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How Lord of the Rings Changed Fantasy
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 พ.ย. 2019
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Do check out Thomas' skillshare class on productivity for FREE at skl.sh/hellofutureme - he's a fellow TH-camr, and I use his app setup to help me write! This video was a ton of fun to put together, and I hope it offered a different perspective on the legacy of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings. We often like to focus on how he codified the genre tropes, but looking a little bit at genre theory is fascinating.
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Ok
Hello Future Me
Will you be doing a Dragon Prince Season 3 Review?? It was truly an amazing season!!
I don't mind ads in video essays, but it's really irritating as a viewer to be focused on the argument you're making and suddenly to find myself in the middle of an ad and the essay already concluded without you giving any hint of an intentional conclusion. By doing this, you're encouraging viewers to take you less seriously.
How do you feel knowing that you might not be able to make videos like this anymore?
I love the fact that Tolkien's arachnophobia is the father of thousands of giant spider monsters in all forms of media.
I think that it was Peter Jackson's arachnophobia
This just in: Tolkien invented Spider waifus
@BadWolf739 I mean... that's _technically_ correct. It just wasn't _J.R.R._ Tolkien who was afraid of spiders. It was his son, _Michael_ Tolkien.
@@tathemrelag3123 And as an arachnophobe that's infuriating. If Tolkien had created Shelob and the Mirkwood spiders (and I think there's a spider in the Silmarillion but haven't read it so I'm not sure) because he was using his own personal fears so he could overcome them or even to make the characters' fear in those scenes feel more authentic, I could respect that. I'd still really wish he hadn't, but I'd understand why he did. But picking your kid's fear and then making it even scarier is just kind of messed up and I can't justify that.
@@james-97209 no, from what i understand Tolkien was not fond of spiders from an early age...
Tolkien basically set the standard too darn high for any other author to reach. Plenty of us have sufficient imagination and writing skill but very few of us are accomplished professors capable of building worlds based on linguistics.
Linguistics are not obligatory, it's just a tiny plus.
I think this gets a little easier (or it did for me) when you realize you don't have to *be* Tolkien. He was absolutely incredible at linguistics and word choice. But he's not as strong as some other authors on, say, comedy, or social nuances, or a dozen other things. It's about finding what we're personally good at and aiming to develop that, rather than aiming only for things Tolkien was good at. He'll always be the best at being himself.
@@elpretender1357 There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of Men for this treachery.
@KRYMauL he would disagree.
@@ambrose788 yeah it get thrown a lot these days. The whole eagles and fellbeasts are fighter planes leaves me cold and skeptical, i think people are trying too hard to find parallels. Civilizations didn't had to wait the advent of working flying machines in order to come up with dragons. It had influences on him of course, but the whole industry theme is way too secondary to say anything in a meaningful way.
COPPA: Fantasy is made for children.
Tolkien: Well yes, but actually no.
See also: C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton.
Alternatively:
Tolkien: Well yes, but those children grow up.
That is literally how the Hobbit, and later Lord of the Rings came to be after all;
The first for his children, and the second for those same children as they grew into adults.
Never forget that Lewis included the lamp post in "the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe" because Tolkien, his friend, said it was a bad idea.
So C.S Lewis was trolling Tolkien ? lol
@@basedkaiser5352 on the other hand Tolkien based the character of Treebeard on C.S. Lewis because he could talk endlessly without getting to the point
@@johnnythemachine6949 bros 4 life 😂😂
That's amazing.
To be quite honest with you, the planting of the lamppost was one of the enduring pictures of my childhood, and it really helps sell the magician's evil streak that he sees all this magic and thinks "I could sell battleship parts with this." Can't even imagine what the book would be like without it.
@@MarkusAldawn the mage nephew. It's the first book chronologically
So what you are saying is that Tolkien wisely abandoned the Isekai genre.
Damn, you beat me to the joke, well played sir
Joel Danielsson there are a few isekai worth watching/reading. Connecticut Yankee, Log Horizon, No Game No Life, etc.
@@Ben-xj2rf Yes there are, however there are way to many and they are usually way to alike.
Connecticut Yankee pretends to be a goofy isekai except its just Twain saying "eat the rich and destroy catholicism" and i love it for it
Ben ahh NGNL nice choice.
"isekai is overrated"
-tolkien
Konosuba is good though
@@Jinx-iw6zb
for comedy yes
"Isekai is a mistake."
-Tolkein maybe
@@derpynerdy6294 Ascendance of a Bookworm is great, and it's not comedy.
One Piece is meant to be one of the best pieces of worldbuilding ever made...
I know it isn't an isekai, but neither is LOTR. Narnia is an isekai.
It would be amazing if you make a video about the opinion Tolkien had about Disney (not a good one).
He went to see Snow White with his friend C.S. Lewis in 1937 and they disapproved it a lot. Especially the design of the dwarves and the general tone of the movie.
They were impressed by the quality of the animation though.
It is said, I think, that Tolkien prohibited his heirs to sell the LOTR rights to Disney.
The Tolkien estate still has an iron grip on Tolkiens work. Thank the heavens they didn't sell out to Disney! The estate made a fortune with the films and "a lot" of the money aloted to the LotR tv-show goes to the Tolkien estate.
This reminds of a chapter in the book “The Magical World of the LOTR” by David Colbert. Chapter 6: Why are Tolkien’s Elves Tall?” It describes that in Norse and Celtic mythology that Elves 🧝♀️ were more powerful than humans but not gods. When Christianity spread throughout Europe pagan religions were diminishing thus elven creatures shrunk literally/figuratively only to become the reason as to why a plate broke mysteriously or to be thanked for a run of good luck 🍀. It became popular with Shakespeare and his play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Tolkien told 1 of his readers that what Shakespeare did to faeries by shrinking them down was unforgivable.
@@smashley4661 Aren't Fairies small tho? Elves are not the same thing.
@@maxbearington7565 in a lot of celtic cultures fairies and elves are interchangeable. Iceland too.
@@evantyler8647 Well, not to me they are not.
it really makes me happy that after all these years there are still people discussing and analyzing lord of the rings
The impact will live forever
*glances at pile of D&D books* Well, it is most definitely still relevant and stands the test of time in terms of quality.
The Lord of the Rings will never die.
Amen to that💖
It's fascinating
I in fact finished Lord of The Rings yesterday, I read it for about a month and a half from August 10th to September 16th
it was great, and i loved much of the new information about our heroes and many of the poems, Lay of Nimrodel, The Fall of Gil-Galad, the ones for Boromir and the Rohirrim being my favorite, so much that the pages were dampened from sadness
I'm starting Wheel of Time next
iN mY oPiNioN, I would say the greatest aspect that distinguished Tolkien was that he created stories for his world rather than a world for his stories. (Or more specifically languages, but you take my point.)
