High Fantasy vs Sword & Sorcery 

wow...I don't think you represented Sword and Sorcery OR Robert E. Howard very accurately at all. First of all ...as far as world building REH's Hyboria was just as/if not MORE fleshed out than Tolkiens. REH's S&S world is MUCH more ancient and layered than middle earth. If you consider that Kull and Conan are in the same world but in different ages. Conan's race the cimmerians are descendant of the Atlanteans (Kull). But Atlanteans were not the only race in Kulls age. REH's world building is actually much more complex than tolkien. Conan was a deeply philosophical character as well. he was a vessel for Howards views on statism, society and civilization. And Howard used multiple characters with intertwining story arches. Now onto the monsters Robert E Howards Sword and Sorcery has many types of monsters, demons, humanoids, Demon-Men half breeds, changelings, gargoyles, serpent men, familiars, Cosmic Horrors, Alien life forms, alien plants, alien characters and alien relics that granted wizards vast powers. Elder races and their elder magics, and types of dragons. You're really are selling REH and the entire genre short here, man. Magic? REH had a ring of power, Ring obsession, robe wearing wizards with long beards, giant spider battles, swords made of meteorites long before Tolkien . Robert E. Howard Magic was much more powerful and complex than Tolkien's if you understand ancient occult practices, Solomon thaumaturgy, eastern black magic, goetia demonology, hermeticism, Astrology, interdimensions, reincarnation. howard's S&S has worging or Beast Master magics, Necromancy, Astromancy. It's safe to say that REH's magic in Sword and Sorcery is much more powerful than Tolkien. Wizards? You are wrong when say there are no Wizards who are main characters in REH world. Look at Pelias from the scarlet citadel. Robert E. Howard DID NOT copy his magic from HP Lovcraft. Just wow.. Way to discredit a genius who was ahead of his time! Robert E. Howard corresponded with H. P. Lovecraft and the two influenced each other. Magic in Howard’s works called on ancient forces or was practiced by a relic of the ancient forces who survived to the modern world (The Devil in Iron for example). Wizards in Howard’s world were powerful but they were either not all-powerful or they had a weakness (for example: the special dagger in the Devil in Iron). Sometimes Conan was simply the witness to the passing of an ancient god (The Tower of the Elephant). This is true for all of Howard’s characters which is why it was fairly easy to rewrite some Solomon Kane stories as Conan ones. Gandalf cannot bring a city back from the ruins or reanimate a stegosaurus as meat-eating dragon (Red Nails). He (Gandalf) set things on fire several times and called up some thunderbolts but that was about it. There was very little actual magic in LotR. Instead we had magical beings. REH died before he hit his prime, Tolkien wrote at an older age. I wager had REH lived to old age he would have compiled his brand of fantasy into Sword and Sorcery epics that would have over shadowed Tolkien's works.

I always love fantasy and sword and sorcery where snow is involved like in the Fellowship of the ring or in Conan the barbarian

I miss sword and sorcery.

Doing research for a campaign I'm writing in the Primeval Thule setting. The setting is by Sasquatch Games and is based off of the writings of Robert E Howard and HP Lovecraft. The word you were searching for was episodic. Another name for the genre is Sword and Sandals. I'm trying to write the campaign as epic fantasy through the scope of low fantasy. Challenging but I think I have...angles.

I guess there is a lot of overlap between the genres

Sword and Sorcery is more R-rated. More primitive, darker aspects of humanity. Characters are in it to win it or just trying to survive, maybe trying to get revenge. It’s not about heroes in shining armor.

One of the Best video about this subject.

Great video! Very informative. Was wondering could you give me a list of classic sorcerer antagonist’s from the genre of sword & sorcery?? I’m making an old school campaign, so I’m looking for some influences.

I liked hearing your perspective on sword and sorcery. It was good to get your insights. I'd like to read your stories. Are they published?

I'm a big fan of Brian Murphy's flexible definition of S&S. Have you read his book "Flame & Crimson: A History of Sword & Sorcery"?

Great video. Best explanation I think I've seen. I like both but prefer sword and sorcery personally. That said, most RPG campaigns I'm in oddly enough (both as player and GM) wind up more epic fantasy. I think the group I'm in just gravitates towards it more.

Does elric count as sword and sorcery? Or high fantasy?

Alot the early ones are tropes rather than determinage like conan has more than himans it has none human creatures and monsters Personaly i feel comes more down ti thw moral aspwct sword and sorcery is amoral rather than the high fabtasies good vs evil scope of conflict

Lord of the Rings is very clearly influenced by Victorian/Edwardian adventure novels, in which you often have an entire party go out on a quest or achieve some kind of goal. Henry Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines is a good example of this.

I have a suggestion: I think this video is at least 5 minutes too long and I think you could trim it with basic editing (cuts) and a more concise delivery (script) without losing any meaningful content. If you had cuts, you could do each segment a couple times over to make the delivery smoother (e.g. there's a lot of "uh's" that would clear up with a second take). Cutting away to some b-roll or other supplemental material like images of maps, book covers, frame grabs from movies (like a still of Conan from the movie), and other graphics (like a two column illustration for comparisons) would be pretty simple to insert without more advanced editing and would really help the 25 minutes of a talking head. You may not be wanting to make the definitive RU-vid video for the topics you discuss, but when I searched "sword and sorcery vs high fantasy", yours was the first result. So, I'd say it has potential.

There's a lot of sword and sorcery authors out there if you read SFF magazines.

Excellent explanation of the differences

I wonder why high fantasy has garnered such popularity while sword and sorcery remains largely obscure. Well it was more popular in the 80s, but nowadays anyway.

Great video. Thanks for the breakdown. I've been a massive Robert E Howard fan for a few years now. I enjoy most of the follow up authors, as well. I think he fleshed out the Hyborian Age beautifully. Varied, altered Europe/Asia/Africa with distinct cultures.

Love S&S best. Also S&S comes out of horror. High fantasy doesn't.

I offer this comment up as a sacrifice to the all powerfull god, algorithm! May his fickle blessings be upon your channel 😂