On 1 December, when Kim Falconer (currently writing as AK Wilder) and I joined forces to post the final instalment in the What Makes A Hero? series on the Supernatural Underground blog, I wrote that:

“Epic or High Fantasy is often termed Heroic as well, and The Wall of Night series is firmly in that quadrant of the Fantasy ’verse.”

All of which still stands, but sometimes I refer to the WALL series as “High Romantic Fantasy” as well.

The Wall of Night series

“I know” — so many terms for what’s effectively one class of storytelling, but the varying tags do illuminate different aspects of the genre. For example, I believe the heroic tradition is more pronounced in The Heir of Night, while “high romance” elements come through more in The Gathering of the Lost and Daughter of Blood

The “high romance” stems from the chivalric epics of the High Medieval period, which are a major influence on epic fantasy: for example, the Morte D’Arthur and Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, as well as Le Roman de Perceval ou le Conte de Graal, Parsifal and Lohengrin.

King Arthur and Guinevere (Excalibur)

Romance and love are an integral part of the High Fantasy tradition, but the High Romance lies in notions of quest and chivalry, of tryst and tokens, of the trumpet blast at dawn, the banners of noon day, and the twilight of the gods–and the romance is as often unrequited, star-crossed, or doomed, as ending “happily ever after.” This is the romance of Lancelot and Guinevere, Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady, of Tristan and Isolde…

In short, the love of High Romantic Fantasy may be bitter-sweet, but no less poignant for all of that — as I believe Kalan and Jarna’s arc in The Gathering of the Lost, and Myr’s storyline in Daughter of Blood, attest.

The trumpet blast at dawn…