It allowed for a lot more depth and themes to be gotten across as it wasn’t constrained by the main characters because they themselves were only small pieces of a much larger story
It’s something that every fantasy creator has done since, but will never be able to surpass.
True. Tolkien was a worldbuilder first writer second.
@@quantumhelix8668 no you need to think about what you read or write. He built his stories for his world. So he built his world first before writing his stories. Tolkien had created a world and then wanted to tell a story in it. Otherwise he would have the story he wanted to tell first and create the world to set the story in. Which was the opposite of Tolkien. He was a worldbuilder first, Storyteller/Writer second. I did not contradict the OP.
I think Isaac Asimov and Walter M. Miller actually did surpass LoTR, though not the Silmarillion, in this regard due the structure of their stories.
@@Spearca The fact Tolkien passed some 40+ years ago and puts out more contiguous content faster than a living writer (GRRM)... shows the breadth and value of how deep Tolkien worked on his story. I only dream of being so in tune with the nature of my story to have such dedication.
It's better to have one TRUE magnum opus full of such quality that it has 1000 quality stories shared within it, than a magnum opus with an interesting world than putting out 1000 different stories on a thousand different worlds that don't even compare to it. Looking at you Mr. King.
Agree. He did not just create a story, he created an entire universe with a past, present, and a future.
So wait i just realised that Alice in Wonderland might be one of the first isekai ever made
Orpheus in the underworld. Or older than that, Dumuzid in the underworld.
@@oboretaiwritingch.2077 I wouldn't say Orpheus is an isekai tbh, considering that Orpheus is free to leave anytime he wants. Doesn't really fit the "trapped" criteria of "trapped in another world."
@@HunterStiles651 I don't think being trapped is necessary for Isekai, it's just a trope of the genre. The Other World part is what's important. However you ARE correct.
Every Isekai involves being trapped in this other world, but really, I think it's just an excuse for plot relevance, because otherwise "Its just a game" or whatever. Isekai is pretty lazy to begin with. It's literally stereotypical fantasy with added video game crap for some spice. Personally a The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe style Isekai, where the children can leave, but the people of the world can not is still an untapped idea in Isekai. Could be good. The morality of treating the game world like a game world and such.
Take away the trapped part and I still think audiences would see it as Isekai, as well as Isekai only meaning "Another World."
Max Theawesome that is a very nice way of explaining it
@@pleaserebootkidicarus4089 Uh, thanks!
Nobody seems to ever consider every Isekai is about being trapped, they always see it as just another world. I sure didn't! So obviously, it must not be that important haha otherwise people would actually care about that detail.
7:55 this reminded me of a review of A Song of Ice and Fire that said it was "Fantasy for smart people," implying that other fantasy - and by immediate association LotR - is childish and not intellectual. And I'm like "Bruh, LotR still has more thematic depth and world depth than 95% of the genre and it's been decades."
(and that includes ASoIaF)
videosearcherwhenbored LotR has more thematic depth than 95% of fiction, not just fantasy. It also has some of the best prose.
HAH, the main problem with LotR is that it is inaccessible as it was written by a linguistical genius towards other academics who read classical literature, norse sagas and history. The movies helped wonderfully with that, but it is still something of an issue.
A Song of Ice and Fire, while pretty good books is about something else. It is about medieval politics, people and intrigue. It does that remarkably well, but it is far more accessible than Tolkien's writings will ever be. On that note, why can't I find the Fall of Gondolin in Pocket format anywhere??
Isn't there a C.S. Lewis quote being harshly critical of that desperate desire to be 'mature' and 'adult'?
C. S. Lewis just shitted on a lot of people by saying that and I find it hilarious
Just walked out of a movie marathon at event cinemas of all 3 lord of the rings movies. It definitely impacted my life, I’m glad to say long after Tolkien has left us he is still impacting lives, and will continue to do so for many generations.
I've heard tell that was his intention. To create a modern day fantasy on the order of Gilgamesh and other epic poems of antiquity.
Shout out to Peter Jackson too! He distilled Tolkien's world and story so well that when I think of the series I often see the movies first
@@matthewlewis9607 And Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens! Yes Peter filmed it but the scripted was written by all free! Such a brilliant Trio :)
Skillshare, Squarespace and... Raid Shadow legends. The Holy trinity of paid in-video advertisement
Don't forget Audible
And the VPN brotherhood.
No wonder the Dark Lord and his friends were so obsessed with them.
All garbage cash grabs.
*The Coldest Water has entered the chat*
Last time I was this early we still had Gandalf the Grey
@Laurence Gould Last time I was this early, I could reach Numenor without scuba gear.
The last time I was this early, Telperion and Laurelin we’re still standing.
Last time I was this "early" Eru Illuvatar is all alone in the Void
Gandalf The Grey > Gandalf The White.
@@elijahfordsidioticvarietys8770 Gandalf The White is somehow much wiser and a bit powerful than before i guess
I always think of Fantasy as being based on Truths (Ideals) and Sci-Fi as being based in Laws.
Fantasy stories don't necessarily need complex and defined magic systems, but they need in universe truth: the power of humility, the power of love, the inevitability of time and decay. Magic maybe, but more importantly truths.
Sci-Fi on the other hand lives on laws. Ships that fly through space use black hole technology and theoretical sciences that are only just beyond the imagination of real life. We have lazors powerful enough and small enough to create a replica of a video game character's gun, a replica that can set your drapes on fire from 3 meters away. Sci-Fi takes the just unrealized, and pursues it to it's logical extreme.
Then you have Science Fantasy. The mixture of Truths and Laws. I think examples like Star Wars and the modern Doctor Who speak for themselves in this regard.
I agree with this one hundred percent. You are a genius, don't let anyone tell you differently.
An excellent video essay. You've really hit the nail on the head on why LOTR works as both a fantasy story and as a foundation for other fantasy stories that came afterwards.
Tolkien did attempt a time travel fantasy in the mid 1930's called 'The Lost Road' linking his fantasy universe with the real world which he abandoned.
You should do a video on the dark twin of Tolkien, M.A.R. Barker, the forgotten creator of the World of Tékumel that never reached his fame, because his deep world-building is as dark and twisted as LotR is hopeful and noble.
Fun fact, it became the 2nd RPG published (by TSR), The Empire of the Petal Throne.
