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What would JRR Tolkien have thought of what GRRM thought of JRR Tolkien


Ser Scot A Ellison

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Tolkien was a bit nervous about what he termed his "deplorable cultus," noting that "many young Americans are into the stories in a way I'm not". He was always puzzled why people would make a fuss of him.

I think he'd be grateful (if a bit embarrassed) by the respect Martin gives him, though I don't think he'd be overly keen on meeting up with him.

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I must respectfully disagree with the assertion that JRRT didn't read genre fiction, what little was available in England at the time he read. Edward Wyke-Smith's Marvellous Land of Snergs, with its 'table-high' title characters, is believed to have strongly influenced the incidents, themes, and depiction of Bilbo's race in The Hobbit. JRRT was also familiar with the Narnia books of his close friend CS Lewis.

JRRT read Arthurian Romances, Beowulf, the Kalevala and the Nordic Sagas. These are the well-spring from which the Fantasy genre flows.

If JRRT was still alive, he would certainly know about GRRMs writings. While he most likely would deplore the violent amoral universe portrayed in "gritty" modern Fantasy, he would be aware of it.

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I very much doubt that Tolkien read genre fiction, so he wouldn't know GRRM.

Tolkien was apparently a bit of a fan of Isaac Asimov, so I think he would read and approve of genre fiction, but probably not on a huge scale.

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I think JRRT wouldn't have agreed with GRRM's assertion that Gandalf should had stayed dead, and would likely state that GRRM did not get the story he was trying to tell.

I wonder would he have pointed out that if he was writing ASOIAF, Cat would have remained dead?

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He would probably be proud of the legacy he left behind, though I'm not sure if he would enjoy gritty fantasy.

The impression I get of Tolkien from the fleeting things I know of his writings and comments outside LotR is that he'd have been puzzled by even having a legacy, at least in the fantasy fiction sense. But the genre and his influence on it really took off on a big scale after he died, so who knows.

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Tolkien was a bit nervous about what he termed his "deplorable cultus," noting that "many young Americans are into the stories in a way I'm not". He was always puzzled why people would make a fuss of him.

I think he'd be grateful (if a bit embarrassed) by the respect Martin gives him, though I don't think he'd be overly keen on meeting up with him.

I think this is basically it, yes.
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I think he would be probably proud of his work's influence, as any person would likely be.

It's refreshing to see Tolkien's name not being misspelt as "Tolkein" for a change.

I never saw it misspelled like that. :dunno:

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Tolkien, as a sincere Catholic and a fairly conservative person of his time, might well have disapproved of the sex in GRRM's books. This was the era in which D H Lawrence was banned, after all.

I wonder what Tolkien would have made of Dungeons and Dragons. (Halflings are all thieves because, what? Bilbo was a burglar? Huh? There's a whole class in D&D called 'rangers' because of the Dunedain in Lotr? Huh? Do you guys even understand what you're reading??).

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