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{{Fantasy}}
[[File:Harold S Delay - Red Nails I.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Illustration of a scene in [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "Red Nails"]]
'''Sword and sorcery''' ('''S&S'''), or '''heroic fantasy,''' is a [[subgenre]] of [[fantasy]] characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of [[Romance (love)|romance]], [[Magic (fantasy)|magic]], and the [[supernatural]] are also often present. Unlike works of [[high fantasy]], the tales, though dramatic, focus on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters. The genre originated from the early-1930s works of [[Robert E. Howard]]. The term "sword and sorcery" was coined by [[Fritz Leiber]] in the 6 April 1961 issue of the fantasy fanzine ''Ancalagon'', to describe Howard and the stories that were influenced by his works.<ref name=SFESandS>{{cite web|url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/sword_and_sorcery|title=Sword and Sorcery|last=Nicholls|first=Peter|website=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]|date=October 10, 2022|access-date=July 29, 2023}}</ref><ref name=EoFSandS>{{cite book|last1=Clute|first1=John|last2=Grant|first2=John|last3=Ashley|first3=Mike|last4=Hartwell|first4=David G.|last5=Westfahl|first5=Gary|entry=Sword and Sorcery|title=The Encyclopedia of Fantasy|date=1999|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|location=New York|isbn=0-312-19869-8|page=915|edition=1st St. Martin's Griffin}}</ref>
Sword and sorcery tales eschew overarching themes of "good vs evil" in favor of situational conflicts that often pit morally gray characters against one another to enrich themselves, or to defy [[tyranny]].
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Sword and sorcery's immediate progenitors are the [[swashbuckling]] tales of [[Alexandre Dumas, père]] (''[[The Three Musketeers]]'' (1844), etc.), [[Rafael Sabatini]] (''[[Scaramouche (novel)|Scaramouche]]'' (1921), etc.) and their [[pulp magazine]] imitators, such as [[Talbot Mundy]], [[Harold Lamb]], and [[H. Bedford-Jones]], who all influenced Howard.<ref name=tueof /><ref name=js> {{cite book |last=Shanks |first=Jeffrey |date=2013 |editor-last=Hoppenstand |editor-first=Gary |title=Pulp Fiction of the 1920s and 1930s |publisher=Salem Press |pages=6–18 |chapter=History, Horror, and Heroic Fantasy: Robert E. Howard and the Creation of the Sword-and-Sorcery Subgenre |isbn=9781429838436}}</ref> Mundy in particular, proved influential: early sword and sorcery writers such as Robert E. Howard, [[C. L. Moore]] and [[Fritz Leiber]] were admirers of Mundy's fiction.<ref name=bm1 /><ref name=js /><ref name=mth>Holmes, Morgan T. "Gothic to Cosmic: Sword and Sorcery in ''Weird Tales''" in Everett, Justin and Shanks, Jeffrey H. (Editors). ''The Unique Legacy of Weird Tales : the Evolution of Modern Fantasy and Horror''. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, 2015 {{ISBN|9781442256224}} (p.65) </ref> However, these historical "swashbucklers" lack the supernatural element (even though Dumas' fiction contained many [[fantasy tropes]]) which defines the genre.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clute |first1=John |last2=Grant |first2=John |last3=Ashley |first3=Mike |last4=Hartwell |first4=David G. |last5=Westfahl |first5=Gary |title=The Encyclopedia of Fantasy |date=1999 |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |location=New York |isbn=0-312-19869-8 |page=300 |edition=1st St. Martin's Griffin}}</ref>
Another influence was early fantasy fiction. This type of fiction includes the short stories of [[Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany|Lord Dunsany]]'s such as "[[The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth]]" (1910) and "The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller" (1911). These works of Dunsany's feature warriors who clash with monsters and wizards in realms of Dunsany's creation.<ref name=bm1 /><ref name=js /> ''[[The Worm Ouroboros]]'' (1922) by [[E. R. Eddison]], a heroic romance written in a mock-archaic style, was an inspiration to later writers of sword and sorcery such as Fritz Leiber.<ref name=EoFSandS /><ref name=bm1 /> The "Poictesme" novels of [[James Branch Cabell]] (such as ''[[Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice]]'' (1919)) have been cited as a stimulus to early sword and sorcery writing. Cabell's novels depict picaresque exploits in imaginary lands, and were an influence on Leiber and Jack Vance.<ref name=SFESandS /><ref>{{Cite book|title=This is Me, Jack Vance|author=Jack Vance|page=65|isbn=978-1-59606-245-0|year=2009|publisher=Subterranean Press}}</ref> [[A. Merritt]]'s novels ''[[The Ship of Ishtar]]'' (1924) and ''[[Dwellers in the Mirage]]'' (1932) have also been cited as influences on sword and sorcery, as they feature men from the then-contemporary world being drawn into dangerous adventures involving swordplay and magic.<ref name=bm1 /><ref>