@@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115 I just translated a sociology book that features reports of several gaming sessions of Empire of the Petal Throne, including some mastered by Barker himself. Many of the early players were really brutal and sadistic, but I suspect a negative sample bias from the author.
@@TheZapan99 Picked up a copy of Man of Gold somewhere and a friend found a copy of the game for about $20. An amazing world nobody knows about. But it isn't European and has no horses.
Probably cause he was a,neo nazi
One book that people seem to miss, when talking about pre-Tolkien fantasy, is E.R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroborous. Which is utterly bonkers, but also really good fun.
There is also Frtiz Leiber and Robert E Howard.
@@johnaucamp7106 Agreed.
How can one discuss pre-Tolkien fantasy without addressing Robert E. Howard?
(For those familiar only at second-hand through the Conan movies or the smears of the New Wave sci-fi author movement, he's well worth your time to read. "Beyond the Black River" is my favorite, but he wrote a lot of strong stuff during his short life.
While I'm at it, Edgar Rice Burroughs deserves a shout-out. As does Arthur Merritt, Clark Ashton Smith, many others that are momentarily slipping my mind, but which I will be kicking myself for not mentioning.
Eddison still used a character from Earth to tell the story, though thankfully he forgot about him after 10 pages. That was the standard trope but in all other respects The Worm Ouroburous defied the tropes mentioned here.
And if you read it, have a very, very good dictionary on hand. Also prepare to throw things at the conclusion - about the least satisfying that I've ever read.
It was The Fellowship of The Ring that really got me into worldbuilding, and I'd really like to thank it for that. I feel like it really helped to deepen my stories.
So instead of making a fictional world existing in the books its more of a simulation or reality.
Would Tolkien make a good video game developer?
Worldbuilding expert, for sure. Like Richard Watson for Myst games. Design (playability) though - that's trickier than just a cool setting.
i see Tolkien as having a particularly strong loathing of video games in general as being empty shells full of smoke and noise and of the same value in a narrative sense... but bare in mind that this opinion is coming from a nongamer's perspective...no offence is intended what so ever
@@scottmantooth8785 What do you think he'd say if you showed him really nice worldbuilding in a game? Or a gripping story? Or both?
@@JaneXemylixa it would have to be really good and articulate and in no way haphazard or jumbled together...the construction would need to make sense logically within the laws of physics or magic that would exist within that given narrative construct...i will grant you without reservations that such worlds do exist within a few games...and there is the possibility that Tolkien would view such worlds (and dissect them) with an eye sharper than most....but we are viewing Tolkien as he existed not as he would be if he were living today...views and opinions shift and transform over a lifetime...i'm not the same person i was twenty or thirty years ago (yeah, i'm that old) ...and my opinions on particular things have shifted a bit here and there..but core beliefs have remained the same...
@@scottmantooth8785 I remembered Riven. One of the most detailed VG settings ever developed.
He's got his kids making millions off his silmarillions
ERB
Ah yes
I see you are a cultured one.
World's best grandfather
He’s more rock and roll then you’ve ever been
5:04 Marketing vs Creativity. A tale as old as time...
HFM: Fantasy existed before Tolkien.
Me: HERESY! BURN HIMMM!!!!!
Glory to the empire
Fantasy lead to Chaos, and Chaos is heresy.
Fantasy existed before Tolkien but he started the true era of fantasy
BURN THE HERETIC!
3:08 So are you telling me that the Isekai Genre is ideologically indebted to pre-Tolkien Fantasy
Oh easily. Burroughs was writing what we would call Isekai as early as 1912 in his Barsoom and hollow earth stories.
frigidmagi I would also consider Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court isekai.
"that book you've been working on for half a freaking decade"
11 years now, but it's also now 3 books and I'm 2 chapters of edits away from finished. SOOOOO close to finally being able to move onto the next story. This one sucks, but I have learned some great skills from my attempts to polish a turd. The new story will be much better
Best of luck to you!!
Give us a name so we can check it out
@@AnakinTheWeird Okay, but my work so far sucks. Kinda just getting these 3 into a condition where nothing is outright wrong, before moving on to a different story now, which should be much better thanks to the skills I picked up trying to polish a turd.
Google Merrick D. Pearlstone and my works should come up.
Keep going and best wishes to you!
And that's my Middle Earth is my favourite fantasy setting of all times.
At first I thought, "well, Tolkien is just making mythology, it's no different than something like Beowulf" but I can't believe it *just* occurred to me that those ancient stories take place in the real world and never leave it, while making an entirely new world for it's own sake was something totally new. Every year I find out something more genius about the man
Elfs existed in mediavel folclore for cdnturies.
But every time we heard the word elf it is the tokian elves that come into mind.
Probably because he made them people.
To elaborate, the elves we see in at least English folklore and mythology are completely different to the ones we see now. Where Tolkien's elves were tall and agile, traditional elves were small and magical. While J.R.R.'s elves built societies and structure, folklore elves made homes inside trees and mostly leeched off of society. Everything from anatomy to social structure to abilities was completely scrapped and redone, although I think this may have been with inspiration from other, international traditions, but I don't believe the creatures involved were elves. Not sure about Norse Elves... still gotta get properly brushed up on my norse mytholgy, but working my way through Greek again is a higher priority for me right now
Grammar is something that's good.
Either that, or the Christmas elves.
@@mezz09smezzanine Norse elves were the originals and were somewhere between gods and men. something more and something less. they were diluted by the english and diminished further with the spread of christianity. elves also tend to cover a wide range of beings. elf and faerie were initially indistinguishable from each other in english/celtic myths as well.
I have seen the wardrobe in “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe” used as a symbol of escape, and I fundamentally disagree with that. I think C. S. Lewis’ books are in one form or another escapism, but the book clearly paints a picture of children going into another world toward danger not away from it. I don’t think Lewis’ world is always a means of escaping the daily grind. It does appear such as in “The Silver Chair,” but TLTWATW I think carries a different purpose. As a Christian, Lewis believed in the idea of a “true country” and though Aslan’s country becomes the literal manifestation of this is the final book, Narnia is a place that mirrors that other country. I do think he uses the didactic fantasy elements throughout the series, but I don’t think it is supposed to be a means of pure escapism as some people see I today. I think it could be read that way of course, but I’m not sure that was the authors intention. Obviously though this sparks a completely different question around whether or not a book is defined by the audience or the author, but I tend to lean toward the authors intent, not what people think it is.
The kids are in the house with the wardrobe because they are literally trying to escape the bombing of London during WWII.
