WI J R R Tolkien dies in WW1?
- Thread starter YamSeng
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Sabot Cat
Banned
(1) There is no modern fantasy genre as we know it, nor table top role-playing games (especially Dungeons and Dragons). The Wizard of Oz's film adaptation helps inspire some fairy tail like children's tales, while H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Burroughs remain prominent influences in the fantastical weird fiction genre. Nonetheless, these are likely to remain confined to magazines and low-selling books.
(2) The popular conception of elves and dwarves remain the same; ents, Hobbits, and orcs never come into being.
(3) Beowulf is not as appreciated as it is today, and it certainly doesn't receive a film adaptation.
(4) It's possible that C.S. Lewis never converts to Christianity, or composes the Chronicles of Narnia.
(5) Michael Everson is never inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien to be come interested in linguistics, and thus doesn't create Unicode font.
(6) The Oxford English Dictionary would have different definitions for its W words circa 1919-1920.
(7) New Zealand has less tourism, the homo floresiensis has a different nickname
Among others.
(2) The popular conception of elves and dwarves remain the same; ents, Hobbits, and orcs never come into being.
(3) Beowulf is not as appreciated as it is today, and it certainly doesn't receive a film adaptation.
(4) It's possible that C.S. Lewis never converts to Christianity, or composes the Chronicles of Narnia.
(5) Michael Everson is never inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien to be come interested in linguistics, and thus doesn't create Unicode font.
(6) The Oxford English Dictionary would have different definitions for its W words circa 1919-1920.
(7) New Zealand has less tourism, the homo floresiensis has a different nickname
Among others.
Just a few quibbles with #2:
* Exactly how different were Tolkiens dwarves from the then standard?
* We will have hobbits, just not by that name, instead they'll be called snergs after the fictional race created by Edward Wyke Smith for his children's fantasy novel 'the Marvellous Land of Snergs', published ten years before the 'The Hobbit', and from which Tolkien claims he adapted many ideas.
* Orcs appear to be very similar to the Goblins in George MacDonald's 'The Princess and the Goblin', from which Tolkien claims he adapted many ideas.
I'm also edgy of the idea that we'll never get a lot of those themes any other way.
* Exactly how different were Tolkiens dwarves from the then standard?
* We will have hobbits, just not by that name, instead they'll be called snergs after the fictional race created by Edward Wyke Smith for his children's fantasy novel 'the Marvellous Land of Snergs', published ten years before the 'The Hobbit', and from which Tolkien claims he adapted many ideas.
* Orcs appear to be very similar to the Goblins in George MacDonald's 'The Princess and the Goblin', from which Tolkien claims he adapted many ideas.
I'm also edgy of the idea that we'll never get a lot of those themes any other way.
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Sabot Cat
Banned
I think Munchkins would be (and are) better known than snergs as far as quaint little fantasy people go.
We won't get them in a nice, pretty package at least.
To put it simply, in addition to (obviously) no Middle Earth, no Tolkien means no Wheel of Time, no Game of Throne, no Narnia and no Hogwarts.
And probably a less well-developed Discworld. OTOH, without Tolkien, it's possible we don't see the mass copying, and thus what fantasy we do see is rather more varied in its sources, so less prolific, but more varied.
I'm also curious as to how we'd end up with no D&D, it seems to me to be developed as much from Howard's and Lovecraft's works as Tolkien's. Possibly a later and less varied game would come about, but I'm pretty sure something would come eventually.
I'm also curious as to how we'd end up with no D&D, it seems to me to be developed as much from Howard's and Lovecraft's works as Tolkien's. Possibly a later and less varied game would come about, but I'm pretty sure something would come eventually.
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