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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2500 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 5, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I don't think it's really possible.

My wife is reading LOTR for the first time right now, and asked me how much of modern fantasy Tolkien invented. And I said that it's not so much that he invented a lot of things, almost everything in LOTR had some precedent either in prior sword and sandals fantasy universes or in myths both ancient and modern. ((Among other things, I think Tolkien scholars make a concerted effort to connect Numenor primarily to Plato's Atlantis and skip over the various Aryanist fantasies around Atlantis and Lemuria you see more clearly in R.E. Howard's stories.))

But Tolkien is fantasy's Most Recent Common Ancestor on essentially all questions. He settled a lot of different versions of what Elves, Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves were. Before Tolkien they could be a lot of things, after Tolkien they're mainly just the one thing, or if you change it you are in conscious conversation with Tolkien's tradition in changing it.

You just can't get that kind of juice today. The only thing comparable in influence is D&D, which will never get the same credibility.

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