Adnan Ilyas I understand that. I didn’t say it wasn’t a form of escapist literature. I said that to simply say to claim the wardrobe is just a symbol of escape is underestimating the story. Lewis adds a ton more depth than that. For the sake of this video, I agree with a lot of what he says. I think it is a thin explanation of the Narniad to show how it was geared toward children. I don’t think he needed to add anything else. I am simply saying that the Narnia books have a lot more depth than just “escapist literature” and to just say the wardrobe is the symbol of escape is a projection of the current idea of what escapism is.
Yes-thank you, I was coming down here to rant on how much Hello Future Me has misread Lewis, and you’ve saved me a good chunk of writing.
Also, the time behaving differently in different worlds is not a marker of a lack of consequences in Narnia. The whole point is that the events in Narnia DID happen, and the threats to characters-physical, but more importantly, moral-are equally real.
Maybe HFM’s statement is true of Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass or Wizard of Oz, but being dream literature, those aren’t fantasy anyway, and don’t belong in the discussion. E. Nesbit and George MacDonald are much more pertinent, even if less well known. Read Tolkien’s “On Fairy Stories” and similar Lewis essays to understand better how they understood their works as connected to Fairy Tale (especially in its ancient sense of a tale of the land of Faerie) rather than a Fantasy genre. The asynchronous time in Narnia is NOT to signal that it’s a dreamland (...with shared dreaming? It doesn’t make sense in that light), but because it’s a separate world, and like the old stories of the land of Faerie, one where time behaves differently. Literarily, the reference is less Alice in Wonderland, and more Rip Van Winkle or the Fairy Queene. Time behaves differently in the fairyland of Rip Van Winkle, with very real and horrifying consequences for our protagonist.
There are also huge theological implications in Lewis’ use of time, but that’s a whole separate essay for another time.
Adnan Ilyas From the books rather than the movies, it is not really true that the children are “trying to escape” the Blitz, since they have been sent away by their parents, and historically, they probably would have been sent away well before any bombing. The movies make more of a deal about the setting than Lewis does, because it’s fun window dressing for a film, but totally unimportant for the story.
Actually it's not based off God's country it's based off Northern Ireland because, and I'm not supposed to tell you this, we have a talking lion Jesus.
Could you do a video on the outcomes of Team Avatar taking the offer of Long Feng to leave Ba Sing Se outright in exchange for Appa? I know they dismissed it immediately, but if they hadn't, it would of had some interesting outcomes.
1. Azula would have never known about the invasion plan, or have been able to take over Ba Sing Se, which would mean that the Day of Black Sun would have likely been a success, or at the very least much more successful, and that the Earth Kingdom would have never 'fallen' like it did in the show.
2. Zuko and Iroh would not have reconnected with Azula, meaning that they would be free to live their lives in comfort and prosperity serving at the Jasmin Dragon.
3. Aang would have been able to master the Avatar State without interruption, but would probably not been able to find another fire bending master, or discovered the true meaning of fire with Zuko.
4. All the events that took place in the Fire Nation, or happened as a result of the invasion failing would not have been necessary. So no Sokka sword mastering, no reconnecting with Suki, etc. (Sorry Sokka)
5. No one would have betrayed Azula, meaning she (probably) would have never become crazy like she did at the end.
6. Ba Sing Se would have had no reason to be saved, and therefore would still be ruled by the Dai Lee.
Or... Team Avatar, having defeated the Fire Nation After the Day of Black Sun, spend the rest of the season liberating Ba Sing Se from the inside.
Thinking about this chain of events and how they effect the comics/Korra would be cool too
Got it: Tolkien literally ended the Isekai of his time. We need another Tolkien.
I think it's easier than that.
Most fantasy existed outside of English (German literature from the 19th and early 20th century is nothing but what we would now call fantasy).
Tolkien was just writing his works at the right time and in the right language (+ of course being a skilled writer)
Journey through the West is probably among the most influential novels in human history and it’s pretty a fantasy novel published in the 16th century. Tons of Asian temples still have sculptures of the main cast on their rooftops and reimaginings and adaptations are still made constantly in modern Asian pop culture.
Can you give us examples?
@@aristotlethepoet8030 I don't know any books from the top of my mind, cause I'm not German and do not read enough German.
It's just something your learn in German or History class: it's the Romantic era, which meant a lot of stories about traveling faraway to exotic places (back then exotic places were lame compared to nowadays, I remember reading a book about someone traveling to Senegal and it felt just as magical as Middle Earth.)
Also remember that basicly all fairytales were first written down from oral tradition in current Germany (Brothers Grimm).
I do have a favourite though! "die Stein und Flöte: und das ist noch nicht alles" by Hans Bemmann. A long story about the life of 'Listener' who embarks on both a physical journey as well as a journey of self discovery in a world that's similair to our world and with "magic" that is more like tales of myths and rarely is confirmed to be more than a story.
@@Langharig_Tuig To say that the Brothers Grimm were the first to write down the stories told by oral tradition and that therefore all fairy tales are Germanic is quite misleading. Charles Perrault of France wrote down the previously oral stories that came to be known as the Tales of Mother Goose and he did that back in the late 1600s nearing the turn of the century long before the Brothers Grimm appeared on the scene. In fact, many of Charles Perrault's stories influenced the German ones the Brothers Grimm wrote more than a hundred years later.
The writers of Weird Tales would have a bone to pick with you.
I know this video is about " lord of the rings" and tolkien. But i've gotta say this: i Love "the chronicles of Narnia"
2:30 actually for our group it was a Paladin that did this, he also checks rooms for traps with his face and somehow lived, my Rouge said you know i can disarm then without them stabbing you in the face to which he said i was taking too long, it made my job less dangerous as now i could stand WELL BACK and let him go first.
My one problem with Tolkien is that he set the bar so damn high, I doubt anyone will ever truly reach his level 😭😭
I was rewatching the return of the King on TV ..and my Dad (who didn't watch the movies) passed by just as Aragorn bows to our 4 hobbits .. he just stopped and was in awe ..and asked me why was the king bowing to them . ..he got even a little emotional even though he didn't watch the movie ..that's what made Lord of the Rings unique ...it made us care about a universe that doesn't exist and isn't familiar to us..but the connections between people ..Hope ..friendship..love and sacrifice ..that's familiar ..that's what we seek ..Lord of the Rings will remain the best because it had heart
Everytime I read his works and watch the movies I FEEL like I'm in the world, I SEE MYSELF in Middle-Earth. What makes his works stand out from other fantasy authors such as George R. R. Martin and Frank Herbert is everything from the names of locations, to the point where they feel like REAL places, to the descriptions of places as if Tolkien himself was there before. The way Tolkien described EVERYTHING makes it seem like he was there, in the moment, and that makes it more submersive.
