can't help but be annoyed my labels he choose, the point of naming eras after precious Metals is to repeat the Greek Mythological format, Gold then Silver then Bronze and then Iron.  His timeline goes Bronze, Silver, Classic, Golden, Modern and the current recently started not definitively named era.  Which is the other pedantic complaint, Modern is by definition current, if we aren't in the same era as 2005-2020 anymore then that era needs a new name. 

Now as I said when talking about Eras of Anime that The Golden Age is the first full era of greatness, but there cna be a proto or pre history. So I would call his Bronze Age the formative years, then his Silver Age The Golden Age, then his Classic age the Silver Age and his Golden Age the Bronze Age and his Modern Age the Iron Age.

The 500 books he's selected are naturally biased towards the English speaking canon. And that's fine actually, there is a lot to cover just there. I just want to use this framing as a jumping off point for mentioning some foreign works I feel deserve more credit and attention.  Because what foreign language country's fiction I'm interested in changes depending on the era. 

The first two eras line up well with my Froncophilic interests I hold thanks to CoolFrenchComics.com and BlackCoatPress.

Paul Feval wrote only one book I'm confident can be considered Fantasy enough to definitely count, La Ville Vampire translated into English by the late Brian Stableford as Vampire City, first serialized in the 1860s.  Stuff straddling that transitional line would include some of the works in Anne of The Isles. Some of his books set in modern Paris I would draw inspiration from when writing Urban Fantasy though they wouldn't actually count since the Supernatural element is always left ambiguous, The Vampire Countess, Revenants, Knightshade and The Blackcoats saga whose 6th volume The Companions of The Treasure is in my view the most Tolkienesque thing written before Tolkien. 

In 1908 and 1909 Gustave Le Rouge wrote two novels that directly anticipate the Barsoom series, these were Translated and published together as Vampires of Mars. 

1919's L'Atlantide is like She in some ways but not in others, the author Pierre Beniot had not read She. But it has had a similar if more forgotten cultural impact, for awhile being directly adapted every decade but also in the name of it's Femme Fatale Antinea influencing even more films.

As far as arguing that 1990-2004 was the best era of Fantasy Prose Novels,  this wouldn't be the only time where what I call The Bronze is also the age I would argue is the best, that's certainly the case with Anime and kind of is for some DC characters. And that is where my Weeb interests come in.  

I haven't read these books, I haven't even seen all the Anime based on them, but I know a lot about their cultural importance.  And these are only stories that were originally Prose Novels which Light Novels count as, I won't be including anything that started as a Manga, Anime, Video Games or Visual Novels though they certainly have plenty of their own contributions to making this an exciting decade and a half for the Fantasy genre.  

The Heroic Legend of Arslan series started in 1987 but continued all through this era. 

Majuu Senshi Luna Varga is referred to as being based on a Light Novel but I can't find any publication dates for it, it's probably the most randomly obscure thing I'm going to list here.  The OVAs came out in 91 so it could turn to be too soon for this era. 

Slayers started in 1990.

The Twelve Kingdoms started in 1992 and is one of the many GRRMs of Anime in that it's still unfinished. 

On the subject of Urban Fantasy I'm unsure what does and doesn't count but 1998 started a peak era for Japanese Urban Fantasy with Boogiepop and Others in February and the first Kara No Kyoukai in October.  I also recall Trixie The Golden Witch mentioning an anthology book of Light Novels like these from this era called Faust. 

Scrapped Princess was from 1999 to 2003.

Legend of The Legendary Heroes started in 2002. 

2002 is also the same year as the original Web Novel for Sword Art Online, which isn't a Fantasy novel but has become undeniable important to the history of Fantasy in Japanese media.

Baccano! started in 2003 as did The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya if you count either as Urban Fantasy.

The year 2004 was the start of at least three important Light Novel sagas. 

The Familiar of Zero was very popular and a website that started as a fan site for it would go on to be the main incubation chamber for modern Isekai.

And then two more where I'm unsure if they count as Urban Fantasy for now.  Durarara!! and A Certain Magical Index.