Sword & Sorcery vs High Fantasy what's the difference?

Fantasy has several sub genera's, and the two I'm most often asked about are Sword and Sorcery and High Fantasy.
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The video mentions Harold Lamb, here is a link for Swords from the West, one if his best collections.

Conan the Barbarian? These are fantastic originals by Robert E Howard, his creators.
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Interested in some great "non-human" Sword and Sorcery? I recommend Elric of Melnibone.
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Also, please excuse the low lighting. I'm developing my production skills, and now I know what I need to work on next go around.

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Best

Adam Scott

[NiceGuyMike]

I'd like to recommend Swords of the Four Winds by Darial Quiogue. A collection of sword and sorcery stories written by a Filipino author which features a badass character I'd describe as "if Conan was a mongolian warlord".

[CitanulsPumpkin]

There's one difference between the two that holds true in almost all variations of the genres.

Sword and Sorcery: When you step into a throne room, you are gonna have to kill the guy sitting on the throne.

High Fantasy: When you step into a throne room, you are gonna have to save the king and get his permission to do the big damn quest that saves the world.

[siegmund]

In classic fantasy generalization there are two major categories:
Worldbuilding and Magic

Both of them has a spectrum that consits mainly of two sides:

Worldbuilding:
High Worldbuilding Vs. Low Worldbuilding

Magic:
High Fantasy vs Low Fantasy

All fantasy pieces have to fit somewhere on both of these spectrums

Subgenres when it comes to fantasy, are very fluid and most pieces don't fit into one subgenre. Usually we don't even talk about this factor.

Actual fantasy subgenres are for ecample: Swords and Sorcery (Conan) or Urban fantasy (Twilight saga)
We could also categorieze other well known pieces like LotR (Epic adventure), Game of Thrones (Political drama) or Harry Potter (Wizarding School)
But this would be very blunt and niche cause they focus only on the main key feature of a world, ignoring other aspects. In short we don't usually talk about subgenres in fantasy, only the two categories: level of worldbuilding and level of magic

This way I have to correct you: The Lord of the Rings is not High fantasy, it is the epidome of HIGH WORLDBUILDING and LOW FANTASY

If you are wandering enough what is the key difference between High and low fantasy, putting it bluntly, the amount of flashy magic present, and it's effect on the world at large. For example DnD, Warcraft and Warhammer are all high fantasies. Conan the barbarian to, actually.

Low Fantasy examples: LotR, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter

High Worldbuilding Examples: LotR, Game of Thrones, Warhammer

Low worldbuilding: Anything the Ghibli studio ever produced is top

It's also a key to add that all these categories can be done in both refine and low quality ways

[VFella]

The difference is that Sword and Sorcery are basically stories about Barbarians crushing skulls and High Fantasy has High Elves smoking magic pot. Ah, and Blood Elves, who are archenemies of the Crips Elves.

[mohammadtausifrafi]

I would like a mix, a good hero in a dark world against overwhelming odds.

[VFella]

Just imagine a barbarian invasion of Middle Earth!!! The freakin' picts finding a magic portal and laying waste to all between Mordor and the Shire!!

[doomhippie]

I wouldn't really call LotR as High Fantasy. Too little flashy magic, not over the top colorful.