thekingofwinterblog - Tumblr blog

[thekingofwinterblog]

Maka and Crona's Journey - Wasted Potential

So one of the things I have come to heavily critique the Soul Eater manga for is the way it handled Maka post the defeat of Archnophobia, where it feels like there was a whole host of interesting character moments, but because this was the point where the Manga began to spin it's wheels and had no idea how to connect it's various ideas together into a coherent whole, it ultimately leads her story to feel like a mess of wasted potential.

And after doing an analysis of Maka and Crona's relationship through the manga, i came to realise that the pieces are there to tell a very good character journey that came thiiiiisss close to being amazing, but fumbles the ball on the most important moments, of which the ending is just the final, coup the grace that ensures it's a truly terrible story at the end of the day, rather than just being wasted potential.

I have always been of the opinion that Maka and Cronas second fight was where Soul Eater as a story peaked, as it represented the highpoint of it's themes and the journey of it's characters that would never quite be matched in either the anime, nor manga... But one thing I only realised when looking at what the Manga was trying to do, and how it differed from the Anime, is that the intention behind Manga Maka's journey foreward, was how, while this moment was the defining moment for both Maka and Crona, unlike the Anime, the Manga wanted to explore the negative aspects of this idea.

Maka comes to deeply love and appreciate Chrona and the bond they shared together... But this deep affection also led to Maka's biggest moment of weakness in either take on Soul Eater.

Her learning that Medusa is still alive and Chrona is still under her strings.

This revelation paralyzes Maka. She, the girl who during her second fight with Crona finally was able to overcome fear and be truly brave, now finds herself held back by fear. Not fear of what could happen to herself, but fear of what might happen to Crona depending on her own choices.

If she turns Crona in, there is a very strong possibility that Shinigami-Sama's wrath upon Crona will be quite brutal and swift, but on the other hand, if she does nothing, Medusa's plan will continue unopposed and she might lose Crona anyway.

And so she does... Nothing.

She turns into a coward. She's unwilling to commit to any course out of fear of where it would go.

This is great. It's easily some of Maka's best moments, but the problem comes later.

Because in theory Manga Maka and Anime Maka aren't supposed to be different characters, it's just that they go different journey's to reach the same place.

Anime Maka does not learn about Medusa the same way, instead she only learns about everything after the fact, and so has to react to the revelations in a manner that forces her to make a choice then and there... And her choice is that she will support Crona all the way, consequences and the opinion of anyone else be damned.

Manga Maka however, because of her moment of Weakness loses Crona, and they don't reunite again before near the end of the series.

When Maka tries to reach out to Crona, and convince the Pinkette to come back with her home, it's a sign of both Maka's loyalty and devotion... But also an intentional backslide of her development.

Rather than confront the matter head on, Maka tries to essentially sweep EVERYTHING that has happened since they last saw each other under the rug.

Lets go home, and pretend this never happened.

It's not that Maka's words that she WILL protect Crona are empty, because they're not, but the Manga very much want's this entire scene to be a mirror to the basement scene where the two of them first bonded.

Back then, Maka left Soul behind because she understood Crona, and trusted that she didn't need him for what she had to do.

Here, while she's alone inside the church, she brought her entire team with her, that is outside just waiting to back her up if something goes wrong.

Back then she understood that to reach Crona she had to confront the problem head on, with both kindness, but also with a very firm hand.

Here she is wishy-washy and though she is kind, she has none of that firmness that was so essential in forging their bond back then.

When Crona confesses to murdering Medusa, Maka, better than anyone understands how much this destroyed Crona... But she doesn't have an answer.

The confidence she once had in being certain in how to help Crona is gone.

And of course...

The girl who once walked through deadly and painful spikes to embrace Crona, now flinches away in shock, pain and fear at those spikes.

It is a remarkably powerful contrast and symbolism.

The problem... Is how we got here.

The idea is that this is meant to be where Maka fails Crona a second time, once more due to a moment of weakness, only here it's because she hasn't truly come to terms with the consequences of her own choice back then, and having mustered the strength to truly accept Crona's actions, and then go from there.

She wants everything to go back to normal, the wqy it used to be, when Crona tells her very clearly that that is impossible.

