So too does the nature of the heroes most sword-and-sorcery protagonists, travellers by nature, find peace after adventure deathly dull. Their lower stakes and less-than world-threatening dangers make this more plausible than a repetition of the perils of epic fantasy. Many sword and sorcery tales have been turned into a lengthy series of adventures. Settings are typically exotic, and protagonists often morally compromised. Unlike high fantasy, the stakes in sword and sorcery tend to be personal, the danger confined to the moment of telling. Although many have debated the finer points, the consensus characterizes it by a strong bias toward fast-paced, action-rich tales set within a quasi-mythical or fantastical framework.

Since its inception, many attempts have been made to redefine precisely what 'sword and sorcery' is. Though not explicitly mentioned in Leiber's letter, the originally Italian film genre known as ' sword and sandal', depicting heroic adventures in settings derived from the Bible or Greek mythology, was at the peak of its popularity in the US at the time when the letter was written. This accurately describes the points of culture-level and supernatural element and also immediately distinguishes it from the cloak-and-sword (historical adventure) story-and (quite incidentally) from the cloak-and-dagger (international espionage) story too! - Fritz Leiber, Amra, July 1961 I feel more certain than ever that this field should be called the sword-and-sorcery story. He expanded on this in the July 1961 issue of Amra, commenting: However, the celebrated American sword-and-sorcery author Fritz Leiber replied in the journal Ancalagon (6 April 1961) suggesting, 'sword-and-sorcery as a good popular catchphrase for the field'. He had initially proposed the term 'epic fantasy'. The term 'sword and sorcery' was first coined in 1961 when the British author Michael Moorcock published a letter in the fanzine Amra, demanding a name for the sort of fantasy-adventure story written by Robert E.

Sword and sandals fantasy