First released in 1994 by Blizzard Entertainment, Warcraft has become a landmark in the game industry. Several of the fantasy strategy games were made since then with World of Warcraft as the pinnacle so far.
Together, the Warcraft games are easily one of the best and most influential fantasy game series ever.
The story and the setting
The main theme of the Warcraft games is the struggle between mainly humans, orcs, dwarves and elves on several continents of the planet Azeroth. In the RPG games you often play with one or more heroes who go on quest to save their people, fighting against the other races.
The world of Azeroth, based on the Dungeons & Dragons world and Tolkiens Middle-earth, turned out to be a fascinating setting for these computer games, providing races that are interesting to play with and have been made well-balanced.
Concluding, Warcraft is set in a clear high fantasy world with story lines that have heroic fantasy elements.
Warcraft I, II & III
Warcraft I, II en III were real-time strategy games on the PC. They were all very popular and critically acclaimed.
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans came out in 1994 and was well received. It was a real time strategy game that was fairly easy to master. Gamers could playing either as Humans or as…. Orcs and build a village and expand their military might.
In 1995/ 1996 Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness game along. It was better and more popular than the first which was boosted even more by the expansion pack: Beyond the Dark Portal.
It took some time but Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos was published in 2002. This game introduced more races and included more unique differences between races. Heroes were also introduced giving the game besides RTS also RPG elements.
World of Warcraft
The biggest hit has been and still is World of Warcraft (often referred to as WoW), the most popular and most succesful MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) around. It was launched in 2004 and with millions of players and regular expansion packs it is the pinnacle of online gaming and a goldmine for Blizzard. There is competition, e.g. from The Lord of the Rings Online, EverQuest and Age of Conan, but WoW is easily the game to beat in this genre and will be for a long time to come.
Late 201, the next expansion pack of World of Warcraft, called Cataclysm, was released. It was a huge hit, giving yet another stimulus to the game. It is to be expected that player numbers will keep on rising the coming years.
The Future
Several Warcraft books have been written and a movie adaptation of Warcraft, directed by Sam Raimi (director of Army of Darkness and Hercules & Xena), has been in the pipeline for some time but when it will be made and what the story will be like is still unclear.
Produced by HBO, True Blood is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris. It is a currently running television series, one of the best around, about the co-existence of vampires, other supernatural beings and humans in a small town in Louisiana.
Story
The story take place two years after the existence of vampires became known to the world. Now, vampires and people live together and interact as sort of equals due to the creation of synthetic blood. The story is set in Bon Temps a town in Louisiana, where teh waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who can read minds, falls in love with vampire Bill Compton. Besides vampires, also shapeshifters, werewolves and other demonic creatures play a part in the series.
Not all people accept vampires in their midst and some downright hate them and the people have relationships with them. Together with the love story between Sookie and Bill, the fight with vampire-haters and other supernatural creatures provide for the main story lines.
Style & Themes
The series is quite actionpacked and graphic with loads of blood and murders. However, it also contains a fair bit of humor which is integrated well in the characters and the story. This combination works out so well that I believe it to be main attraction of the series. The fight of vampires to become accepted as a minority within the society is seen and also partially meant as a reference to how some minorities, like gays, struggle to get equal rights.
The fact that True Blood is broadcasted by HBO, just like Game of Thrones will be, is in itself already a guarantee for quality and success. But how good the series is, is also made clear by the many awards it has won among which a Golden Globe and an Emmy. The success have made HBO already pre-order a 4th season which will air late 2011. As True Blood is very popular and has good ratings, like most of the contemporary fantasy these days, I expect the TV series to be around for some time to come.
The Dark Tower is the well-known fantasy series by the highly acclaimed “horror author” Stephen King. It is fantasy topped off with a spaghetti western sauce in such a way that some will not like but keeps me asking for more.
