JWFAN's Favourite Fantasy Epic

[Quintus 5,399]

The two big heavyweight fantasy epics not only on this small community forum but also in mainstream popular culture. If you had to pick a favourite based on their respective stories, lore and fictional universes, which would it be?

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

LOTR by a thousand miles.  

[Romão 2,274]

Never watched GOT; I don't like the LOTR movies, but I adore LOTR the book

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Neither.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Those are the only choices? I've only watched the first LOTR and I fell asleep. What about Harry Potter?

[Arpy 4,145]

Both are giants in pop culture and have become staples of the fantasy genre, but my heart and mind belongs to Lord of the Rings. I'm not a religious person, in fact I'm the furthest thing from it but I still admire the sense of the numinous, the mythology that Tolkien created and which takes the best aspects of religious belief, fighting for the freedom of persecuted peoples, solidarity between races and the magic that inspires many of the stories that have been told since. When the films were released we were treated to exemplars in the areas of the craft of filmmaking and film scoring that added something to Tolkien's world, it was the reappropriation of that art and the artistic opportunity it afforded to actors, directors and musicians alike that makes LOTR special.

 

 

So far Game of Thrones has been an impressive series (I haven't yet read the books) but as a show has yet to transcend its television confines into something as iconic and accomplished as Jackson's adaptations are (The Hobbit not included).

 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

51 minutes ago, Evil-Lyn said:

Those are the only choices? I've only watched the first LOTR and I fell asleep. What about Harry Potter?

LOTR > Harry Potter > Game of Throwup  

[publicist 4,643]

Since musical scores are such a vital part, i have to go with LOTR. I have only seen 6 episodes of GOT, though, Does the music get any better?

[Fancyarcher 350]

Hmm, LOTR overall, though I am a fan of both fantasy franchises in general though.

 

24 minutes ago, publicist said:

Since musical scores are such a vital part, i have to go with LOTR. I have only seen 6 episodes of GOT, though, Does the music get any better?

 

In terms of the series, the music for the series has improved quite in the bit in the last two seasons. Djawadi is actually using more authentic instruments including actual strings more common, instead of those Zimmer bits, or overusing that shaky foghorn, specifically in the best episodes (The Winds of Winter actually had a pretty great score). 

[Incanus 5,713]

LotR

[Naïve Old Fart 9,496]

I've never seen a single millisecond of GOT, so I can't comment on that.

As for LOTR, nowadays, I prefer to listen to the Radio 4 series, from the early 80s, and read THE HOBBIT, which, for me, is the superior book.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

2 hours ago, publicist said:

Since musical scores are such a vital part, i have to go with LOTR. I have only seen 6 episodes of GOT, though, Does the music get any better?

 

No.

[Bilbo 3,709]

A fan of both but LotR by some distance. 

[Pieter Boelen 740]

GoT is kind of interesting, I suppose, but not truly my cup of tea.

LotR, on the other hand, is pretty darn great. Even though the books are a nearly impossible chore for me to work through...

[Thor 7,465]

Difficult choice. I love both for different reasons. But I'm not a "fanboy" of either -- I enjoy them mostly for the spectacle.

 

(btw, if by fiction you mean the literature, I can't say -- I haven't read any of them; I've only read THE HOBBIT).

[Smaug The Iron 510]

Lord of the Rings

[Jay 37,287]

As I type this, LOTR is beating GOT 16-0, lol

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Thor 7,465]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

As I type this, LOTR is beating GOT 16-0, lol

 

Not surprising, since there are apparently a lot of LOTR fanboys here. As Bloodboal said, it's also not a fair fight, since LOTR is so much older and well-established, and really the recipe for every fantasy since. But for me, personally, they're quite even in terms of the 'universe' itself (I dig the much rawer GOT).

[Bilbo 3,709]

2 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Well, if we're honest, it's not a fair fight.

 

- This is a film music forum, so of course, music will play a part in the decision. In that regard, LOTR is the easy winner.

 

- More people here have read LOTR than they have read Martin's books, so ultimately, I'm guessing most are judging the adaptations against one or another (or Tolkien's books vs GOT the tv show, which, again, is another unfair fight)

 

- Finally, as of now, GOT is an unfinished story, while with LOTR, we have the full picture.

 

If I try and be even about it and go films v show, books v books, and music v music there's still only one winner for me.

 

I love GoT. I think it's great. I've read the books (3 of 5 of which I really enjoyed), I've bought the boxsets, I've bought the soundtracks, I've got tshirts (I have less Tolkien shirts!), I've got the LCG from fantasy flight but at the end of the day I think LotR is better in pretty much every respect. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

What about the Ewok movies?

