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Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > History vs Fantasy Reply to topic
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Mike H





Joined: 12 Nov 2005

Posts: 41

PostPosted: Thu 13 Apr, 2006 1:55 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

for me what got me into history was Lord of the Rings, When I saw the movie I knew the time period I wanted to know about
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Jeroen Zuiderwijk
Industry Professional



Location: Netherlands
Joined: 11 Mar 2005

Spotlight topics: 2
Posts: 740

PostPosted: Fri 14 Apr, 2006 2:11 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I love good quality fantasy (which is rare), but I keep fantasy and history strickly separated. My interest in history started because I simply wanted to learn more about certain periods (bronze age and iron age). At first, I only kept encountering a destorted fantasy infused image of these periods. I wanted to know what it was really like, so I kept digging for the real thing. Because of this, I've become such a purist when it comes to living history. I'm constantly working at banning anything not based on archeological evidence. Only when there's no other alternative, I will make stuff up. But even then, or especially then, I use much archeological evidence to create a best guess.

Fantasy for me is interesting because of the story telling aspect, as well as the creation of fantasy worlds that are very different from the real world (though using many recognizable elements of the real world). However, in terms of artifacts f.e. such as swords, fantasy never comes close to history. Something that's made to really function, using ancient crafts, and styles of decoration which are the result of a rich cultural background will always look far better then something completely made up from scratch and not made by traditional methods. The real thing just has such a rich story to tell about the period and culture. A fantasy piece only has a limited depth, given by the person who made it up. Plus there's of course the thing that history is real, and fantasy is made up. Seeing a sword that's thousands of years old, and actually fought with is quite something else then a modern creation based on a movie or book.

I personally find that people who say that fantasy is much more interesting then history usually haven't looked at history deep enough. When you look into history, you'll discover things that you couldn't have never made up. The best fantasy IMO is actually created by people who have a very deep knowledge of history, and therefore a lot of material to be inspired by. But it's my experience that when you dig deep enough into history, you come across the most bizarre things you never expected. That's part of the reason why I enjoy history so much Happy
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