How to create plausible giants?

[Tom]

ever heard of wrestler Andre the giant he had gianitist disease so might want to look that up also look him up too

Well, he had back problems and other health issues later in life which were related to his abnormal height, so I don't think he's the best example.

 

[spectre]

I've really enjoyed the anchoring of fantasy to realism. It melds science with fiction (without the corny pew pew). Insofar as a Giant, I would go the medical route. They have a predisposition to some element of your world that causes them to be large. Could be food the food where they live, the air in general, maybe there is a historical reason as to how they became Giants. If you want to create a reason, then classify the why's.

-historical events (evolution)
-medical reason
-anatomical reason

maybe this article will help:

Gigantism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Goliath - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Giant (mythology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[2WayParadox]

I actually felt that the giants in Harry Potter were well done

 

[Swordfry]

Thank you for all of the helpful feedback. I'm really getting a headache trying to figure this out the more and more I read, lol. Well I know I'm going to work in some new, fictional elements to my world, so I might just explain it away with those, but not magic.

Honestly, I'm surprised nobody has discussed this yet here. It seems like a big issue (no pun intended).

 

[K.S. Crooks]

It may help if the giants had blood with more haemoglobin so they can carry more oxygen in their blood stream to feed the larger amount of cells. You could make them partially photosynthetic so that part of their diet is actually sunlight. Have their bodies be made out of materials that are stronger and lighter than real biology. For example their bones could be made of carbon fibre, ligaments and tendons made of a spider silk type of material. Hope this sparks a few ideas.

 

[Laurence]

Don't forget, their bones and nervous systems wearing out under their weight over the years wouldn't be an issue if you only had them live for 10-20 years.

 

[wordwalker]

Avatar was definitely about Rule of Cool (two words: floating rocks), but Cameron paid pretty good lip service to science. As I remember it, the Na'Vi had enhanced bones, lighter gravity, and a richer atmosphere. (But making them lanky and warrior-quick instead of gorilla- or elephant-like was still... well, a stretch. )

 

[Saigonnus]

You also shouldn't forget the perception of giants. If your main culture all average 5 foot in height or less, even a tall person (say 6 foot or more) might be considered giants. If I remember correctly, many asian cultures and middle eastern cultures believed the northmen (northern Europeans) were giants because they were so large in comparison with them. Humans; until A couple hundred years ago, tended towards being shorter due to vitamin deficiencies or lack of proper nutrition growing up. Now it is common for men to be tall, even up to 7 feet tall in rare instances without any serious side effects due to size. The big show (WWE star) is 7 foot 2 I believe... To a person who is 5 foot 6, he might be classified as a giant.

Something like this might solve the problems expressed above with giantism or oversizing a humanoid stock.