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

Isn't GOT just tits and dragons?

 

Anyways I have massively cooled on the lotr movies. Neither would make the top 10 of their respective years for me. I think they have all aged very poorly. The books are still well done and the music is a massive achievement. But easy pick here. 

 

GOT I swear I think will be rebooted within the next 10-15 years - as a movie franchise or a new series. I admire that they have managed to capture the imagination of a generation like almost nothing before it. It is definitely unprecedented if not unrivaled.

[Dixon Hill 4,232]

1 hour ago, TheUlyssesian said:

It is definitely unprecedented if not unrivaled.

 

That's just wildly untrue.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

I've never even watched GoT, but the bits and pieces that I have seen looked boring. Just dicks, boobs, and dragons as far as I'm concerned.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Incanus 5,713]

While both Tolkien's and Martin's tales grew in the telling I am afraid Martin's has become too bloated for its own good no matter how engaging characters he might have created or how intricate his world might be. I see how Martin as a self-professed gardener variety of a storyteller, meaning that he is cultivating various storythreads that then are allowed to evolve as they can organically while not planning ahead with meticulous architectural precision, is stuck with too many branches for his story. He just has too many stories in him to tell in this world. With the last two books I began to think that "Martin buddy, you don't need to tell EVERYONE's story, especially when they are not that interesting. Focus on the main storylines, cut a few and race for the finish line. Please don't meander, no matter how authentic to real life such things might be."

 

This does not mean I don't like Martin's prose, quite the opposite, but I am suffering from reader's fatigue at this point.

 

 

[crocodile 7,984]

Well, I'll reserve my judgement till the final two books are out. Hard to say how he'll resolve it.

 

Karol

[Incanus 5,713]

I just hope he sharpens his focus with the last two (or how many there actually will be) books.

[Wojo 2,453]

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

Hard to say if he'll resolve it.

 

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

5 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Only if you're unfamiliar with it.

 

 

It was a joke.

(a reference to Ian McShane)

[Bilbo 3,709]

2 hours ago, Incanus said:

While both Tolkien's and Martin's tales grew in the telling I am afraid Martin's has become too bloated for its own good no matter how engaging characters he might have created or how intricate his world might be. I see how Martin as a self-professed gardener variety of a storyteller, meaning that he is cultivating various storythreads that then are allowed to evolve as they can organically while not planning ahead with meticulous architectural precision, is stuck with too many branches for his story. He just has too many stories in him to tell in this world. With the last two books I began to think that "Martin buddy, you don't need to tell EVERYONE's story, especially when they are not that interesting. Focus on the main storylines, cut a few and race for the finish line. Please don't meander, no matter how authentic to real life such things might be."

 

This does not mean I don't like Martin's prose, quite the opposite, but I am suffering from reader's fatigue at this point.

 

 

Very well said!

[Nick1Ø66 4,688]

I don't really think these works are comparable, and doing so really isn't fair (to Martin).

 

Despite being shelved in the same section at your local B&N or Waterstones, these books aren't in the same genre. LOTR is its own thing, completely and without peer. You can compare its many progeny to each other, but really there's nothing else like LOTR out there.  Nothing. Not Game of Thrones, not Dune. Nothing.

 

That's not a knock on GOT's quality or that of Martin's writing. It's not even a comment on quality in general. In substance and form Lord of the Rings is just a different thing altogether.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Bilbo 3,709]

1 hour ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Yeah, but you've always been a Martin haterz!

 

 

How many editions of the GOT books do you have?

 

I love the first theee books! I think they're great. It's just the stuff that came after them...

 

I only have one set of ASoIaF novels. I have the Hedge Knight graphic novel (which I've never read actually) and The World of Ice and Fire!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[John 2,032]

As I type this, the score is vastly in favor of LOTR; 25-1.

 

Never seen GOT, never really had a desire to.

 

LOTR is the epic all other fantasy series are compared to. No question on where my vote is going.

[Bilbo 3,709]

9 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

 

A Feast For Crows and A Dance With Dragons should have been one book! I haven't read them, but even I know that!

 

 

Disappointing.

 

One book and only half the combined length!

 

You thought Dorne was burning on the show? Bwahaha!!

 

Sorry BB, only get multiple sets for the special stuff!

[SF1_freeze 131]

I'm judging the books/story only:

Game of Thrones, because it was the best reading experience i ever had.

The LotR books were like sleeping pills in comparison (and i still liked them very much).

[Quintus 5,399]

Game of Thrones is making its big comeback in this poll!