52 BEST Epic Fantasy Writing Prompts for Your Next Story

This post is all about epic fantasy writing prompts.

So, you need epic fantasy writing prompts because you have noooo idea where to start. You’re in the right place!

You might already know whether you want your story to feature magical powers, mythical creatures, and dark forces. But how do you actually bridge all your interests into one coherent idea?

In this post, you’ll find 71 epic fantasy writing prompts that will give you a starting point for writing your dream story in the epic fantasy genre. Feel free to use these prompts as-is, or even tweak them to make them your own if they give you some great ideas!

What is epic fantasy?

Before we dive into some epic fantasy writing prompts, let’s get clear on one important thing:

What is epic fantasy?

Epic fantasy, also called high fantasy, is a story set in a fictional setting or a fantastical version of the real world. Epic fantasies typically feature characters like elves, dwarves, wizards and magicians. They usually have some form of magic and their themes deal with struggles against evil forces.

As a writing coach, I always tell writers not to worry too much about the specific genre or subgenre they’re writing. Just write the story that comes naturally to you and gets you excited, and if it turns out to be categorized as an epic fantasy, that’s great. If it veers in another direction, that’s okay too!

​But the main point is, you’re here because you know you want to write fantasy, or at least something fantasy-esque, and I’m going to give you the best creative writing prompts to do just that!

EPIC FANTASY WRITING PROMPTS:

​Hero’s Journey Prompts

1. A blacksmith discovers the ancient sword he reforged displays the names of those it must slay.
2. The chosen one dies unexpectedly, leaving their reluctant sibling to fulfill the prophecy.
3. A cursed warrior must travel to the underworld to retrieve a lost soul tied to their fate.
4. An exiled prince/princess must win a war without anyone discovering their true identity.
5. A healer discovers their magic draws life from others, forcing them to choose who lives and dies.
6. A group of friends come across a prophecy and begin fighting over who the chosen one really is.
7. A young witch with a lifelong history of cursing townspeople suddenly becomes the reluctant hero prophesied to save them.

Kingdoms and Politics

1. An ancient monarch rises from the grave to reclaim the throne.
2. A kingdom’s ruling council disappears overnight, and only a scribe remembers their existence.
3. A rival kingdom with a long history of causing destruction offers peace, but only if the royal family marries into their cursed bloodline.
4. A young advisor must expose a conspiracy within the court before the king is assassinated by a fallen angel.

Magic and Mysticism

1. A comet awakens extinct magical creatures, disrupting the balance of the world.
2. Magic vanishes from the world, and only those who never wielded it remember it existed.
3. The stars realign, granting commoners of a small village access to ancient magic, threatening the rule of the king.
4. A magic academy’s most talented students start disappearing, leaving behind strange symbols of ancient evil.

Quests & Adventures

1. A dying wizard offers his powers to the first young dragon rider who reaches his home in the mountains.
2. A lost city rises from the ocean, but as explorers enter it, they lose their magical abilities and realize there is a dark secret that needs to be uncovered.
3. A band of misfits must escort a magical young girl hunted by both light and dark forces.
4. A young woman must gather the shattered pieces of a wizard’s heart scattered across dangerous lands in a magical world.

Dark Fantasy

1. Every night, shadows devour parts of a city due to a dark curse, but no one can remember what was lost.
2. Fallen warriors begin to rise from the dead in an ancient forest because of an ancient prophecy, but they retain memories of how they died.
3. An evil knight seeks redemption by hunting creatures of greater evil.
4. A village elder’s pact with an ancient beast is unraveling, endangering the entire town.
5. A high school student uncovers a written curse under the tiles of the girls’ bathroom and dedicates herself to saving the school, despite warnings from her best friend who is hiding another dark secret.
6. A cursed forest slowly expands, swallowing nearby kingdoms one by one, and a young orphan is the only person who knows how to stop it.

Creatures & Beasts

1. A hunter captures a mythical beast, only to discover it speaks and knows forbidden secrets.
2. A dragon slayer must raise a dragon hatchling to defeat an invisible group of adventurers who are wreaking havoc on a small town.
3. The oceans begin to freeze over, forcing mermaids and sea creatures to migrate to land, and confronting the human race with the need to reconstruct their understanding of imaginary worlds and confront ancient curses.
4. A hidden valley of mythical creatures reveal themselves to be a reincarnated group of survivors from medieval times, and they want revenge.
5. A griffon rider uncovers an ancient rivalry between their beast and dragons returning to the land.

Destinites and Prophecies

1. A bounty hunter tracks down the world’s most wanted criminal, but his success turns into a curse that leads him on a perilous journey.
2. A prophecy predicts a little girl will either save or destroy the world, depending on who raises them.
3. An oracle’s visions of the future begin to change, suggesting fate itself is in flux.
4. A hero destined to die discovers their twin has secretly taken their place.
5. A comet’s arrival marks the rise of five new rulers, each tied to an elemental force.
6. A forgotten prophecy resurfaces, but the hero mentioned refuses to fulfill it.
7. A hero foretold to save the world by finding all the remaining curses in ancient artifacts is born blind, forcing the prophecy to be reinterpreted.
8. A prophecy predicts the rise of a tyrant, but the foretold villain is the hero’s best friend.
9. The last line of a prophecy is missing, leaving the fate of the world uncertain, and the hero discovers the missing line is stuck in a parallel world. 
10. A legendary seer vanishes before revealing the final piece of a world-altering prophecy.

Hidden Realms

1. A portal to another world opens every hundred years, and this time, never before seen magical beings come through.
2. A hidden kingdom in the clouds descends to earth, demanding ancient debts be paid. The world’s only hope is the biggest known heiress— who turns out to be a reluctant heir and refuses to pay.
3. An underwater empire seeks alliance with surface dwellers to prevent an impending war.
4. A kingdom trapped in eternal winter must retrieve the sun stolen by a powerful artifact.
5. A secret door in the royal library leads to an entire world frozen in time.

Elves and Dwarves

1. An ancient pact between elves and dwarves begins to unravel, reigniting an age-old war.
2. A dwarven city deep underground uncovers an elven ruin that predates recorded history— and evidence they find suggests that there is still life and these elves are their enemy plotting a catastrophic event to destroy their city.
3. A half-elf, half-dwarf hero is rejected by both kin and must forge their own destiny.
4. An elven ambassador must seek the aid of dwarves to reclaim a forest tainted by dark magic.
5. A dwarven blacksmith crafts a crown for an elven king, but the crown carries a hidden curse.
6. The last elf and dwarf to witness an ancient war are the only ones who can prevent it from happening again.
7. The oldest tree in an elven forest begins to die. Without this tree, the world will lose all its magic. Only a dwarven alchemist holds the cure.

Tips for Writing an Epic Fantasy Novel

I hope you found some helpful epic fantasy writing prompts in this post!

​Here are some tips for writing a successful fantasy book:

1. Make sure you adequately build the fantasy world you’re creating. If this world is not well-built, it will be confusing to your readers.
2. Give your main character strong motivations and specific fears. If you know what they’re afraid of, it will become much easier to write about their actions and reactions.
3. If you’re implementing magical elements into your story, make sure you have specific guidelines and “rules” for your world’s magic. If it’s all over the place and feels like there are no rules, your readers will feel like it’s not real.

Happy writing!

This post was all about epic fantasy writing prompts.

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