I have to disagree with you on Tolkien being the first to create a serious fantasy world. LOTR was published in 1954. Prior to that was pulp fiction specifically Robert E Howard and his creation of Hyborea and Edgar Rice Burrows with John Carter of Mars (and other worlds) I'll grant that Tolkien wrote more in depth but he was not the first.
I have found that with Tolkien's work you need hours, if not months, to digest the genius and wonder of it.
years
Or 20ish read throughs.
Or 20ish reads
Or 20ish reads
When it comes to writing, you can't wait for a good time. YOU have to MAKE time for writing, even if it's only a little bit at a time. Everyone has busy lives, and everyone gets tired because of these busy lives, but the reality is if you can't even square away 30 minutes or an hour just for writing, you're never going to put that idea to page.
This is why I always click on your videos man. A unique take on Tolkien of all subjects is so hard to find, and I'm willing to bet that a lot of other TH-camrs wouldn't be able to pull of a video of this depth in a month, much less a week (if that's how long it took you to make, but feel free to correct me). You're a badass!
So Tolkien woke up one day, wrote an entire language and said, "Man this needs an epic back drop" It is amazing how much Tolkien influenced the genre. The genealogy of almost all modern fantasy can be traced back to that one man. It's almost sad that so many of the little things that he introduced were put to the wayside.
Tolkien took inspiration from norse and other mythologies and then set the standards and stereotypes for fantasy races and beings.
Tl;dr: He made it AWESOME and INTELLIGENT and INSIGHTFUL!
still the best name
You forgot to mention about Robert E. Howard's work, he never wrote for children.
As it says in the video, with what Tolkien did, makes him the greatest Author of all time. No Author has EVER done (or come anywhere near) to what he did. Also the knowledge, the depth, the history etc, made it soooo believable you could truly imagine such a world existing. He made the story not just deep but believable. Motivational, inspirational and a world you could/can escape to. It has affected and impacted so many lives, including mine. Also helped me when I was in/at a dark time and has helped save my life and made it stronger. Also an Author that truly believed in his own work and even had the names "Beren" and "Luthien" inscribed on his and his wife's gravestones. A true Master, a Genius and I am honoured to have lived in a time to experience his story, his books and the movies. There truly will never be another Author like him and unfortunately there will be no-one/nothing like him or the movies ever again. God Bless You J R R Tolkien and thank you for what you have given us. Mae Govannen and Namarie Mello nin.
I'm a simple man I see LOTR I click like.
Not to mention the depth and dimensionality of his male characters. They're allowed to love and to mourn and to express those things freely, it makes the characters feel so much more real than most rigid, one dimensional male characters we typically see.
@Kristen R got to love how modern media butchered the male experience, huh?
You know it's interesting you namedropped the Shannara series, as that's such a good example of how a fantasy series can actually break out of those confined tolkienistic tropes. Those first few books tenatively dipped their toes in ideas but didn't make the real leap but god there are some GOOD and varied fantasy ideas throughout that series
I would love to see what do you think about worldbuilding in Dark Souls.
Unfortunately, due to how Miyazaki created the universe as a concept, he left it almost all up to interpretation. The only truly set in stone things are the intro cinematic, the names of the locations, and the names of the characters. Everything else is up for debate and personal interpretation. He did this so that the player could better identify with the world as a whole, as well as give the player the option to say what they believed was true.
There's a lot of channels dedicated to the "lore" of Dark Souls, but in my own mind I see these ideas as fundamentally flawed, because they are trying to tell you how to interpret the events and history of Dark Souls.
So, the world building is really done by you, not From Soft.
@@readalotknowalot which makes sense because it is a different medium. Games are more interavtive
@@readalotknowalot I feel like you're conflating "up to interpretation" with "never brought together in the same sentence." While it is true that a lot of the lore is up to interpretation, there is pretty substantial evidence for a significant portion of it. And in the end, every story is up to interpretation, it's just that some require (or empower) more. What's unusual about Dark Souls (I know that a million sentences begin this way, but please bear with me) isn't that it's up to interpretation - it's instead that the game never actively encourages you to put that stuff together. It's just there, and you can engage with it if you want, and if put together it can create a more or less coherent whole, or about as coherent as possible anyway.
I'm gonna second this - I'd love to see your take on the world of Dark Souls
@@Robert.Stole.the.Television It's very much like what we have left of say Norse myth. we have fragments that leave certain ideas as pretty set but, so much is lost that there is overlap and confusion on specifics.
2:25
*looks at current dnd campaign*
can't deny that
Thank you, I needed this video! Seeing how "just writing a book" may not be enough - it seems important to consider the time we live in - as bringing readers in a new direction can be done well or less so. It would be interesting to see a video about finding that balance between using a "formulaic genre" and "breaking the mold": using something that the reader is familiar with, yet provide something new to the metaphorical table.
I think part of what makes book like Lord of the Rings (and lesser known works like The Earthsea Cycle and The Book of the New Sun) so special is that they're talking about things that are incredibly real, but cannot be described literally. Frodo's path of darkness and light is something that is a real process, that of growing up and finally going to Heaven, wearied and laden down and ready for rest. Ged's cycle of growing, maturing, stripping of power, and eventually finding a family mirror something very real but interior. The Book of the New Sun chronicles that awful realization one has when they come to know how deeply flawed they are, and that much of what they think they are must end in order to truly live. One could go on.
But, like you'd said, Tolkien's literalization of Middle Earth (this is a real place with its own history) allowed for the interior conflicts that we all go through to have some form of concreteness. It's different to tell a reader that the things that they go through that no one else sees will be fleeting and strange than saying "No, that has real effects. WHAT YOU FELT WILL GO ON". I think Tolkien captured something that no one before him had captured. And he managed to strike when the iron was hot, post WWII, when people desperately needed to be told what he was saying.
But that's a digression for another day.
I'm surprised he didn't at least give a nod to Robert E. Howard and his Conan the Barbarian series which was close to contemporary with Tolkien. He, H.P. Lovecraft, and Tolkien were at least aware of each other in the 1930's I believe it was. Howard's world and genre has at least a lot of parallels to Middle Earth. It's considered Dark Fantasy or possibly "Low Fantasy" by some, and this would include the Thieve's World series as well.