What Maka NEEDED to do here(And what should have been the climax of the story when they meet again inside the black blood) was to help Crona deal with the trauma of Medusa's murder, to help Crona realize that whatever else has happened, Maka still loves them, and that Crona is not fundamentally unworthy of that love as Crona thinks they are.

And at this she fails. Spectacularily.

It's a great sequence of events... It's a real shame then, that her character arc post Archne hasn't been about building up to this moment AT ALL!

Maka's storyline COULD have been about her dealing with depression, sadness over losing Crona, and probably more importantly than anything else, a deep, deep longing to go back to the time they spent together, to return to "Simplier days".

It COULD have been about exploring Maka in a deeply unhealthy and yet incredibly human part of her life, when the backsliding from the person she had begun to become thanks to her and Crona's bond was both painfully obvious, and clearly intentional storywise.

Even after growing as a person, that doesn't mean the way to reaching your best self is a straight road upwards. Sometimes you fall off the track, sometimes you lose sight of the goal you were seeking, and sometimes you look back and what was and feel tempted to go back to an earlier point because you are deeply unhappy with where you are now.

It's a real shame then that Maka's storyline between these points tackles absolutely none of these points or ideas for her character.

And on the moon, we see this pattern of a clear idea for a coherent character story continue, both with Maka's incredibly vicious reaction when she and Crona begins fighting, and how the plot points set up between them really goes nowhere.

The idea here is that Maka is having another moment of weakness, only this time one fueled by anger and Hurt, as she beats the snot out of Crona while saying things she obviously doesn't really mean.

It is, again, an intentional backtracking on her entire character, and if you look at it from the concept stages for her and Crona's relationship it makes perfect sense.

Maka, despite her love for Crona was deeply, deeply hurt by Crona's actions both at the church, and at the moon... The problems with the execution here is:

1. Her mood between the church and here has not in ANY way been building up to this very viscious but human outburst of anger.

2. Other than rejecting Maka at the Church, Crona hasn't really done anything yet that varrants Maka being this viscious and agressive. It feels like there should have been a scene where Crona really wrecked the rest of the cast here, but it didnt happen in the final product, and so while the idea of frustration and anger reaching a boiling point on paper makes sense, in practice Maka's anger in this scene feels really overblown.

3. It doesn't really lead anywhere. This moment comes, and then it's gone, forgotten, rather than playing into Maka's final character arc. You would think Maka would have a moment where she snaps out of it and realises how bad an idea/reqction on her part this was, but no. Much like the rest of the moon fight, it's flash and no substance.

And finally Maka's assession here where she informs her dad(and Black star) that Crona killed Medusa was clearly meant to be some dramatic turning point originally. The point where she FINALLY gets her shit together and realizes what she has to do... Only for Asura to regain control, and so she instead of talking this out with a hug here and now she has to break into Crona'a soul and talk there directly.

And there, you would probably expect her to have to once more go through some scenario where she has to brave painful thorns despite the pain, before embracing Crona in a hug anew, thus showcasing that Maka has FINALLY gotten her shit back together again, and has both regained her courage, but also her determination, her self confidence, from when she was at her height, and is now, finally, after a long, long period of depression and loneliness, ready to take on Azura, with Crona at her side.

You know, the logical rule of 3(one success, one failure, and then a final success as the big redepmtion to make up for our Heroines previous moments of weakness) of storytelling used to showcase both Maka's growth, her hugging Crona leading into some development where Maka finally manages to get Crona to forgive themselves for Medusa's death, and embrace the courage to face the world anew.

The pieces are all here to tell a really, really good tale of a Character who went through ips and downs, who lost something very, very important to her along the way... Only to regain it anew thanks to the bond eith the person she treasures most in the world.

She isn't perfect... But that's okay. She has the people she loves besides her, her partner, her friends, even her dad who she dinally is able to let go off her resentment towards(Which should have been the entire point of her finally wielding him in battle), and her relationship with Crona, the single most important bond she ever made with anyone through the story. Ready to take on the world.

Thst sure would have been a way better story, while also continuing all of Soul Eater's themes into an actual, thematicly coherent climax.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Continuing on with awesome concept art, that is better than what we got, here are the original concept art for Mata Nui's 6 villages/cities.

