Talk:J. R. R. Tolkien vs George R. R. Martin/@comment-26498708-20160502170915/@comment-9623756-20160502185702

Right so now I have time to sit down and write a really long post about why their stupid policy on what to include in the battle annoyed me.

First of, I will admit. I am a massive fan of LOTR and, if you haven't already realised, ASOIAF and I love both worlds for their details and expanded history and everything that makes them what they are. So maybe I am biased here when I say that ERB has failed to do these authors and their worlds justice, but that doesn't make the following any less valid at all.

The connection between Martin vs Tolkien is RR authors who wrote massive volumes of fantasy where the fantasy differs in many key aspects but also holds many similarities. Most of these things were hardly talked about, and where they were they were talked about weakly. Tolkien makes 1 nod to the world he created in mentioning the Shire in a weak pun that was both incredibly out of character and hardly a reference.

Tolkien also brings up similarities. By citing, amongst other things, kings, queens, horses, magic and swords. Does Tokien think he holds a monopoly on these items? Is any book that features some of these ripping him off? That's pretty much every high fantasy book. And most films. And most games. This line doesn't work, and is a weak way to reference this, when in actual fact there are many other ways that Martin's works could be seen as ripping off Tolkien.

Maybe they could have mentioned the multiple POV aspect found in both works, which is definitely one are Martin takes direct inspiration from Tolkien, or the use of Sean Bean to portray a leading character in the first novel that tragically dies towards the end. These are things that could have been brought up to show similarities between the two worlds.

Instead of making references to the actual work that links them together we get Tolkien referencing Led Zeppelin in a way that takes up two whole lines, and a grand total of four and a half lines of people listing vague things that appear in the two universes, seemingly for no apparet reason.

Now we will look at aspects that were included. Kudos to ERB, no Hodor joke. That's the positive for this section out of the way. They make a reference to You know nothing Jon Snow, which, whilst not said much in the books at all (twice, if I remember correctly), I concede is a well known quote. But the line is inserted in such a boring and unclever way that its just too predictable and sounds childish. I could have thought of that line, and I imagine most others could too.

If we are going to discuss iconic quotes that could have been included or referenced. Winter is Coming. Cerssei's speech to Ned about winning or dying. I am the King. One ring to rule them all. You shall not pass. Gollum. An assortment of quotes that could have been worded into clever lines in the battle, without necessarily standing out instantly. Instead, we got three jokes about Martin's weight. Yay.

I don't anticipate a positive reaction to this post, but I feel it is important that people remember what Tolkien and Martin are actually battling about, and how hardly an of that was actually referenced in this battle. Hence why I feel it was handled poorly and personally, as a fan of LOTR, ASOIAF, GOT and ERB, I feel let down and disappointed. If this quality keeps up for the season then they may as well find someone else to take over, because the standard is dropping to the point that there are fanmade writers who are doing just as well if not better.

Not a popular opinion but there it is. Rant over.