You know, now that you bring it up, it made me think of something. Conan and LotR have a strangely specific thing in common: that they take place in a fantasy land of wonders and dragons and wizards, and yet both insist that they actually take place in the distant past of the real world and not an actual fantasy universe. With the video pointing out the importance of marketing in the grand scheme of things, now I'm left wondering if that point was here for that purpose, as if to say "it's not REALLY a fantasy story so it's okay for adults to like it"
Yeah Conan may not be as big or as in-depth as LOTR, but it still made its mark on the fantasy genre and left behind its own legacy that lasts even today.
John Meyer I love HP lovecraft. But No One in Europe knew who He was Lol. He was irrelevant until the 60s. I Think the same goes for Robert, but No sure. The chances Tolkien knew Them is/was quite small.
More or less what I came to say. Really the only mention of the "pulps" was Lovecraft, and he was more Horror. Leaving out the whole Sword and Sorcery pulp genre is a big miss.
Weren't Howard and and Lovecraft collaborators as well? If I recall, they're fantasy world's are interconnected. Or at minimum they share characters.
It's worth noting that anyone familiar with Norse mythology will know of far older examples of the old wandering wizard with a pointy hat. The original also has an eyepatch, a couple of pet ravens, and the horse he calls upon is a little more interesting than Shadowfax, given it has 8 legs. Odin is the prototypical wizard, Tolkien just popularized the idea in the modern English speaking world.
I thought the fantasy genre existed forever, since the ancient myths of Theseus, Perseus, Beowulf Siegfried Gilgamesh etc. Aren't these considered epic fantasy?
No because they are religious texts and/or epics build around real people for example Gilgamesh was a historical king of the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, a major hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology, and the protagonist of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late second millennium BC. He probably ruled sometime between 2800 and 2500 BC and was posthumously deified. Fantasy has to be fiction(completely) first.
There is a massive Conan and RE Howard shaped hole in the history section of this video.
Yup. Robert E. Howard did a lot of stuff Tolkien gets credited with first. A secondary world with heroes from that world? Robert E. Howard. Writing fantasy to appeal to adults? Robert E. Howard.
Well, Howard was great but Conan isn't a particularly likable character and the Hyborean Age is very dark to care for.
AzureSymbiote Bad logic there. Just because a place is unlikeable does not mean it doesn't follow the rules for a fantasy world. Mordor is not my idea of a vacation spot. I also include the worlds of Edgar Rice Burrows.
@@timbuktu8069 I said Conan isn't very likeable.
Yes. Conan predates Middle-Earth by at least five years, and so does the appetite for fantasy world-building. Howard also read Dunsany and William Morris.
Tim: Tolkien didn't invent fantasy.
Me: So you have chosen... death.
So, I spent a lot of time when I was younger playing Lord of the Rings Online, (and am thinking about getting back into it), and I _really_ loved it. You can tell that the people who make it _love_ all the background Tolkien wrote for Middle Earth. They take time to flesh out so much of Arda, especially the various cultures of Men. The Dunedain, the tribes of Dunland, the people of the Lone-Lands, the people of Bree-land, and _so much more._ And that's just in Eriador. And for a pretty low price tag, at that. The game itself is free-to-play, but you can buy fairly inexpensive quest packs that are _massive,_ and the main quest line is _always_ free, you'll just have to find ways to grind to get to a high enough level to play it if you don't want to give the LOTR fans who make this game any of your money.
I love it more than any other LOTR game on the market, simply because it really feels like a labor of love, and not just a corporate cash-in. (And also all of the lore the game makes up to further flesh out the world fits in seamlessly into what is already there.)
Honestly side note, I'm so happy to have discovered this channel. I remember I stumbled upon this when I was needing inspiration for a big bad guy in my D&D campaign. And literally just one video has me watching every video so I can get a better understanding of how to do better storytelling, how to do better world building, how to make interesting villains, unique side characters, and etc. Honestly love your channel and will always keep supporting it.
Things you bring up in this video: The fact that scifi and fantasy were conflated in early years of publishing +
The idea that LOTR changed things by using a framing device to make the story more real and consequential =
The association: Science fiction, including Lovecraft and going all the way back to Frankenstein, use framing devices to ground their stories in the real world. You could say Tolkien changed fantasy by making it more scifi.
One aspect of Tolkien's influence that I think is worth bringing up is his influence not only on the fantasy genre, but on the medium of gaming. You mentioned the D&D classes deriving from Tolkien, but the way that this carried into the RPG is notable, and I don't know that it would have happened if it hadn't been Tolkien. His commitment to worldbuilding and lore, is the big thing, of course-- the way he describes the immersive world rings with foresight. But I also think that sensitivity of an author directly affected by both war and the destruction of nature contributed to a framework on which something like the JRPG could grow. Tolkien wrote of forest guardians being burned to power war machines and the idyllic Shire falling to the powers of industry, and you don't have to look far to see the same sort of themes, in fantastical trappings, in Japanese fiction and media of the latter half of the 20th century. Combine Western gaming's inheritance from Tolkien with Japanese game developers who, as children, still felt the scars of war and watched the spirit-filled wilderness in their backyards paved over for apartments, and you get the makings for a great legacy of games.
I'm still not sure about "escapism," which I think functionally is used as a dismissive term, but Tolkien's almost spiritual reclamation of it makes sense. I just don't think his semantic understanding carries when we throw that term around. The implication is "waste of time for cowards who can't face reality," or "mindless fictional comfort food" at best. I think it assumes that readers engage with reading or storytelling on a spectrum of engaging with reality (which can only ever be ugly) to escaping from it. It's one of those terms I feel like we use out of convention but it's so loaded and subjective as to not serve very much meaningful use.
“J.R.R. Tolkien has become a sort of mountain, appearing in all subsequent fantasy in the way that Mt. Fuji appears so often in Japanese prints. Sometimes it’s big and up close. Sometimes it’s a shape on the horizon. Sometimes it’s not there at all, which means that the artist either has made a deliberate decision against the mountain, which is interesting in itself, or is in fact standing on Mt. Fuji.” ― Terry Pratchett
Love that quote 😊
I was afraid Brandon Sanderson wouldn't get quoted in this video, I'm glad you got it in there.
I can never find the quote, but Tolkien once remarked (something like) that it's easy to write a blue sun, the trick is to create a world where a blue sun makes sense. That always seems to me be the fundamental understanding of fantasy that he brought to the genre. His world almost never contradicts its own internal logic, and it therefore has a rock solid structural integrity. Anyone from Frank Herbert to George RR Martin writing fantasy since Tolkien have taken that on board.
