Nice monarchy you have there, fam. Would be a shame if something happened to it.
time to end thousands of years of imperial rule.
Seriously Tolkien had an insane monarchy fetish or something. Even in the original LoTR I think it was Gandalf who said shit like without an king on Gondors throne it would be ruled by “lesser men” and he definitely meant from a bloodline standpoint. Like eat shit asshat. Fuck off with that eugenics shit.
Like I like those movies and the setting and shit but that whole obsession with “born to rule” and kind shit really annoys the fuck out of me. Like "Oh we are a bunch of villagers that just fought off our literal genocide by orcs with our own wit and grit but we are also helpless nobodies unless some very specific man who otherwise has nothing to do with our existence comes and says he’s our King. "
Are there actual writings of him supporting the monarchy? Because as far as I could guess, this could simply be Gandalf the character speaking about its cosmovision. I would not say GoT author is a pro monarchist sinply because its characters believe in such ideas.
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Anarcho-monarchism : “no one rules me but christ”.
I spose there are several of them, Tolstoy was one.
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Tolkien was fucking huge on monarchies. Despite writing multiple parts in his stories where someone having absolute power was also potrayed as a bad thing, he never seemed to put 1 and 2 together.
The original anarcho-monarchist
He actually said as much in a letter to his son: “the older I become, the more I find myself drawn to anarchism, that is, unconstitutional monarchy.”
It wasn’t problematic for Aryan-like white people to have a monarchy. Just the orcs, the dwarfs etc. who all happened to come from the barbaric east.
Remember how every Elf who did evil things was explicitly stated to be “dark” somehow? Whether it was hair, skin or just their “general look”?
Makes me really want to take my ideas for world building a ttrpg setting a bit more seriously, where inbred monarchists explicitly reviled and are almost solely responsible for an apocalyptic calamity destructive enough that each faction has enacted a revolution of some sort of is actively working towards it.
Surprise surprise, it’s explicately Marxist where magic isn’t consecrated by ancient bloodlines or esoteric race science but comes from ones connection with the land and their fellow man as a sort of natural resource that can be managed sustainably to bring about a post scarcity age of magic where all people’s lives are improved. But monarchies, as well as theocracies, functioned psychically as a sump for magic to extract and concentrate it from the people that work the land to the elites who viciously pursue further ruthless exploitation to empower themselves.
Main hallmarks include definitely-not-revolutionary-France, a fantasy year 30 years war, a democratic caliphate that successfully conquers and integrates “not Italy”, and an orc not-Karl Marx. (Orcs being one of the few “races” in the setting descending from people warped into cute wooly boarlike pigfolk as, essentially, explicately a consequence of pursuing a magical religious war at the behest of an unjust monarchy rather than-- y’know-- being green “incert racist stereotype here.”)
Oh and dwarf Soviets naturally, with the “dwarves” being entirely a false rumor for mundane humans basically of normal height appearing universally strong and stocky from factory work, quality food, excellent healthcare, and extremely inventive because of universal education. Essentially, finding creative ways to take established reactionary high fantasy tropes and filter them through a materialist lense.
Based.
That sounds amazing. Please write this!
It’s actually a scene from a movie
The sketch? Yes, it’s from one of their movies
tbf Skyrim is a Nazi not a monarchist
Two awful factions to choose from lol
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I cringe when i remember i used to like A Song of ice and fire. Thank god the Tv show turned out so bad that it was forgotten lol.
At least asoiaf subverts a lot of fantasy tropes. Aristocracy is more grounded on reality and it shows that regardless of who’s in charge, people still live a shitty life. Tolkien is almost Disney-like. If you are ruled by the rightful and just king/queen, then it’s all rainbows and sunshines.
Honestly there’s a lot you can fault GRRM for but one thing he consistently gets right is portraying monarchy not as glamorous nobility but miserable, neurotic, inbred perverts who are constantly miserable from the consequences of their own actions and need to embody an entire nation.
Nearly every major destructive war or battle that isn’t against the white walkers (clearly at this point analogous to climate change) or Danni’s adventurist white savior liberation wars are the result of some courtly drama bullshit that ends in the death of thousands on both sides. There’s monsters in both armies, but also many many otherwise good people that just have no choice but to follow the word of their noble. Even Ned Stark’s sense of “honor” that got him killed wasn’t remotely in the interest of the realm and it’s people but nerdy liberal rules based order technicality on who should get to be the king.
I maintain, ASOFI only makes sense if it ends in the abolition of the monarchy or some sort of Revolutionary War / Magna Carta style power sharing agreement between the unlanded capitalists and merchants following an apocalyptic loss of life and power for the Great Houses. I’m talking Iron Bank / faceless men gunboat diplomacy or French Revolution.
I haven’t seen much of Game of Thrones but my SO loves it and loves Cersei. How is Cersei an adventurist?
The way they speak reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail
You are refering to a specific genre in Fantasy fiction. The cliche fantasy stories that fantasize about conservative European social values, divine right of kings, and angelic merciful king who do good deeds without personal incentives is no longer popular.