Any fantasy book not set in medieval Europe needs its own name, and genre. Medieval fantasy is the staple.
Medieval Europe has always been the preferred location for fantasy stories, and it continues to be. Of course there are new locations being selected for these series. But medieval fantasy was the preferred place for a long time.
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Most fantasy stories take place in medieval Europe because Medieval Europe allows for a realistic setting for creating magic systems, battle scenes, and setting up stakes. Medieval Europe was an era where people believed in magic, feudal war was common, and everyday work, and politics was intrinsically tied to family. These 3 elements are core features that correlate with magic systems, battles, and familial bonds.
As a consequence, a lot of fantasy stories take place in medieval Europe.
There are some additional elements too. For example, medieval Europe states had no cops. Thus the poor development of federal power allowed people to be able to cut down a man. Then go raise a family at the other part of town with it not seeming strange.
Also, tradition. At this point, the best fantasy stories took place in a medieval Europe era. Meaning it is just following influences that makes people choose the place. However, there are a lot more reasons, and if you are interested in learning those, you can learn more.
Let’s see ones why:
5 Reasons why fantasy books are set in medieval Europe
1. Tradition
The first reason why fantasy stories take place in medieval Europe is because Western fantasy traditionally derives from western Europe.
I give you three words: Tolkien, Beowulf and The Golden Ass. (A bit more than just 3 words, but you get the spirit goddammit.)
Tolkien
First, Tolkien. Most stories today are inspired by the most popular fantasy stories that we have in the world. Stories such as The Wheel of Time, Harry Potter, and Eragon. All these stories are a massive inspiration on modern writers, such as Brandon Sanderson being inspired by Wheel of Time.
However, these stories are all inspired by Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings.
A majority of modern fantasy stories are inspired by Lord of the Rings.
The Lord of the Rings was a smash hit, and is consistently ranked amongst the most selling stories, and books of all time. As a consequence, it is not a stretch to understand why a lot of modern fantasy are inspired by Tolkien. And Lord of the Rings has heavy Medieval Europe tones, thus the other stories do too.
Beowulf
The second is Beowulf. Western society was already used to reading battle, magic powered people, thus they were the ones most likely to respond the most to magically stories.
In places like the Middle east, they looked down on fantasy stories such as 1001 nights, because they felt it was a story meant for “women and children”. Meanwhile, the Chad knights in Western society would read stories like King Arthur and Beowulf in the King’s halls.
Golden Ass
Finally, the Golden ass.
The last reason why fantasy became so big in the west is because it was already a tradition, as shown with the wests appreciation of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and later, the Golden ass.
All these points paint a single image: fantasy was normal in the west, and accepted in the west, which led to it inspiring Tolkien, who then made it a tradition that it should be situated in medieval Europe.
2. Lack of technology
The second reason why medieval fantasy is a normal place for fantasy books is that it is perfect due to the lack of technology in the world, and its impact on the story.
The medieval fantastical setting is perfect for story events that allow for increasing stakes in battles. This is because of the technology in the world.
In any other time period, the technologies are either too advanced, leading to fighting ending too quick (guns, cannons, and missiles) or they are so underdeveloped, that there would be no way of making the battle exciting (for example, the ancient world did not have the armors that knights had).
As a consequence, the medieval era gives people the perfect technology for fighting.
They have horses which justify fast travel, and they have armor which explains why fights can be extended. Meanwhile, their technology is not so advanced that it makes the reader wonder why they don’t just nuke the enemy.
3. Medieval Mindset
The third reason why medieval Europe is preferred is because of the medieval European mindset, which justifies the appearance of magic, and the likes.
There is a book known as the Leech, which is a real historical book.
It is from the middle ages. This book is full of spells, and the sorts. The point here being that this book was used by people in stores when villagers would go to them and ask for help. it has spells for things like hair loss, erectile dysfunction, money making, and one spell binds a man to fall in love with a woman forever.
The point here is that people in medieval Europe firmly believed in magic, and its ability to fix their everyday problems.
This means it is perfect for fantasy.