Highly recommend The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever because of this video but if not that Stephen Donaldson also wrote an essay on Epic fantasy that goes in detail into some of the differences between fantasy before and after Tolkein and what he was trying to do with Thomas Covenant. Donaldson was a Tolkein scholar and it's a very interesting essay if you don't pick up the covenant books
Name dropped Thomas Covenant, my personal favorite fantasy series.
Rereading the the 1st series at this time for perhaps the 8th or 9th time.
If only google had audio books available for all the the Thomas Covenant series.
Pls do a review of the dragon prince season 3!!! I'd love to hear your thoughts on it
Wait, is it out yet? I’m on Netflix right now, and I only see seasons 1 and 2.
@@EchoKnightYT It is. And it's pretty good. Where are you exactly? It's out in Scotland, Germany, Spain and Italy afaik (got friends/family there).
Peter Pain I live in Arizona.
@@EchoKnightYT Puzzling that it isn't out in the usa first. Did you search for it in the Netflix app/client?
@evansdrad The celtic nationalist Agreed. I never shipped them (nor do I ship in general) and, after season 1, I was surprised by all the people who wanted to see Callum and Rayla end up together; especially given that the story was indicating Callum and Claudia. After season 3 though, I like the two of them together. Though I will say that a few moments felt rushed (I still feel they should've saved the "I love you" for season 4).
"Paradoxically, fantasy is a good way to show the world as it is. Fantasy can show us the truth about human relationships and moral dilemmas because it works on our emotions on a deeper, symbolic level than realistic fiction. It has the same emotional power as a dream. I think fantasy does show us the truth of our own lives."
― Lloyd Alexander
I've read a lot of fantasy over my lifetime but no matter how many fantasy stories I read none of those tails will ever (for me at least) ever reign above this wondrous tale, I simply love The Lord of the Rings.
William Morris' booms and worlds were a great inspiration to Tolkien. He even used some of the names from them. Gandolf being one of them. Also no one travels from the real world into Morris' worlds.
I feel like fantasy in anime and other Japanese literature has done an intresting semicircular swing in popularity.
Were as popular fantasy before Tolkien was literally escapism to a fantasy world of little consequence. And after popular fantasy was escapism in the metaphorical sense in a world of greater consequences.
Now a popular sub genre of Japanese literature, called isekei. Were escapism is once again literal. Main characters find themselves summoned, reincarnated, or spirited away to a fantasy world. But the world does make sense as it's a real world with real consequences. Thus the semi circle.
Isekeis are often power fantasies to as the main character usually has a huge advantage over the residence of the fantasy world either cause they were granted powerful abilities apon arriving or their advance knowledge of natural and/or political science and economics from modern society grant huge edge over the locals.
Big examples this would be "How Realist Hero Rebuilt a Kingdom" a story of a college student studying history, economics and political science, was summoned to a fantasy world by a declining kingdom, and how he rebuilt it.
Another is "That time I was reincarnated as a Slime" were a mid level manger of construction company was killed and reincarnated as a puny slime monster but was granted a powerfull ability. Through this ability and his modern knowledge he creates a nation from scratch.
And my favorite Overlord, where an avid vr mmorpg player finds himself mysteriously summoned into a magical world similar to the mmo's world in the body of his undead avatar and all the vast resource of his players guild. His maxed leveled avatars bodies and abilities alone makes him God like in comparisons regular citizens, but the resource of his guild and now sentient and fiercely loyal NPC, means he commands more power than the greatest super power nations in the fantasy world. And from that point on the main character begins a slow decent from hero to anti hero to villian in a matter I'd compare to Walter white from Breaking Bad.
Makes me feel like I'm going about my worldbuilding all wrong 😂 I had characters first, then started to create a world for them and am still going from there. Sounds like creating the world first makes for generally more coherent and in-depth stories ☹
I think it's possible to start with the characters first, and still build a coherent and satisfying world; the trick is to not stop and go "good enough!" as soon as the pieces relevant to your characters are in place. Having other things going on that aren't directly related to your characters is what gives the world a feeling of depth. (Also, cheers to a fellow world-builder!)
@@elfchild9 Thanks for the words of encouragement! I have definitely started delving into the world's history and cultures (as an Anthropology student both of these are precious to me) and I agree, it makes everything so much more interesting.
(And cheers to you - its a big task right? 😂)
@@branthro6492 Absolutely! And yeah, it's a pretty big task. 😅 If you're already studying anthropology, though, I think you'll be fine! You'll already know a lot of the questions to ask.
I think it depends on the writer. For some they start with the characters, others with the world and others with the plot itself. Maybe some ways are better than others but do it the way that works for you
It is not necessary to duplicate Tolkein. LOTR are the only movies i thought were better than the books. Reading lotr as an adolescent was incredibly boring and i hated them whilst chronicles of narnia was one of my favourite books. I may revisit lotr as an adult but, just because books are influential or greatly loved does not mean that is THE way to write.
This might be my favorite video of yours. It finally put into words what I've always meant when trying to explain why I disliked stories where characters from the real world are transported to a fantasy one.
Very well done! I have been perpetually rereading tolkiens works(with a focus on his writings on the first age) since my mom handed me a copy of the hobbit in 1995 when I was 15.
Im an illustrator and have spent thousands of hours interpreting his words visually.
I LOVE living in this time and having such easy access to others work that gives my little new pieces that further the Tolkien puzzle in my head! Ty for your efforts!
Tim, Your books have helped me so much in the book I am writing. Your advice has helped me map out my mythology. I tell 4 stories each completely different from the last. Thanks
Interesting parallel, I think, between the video's description of traditional fantasy as a journey for children into a fantastical world where they learn things they need to better live when they return to the real world, and Tolkien's hobbits' journey in LOTR, where they travel to a part of their world they scarcely imagined existed and return better prepared to deal with problems in their home.
Robert E Howard did most of what you're crediting Tolkien for a couple of decades before Tolkien published the Hobbit. What Tolkien did was he blended the gravitas of Howard's world building with the whimsy of Oz, Wonderland and Narnia.
LOVED this video thank you I'm making a diaporama on how Tolkien changed fantasy for a school presentation that is like 20% of my grade and I had only read the hobbit so this helped me A LOT!!
The truth behind the Brandon Sanderson quote burned me up for a long time. I got initially invested in fantasy for the backing of mythology and dragons, then I found a lot of pop culture media hyping up these fantastical imaginary world where every single one was filled with short bearded people and slim sharp-eared posh humans posing as a totally different being. I got a tad past that grumpy realization, in part thanks to Tolkien's work itself being so rich, and suggesting some of his imitatiors could build their world with a lot of care. Still, its just a shame they can't shake the same tropes, and we do actually lose out on the whimsy that first brought a lot of us in. Instead of Middle-Earth setting the standard for world-building wonder, it just became like a digital template where people kept forgetting to write over the default stuff of 'european, elves, dwarves, dark lords, magic mcguffins, etc'.