Also, many early sword and sorcery writers, such as Howard and [[Clark Ashton Smith]], were influenced by the Middle Eastern tales of the [[Arabian Nights]], whose stories of magical monsters and evil [[Magician (fantasy)|sorcerers]] were an influence on the genre-to-be.<ref>{{cite book |last1=de Camp |first1=L. Sprague |title=Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy |date=1976 |publisher=Arkham House |location=Sauk City, Wisconsin |isbn=0-8705-4-076-9 |edition=1st |page=10}}</ref>
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Sword and sorcery's frequent depictions of smoky taverns and fetid back alleys draw upon the [[picaresque]] genre; for example, Rachel Bingham notes that [[Fritz Leiber]]'s city of [[Lankhmar]] bears considerable similarity to 16th century [[Seville]] as depicted in [[Miguel de Cervantes]]' tale "[[Rinconete y Cortadillo]]".<ref>Dr. Rachel B. Bingham, "The Enduring Influence of Cervantes" in "Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Spanish Literature and Culture" (published in Spanish, French and English)</ref>
Sword and sorcery proper only truly began in the [[pulp magazines|pulp]] fantasy magazines, where it emerged from "[[weird fiction]]".<ref name="stiles">{{cite web |url=http://broaduniverse.org/broadsheet-archive/tales-from-the-brass-bikini-feminist-sword-and-sorcery-november-2011-bs-r |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111228100610/http://broaduniverse.org/broadsheet-archive/tales-from-the-brass-bikini-feminist-sword-and-sorcery-november-2011-bs-r |archive-date=2011-12-28 |last=Stiles |first=Paula R. |title=Tales From the Brass Bikini: Feminist Sword and Sorcery |work=Broad Universe |date=November 2011 |access-date=20 June 2012}}</ref>
The 1929 ''Weird Tales'' story "[[The Shadow Kingdom]]" by Robert E. Howard is often regarded as the first true "sword and sorcery" tale, because it pits a heroic warrior ([[Kull of Atlantis]]) against supernatural evil, in an imaginary world of the writer's devising.<ref name=js />
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Following a change of ownership in 1940, ''Weird Tales'' ceased to publish sword and sorcery stories.<ref>Weinberg, Robert (1999b) [1977]. "The Stories". In Weinberg, Robert (ed.). The Weird Tales Story. (1999) Berkeley Heights, New Jersey: Wildside Press. (pp. 43) ISBN 1-58715-101-4. </ref> However, the pulp magazine ''[[Unknown (magazine)|Unknown Worlds]]'' continued to publish sword and sorcery fiction by [[Fritz Leiber]] and [[Norvell W. Page]].<ref name=pg /><ref name=js /><ref name="nwp">[[Mike Ashley (writer)|Mike Ashley]], "Page, Norvell W(ooten)", in ''St. James Guide To Fantasy Writers'', ed. [[David Pringle]], St James Press, 1996, {{ISBN|1-55862-205-5}}, (pp. 465–466)</ref> Leiber's stories revolved around a duo of heroes called [[Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser]], and dealt with their adventures in the world of Nehwon ("No-When" backwards). Leiber's stories featured more emphasis on characterisation and humour than previous sword and sorcery fiction, and his characters became popular with ''Unknown's'' readers.<ref> Don D'Ammassa, ''Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Horror Fiction'', Facts on File, New York, 2013 {{ISBN|9781438140636}} (p.112)</ref> Page's sword and sorcery tales centred on [[Prester John]], a Howard-inspired gladiator adventurer, whose exploits took place in Central Asia in the first century CE.<ref name="nwp" />
With the diminution of pulp magazine sales in the late 1940s, the focus of sword and sorcery shifted to small-press books. [[Arkham House]] published collections by Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and Fritz Leiber that included some of their sword and sorcery work.
