Looking at the Stars: Why Epic Fantasy Keeps “Speaking” To Us

“I live in New Zealand, which although re-cast as Middle Earth by Sir Peter Jackson, is still very much ‘the far side of the world.’ Arguably the only places further away from world hubs such as New York and London, Paris and Beijing, Berlin and Tokyo, would be Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica—which leaves New Zealanders with two fundamental choices: to turn inward, or look outward to the larger world.

It strikes me that part of the enduring appeal of epic fantasy may be because it offers a si...