More about the Modern Era of Epic Fantasy
From BluWiki
At the time these stories were told or written a person could be expected to live his entire life within a few miles of the same village or town. The world itself was large and strange. It was entirely believable that there were dragons and strange beasts on the next continent over -the world wasn't yet fully explored. We now know that there are no dragons next door so epic fantasy writers have created new worlds and populated them with dragons and beasts of all kinds.
This is illustrated well in the modern epic fantasy TheLord of the Rings (also made into movies). The main character, as all the epic fantasy heroes before him, embarks on a quest where the whole of the world is at stake and along the way he overcomes many obstacles both internal and external.
In the modern epic fantasy the world itself is changed. It follows different rules, has different, and more formidable creatures and enemies. Through this the sense of epic is brought even higher and the sense of fantasy is deepened.
