Real Word Character Goes to Fantasy World, Visits Home: Recommendations?

[Fiery Diamond]

So, can anyone recommend me a story (book, TV show, manga, anime... or other, if there's like a movie or graphic novel or something, I guess) wherein the main character is from "normal" Earth and goes to a fantasy setting and at some point during the story returns to or visits "normal" Earth, bringing alone friend(s) from the fantasy setting and/or possessing supernatural/magical powers they gained in the fantasy setting?

The main example I can think of would be Inuyasha: there are several episodes in which Kagome returns home and Inuyasha visits her at home, usually to interesting hijinks. I was watching another anime where the next episode preview seemed to promise this situation but it turned out to not be real but rather some kind of illusion (MAR, in case you're wondering), and that got me thinking about how much I enjoy the whole "character from normal Earth leaves for fantasy world and comes back with fantasy friends and/or powers to interact with normal people like normal friends and family" situation, but I don't really know many stories that do it and have no idea how I'd search for them. So, I thought I'd ask the Playground for help.

[khadgar567]

sword art online were hero and his harem including his cousin / adobtive sister date in mmorg

[Ninja_Prawn]

"character from normal Earth leaves for fantasy world and comes back with fantasy friends and/or powers to interact with normal people like normal friends and family" situation, but I don't really know many stories that do it and have no idea how I'd search for them.

The Chronicles of Narnia is almost exactly this, except that it skips over the 'interacting with normal people' part. Maybe look for fanfiction set in that universe? :smallconfused:

[Zalabim]

Without attesting to the quality of anything I ever mention, Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica/Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero is a setting where they apparently have this happen so often they've built a school to train/contain those who've returned from adventures in magical worlds with power beyond normal humans. It has a short anime run and is based on a light novel. The Laconic is a decent description. After being Trapped in Another World, badass Magic Knight takes Badass Princess home to Earth. High school and action ensues.

[random11]

Enchantment / Orson Scott Card

A big part of the book is the cultural differences and adapting to a strange environment. First by the hero that moves to a fantasy world, and later by a character he brings back with him.

[DoctorFaust]

I don't know if this is exactly what you're looking for, but Howl's Moving Castle (the Diana Wynne Jones book, not the film by Studio Ghibli) has at least one instance of that that I can remember.

[HandofShadows]

sword art online were hero and his harem including his cousin / adobtive sister date in mmorg

Just because you want them to date it does no mean they did date, because they didn't. Besides that, it's an unwanted harem. :smallsigh:

The fanasy worlds in Sword Art Online are giant MMO worlds and everyone has "powers" there. And they are artificial so I don't really think it fits what the OP is looking for.

[Knaight]

The Fionavar Tapestry has this, and it's actually pretty solid (if among the weaker writings from its author). The Spellsinger Cycle also does this. This also technically fits Harry Potter, but the normal world bits are just interludes where Harry deals with his horrible family, so it's not a great fit.

[Kitten Champion]

While it's not technically fantasy but really fantastic science fiction, but Farscape did this in its last season after having a fake-out episode much earlier and spending most of the series in highly alien environments.

Bleach did this as a matter of course.

Outbreak Company and Gate have a similar premise - a portal opening from a fantasy world somewhere in contemporary Japan - and both have the protagonist bring his fantasy-world friend(s) back to Japan at some point. I assume that happens in the Gate anime as well - I've only read the manga - but it's a whole story arc thing.

[Traab]

The Soprano Sorceress almost does this. The main character is an american opera singer who ends up whisked away to a world where music is magic. And as a highly trained and skilled opera singer, she is a WMD in this medieval world where women are generally second class citizens. She doesnt ever go back, but she DOES figure out a way to send messages back and forth between her daughter on earth and this world which she uses to bring things like science books so she can advance the culture a bit. Its a good series and I recommend it highly.

[Manga Shoggoth]

The Spellsinger stories by Alan Dean Foster include this. The protagonist, JonTom (Jonathon Thomas Merriweather) ends up in the fantasy world in the first book, spends most of his time trying to get home (with brief, almost successfil attempts on the way), and in the last book does manage to do the crossover (with and without friends).

