There are many genres I love in art. Science Fiction allows us to see visions of future technology and society, both theoretical and plausible. Historical dramas bring the people and places from major events in history to life in a way that makes them more than just names and dates in history books. However, no genre of art has quite had the same effect on me the way fantasy has had.

I love fantasy whether it's the swords and magic of "The Lord of the Rings", the lasers and spaceships of "Star Wars" (that counts as fantasy, it's basically wizards and swords with a scifi aesthetic), or the cool dragons of "How to Train Your Dragon". Fantasy is one of my favorite genres because it technically has no rules and limitless potential in story telling. Fantasy is a genre that can be anything for any reason.

One of the initial reasons I fell in love with fantasy at such a young age was the world building that often goes into a fantasy series. "The Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars" are both series that have a long and detailed lore within the fiction. It gives the world a sense of history, and makes it feel like a living and thriving world beyond the singular story being told. It helps bring these incredible worlds with fictional lands and creatures to life.

Another reason I love fantasy is it's ability to bring fictional creatures to life. As children, we grow up with stories about elves, trolls, goblins, dwarves, witches, and wizards from the fairy tales and books our parents read to us. Fantasy films are the genre were those amazing things don't just exist in our minds, they become almost alive and the closest thing to real any of these creatures can ever be. And as stated before in my previous article, it's also the only place you can see something as awesome as a dragon.

Fantasy is usually a genre that centers on stories about power and great evil. "The Lord of the Rings" is a story about the bonds of friendship, but it is also about power and how power can cloud our judgement and corrupt us as people. "Star Wars" is ultimately a story about how our quest for power, even for a good cause, has the potential of darkening our souls and losing sight of the noble reasons we initially tried to obtain power. Even more stories can come from fantasy by subverting the well known and worn out tropes of the genre to play with audience expectations or to make a thematic point.

I'll be honest, I wrote this article for the same reason I wrote the previous one; I just really wanted to gush about something I love and the reasons why I love it. I hope this work gave some of you something to think about and made you decide to look deeper at the things you love and ponder why you love them. We tend to take more joy in things when we know why we love them.