I love the Villages we get in the actual product, but looking over these concept pieces, you get the sense that what they were originally going for, is the idea that all of the 6 villages used be something greater, which now(Other than Onu-Koro) has fallen drastically as civilizations, thanks to makta.

Gali's mask plastered on the mountain over Ga-Koro is one of the most iconic things from Mata Nui Online, but there is something haunting looking at it as it's in the middle of what was once a bustling city in the mountain side, now completely abandoned, with it's railing almost all rusted away and nature having retaken it.

Meanwhile, as for Ga-Koro itself, you get the sense that it's old, and weathered... But not dead just yet. It still clings to life around a center, a decaying city that once no doubt used to be much bigger.

I'll addmit, the Ta-Koro we actually got was better than this concept piece, but the ideq of the Fire Matorans literarily carving out their city out of a small, active volcano pretty much sums up their entire culture in one picture, just as much as them building it in the middle of a lake of Lava does.

Ko-Koro in canon was easily the blandest, and this one isnt all that better... But i do like how the entire city is basically carved out of the rock so it lies protected by tge overhead of stone.

It adds to the theme of this place being a safe haven, shielded from the elements on this 23 kilometer tall mountain.

Le-Koro is just completely different, taking the idea of a jungle city, and just flipping it from the usual kind of cities in the trees we got in canon, and instead a city of coccons made from vines that form a city hanging from the mountain side.

Its great, and i love it, and then i remember that this city would have ended up destroyed by tge Bohrok swarms if it had made it to the final product... Though to be fair, all of these would have been destroyed eventually down the line.

Now Onu-Koro is interesting in that it's clear that the city itseld isn't all that important here.

No, just like canon, what matters is all those tunnels, which connects to a much greater cave networks that is this states lifeblood.

The city itself is just the apot where they converge, and even then, to access the upper levels where people actually love, you have to do so through the caves.

And finally, Po-Koro... It's basically the same, just alightly different layout, and a couple if mesas with a huge boulder between.

Not bad at all, and you can see it's easily the one that was changed the least between concept and final product.

You know something that really grinds my gears about the Bionicle Movies?

The designs.

Much and more has been said about the Bionicle movie designs, and how they look way too organic, they move clunkily, and there are way too many liberties with them compared to the source material.

This isn't exactly anything new, people have complained about the Movie designs for as long as we have had bionicle movies.

But you know the thing that just kills me about these designs?

The concept artists fucking nailed it.

THIS is how the toa should have looked, like someone took the original designs, allright lets try not change anything we don't have to, and the parts we change is generally the more abstract parts like the gears manouvering the arms.

Like its not perfect(Pohatu lacks his unique body build) but man this design is how the Bionicle films SHOULD have looked.

The worst part is, the actual movies took these designs, and edited them juuuust enough to make them look absolutely terrible, and missing the point of so painstakingly trying to recreate the sets into actual functioning designs withouth trying to just remaking them to fit into the movie rather than fit the movie world around them.

[thekingofwinterblog]

You know something that really grinds my gears about the Bionicle Movies?

The designs.

Much and more has been said about the Bionicle movie designs, and how they look way too organic, they move clunkily, and there are way too many liberties with them compared to the source material.

This isn't exactly anything new, people have complained about the Movie designs for as long as we have had bionicle movies.

But you know the thing that just kills me about these designs?

The concept artists fucking nailed it.

THIS is how the toa should have looked, like someone took the original designs, allright lets try not change anything we don't have to, and the parts we change is generally the more abstract parts like the gears manouvering the arms.

Like its not perfect(Pohatu lacks his unique body build) but man this design is how the Bionicle films SHOULD have looked.

The worst part is, the actual movies took these designs, and edited them juuuust enough to make them look absolutely terrible, and missing the point of so painstakingly trying to recreate the sets into actual functioning designs withouth trying to just remaking them to fit into the movie rather than fit the movie world around them.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Man the one thing Bionicle will allways have my respect for is the whole giant robot reveal amd planning, that shit was cool.

