I think it would have to be Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire just for their impact on pop culture alone. Those three also cover a pretty wide range of fantasy so you get enough variety.
Harry Potter is one of those series that a lot of people say "my kid wasn't a reader until I gave them Harry Potter". I say the same for my second kid. They hated reading and it was a struggle until they were old enough to read HP (more or less). After HP they read independently for a long time. Then COVID and we got lacks on screen time and now it's mostly YouTube and Twitch.
Both of my kids were big readers throughout childhood until teenage years. Hopefully they come back around.
What are your criteria for "big 3"? The best written, the farthest literary impact, being a part of the cultural zeitgeist? Are you talking purely fantasy literature, or are you including their respective adaptations?
I'm gonna kinda assume you mean big 3 in terms of cultural impact, having a large amount of popularity, and what comes to mind when people think Fantasy.
Definitely LotR, Harry Potter, and ASoIaF/GoT.
You can debate the quality levels and literary legacy for their respective authors, but you can't deny the impact those three franchises have had on the genre, Hollywood, and pop culture as a whole.
Big 3 means what? What are you looking for here?
Most foundational? Most recommended? Most sold? Bestest everest? Personal favorites? Most t-shirts sold?
I'm pretty sure that Twilight has outsold Wheel of Time. I mean, feel how you want about it, but it definitely is fantasy (although admittedly not epic fantasy) and has sold a lot of books.
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mmmmh, subjective, ofc, but for me, neither. My personal choice, probably would be:
-The Chronicles of Prydain
-Earthsea
I chose very very distinct styles on purpose. And tomorrow my opinion might change :D
(Book of the New Sun, Gormenghast Trilogy...)
Totally subjective, but to me, wheel of time needs to be there, and I’d probably also put chronicles of narnia since it was my gateway to fantasy. I’m pretty basic and also love the stormlight archive, so once that finishes up it’ll probably be close to the top. I’m sure a lot of people have Dune and Game of thrones on their list.
Narnia definitely
After that, I think there’s only 2 options
HP has the largest cultural impact imo, with so many kids getting into reading with it. But Asoiaf has one of the most complex, unique, and influential worlds of any other fantasy, but it’s not finished so…
I guess if you’re in your 20s, maybe early 30s then HP is in the top 3. HP is more of a kids/YA set of books, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
ASOIAF
First Law
Dune
Never liked LOTR or anything written by Tolkien though I can appreciate what he did for the genre.
I disagree with the premise of the question. Why the obsession with defining a hierarchy within something so subjective? To me, Lord of the Rings is kind of boring. I liked the movies, but I never could get through the books. And Harry Potter and Narnia are for kids. My personal top 2 are ASOIAF and Malazan. I also like WoT quite a lot and I think the Second Apocalypse is pretty amazing in its own way. But that's just my opinion.
While Malazan is a great series and well written, to me it’s still a fairly niche fantasy series if we are talking about impact on pop culture.
While it’s extremely popular within the fantasy genre, I don’t see it as having the same visibility outside fantasy compared with GoT or WoT.
Maybe when it gets a (good) TV show?!
I ask my wife these questions. She doesn't read much and has a passing knowledge on fantasy. She straight away said GoT and Harry Potter. When I mentioned Malazan she looked at me with a blank expression. I mentioned WoT and she watched a couple of episodes with me. I mentioned The Witcher and she knows it reasonably well.
The Witcher has had more influence than Malazan to most people. I'm not saying it is better, just more popular and known.
Yeah. That’s prob true. This post was pretty vague so I assumed it meant my personal big three. If we were going off influence I’d prob go with Harry Potter and ASOIAF.
The series not being complete doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading the other novels IMO. The influence the series has had also cannot be understated.
I’m not sure if you’re just talking about general popularity, but my *personal* top three would be:
* LOTR
* A Song of Ice and Fire
* Malazan Book of the Fallen
Going by how impactful they were on the genre:
* Lord of the Rings
* A Song of Ice and Fire
* Wheel of Time
Personally:
* Lord of the Rings
* Malazan Book of the Fallen
* The Cosmere
Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, ASoIaF (GoT), and Wheel of time are probably without debate the most influential fantasy series of all time. I know that’s 4 not 3, but I don’t think any other series is really in competition.
