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does ASOIAF really belong in the fantasy genre?


taem

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It's fantasy. It has many more fantasy elements than sci-fi elements (large bug things, Nausicaa has an unexplained the power to bond with them, etc). Having an explanation for things doesn't necessarily mean it's science...it just means that the plot makes sense.

If you are talking about the manga, it's post-apocalypse SF. Some people have ESP, and the story is about dealing with an environment polluted by biological/atomic warfare, living weapons, people in hibernation waiting for the world to be cured, and a dash of omnipotent AIs. Heck, it even has some flashback showing us a modern city before the war, most soldiers use guns and tanks and flying machines, and it includes radiations and goddam lasers. It's on Earth, only in the far future, there is no magic except for ESP. There are swords and a lot of the action feels close to heroic Fantasy, but it's SF, more so than the book of the long Sun, for example.
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And as such, does not feel like fantasy to me. My contention is that what the series is about so far, is the game of thrones, and the narrative we have is alternate history, the presence of fantastic elements such as wights and dragons notwithstanding. The series we have so far, stripped of fantasy elements, works as alternate history, works quite well in fact, it would still be a great story. That is not true of Shannara, or LotR, or WoT, Covenant, etc etc.

WoT I consider a high fantasy. Yes ASOIAF could work as historical fiction but it would be nowhere near as popular without the fantastic elements. There was another 7 book saga that GRRM actually got the ideas from ASOIAF from (can't remember the name of the series) but it wasn't successful unlike ASOIAF. So that debunks your theory of the series being as successful without magic. Let's look at the characters that are based on magic.And I'm not even going to include elements like the wall, children of the forest, valyrian steel, etc...

1. Arya- faceless men obvious magic elements

2. Danerys- obvious dragon magic

3. Brandon- Obvious warger

So pretty much you got 3 characters from the first book who are covered in magic also I'm fairly certain Jon Snows magic time is coming also.

4. Catelyn/Gregor/Beric/Melisandre/Thoros/Moquorro- Red God magic

5. Qyburn- Dr. Frankenstein

6. Mirri Maz dur- Blood magic

Damn if now that I realize it ASOIAF has a ton of magic elements and might have more elements the LOTR now that I think about it. I could name hundreds more elements but I'm sure you get the point.

Edit - Acutally you can see all the magic elements here http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Magic

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How are we on page 24 of this??

The OP keeps repeating the same thing, and people keep replying the same thing. There's also some thread derailing here or there, a few pages of "Ned was an idiot", and at least a post similar to yours every page.
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