Favorite Fantasy Lore

I'm obliged to bring up Tolkien, the Silmarillion remains one of my favorite books and you could say it was that book that first made me so fascinated with exploring the lore of fictional worlds.

I can't think of any other books that have managed to attract my interest quite as much, but then I haven't been reading as much as I probably should in recent years, mostly non-fiction.

Going into games, Dragon Age and Elder Scrolls are two of my favorite settings for this, though I tend to favor Dragon Age for having a somewhat more down to earth approach for the most part.

Also, Darksiders. It's a comic book stylized mashup of the book of revelations and elements of Northern European mythology, one I have a particular fondness for, that blends surprisingly well. It's interesting in part because humans play very little part in the series. It features a dualistic cosmos, many worlds linked by the Trees of Life and Death, which house the Well of Souls that draws all dead souls to the Kingdom of the Dead, where they are purged of their past lives and return to the well to be reborn. A cosmic entity called the Charred Council maintains the peace between the two great powers, the First Kingdom (Heaven) and the Second Kingdom (Hell) with their enforcers, the Four Horseman (Protagonists of the games). They maintain the peace until the End War, when Heaven, Hell, and the Third Kingdom (Mankind) are to battle for the Balance of Creation, but humans are not yet strong enough to compete with the other two.

EDIT: Oh, I also used to be a big fan of Warcraft lore, but I'm not at all up to date.

Lame. Most examples I can think of are space-fantasy/sci-fi. Star Wars, B5, SC1 era Starcraft...

I'm down with traditional fantasy but I can't think of many examples of universes I really like.

Comic book universes maybe. Though even then I like their cosmic aspects (Silver Surfer/Galactus, Green Lantern etc). I guess Spawn and the Darkness are next up, though the latter I only know the games.

On second thought...

The Books of the Gods by Fred Saberhagen. Retelling of Greek mythology, hinted to actually be a post apocalyptic world of some kind There's a few subtle references to ancient machines and forgotten technology which may or may not be the cause of magic and the gods. Probably the most interesting idea are the gods themselves. They're not separate beings but rather Faces, translucent masks that when worn by a human transforms them into an avatar of the god. So wear the Face of Zeus, you become Zeus. The process is irreversible. When the human host dies, the Face passes to another. The fourth or fifth book travels north and we see the Norse gods too.

Gargoyles- for a kids show it was damn impressive in its inventiveness and depth. Gods, fairies, witches and I liked the Shakespearean influence. Plus the design and rules of the gargoyles themselves are neat.

I like lore that set down its own rules, even if it subverts stereotypes (for example Being Human having daywalking vampires) as long as it stays consistent. I like magic being having rules and some explanations even if the fundamental source of it is still supernatural and unexplained. And I like having all manner of creatures show up that may not necessarily be together otherwise (different pantheons of gods, magical beings from different cultures etc).

Elder Scrolls. I've been playing Morrowind since shortly after it came out and there's a certain elegant simplicity to the setting that you don't find in many others. I especially like the lore of the different races and how they relate to one another.

Forgotten Realms and Warcraft are second and third, respectively.

I love the storyline behind Darksiders, they need to make an animated series for it (like how HBO had that Spawn series that was fucking awesome) in addition to more games.

I have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of Warcraft lore. Legit, back when I was younger and had free time during school or something, I would pull up a wiki and just surf through random pages.

It's actually more complicated than that.

Keep in mind that the Silmarillion that is published is nothing but a compilation of Tolkien's notes made by his son Christopher. We can only guess what would real Silmarillion look like if J.R.R. published it himself-- he could've included some other notes in the final version of the book.

And oh boy his notes are really complicated and sometimes self-contradictory.

Considering orcs, Tolkien doesn't seem to decide decisively what exactly their origin was. Orcs being descendants of elves is just one of many of his theories. In his essay named Morgoth's Ring Tolkien guesses that orcs might be descendants of humans, or animals, or of some elven+human mix, or might even be golems made of clay and dirt (that was some of his early theories he dropped completely by the end of his life). Some of the first orcs could even be just evil Maiar in the shape of orcs.

Morgoth's Ring is a fascinating piece of work I recommend to read it.


To the topic; I love Middle-Earth and back in the day I really fancied SpellForce universe. Too bad they've ruined it with a shitload of garbage games and books.
And of course I'm mesmerized by Mass Effect and Dragon Age lore duh 

Final Fantasy series.

d:

Age of Wonders games. ( AoW 2 being the least favourite one )

Warcraft lore is the only one I have any deep knowledge of. So, that I guess.

Tolkien, as the Silmarillion to this day remains one of my favorite books and I'm sure most can tell that I obviously love Fëanor. The histories of middle earth also get another mention. They're pretty interesting with Morgoth's ring being another favorite of mine just for the story of Aegnor and Andreth alone...
ScumbagShepurd, Heimdall and Mousestalker all have great taste.

The Witcher books/games and the elder scrolls series takes up the rest of my love.

Hmm....I know so many fantasy worlds it's hard to say. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order. All of these works I appreciate at least as much, if not more so, for their worlds as for their stories:

1. Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere (Stormlight Archive, Mistborn and maybe a few others)

2. Kameron Hurley's Worldbreaker Saga (maybe this list's most original creation)

3. J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth

4. G.R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire

5. Django Wexler's Shadow Campaign

6. Michael Sullivan's World (Riyria Series, First Empire Saga)

7. Mark T. Barnes' Echoes of Empire

8. David Hair's Moontide

9. Robert E Howard's Hyborian Age

I like stuff that stays reasonably consistent, avoids too much stereotyping and gives me something to decipher. Which in why game worlds aren't included - I always get the impression that game series reinterpret and retcon their lore for the next convenience or political or cultural fad. I like both the Elder Scrolls and the Dragon Age lore (the former is impressively expansive), but I'll only put them on a list (or not) once they're finished. Also, no TV productions are included since there has been no original TV fantasy production with good worldbuilding.