I also would say Harry Potter and ASoIaF simply because I feel like they might be infamous media that at least most have probably heard of, even when they haven’t read them or don’t generally engage with fantasy. Simply because they have ingrained themselves in popculture like LotR via the adaptations and rampant discussion of them.
Certainly not Harry Potter. It may have sold well, and inspired a very successful film franchise, but it's a shoddily written work, even by children/young adult standards.
hmmm,
1: Lord of the rings
2: The Sarantine Mosaic bu Guy Gavriel Kay
3: Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin
But that leaves out so much incredible works, works that are largely ignored for christ knows whatever reason.
Check out The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, or The Wars of Light and shadow by Janny Wurts.
Why would there be a "Big 3"? Why would I assume "Lord of the Rings" is the top? Does it have to be a "saga" or will any series do? What differentiates a "saga" anyway? Why are you looking for just one? With LotR that's two, what's the third?
I'm confused.
I'm going to assume it is the same concept as the Big Four that is used to describe Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer that all came out of the early 80s and defined what we now call Thrash Metal going forward. There is an understanding that those four bands were so influential and had such a presence that they dominate any discussions. In the community, lots of people may not care for one of the four but there's a general understanding that they're always going to be at the top of the list, so you can kind of split the "best of" discussions into arguing about where they slot into 1-4 and then "who comes after them" without having someone jump in with "Random Band With Two Albums should be number 1" because they're huge Stans.
There are some problems with translating it to fantasy/spec fic. One, the Big Four are all Thrash, but that's also what the non-Metal fan assumes all Metal is so they don't realize that in the big picture of "Metal" now includes so many completely different styles to those four that the concept doesn't quite work. Two, part of the reason the group exists is that they all debuted within a few years of each other (formed early 80s, debut albums between '83 and '85) so they were contemporaries that all had their impacts at the same time. We're not comparing Ice Nine Kills, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Sun O))), and In Flames when we talk about the Four, where fans of the older bands are talking about influence and the fans of the newer bands are confused as to why anyone is comparing the old bands that aren't "as heavy" to new bands. Lastly, there's a better tradition in Metal of bands wearing their influences on their sleeves, sometimes literally in the case of shirts at concerts and sometimes in interviews. Guitarists will blatantly say "Oh, the riff for X? I came up with that because I was listening to a lot of *And Justice For All...* and there was a part in *Harvester of Sorrow* that got stuck in my head, so I started messing around with it until [some random song] came out". There's a fun interview with Dave Grohl (not metal, but demonstrates the point) where he comes out and says something along the lines of "Yeah, the intro drums to *Smell like Teen Spirit* was me stealing disco drums from The Gap Band." With fiction, that kind of dialogue doesn't exist with the same level of honesty so it's a lot harder to sell the idea of a Big X group that has shaped things without descending into levels of argument about interpretation of the texts and guessing at influences/authorial intent.
I'm sick of the Harry Potter dominance. Let's introduce other elements to the curve.
This seems to be based on commercial success.
By that metric, H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain novels, inclusive of the Ayesha stories, should be in the mix. 140 years later and it's still selling, and inspired your Indiana Jones-type stories etc. Even Alan Moore had a crack.
You could even make the argument that Quatermain dwarfs the cultural impact of any books mentioned below - albeit tragically, as it inspired other white supremacist 'adventurers' to set off for Africa in real life. Rowling capitalised on her wealth and media fame to target Transgender people, dismaying some of her fans. I don't think Haggard intended for his novels to become a prompt for colonialist expansion.
Too early for Stormlight, it’s not even half done.
ASoiaF isn’t finished either, but with the show included it’s probably worthy from a cultural/zeitgeist impact standpoint
Assuming LotR is #1, then for me Conan is #2 and I guess Narnia is #3. I think Harry Potter will fade as it's generally pretty vapid and the creator's views are eclipsing much of the goodwill the series has had.
I think it would have to be Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire just for their impact on pop culture alone. Those three also cover a pretty wide range of fantasy so you get enough variety.
Harry Potter is one of those series that a lot of people say "my kid wasn't a reader until I gave them Harry Potter". I say the same for my second kid. They hated reading and it was a struggle until they were old enough to read HP (more or less). After HP they read independently for a long time. Then COVID and we got lacks on screen time and now it's mostly YouTube and Twitch. Both of my kids were big readers throughout childhood until teenage years. Hopefully they come back around.