[GloatingSwine]

I don't know if this is exactly what you're looking for, but Howl's Moving Castle (the Diana Wynne Jones book, not the film by Studio Ghibli) has at least one instance of that that I can remember.

Although the character in question isn't the protagonist of the story.


There's also Charles Stross' Merchant Princes series. The fantasy worlds are low fantasy and near-steampunk alternate universe Americas though, not high fantasy.

[Traab]

GOT ONE! Magic Kingdom For Sale Sold. Terry Brooks. In it this guy from our world takes what he thinks is a joke ad in the paper and buys a magic kingdom only to find himself in the magical realm of landover. Its a multiple book long series but I do know that at least at one point he comes back to the real world with at least one of his magical comrades and has an adventure back on earth. Its pretty much the only series by terry brooks I enjoyed.

[DoctorFaust]

Although the character in question isn't the protagonist of the story.

I dunno, I would probably consider Howl to be the deuteragonist alongside Sophie, at least in the first book.

[GloatingSwine]

I dunno, I would probably consider Howl to be the deuteragonist alongside Sophie, at least in the first book.

Sophie is the character whose internal world we're privy to in the story, and the one that is clearly intended for the reader to identify with. Howl much less so.

Howl is never presented as a progatonist, in that the audience is never with him in anything he does, he's always being viewed from Sophie's viewpoint. He might be the subject of some of the story, but he's not the protagonist.

Edit, for further consideration: Much of the point of Sophie's character is that she does not believe that she is protagonist material. Sophie believes that the world runs on narrative causality, and so as the eldest she will not be the protagonist of any stories, it's the youngest that goes to seek their fortune, after all. The big character revelation and what causes her in the book to throw off the curse is the realisation that she is in fact the protagonist, and nothing she assumed about the world was actually true (in things like eg. her sisters switching places) and much of what reinforced her belief in narrative was the effect of her own magic power making magic hats that changed people's lives according to what she talked into the hat.

Sophie is the protagonist of the book, but she doesn't realise it.

[random11]

Another one: The Talisman / Stephen King

The hero is a young boy with the ability to travel between the real and a magical version of the world.
In the book he constantly moves between the two, and he does bring a magical friend with him.

And on a totally different tone: Artemis Fowl / Eoin Colfer

Technically this is is all on one world, but there is an entire hidden magical realm, so it might count.

[Fiery Diamond]

Wow, so many suggestions so soon! Thanks guys! Keep 'em coming!

A couple of these I've actually read, though I hadn't remembered until they were mentioned, like "Magic Kingdom for Sale," of which I've actually read the whole series. I also agree with your assessment that it's Terry Brooks best work.

I'm gonna stop by the library later and see if I can find some of these.

:smallsmile:

[Knaight]

There's also Guardians of The Flame. Thus far I've only recommended works I consider good, and this is a staggeringly cheesy novel about what is basically a group of LARPers getting sucked into a fantasy world. Even when I read it as a kid I could tell it wasn't great. With that said, it fits the category perfectly and odds are pretty good that you're less picky than I am about fantasy novels.

[HandofShadows]

Opps. Forgot to offer "The Dragon and the George" by Gordon R. Dickson.

[Traab]

Oh yeah, dont forget about the ending of The Never Ending Story. :smallbiggrin:

[Durkoala]

Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series is a lot like this, although the hero's enemies intrude on his normal life a lot more than his friends do.

The basic premise is that a boy is chosen to inherit the entire universe after he nearly dies during gym class, but the current regents of creation are less than pleased about this* and are trying their utmost to kill him or make him surrender his power to them. A major plot element is that anything magical is harmful to the non-magical world, so even allies appearing on Earth is bad and usually the result of a dire situation.

It starts off formulaic, but then things start to get complicated.

*our hero is also displeased with this, but seven certainly-not-Archangels declaring war is a powerful motivational force.