A writer can easily say that all that is being seen in the story is a metaphor, or a hallucination from the characters. Or they can say it is real. The point is that it makes it easier for the readers to believe this story is real.
Another point about the mindset of medieval people is that they firmly believed in chivalry, and honor. This can allow the writer to create tensions by making characters have to work against their honor, for example Ned Stark and Jaime Lannister.
Believed in all sorts of magical stuff, and it can be used to explain away the magic. Also, they believed in chivalry and honor, and behaving good. Orr at least that’s what we can pretend they believed.
4. Familiarity
The fourth reason that medieval Europe is preferred is because it is a location that is already familiar with a lot of readers, on top of that, it is a widely read, and researched era in history.
Another rather simple reason why this place is preferred is because it is one of the most widely known about eras in history.
Other times of history are completely unknown about, such as the Male empire, or even worse, the Waggadhou empire that came before it. This makes it harder to make stories that feel as realistic as possible with these times, because the writer has to imagine other things that existed at that time.
That is not the case with medieval Europe.
Medieval Europe is well known, and researched. There are books, and texts books that cover Medieval European history, settings, behavior, and beliefs. Secondary sources, and primary sources are everywhere. In this way, you can create a story as detailed as you want.
5. No states
The fifth reason why medieval Europe is preferred is because it has no structured states, countries, or nations, instead it has kingdoms.
Medieval Europe is a feudal state.
The battle advantages for this are obvious.
The whole land is owned by the king, and everybody who lives in it. This means the king can wage war whenever he wants, and mobilize all these people for his battles. However, it also means that the King needs to be able to please these people, thus giving the writer the opportunity of making familial tensions that spill out into battles.
In a medieval setting, an affair can lead to a battle or war, which makes battles more exciting, and an emotional impactful. Also increasing the stakes of the battle. We do not want to see the adulturer win, so we want them to lose. But we also do not want to see the innocent child of the adultery dying.
However, there are other less obvious advantages to these sorts of setting.
Without a proper country, there is no police.
This allows vagabonds to roam the land, and complete lack of law to be present in other places in the story. Your main character can kill a man in a bar without having to worry about being arrested. Thus, it is an ideal setting for fantasy stories.
so inability to enforce laws, leading to anarchy
Are there fantasy books not set in medieval Europe?
Yes, there are a lot of fantasy books that are not set in medieval Europe, such as the Rage of Dragons, and the Poppy War, which are set in Africa, and China respectively.
Due to the changes in the publishing industry, there have been new books that are published. These are books that would have never been able to be published at any other time. This means that now we can often see the type of stories, and settings that we never saw before.
One of these things that we often see is the arrival of stories set in other places either than Medieval Europe.
Firstly, we are seeing stories that are set in Europe but at a different time. There are a number of books being released that take place at a way earlier time than just in the Middle Ages. For example, the book The Song Of Achilles takes place in the Trojan war, which is some hundreds of years before the medieval era.
This book is extremely popular, despite the fact it does not take place in Medieval Europe.
Meanwhile other books take place way later than in the Middle ages.
For example, the Age Of Madness Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie takes place in the industrial age. This is way later than the time we expect. Additionally, the books were received with a great fanfare, with some even calling the books Joe Abercrombie’s best work so far.
Other books do not even take place in Europe.
There are books that take place in African inspired settings, Asian inspired settings, and even American inspired settings. These books are as good as any other that comes from Middle Ages Europe.
What can writer learn from why are fantasy books set in medieval Europe?
There are a number of reasons why fantasy books are set in medieval in Europe, but realistically speaking, tradition is the most important. All those other reasons could have been recreated with an intricate world building, and magic system, for example, Percy Jackson takes place in contemporary era, yet it is fantasy.
What writers can learn from this is that it is important to breakdown why a genre work, and learn its parts. Then, begin creating whatever you want with only those core parts you like.
You could create an epic fantasy taking place in the modern era, or a detective story taking place in a Lord Of The Rings setting. These stories would be distinct, and unique. Above all, they would connect to the readers, and inspire them to do new things.
Once you have mastered this, you will be that much closer to mastering mastery.