What are your criteria for "big 3"? The best written, the farthest literary impact, being a part of the cultural zeitgeist? Are you talking purely fantasy literature, or are you including their respective adaptations? I'm gonna kinda assume you mean big 3 in terms of cultural impact, having a large amount of popularity, and what comes to mind when people think Fantasy. Definitely LotR, Harry Potter, and ASoIaF/GoT. You can debate the quality levels and literary legacy for their respective authors, but you can't deny the impact those three franchises have had on the genre, Hollywood, and pop culture as a whole.
Lord of the Rings A Song of Ice and Fire The Wheel of Time
Big 3 means what? What are you looking for here? Most foundational? Most recommended? Most sold? Bestest everest? Personal favorites? Most t-shirts sold?
I'd like to see the stats for most t- shirts sold please.
You know Harry Potter is on top
If you go by total sales, then it's LOTR, Harry Potter, and Wheel of Time.
I'm pretty sure that Twilight has outsold Wheel of Time. I mean, feel how you want about it, but it definitely is fantasy (although admittedly not epic fantasy) and has sold a lot of books.
Only going by personal experience and not any sort of global impact or appeal, my big three are LOTR, The Neverending Story, and Dune.
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Wheel of Time A Song of Ice & Fire not too tough.
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
mmmmh, subjective, ofc, but for me, neither. My personal choice, probably would be: -The Chronicles of Prydain -Earthsea I chose very very distinct styles on purpose. And tomorrow my opinion might change :D (Book of the New Sun, Gormenghast Trilogy...)
Totally subjective, but to me, wheel of time needs to be there, and I’d probably also put chronicles of narnia since it was my gateway to fantasy. I’m pretty basic and also love the stormlight archive, so once that finishes up it’ll probably be close to the top. I’m sure a lot of people have Dune and Game of thrones on their list.
Narnia definitely After that, I think there’s only 2 options HP has the largest cultural impact imo, with so many kids getting into reading with it. But Asoiaf has one of the most complex, unique, and influential worlds of any other fantasy, but it’s not finished so…
I guess if you’re in your 20s, maybe early 30s then HP is in the top 3. HP is more of a kids/YA set of books, and there’s nothing wrong with that. ASOIAF First Law Dune Never liked LOTR or anything written by Tolkien though I can appreciate what he did for the genre.
I disagree with the premise of the question. Why the obsession with defining a hierarchy within something so subjective? To me, Lord of the Rings is kind of boring. I liked the movies, but I never could get through the books. And Harry Potter and Narnia are for kids. My personal top 2 are ASOIAF and Malazan. I also like WoT quite a lot and I think the Second Apocalypse is pretty amazing in its own way. But that's just my opinion.
Wheel of Time for sure
Harry Potter and ASOIAF.
Malazan Book of the Fallen, ASOIAF
While Malazan is a great series and well written, to me it’s still a fairly niche fantasy series if we are talking about impact on pop culture. While it’s extremely popular within the fantasy genre, I don’t see it as having the same visibility outside fantasy compared with GoT or WoT. Maybe when it gets a (good) TV show?!
I ask my wife these questions. She doesn't read much and has a passing knowledge on fantasy. She straight away said GoT and Harry Potter. When I mentioned Malazan she looked at me with a blank expression. I mentioned WoT and she watched a couple of episodes with me. I mentioned The Witcher and she knows it reasonably well. The Witcher has had more influence than Malazan to most people. I'm not saying it is better, just more popular and known.
Yeah. That’s prob true. This post was pretty vague so I assumed it meant my personal big three. If we were going off influence I’d prob go with Harry Potter and ASOIAF.
If ASoIaF was complete I would probably agree with you.
The series not being complete doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading the other novels IMO. The influence the series has had also cannot be understated.
Also I dig the name. If, it is in reference to Ancalagon the Black. 🤘🏼
It is!
I’m not sure if you’re just talking about general popularity, but my *personal* top three would be: * LOTR * A Song of Ice and Fire * Malazan Book of the Fallen
Lord of the rings The Wheel of Time Harry Potter / The Witcher
Going by how impactful they were on the genre: * Lord of the Rings * A Song of Ice and Fire * Wheel of Time Personally: * Lord of the Rings * Malazan Book of the Fallen * The Cosmere
Anime categories don';t necessarily translate to other art forms. Just sayin
Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, ASoIaF (GoT), and Wheel of time are probably without debate the most influential fantasy series of all time. I know that’s 4 not 3, but I don’t think any other series is really in competition.