Like I never read any books or comics (just watched the movies as a kid lol) and of what I read of the lore I feel iffy, but just that idea alone is legendary

Funny thing is, the movies are actually the single WORST part of the bionicle franchise XD

Not only are the 3 good one, only decent movies at best, but they were made explicitly FOR fans, and fans alone, and has no shame about not telling you stuff because they fully expect the viewer to know all the lore through the books, the comic books, or games.

They are also absolutely terrible in terms of action, as the Toa in pretty much every other medium are stupidly powerfull, with elemental powers easily on level with an avatar state avatar if not beyond, physically capable of lifting over one ton, and as the toa mata estimated during their fights with the Bohrok swarms, while they might ultimately win if they just went all out, they would certainly destroy the island of Mata Nui(about the size of mainland denmark) in the process.

To say the movie toa arent quite on that level is... kinda an understatement XD Not to mention that the comics actually fills in scenes in between cuts in the movies, or just makes actual movie scenes better. It's kinda a mess to follow.

overall, I've always described the Bionicle franchise as the actual Star Wars extended universe. It's a whole mess of in-canon with each other stories, that has a very clear cronological flow, but would have been way better if they just made a tv series that covered the main story(which was basically the only thing bionicle DINDT have).

That said, i can tell you exactly why you think the lore is iffy. It is related one one, single sentence.

"Doing in the wizard".

Doing in the wizard, is a story telling trope, where something that was presented as magical or mystical, is later revealed(wheter it was planned or retconned in later) to actually have a mundane, scientific explanation.

And man, is Bionicle the single WORST example of this trope ever made.

So to explain this, and how it all relates to the series big twist reveal, I need to explain how Bionicle started out, and what it became over time.

Because when it began, Bionicle started out as a myth in the making.

On paper the story of the story of the six toa coming to deliver the land from a great evil is as stock as you get it.

But what made it special from day one, was that it managed to capture the feeling of a deeply spiritual tale, of faith, destiny, and myth.

The story of the six toa coming to deliver Mata Nui and his chosen people is treated, both by the narrative, and the people in it, as a great religious story, with the coming of the six Toa Mata essentially being this universe's coming of christ.

There is a moment in the mata nui online game that really encapsulates this, as when Tahu first meets the Ta-Matorans he is supposed to deliver, they attempt to trap him, and he easily breaks free, but then the fighting is halted as Vakama, the turaga(basically priest king) of the ta-matoran shows up, orders his men to stand down, after which he walks up to Tahu seemingly to talk, only to kneel down before him.

because for him this is basically the equivelant of the coming of christ. the divine prophecy that came from God himself is finally coming true.

Now Bionicle has a lot of things to love, as other than the movies, it has great action, it's characters are generally actual people with flaws and developments, and it has lots of awesome moments, amazing and deep world building that is stupidly thourough, and sweet character moments, and of course one of the biggest twists in fiction... but it is this very religious and spiritual tone that sets Bionicle apart from pretty much... everything else western childrens media has ever made.

It is this deep, unfliching and honest portrayal of a world that feels like a myth come to life that drew so many people to this story when it first came out, what ellevated it over yet another story about good and evil clashing.

The people in this story feel real, not only because they generally have actual character(some way more than others), but because they Believe in their world. as in, they believe in Mata Nui, his tennants, his story, and the six saviors he promised would come to deliver them and wake up their god.

this is how you create a real, genuine setting. it is why Bionicle has a feel to it that you never see in western childrens media(nor that often in adult either), other than some very, very few exceptions, due to our deep aversion to showintg religion to children.

and then of course there are the gods in question.

Mata Nui and Makuta. the two brothers who set this story into motion. The first who came here to this world, and created the matoran, and the second who followed him from paradise, and cast a spell that put mata nui into his current deep, deep sleep.

Now these two could have been just another set of "evil brother who who was jealous of, and hates his good brother and attempts to usurp him".

but that's not quite what we get.

When the toa Mata finally do confront Makuta, they get his perspective on it all. Now they ultimately write this off as just an evil villain trying to justify his actions... but if you actually break down what makuta is saying, he is a way more interesting villain than the very simplistic reading the devil figure the matoran believe he is.

"Destroy me? You cannot destroy me. No more than you can destroy the sea, or the wind. Or - the void."

