Game of Thrones and world-building in Tolkien's shadow
I've been reading The World of Ice and Fire, the companion book to George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire - the fantasy series that was adopted into Game of Thrones. The book is a fascinating work in its own right - it deals with the history and geography of ASOIF universe from an in-universe perspective. It's meant to be a history book an almanac written by a Westerosi scholar, whose perspective is clearly biased in many places and whose knowledge is clearly limited. There is a lot of ambiguity, and one is never entirely sure how much of it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
Now, I admit that, while I've seen the show, I am only now starting to dip my toes into the literary source material. So there are many things that were mentioned in the books but never made it into the show.
Like Ibben - a culture of Neanderthals. Sure, they are not called that, but the description makes it pretty clear that it's what they are. The world of Ice an Fire also mentions what sound like some kind of hominids living in Sothoryos.
That fascinates me.
It's often been said that fantasy, especially Western fantasy, labors under Tolkien's shadow. Every fantasy novel tries to emulate his worldbuilding and fictional language, most fantasy novels/movies/tv shows/comic books have creatures and races that were inspired by his work, and an overwhelming majority of fantasy novels is set in very Western, Middle Ages like world that barely changes in thousands of years. Whether writers play the conventions straight, or react against them as GRRM does, the shadow never seems too far away.
(I would argue that, these days, many fantasy novels are more influenced by Dungeons & Dragons than Tolkien, but given that DnD was inspired by Tolkien in the first place (DnD just added a few of its own cliches and conventions), the shadow is still very much there).
So it is always interesting to see authors add something that deviates from the general template a it. Like other hominid races sharing the content with humans. Or how, in SOIAF novels, the Children of the Forest are clearly humanoids rather than humans (three-fingered hands with claws, large cat-like eyes), and giants are more like Sasquatches than large humans of Game of Thrones. Or how Planetos (fan nickname for the planet SOIAF is set on) may be larger than Earth (GRRM said that it's something he may or may not stick with, so that bit of trivia is conditional).
Or, to look outside GRRM's work... It can be subtle things. Like how Thedas, the continent Dragon Age video games are set on, is located on the planet's southern hemisphere (we know this because climate gets warmer the further north along the continent you go). Or how, in Witcher novels and video games, we get strong hints that humans are not native to the world the stories are set on. Gnomes and maybe dwarves are native to that planet, but elves and various supernatural creatures are strongly implied to have come from somewhere else. Or how Lotus War series, while obnoxiously preachy and agit-propy in its environmental message, is at least set in a fantasy version of medieval Japan rather than a fantasy version of medieval England/Europe.
One of the things that make mistborn's worldbuilding so fascinating is that he isn't afraid to really play around with how the worlds are set up. The eponymous novels are set on a planet with no moon at all. Roshar, the planet that serves is as a setting for the Stormlight Archive cycle, is smaller than Earth, has three moons, a lot of unique flora and fauna... and there are two more habitable planets within the same solar system.
I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with writing in Tolkien's shadow. But, to paraphrase Neverending Story (a film that influencd me profoundly as a child), fantasy has no boundaries. I honestly wish that more authors wouldn't be afraid to do something new and different with the genre, to try to create new worlds instead of working within the existing conventions. Why the hell not?
I know if I ever write a fantasy novel, I would try to do something interesting. Like set it on an inhabited moon of a gas giant. Or take cues from Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries to create human cultures. Or do something skybreak_seeker once suggested and create a world where humans never existed at all.
The possibilities really are endless.
Now, I admit that, while I've seen the show, I am only now starting to dip my toes into the literary source material. So there are many things that were mentioned in the books but never made it into the show.
Like Ibben - a culture of Neanderthals. Sure, they are not called that, but the description makes it pretty clear that it's what they are. The world of Ice an Fire also mentions what sound like some kind of hominids living in Sothoryos.
That fascinates me.
It's often been said that fantasy, especially Western fantasy, labors under Tolkien's shadow. Every fantasy novel tries to emulate his worldbuilding and fictional language, most fantasy novels/movies/tv shows/comic books have creatures and races that were inspired by his work, and an overwhelming majority of fantasy novels is set in very Western, Middle Ages like world that barely changes in thousands of years. Whether writers play the conventions straight, or react against them as GRRM does, the shadow never seems too far away.
(I would argue that, these days, many fantasy novels are more influenced by Dungeons & Dragons than Tolkien, but given that DnD was inspired by Tolkien in the first place (DnD just added a few of its own cliches and conventions), the shadow is still very much there).
So it is always interesting to see authors add something that deviates from the general template a it. Like other hominid races sharing the content with humans. Or how, in SOIAF novels, the Children of the Forest are clearly humanoids rather than humans (three-fingered hands with claws, large cat-like eyes), and giants are more like Sasquatches than large humans of Game of Thrones. Or how Planetos (fan nickname for the planet SOIAF is set on) may be larger than Earth (GRRM said that it's something he may or may not stick with, so that bit of trivia is conditional).
Or, to look outside GRRM's work... It can be subtle things. Like how Thedas, the continent Dragon Age video games are set on, is located on the planet's southern hemisphere (we know this because climate gets warmer the further north along the continent you go). Or how, in Witcher novels and video games, we get strong hints that humans are not native to the world the stories are set on. Gnomes and maybe dwarves are native to that planet, but elves and various supernatural creatures are strongly implied to have come from somewhere else. Or how Lotus War series, while obnoxiously preachy and agit-propy in its environmental message, is at least set in a fantasy version of medieval Japan rather than a fantasy version of medieval England/Europe.
One of the things that make mistborn's worldbuilding so fascinating is that he isn't afraid to really play around with how the worlds are set up. The eponymous novels are set on a planet with no moon at all. Roshar, the planet that serves is as a setting for the Stormlight Archive cycle, is smaller than Earth, has three moons, a lot of unique flora and fauna... and there are two more habitable planets within the same solar system.
I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with writing in Tolkien's shadow. But, to paraphrase Neverending Story (a film that influencd me profoundly as a child), fantasy has no boundaries. I honestly wish that more authors wouldn't be afraid to do something new and different with the genre, to try to create new worlds instead of working within the existing conventions. Why the hell not?
I know if I ever write a fantasy novel, I would try to do something interesting. Like set it on an inhabited moon of a gas giant. Or take cues from Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries to create human cultures. Or do something skybreak_seeker once suggested and create a world where humans never existed at all.
The possibilities really are endless.