As a teen, having read Lord Of The Rings, I next went onto the Thomas Covenant saga, or tried, but it just didn't work for me.
Part of that, of course, was that the central character was difficult for a hopeful young person to get enthused about, but another part of it was that Covenant _came_ from our reality, and this acknowledgement of the mundane world undermined the credibility of the fantastic secondary world. In contrast, when one reads Lord Of The Rings, our own world may as well not exist, and so cannot detract from the substance of Middle Earth.
I'm more forgiving of tales in which _children_ of our world fall into fantasy settings. I think that is a trope I've just come to accept from long exposure.
I would love to see your thoughts on the lore and world-building of that Netflix series Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. It's such a good show.
Let's not denigrate the pulps. Howard, Lovecraft, Bierce and Leiber all had marvelous fantasies.
I just happened to be re-reading LotR. Every time I come back to it there is so much depth and history to learn and enjoy that goes fast beyond the basic plot. I also forgot how many songs and poems he added in the story. Almost every history of something is told in song which makes sense as it is a world that is based on cultures that really valued the oral tradition of keeping history through song.
So, Fantasy was originally mostly Isekai until Tolkien evolved it? I guess the genre is currently devolving then...
Sorry to reply to such an old comment, but maybe not. If you consider anime to be a relatively new and growing medium, you could say history may be repeating itself. Perhaps in time we could see an anime arise that redefines the genre with a maturity and in-depth world building that will last for years to come
@@jacobwilson862
Pretty optimistic outlook. I currently only see more and more incest and incel-revenge fantasies so...
@@Alias_Anybody Well, everything has it's bad apples (50 shades of grey, twilight) but I do prefer to think optimistically, and that no medium is doomed to mediocrity or degeneracy
This is an extremely good video. The depth of understanding for fantasy, it's history, and it's place in our world really shows. And the script is well phrased, well paced, and well presented. Most of all; I learned something.
One of the ways Tolkien also impacted the Fantasy Genre that you missed is that the fantasies in print in the 20s and 30s were Robert Howard (Conan, Khull) and Edgar Rice Burroughs' (John Carter, Tarzan) Nietzschean power fantasies that were brutal, violent, with amoral protagonists that you rooted for mostly because they were the main character rather than they were heroes taking a stand against evil. Tolkien pulled fantasy back towards the Arthurian ideal of good verses evil.
Dude, those "Nietzschean(oh man my spell check hates this) Power Fantasies" are fare more like the original heroes of myth. And the Arthurian ideals were added by later authors to make the original Arthur myths more acceptable. Lancelot is literally some French guy's "Original Character Do Not Steal" who was created to be even better than Arthur. Galahad(or was it Gawain?) was a later author's own "OC Donut Steel" who was better than Lancelot.
I lkie how you mentioned The Sword of Shannara being published because it was similar to the Lord of the Rings. A coworker recommended it. I couldn't even get through it because it felt like it was trying too hard to be the Lord of Rings. My coworker tried to convince me how different it really was form the Lord of the Rings and too just keep reading, I eventually gave up. A few months later I saw an article comparing The Sword of Shannara to the Lord of the Rings
You could say that Tolkien returned to this writing, those fantasies that came before, Odyssey, Edda, Kalevala, (Arthur), etc.
I can’t talk for other parties, but I can assure you every D&D party I’ll be member of will have at least on snobbish elf.
People often overstate Tolkien's influence on D&D. It's there, and it's obvious, but D&D owes at least as much to Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, Lord Dunsany, Jack Vance, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H. P. Lovecraft. The heart and soul of the D&D game is more in line with gritty 'heroic' fantasy than it is with mythological 'epic' fantasy.
Your video essays always make me want to do my own because your analysis is so deep and thoughtful and wonderful, but then I don't want to do my own because yours are so good, how can I compete? It's like reading a really good book, say Lord of the Rings, and saying, "Well, I can never do that good, so I'll just not write mine and read this again!"
Whether I get to my own or not, this is my way of saying wonderful video and fantastic, strangely inspiring analysis of both Lord of the Rings and the fantasy Genre as a whole.
Still nice to imaging the history behind the ceramic dish plate that appears on 0:34 Was it the personal plate of the king? Or maybe a token from a distant land forgotten in the treasury? Is it a soup plate, or is it for salad? What even was its purpose? Utilitarian - to consume food, or maybe it was an art piece with some kind of art displayed on the front. The questions that surely need answers.
The book I've been working on for half a decade? Side-eyes the story I've technically started working on 12 years ago. No idea what you're talking about.
Great video, I loved it!
Hey Tim,
love your videos! I was just wondering, if you knew Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell". The worldbuilding is very peculiar and it features a very interesting take on magic.
Also I'd love to see you discuss more traditional, fairytale- and fable-based ideas of magic.
Keep up the good work, greetings from the other side of the world. :)
In the Thomas Covenant books, Donaldson used but subverted the trope of a visitor from our real world. Instead of a place to escape to, the fantasy world became a place to escape from, in the eyes of the protagonist. Covenant was unwilling or unable to engage with the fantasy world, for various reasons, until the conclusion of each set of books.
I've heard it said that the Chronicles of Tomas Covenant weren't the start of a new form of the genre, but the culmination of the old form.
I am 73. I read these books shortly after they came out, and re-read them 20ish times. I still have those books plus the Simarillion, and two short stories. I lived and breathed LOTR. Then just before the movies came out I re-read them. And they fell flat. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t finish The Return of the King.
Your background musics for the endings are the best in all of TH-cam
As an aspiring fantasy author who really took a shining to Tolkien's works at a young age, part of my writing struggle has been in trying to suss out what I want to keep and what I want to leave behind of an account of fantasy as we know it now, and trying to figure out how much stuff is my original writing and world building and how much is me regurgitating Tolkien and history. Like, my world building is really solid (and while I'm a bit embarrassed of the project for some weird reason, I'm still proud of it. If you someday read a book set in the land of Erankaree,I made that). I should hope it's solid, I've literally been building it since a year before I first was introduced to The Lord Of The Rings (so, that means I started building this world back when I was six, and it is now 12 years old and MUUUUUCH better than when it started, of course). But it's hard to figure out what to do with it, and to make up my mind about what stories I want to tell and what stories are important to tell.