High fantasy is generally measured against J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, the quintessential modern high fantasy.

There are two key components of high fantasy:

• The story takes place in an immersive fantastic world with no connection or reference to our world either past or present.
• The story involves a grand conflict between Good and Evil with the fate of the world at stake.

Garyn G. Roberts observes that high fantasy features "elaborate fictional universes. . . .[with] entire races of beings [who are in] both harmony and conflict. . . . the conflict, usually of a profound cultural, mythological, and theological nature, provides the complication and tension. . . " (207). Roberts further notes that high fantasy "emphasizes a moral quest in which 'good' forces are in direct conflict with 'Evil' forces." The goal of the hero is to finish the quest in such a way that the world remains intact (31).

Some people, including Roberts, see heroic fantasy as a form of high fantasy; although it shares some of the charateristics of high fantasy, heroic fantasy does not always feature an epic battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil. See Fantasy Subgenres: Heroic Fantasy for a further discussion of heroic fantasy.

For more titles, see

• Browse by Fantasy Subgenre: High Fantasy