[jbcohen]

It seems to me that warfare appears to play a major part in fantasy novels. Except: Jordan and Martin.

[Rob B]

Warfare NOT in Jordan? Have you read Lord of Chaos?

and NOT in Martin, did you read Storm of Swords?

[Hans]

or a clash of kings for that matter.

[jbcohen]

I understand that neither Jordan nor Martin have much warfare in their novels. I am currently going back through some of my old jordan novels and I am fiding a lot of skirmishes and fire fights but no warfare.

Is fantasy litterature dependent upon warfare to keep the litterature genere going?

[Rob B]

I think you need to tell us what you mean by warfare.

To me, warfare means large battles of armies clashing.

[Keyoke]

My god, what about Martin? Espically in Clash of Kings, I have yet to read Storm of Swords, but, the very last part of Clash Of Kings had a rather huge naval battle..

Keyoke

[jbcohen]

Keyoke understands what I am talking of. I am not talking of minor firefights, which seem to be in abundance through out fantasy novels. I am thinking more in terms of large scale conflicts. Almost all of the fantasy novels that I have read have involved some sort of large scale military conflict of some sort. I know Dragon Lance does.

[Shehzad]

(cough)(cough) yes, large scale battles... SOMEONE hasnt read A Storm of Swords That book is well named....... http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Alucard]

Maybe I'm getting the wrong idea, but isn't the entire martin series, when looking at it's bare bones of course, nothing more than a war? There are certainly a lot of contenders in this war, and ones yet to enter the main skirmish, but in the end, that's what the entire story revolves around. In the end, although a bit more "supernatural", the wheel of time is that good ol' good versus evil war, each with their own armies and goals (and more imprtantly, battles involving large armies charging against one another).

And in all honesty, wars are basically just a bunch of skirmishes over a long period of time. Wars aren't like 'risk', where you build up all your people, lose patience, and then throw everything you've got at the other side (ahhh...what a game). Wars are generally a collection of smaller battles where one side slowly wears away the opposing forces until they either give up or are beaten to a pulp. As far as those novels are concerned, I'd say theres a good deal of warfare.

As for warfare's role in fantasy, I think it's more of a rarity to find fantasy novels where warfare is NOT a major factor.

[Bardos]

<<As for warfare's role in fantasy, I think it's more of a rarity to find fantasy novels where warfare is NOT a major factor.>>

And that would be nice, for a change.