Story
The gunslinger Roland is on a quest to find the Dark Tower. He lives in a world, Mid-World, resembling somewhat the dark ages with aspects of the American wild west. However, there is also magic in this world and signs of a past technological civilization. Along the way Roland picks up several friends who together with him form the Ka-tet of the Nineteen and Ninety-nine. These friends have issues of their own but share in Rolands destiny and through many amazing, strange adventures, both on different worlds, including our own, and in different times, Ronald step by step gets nearer to The Dark Tower.
Themes & Styles
The Dark Tower contains both contemporary and dark fantasy elements. It is definitely somewhat of an odd one out on this website. The Dark Tower is not at all the typical high fantasy that characterizes the rest of the series in my list of best fantasy series. However, the story does contain magic and happens partially on imaginary worlds. Besides, it is so good that I simply couldn’t leave out and within this specific subgenre of fantasy it is by far the best ever made. On the other hand I have to admit that it is a difficult read which will cause many to put away the books.
Books
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
Written by the legendary Stephen King, The Dark Tower is dark, mysterious, and disturbing: what more could you wish for?
The Twilight movies are definitely not my cup of tea but they definitely are popular fantasy movies which is why I felt obligated to write a review of these movies and give my opinion on them.
Story
Over the course of the Twilight Saga movies (Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse) the young girl Bella comes in contact with a group of vampires, the Cullen family. She fall in love with the handsome Edward Cullen. Edward loves her as well but does not want a relationship as he is afraight to hurt her. In the absence of Edward, Bella also develops some sort a a relationship with the werewolf Jacob Black. When evil vampires are hunting Bella in the movies, both Edward and his family as well as Jacob and his “werewolf family” protect her. In the end, Bella has to choose between Edward and Jacob.
Themes & Elements
The Twilight movies are focused on teenagers (mostly girls) and all their issues surrounding first romances and insecurities. The contemporary fantasy, in the form of vampires and werewolves, simply is the setting that sets the movies apart and makes them more fascinating.
When looking at the themes of the movies, two stand out. First, there is the romance between Bella and Eward and the choice she has to make between Edward and Jacob. The other is that, when Bella finds out Edwards is a vampire and therfore immortal, she also wants to become a vampire. The question of whether or not it is justified for Edward to turn Bella into a vampire is an interesting one (vampires have no soul) but when it is discussed a couple of times you kind of get the point.
Conclusion
The combination of uninteresting story lines, bad acting and the focus on teenage girls make the Twilight movies a mixture of pretty all that I do not want to see in movies. Two more movies in the series will be made (Breaking Dawn – Part 1 in 2011 and Breaking Dawn – Part 2 in 2012) but I am pretty sure I will skip them.
My advice to you: if you have limiting time available, skip The Twilight Saga and watch some of the many other great fantasy movies around.
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author who has written novels mainly related to the horror and fantasy genre. King is known for novels like It, The Shining, The Stand and the series The Dark Tower and has been awarded many times and is seen as one of the greatest authors of our time. Several of his novels have also been made into movies.
Life
Stephen King started writing while still in school with already an interest in and focus on the horror genre. After the success of the novel Carrie and conquering his drinking problem in the seventies, King became more and more successful and well-known in the eighties. King has struggled with addictions in the late eighties but with help of family and friend overcame these and continued to write many great works. He was in a severe car incident in 1999. He recoverd but doesn’t write that much anymore these days.
Works
King has written too many important works to name all. Well known novels are Carrie, It, The Knowing, The Shining, The Storm and Misery. Many of his books have also been adapted for screen and made into movies so further establishing name. Although best-known among the general public as a horror author, King has also written several fantasy stories with the series The Dark Tower as his biggest and, in my opinion, best work.
The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower is a fantasy series consisting of seven novels, which King wrote over a period of 27 years. As it is written by King, the series is not at all typical fantasy. It is modern fantasy with dark, mysterious, and disturbing elements and therefore high in my list of best fantasy series. A new novel in the series has been announced by King.
Concluding: Stephen King is definitely not an author of high fantasy like many other authors that are discussed on this website but he simply is one of the greatest writers ever and most of his books have fantasy elements, with The Dark Tower as the best example.
