Tolkien: and then the Good King came and cast out the Evil Stewards who were corrupt because they ruled without the correct bloodline. Everything was peaceful after that and there was no more evil. There are two women in this story. Monarchy is good. The actual singular God who created everything wants you to be ruled by a 300 year old nobleman. The End.
GRRM: Feudalism is inherently destructive. Even the Noble Good Guys cause unimaginable suffering due to the structures of the system they operate within. Women are no more than brood mares under Feudalism. There is a Good King whose father was deposed. This Good King has spent his life living amongst the common people in order to become a good ruler. He is being manipulated by cynical actors and will bring devastation to the world when he begins his conquest. Thirty years ago the Hero of Prophecy acted to save the world from the Great Evil. He unleashed devastation on the land, died, and destroyed his own dynasty, possibly dooming the world. There are no gods, only powerful forces beyond our understanding that operate through the power of blood. Once upon a time there was a Good King who ruled justly. He brought peace to the land and improved the common folks' lot tremendously. Due the nature of Feudalism, the succession crisis that succeeded his reign led to the most bloodshed in 300 years. No one who wants war understands its cost.
People who dislike things because they're popular: Wow these are exactly the same!
I will admit that it had long-lasting consequences to present elves as so near-divine and so perfect that the notion that them simply speaking made men listen in awe and believe everything they said resonated through generations of fiction that came after, resulting in the still-insufferable "elves are perfect and better than you" power fantasy trope still common in contemporary fiction.
I do appreciate how the Elder Scrolls often presents the Altmer, especially the Thalmor ruling class, as magic nazis that want to magic-genocide their ethnic enemies literally out of existence. It's nice to have outright evil "pretty people" once in a while.
The problem is thay Tolkien did something incredibly beautiful and incredibly deep, and people just try to copy the absolute surface level of it to capture the beauty and it doesn't work.
Same thing with Orcs. Tolkien's orcs are highly organized, technologically sophisticated, and generally fairly capable. The dumb "tribal" ethnically coded orc is post-Tolkien. People have largely forgotten that if they represent anything the orcs represent industrialized warfare.
That is really annoying. They just completely misunderstood the book in a very racist way.
Copy of a copy syndrome is a hell of a drug.
:miyazaki-laugh: talked about this, even if it was about anime/manga.
It just makes such boring and lackluster art.
"What if older thing... but rebooted and grittier" has been a plague on countless franchises and IPs for about two decades now, too. :cringe:
the games did fall down a little on the pretty front
christ the unmodded elves are hideous
"What did Sauron say to Saruman before creating the orcs?"
:data-laughing:
They're supposed to be superficially pretty, which the Elder Scrolls Online presents a little better.
very true