Topical Gray Areas of Fantasy

In addition to the personal limitations already listed, often readers have questions concerning specific content issues of a genre. So here are some of the most common areas with how frequently these elements occur in fantasy:

Language: Low 

Because of the alternate reality of fantasy, our world’s swearing, cussing, and other offensive language doesn’t fit in. So unless the story involves characters from our world, the language issues are limited, often being in a foreign style or different language if they exist at all.

Violence: High

Warfare and hand-to-hand combat dominate the fantasy landscape. Evil often manifest itself in very physical ways. As a result, violence is interwoven with this genre so that death is not an uncommon topic or blood an unusual sight.

Sexuality: Moderately Low

Love stories in fantasy tend to be a subplot which add dimension to the story but are of secondary importance. Therefore, sexuality is often limited to some kissing, hand-holding, emotional attraction, and in the edgier secular works, a couple skippable sex scenes. (Exception: romantic subgenres like paranormal romance.)

Magic/Supernatural: High

Fantasy specializes in the supernatural. This can take many forms, from objects with unexplained powers to full races capable of superhuman feats. However, it wouldn’t be true fantasy if it didn’t at least touch the realms beyond the natural.

False Religions & the Occult: Moderate to Moderately High

Due to fantasy’s reliance on the supernatural, it also relies heavily on religion to explain those supernatural elements. So even in Christian fiction, false religions show up in coordination with evil while secular fiction often pulls from mythology, mysticism, and the Occult for their explanations.