===Rise in popularity===
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Despite such authors' efforts, some critics use sword and sorcery as a dismissive or pejorative term.<ref name=EoFSandS /> During the 1980s, influenced by the success of the 1982 feature film ''[[Conan the Barbarian (1982 film)|Conan the Barbarian]]'', many fantasy films, some cheaply made, were released in a subgenre that would be called "sword & sorcery".
Examples of these films would include ''[[The Beastmaster (film)|''The Beastmaster'' (film)]]'' (1982), ''[[The Sword and the Sorcerer]]'' (1982), two Italian Hercules films starring [[Lou Ferrigno]], ''[[Krull (film)|''Krull'' (film)]]'' (1983), a Conan sequel, ''[[Conan the Destroyer]]'' (1984) and ''[[Red Sonja (1985 film)|Red Sonja]]'', which, like the Conan films, also starred [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]. One could potentially include the earlier releases of ''[[Hawk the Slayer]]'' (1980) and ''[[Clash of the Titans (1981 film)|Clash of the Titans]]'' (1981) which whetted the public’s appetites for such films and the live action adaptation of the Conan-inspired toy range (and subsequent cartoon series) ''[[Masters of the Universe (film)|''Masters of the Universe'']]'', which essentially ended the subgenre’s 80s run.
After the cinema and literary boom of the early-to-mid 1980s, sword and sorcery once again dropped out of favor, with epic fantasy largely taking its place in the fantasy genre. There was, though, another resurgence in sword and sorcery at the end of the 20th century. Sometimes called the "new" or "literary" sword and sorcery, this development places emphasis on literary technique, and draws from epic fantasy and other genres to broaden the genre's typical scope. Stories may feature the wide-ranging struggles of national or world-spanning concerns common to high fantasy, but told from the point of view of characters more common to S&S, and with the sense of adventure common to the latter. Writers associated with this include [[Steven Erikson]], [[Joe Abercrombie]], and [[Scott Lynch]], magazines such as [[Black Gate (magazine)|''Black Gate'']] and the ezines ''Flashing Swords''{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} (not to be confused with the [[Lin Carter]] anthologies), and ''[[Beneath Ceaseless Skies]]'' publish short fiction in the style.<ref>[http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/page.php?p=about] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508103934/http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/page.php?p=about|date=8 May 2012}}</ref> According to the literary critic Higashi Masao regarding Japanese works ''[[Guin Saga]]'' and ''[[Sorcerous Stabber Orphen]]'', they were initially planned by their authors as novels that could be classified as belonging to the European sword and sorcery [[subgenre]] but had various major elements that distanced themselves from the typical novels in the genre.<ref name="HMAI">{{cite book|last=Higashi|first=Masao|editor1-last=Ai |editor1-first=Ishidou |title=Encyclopedia of Japanese fantasy writers|year=2009| language=ja |publisher=Kokusho Kankōkai|isbn= 9784336051424|pages=45}}</ref>
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