I made this thread because I remember having a talk with Adam Jensen here that he likes Fantasy, but is not a fan of the Middle Earth universe. So I feel out of curiousity and ask what franchise do you guys find to be the "Perfect" fantasy universe, and I mean the traditional kind of fantasy with Dragons, Orcs, Knights, Wizards, Castles, etc. and of course what are the things that makes it distinct from others.
Basically if Tolkien's Middle Earth set the standard for a Fantasy universe, what franchise you feel perfected that standard or even suprassed it?
I have mentioned before that I feel the Warhammer Fantasy universe imo perfected the Fantasy genre, it has the perfect portrayal of Orcs, Elves, Dwarfs, Daemons, and imo the Humans in this universe is unique because they are essentially direct Fantasy parallels to real world human cultures. Most Fantasy settings makes Humans a homogony of Western Euro Kingdoms mostly inspired from Great Britan, here they are all distinct with clear cut cultures inspired from real world history.
The Empire of Man for example is essentially the German Holy Roman Empire during the Renaissance era, but also with Magic and Industrialization, and the leading Emperors are heavily influenced by the Habsburg dynsety.
Bretonnia is essentially Feudal Medieval France mixed with Arthurian Legend.
Kislev is Tsarist Russia pre Peter the Great I think. The name Araby explains itself, Arabic Muslims during Saladin's time.
So I just think Warhammer Fantasy perfected the Fantasy genre, but that's what I think, what franchise do you think did it better then Middle Earth or what ideas of your own fantasy setting you think can better then any other?
Basically if Tolkien's Middle Earth set the standard for a Fantasy universe, what franchise you feel perfected that standard or even suprassed it?
I have mentioned before that I feel the Warhammer Fantasy universe imo perfected the Fantasy genre, it has the perfect portrayal of Orcs, Elves, Dwarfs, Daemons, and imo the Humans in this universe is unique because they are essentially direct Fantasy parallels to real world human cultures. Most Fantasy settings makes Humans a homogony of Western Euro Kingdoms mostly inspired from Great Britan, here they are all distinct with clear cut cultures inspired from real world history.
The Empire of Man for example is essentially the German Holy Roman Empire during the Renaissance era, but also with Magic and Industrialization, and the leading Emperors are heavily influenced by the Habsburg dynsety.
Bretonnia is essentially Feudal Medieval France mixed with Arthurian Legend.
Kislev is Tsarist Russia pre Peter the Great I think. The name Araby explains itself, Arabic Muslims during Saladin's time.
So I just think Warhammer Fantasy perfected the Fantasy genre, but that's what I think, what franchise do you think did it better then Middle Earth or what ideas of your own fantasy setting you think can better then any other?