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Medieval European Fantasy
"Fantasy, for us, is a knight on horseback running around and killing things."
Todd Howard, Game Informer Issue 138

No matter where a fantasy story may be written, whatever rich history the author's homeland might have, most fantasy stories take place in Medieval Europe (or a facsimile thereof, possibly reasonable). People will fight with swords and shields, and the government is usually vaguely feudal: it may not map well to any real-world political system, but it usually has hereditary monarchs and nobles (which many other cultures also have, but if European titles are used, you're in an Medieval European Fantasy).

Medieval European Fantasy settings are sometimes littered with Schizo Tech, although there may well be Fantasy Gun Control. The modern age's Ur-source for medieval fantasy is Lord of the Rings, which Tolkien based heavily on European folklore.

Christianity can occur, but is fairly rare. Mythopoeia is possible, as well as Crystal Dragon Jesus. This will partly depend on whether it's a High Fantasy or Low Fantasy setting, as religion and magic are often closely associated.

This is also frequently the setting of Japanese RPGs, Wutai aside. And mostly Western RPGs in between Sci-Fi games. And the first settings of Dungeons & Dragons are perhaps the most well-known example (even though most D&D setting avert this trope, sheer popularity of Faerūn setting makes this trope almost synonymous with D&D). Notably averted however in Wuxia, which is a sister trope (Chinese fantasy with a long literary tradition, set in a pseudo-historical Alternate Universe China, featuring magic, wandering errant martial artists, legendary artifacts, dragons and the rest). Played straight in Japanese anime, oddly enough, except for works like Princess Mononoke.

Often depicts the setting as more Arcadia and the Ghibli Hills than the actual medieval Europeans viewed it as, though not always.

Prone to People Of Hair Color.

May be imported in a Feudal Future, with or without advanced technology.

See also Heroic Fantasy, Standard Fantasy Setting, Fantasy Counterpart Culture and Hermetic Magic, all of which may overlap with this. See Urban Fantasy and New Weird for alternatives fantasy fans, who were getting tired of this setting, came up with.

Examples :

Anime

Literature
  • The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings popularized the setting in modern times.
    • Even though the world they are set in bears only minute resemblance to actual Medieval Europe; for starters, Feudal governments seem almost nonexistent.
    • Actually, Middle-Earth is distinctively medieval, but is based on early medieval concepts, not the more popular 'high medieval' setting.
    • It feels more like Dark Ages almost. Especially when one looks at the artwork of Alan Lee, there is a distinctly ancient look about certain elements, like the late roman inspired Gondor.
  • Willaim Morris's The Well at the End of the World and its other related novels, which helped inspire the above.
  • The Deryni works of Katherine Kurtz feature feudal governance and a Christian Church to rival the secular government.
  • The Kingdom of the Isles from The Riftwar Cycle, although it's implied this may be because its people are directly descended from European refugees fleeing the Enemy, in the same way that Kesh is of Asian stock.
  • Being based on the setting that gave birth to RPGs, more or less any book universe based off of Dungeons & Dragons. Especially Dragonlance.
  • Averted by the Earthsea Trilogy: the people are various shades of brown (except for the barbarians, who are white), and the society seems more ancient than medieval.
  • Ranger's Apprentice is a young adult/children's series with this setting. Occasionally the stories move beyond "Europe", however.
  • Although George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire is set in the fictional continent Westeros, there are a lot of references to tournaments, jousting, greatswords, lords, and bannermen, ale, and people calling each other "Ser..."
    • George R. R. Martin has pretty much admitted this - the Wall is, unsurprisingly based on Hadrian's Wall, the Red Wedding is based on the Black Dinner, where the chiefs of Clan Douglas were murdered in Edinburgh Castle.
  • A Wizard In Rhyme takes place primarily in a Fantasy Counterpart France.
  • Osten Ard, the setting of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, strongly resembles Medieval Europe in terms of society (though not so much geography) with a number of direct Fantasy Counterpart Cultures and an obvious Catholic Church-analogue.

Tabletop Games
  • The most famous gaming examples are, of course, the majority of settings for Dungeons & Dragons.
    • D&D actually subverts this trope big time. Only Greyhawk and Faerūn truly qualify. Maztica is Mayincatec, Kara-Tur is Far East, Rashemen/Thay is Darkest Africa, Zakhara is Qurac of Arabian Nights variety, Athas is based on Ancient Mesopotamia/Egypt , Ravenloft is Anachronism Stew with strong hints of 19th century, Dragonlance, despite its chivalric orders is vaguely pre-medieval and don't even get me started on Planescape multiverse...
  • Justified in GURPS Fantasy with the world of Yrth, where a massive magical backfire several centuries before the current date transported in large numbers of humans from medieval Europe, who then did their best to build themselves a new home that looked and worked more or less like what they came from. Simultaneously double subverted by the nation of Sahud — first, it was populated with medieval Asians, and second, they were mostly peasants from four or five different cultures, who tried to do the same as the Europeans but ended up with a society that looked less like any actual Asian nation of the period and more like The Mikado on acid, as written by Monty Python.
  • Most countries in 7th Sea, although the ruins of the ancient Syrneth civilization mix things up a bit.
    • Again, only Ussura is truly medieval. Other countries are well into mid-17th century Renaissance, with Age of Exploration and Thirty Years War playing key roles in the world development.
  • Ars Magica even calls its setting 'Mythic Europe' and is set in historically correct settings with many folklore and religious fantasy thrown in for the good measure. In a nutshell, it is the actual medieval Europe with all fantastic beliefs made true.
  • King Arthur's Pendragon, as the name suggests, is based on Mallory's version of Arthurian England, mixing high-medieval setting with magic and Celtic paganism.
  • Das Schwarze Auge, has Aventurien, a rough equivalent of Europe with Mittelreich modeled after the Holy German Empire. Other countries and lands also fit the role of Fantasy Counterpart Culture.
  • Warhammer Fantasy Role Play has Old World that is late medieval/early Renaissance although Kislev and Bretonnia (at least from 2nd edition onwards) play this trope straight. High Elves and Dwarves also fit the feudal mindset pretty well.

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Magical LandSpeculative FictionSword And Sandal
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A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far Far Away...SettingsMedieval Stasis

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