Heroic Fantasies in Prose

[ouroboros]

I'm doing a book project, part of which involves making a chronology of "fantasy-heroes" in all media.

I won't go into any long definition of this term, because everybody has their own definitions of such things. So the question is, what comes to mind when you think of "fantasy-heroes in the prose medium?"

 

[Victarion]

Robert Howard's Conan, Michael Moorcock's Elric, Steven Erikson's Bridgeburners and Bonehunters are my go-to fantasy heroes where prose novels are concerned.

 

[st barbara]

I would add Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to that list, also the various females of the "Sword and Sorceress" series, Harold Shea from De Camp and Pratt's "Incomplete Enchanter" series, Joanna Russ' "Alyx" and C L Moore's "Jirel Of Joiry", for a start. And that is just from "Sword And Sorcery". You could then add in the fantasy detective types like Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden or William Hope Hodgson's "Carnacki The Ghost Finder" if you want to expand your definition a little further.

 

[ouroboros]

I would add Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to that list, also the various females of the "Sword and Sorceress" series, Harold Shea from De Camp and Pratt's "Incomplete Enchanter" series, Joanna Russ' "Alyx" and C L Moore's "Jirel Of Joiry", for a start. And that is just from "Sword And Sorcery". You could then add in the fantasy detective types like Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden or William Hope Hodgson's "Carnacki The Ghost Finder" if you want to expand your definition a little further.

Yes, I definitely think *some* of the psychic detective types fit the general mold of the "heroic fantasy hero," and some don't. I've read a few of Blackwood's "John Silence" stories, and I don't think they fit, but the pulpy tales of Jules deGrandin would.

How "heroic" is Hodgson's Carnacki? I'm not sure I've read any of those stories.

 

[st barbara]

Yes, I definitely think *some* of the psychic detective types fit the general mold of the "heroic fantasy hero," and some don't. I've read a few of Blackwood's "John Silence" stories, and I don't think they fit, but the pulpy tales of Jules deGrandin would.

How "heroic" is Hodgson's Carnacki? I'm not sure I've read any of those stories.

Interesting question "ouroborous". I would say that Carnacki is more detective than anything else.

 

[st barbara]

Just an addendum. Looking at your original post I would say that Carnacki is a "hero", and the stories are horror/fantasy in nature (as were most of Hodgson's stories) , so in that case they should fit okay.