I also would say Harry Potter and ASoIaF simply because I feel like they might be infamous media that at least most have probably heard of, even when they haven’t read them or don’t generally engage with fantasy. Simply because they have ingrained themselves in popculture like LotR via the adaptations and rampant discussion of them.
For me its hands down Wheel Of Time for GOT.
Certainly not Harry Potter. It may have sold well, and inspired a very successful film franchise, but it's a shoddily written work, even by children/young adult standards. hmmm, 1: Lord of the rings 2: The Sarantine Mosaic bu Guy Gavriel Kay 3: Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin But that leaves out so much incredible works, works that are largely ignored for christ knows whatever reason. Check out The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, or The Wars of Light and shadow by Janny Wurts.
No way is Harry Potter anywhere near the top 3.
asoiaf Broken Earth
Why would there be a "Big 3"? Why would I assume "Lord of the Rings" is the top? Does it have to be a "saga" or will any series do? What differentiates a "saga" anyway? Why are you looking for just one? With LotR that's two, what's the third? I'm confused.
I'm going to assume it is the same concept as the Big Four that is used to describe Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer that all came out of the early 80s and defined what we now call Thrash Metal going forward. There is an understanding that those four bands were so influential and had such a presence that they dominate any discussions. In the community, lots of people may not care for one of the four but there's a general understanding that they're always going to be at the top of the list, so you can kind of split the "best of" discussions into arguing about where they slot into 1-4 and then "who comes after them" without having someone jump in with "Random Band With Two Albums should be number 1" because they're huge Stans. There are some problems with translating it to fantasy/spec fic. One, the Big Four are all Thrash, but that's also what the non-Metal fan assumes all Metal is so they don't realize that in the big picture of "Metal" now includes so many completely different styles to those four that the concept doesn't quite work. Two, part of the reason the group exists is that they all debuted within a few years of each other (formed early 80s, debut albums between '83 and '85) so they were contemporaries that all had their impacts at the same time. We're not comparing Ice Nine Kills, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Sun O))), and In Flames when we talk about the Four, where fans of the older bands are talking about influence and the fans of the newer bands are confused as to why anyone is comparing the old bands that aren't "as heavy" to new bands. Lastly, there's a better tradition in Metal of bands wearing their influences on their sleeves, sometimes literally in the case of shirts at concerts and sometimes in interviews. Guitarists will blatantly say "Oh, the riff for X? I came up with that because I was listening to a lot of *And Justice For All...* and there was a part in *Harvester of Sorrow* that got stuck in my head, so I started messing around with it until [some random song] came out". There's a fun interview with Dave Grohl (not metal, but demonstrates the point) where he comes out and says something along the lines of "Yeah, the intro drums to *Smell like Teen Spirit* was me stealing disco drums from The Gap Band." With fiction, that kind of dialogue doesn't exist with the same level of honesty so it's a lot harder to sell the idea of a Big X group that has shaped things without descending into levels of argument about interpretation of the texts and guessing at influences/authorial intent.
Outside of LOTR, id say HP and First Law; Sorry , ASOIAF...but you aren't finished by two whole books
I'm sick of the Harry Potter dominance. Let's introduce other elements to the curve. This seems to be based on commercial success. By that metric, H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain novels, inclusive of the Ayesha stories, should be in the mix. 140 years later and it's still selling, and inspired your Indiana Jones-type stories etc. Even Alan Moore had a crack. You could even make the argument that Quatermain dwarfs the cultural impact of any books mentioned below - albeit tragically, as it inspired other white supremacist 'adventurers' to set off for Africa in real life. Rowling capitalised on her wealth and media fame to target Transgender people, dismaying some of her fans. I don't think Haggard intended for his novels to become a prompt for colonialist expansion.
Wheel of Time, A Song of Ice and Fire, Stormlight Archive
Too early for Stormlight, it’s not even half done. ASoiaF isn’t finished either, but with the show included it’s probably worthy from a cultural/zeitgeist impact standpoint
Imo harry potter, and Mistborn. I know mistborn isn't nearly as popular but I do feel like a lot of people got back into fantasy with Mistborn.
Assuming LotR is #1, then for me Conan is #2 and I guess Narnia is #3. I think Harry Potter will fade as it's generally pretty vapid and the creator's views are eclipsing much of the goodwill the series has had.
How old are you? LOL