"You are like the sea? The sea bears life! The sea bore us!"

"I bore you, for I am Nothing. And out of Nothing, you came. And it is into Nothing that you will go. I stand with Mata Nui, side by side. I am his brother. The people of the world are builders. But look into their hearts ... and you will find that they also have the power to destroy. I am that power. I am destruction. And I WILL destroy you."

ultimately, the story of the gods Mata Nui and Makuta is not the story of heaven and hell, but instead a story of yin and yang.

Mata Nui is the god of light, and that is the element that everyone associates him with... but thats not his main trait. his main trait, his defining virtue, is creation. That is what he is most famous for after all, creating the matoran and this island home for them.

Similarily, Makuta is tha god of darkness, as that is his element... but his main virtue is destrution.

as the creators themselves noted, using a lego methaphor, mata nui is the drive to create new things, to make something bigger and more interesting out of the parts you have... but Makuta is the drive to destory that creation, to take the lego set apart either before creating something new, or to put it away into the box so that you can use it later. before you create something new, you must destroy.

And this ties into the actual story as well, as one of the big main plots from the start is that to reawaken their god, one of the things that would happen, is that the toa and the matoran would have to give up on Mata Nui the island, their home, their promised land, as only by it's destruction could their god reawaken and lead them to the paradise he originally came from.

its really, really good stuff, and one of the things that ellevated Bionicle over so many other children stories.

now, you might have noticed i said, and continue to say, early bionicle.

There is a reason for that.

and it ties into two very, specific turning points in the development of the story.

the big twist that Mata Nui was actually a giant robot was always going to be the center of everything, the explanation for all the wierd mysteries of the series. Even if his final form didnt end up being quite as big as this above concept piece made him out to be, the overall point stands.

The god of the Matorans was a gigantic robot, and his childrens proper place was inside of him, both to live their lives, and to serve as part of the great ecosystem that was the universe inside of mata nui.

Mata Nui the island, which he created for the Matoran to live on, was always a temporary thing, and their true destiny was him brining them back to "Paradise", aka the great planet of the solar system this story takes place in.

Spherus Magna. a planet that was broken into 3 before he left, and left a hellscape.

his original home that he left long ago.

Now, you might have noticed that i said not a word about what Mata Nui's backstory on said planet actually was.

The only thing that is important as it was originally portrayed, was that Mata nui left the planet for whatever reason, ended up on the water filled moon he currently rests on, and his brother followed him there from paradise.

now, you could create a scenario where there was some scientific, "Mundane" reason for all of this, but if you read this summary so far, the first thought in your mind is probably that what broke this planet into 3 pieces was probably related to something Mata Nui and Makuta, the two known gods of this universe, did. Maybe it is the reason why Makuta no longer has a body, and ended up on this moon in a much weakened form as basically a spirit who can only inhabit souless machine parts.

and im going to take a wild guess that this is probably what was originally planned... but you see, there was a shift at some point. actually on two points.

The first shift was at the very start of Bionicle as we know it, for the series was actually meant to only last 1 year. The toa would defeat makuta, then awaken Mata Nui, and that was that. The end.

However, Lego, who was at the verge of bankruptcy at the time, saw potential in the setting, and given it was a hail mary to save their company said "Screw it, lets expand on this universe!

and so the original one year story became 3 years.

now this artifical extension could have been disasterous, but unlike so many other similar tales, it was the exact opposite.

Mata nui the island got more fleshed out, the big mystery got more build up, the characters got to go through more development, both in the form of a kickass new upgrade, but also character arcs as a result of their power increase going to their head.

new villains, new places to go, new developments.

all leading up to the point where it was now decided that they would end the story. The arrival of the seventh toa of light, which would be where makuta was finally defeated, and at the end of the planned movie that would be the finale, mata nui would finally awaken.

Except this part didnt happen.

at the last moment, Lego essentially pulled the plug and decided to extend the series, and the point where they would reveal the big twist for a second time.

that said, the following storyline of the big flashback to explain metru nui was always going to happen, its just that as originally envisioned, this would be a flashback as the Toa, Turaga and Matoren traveled to Metru nui, as Mata Nui was flying through space back to spherus magna.

So essentially the story was over, but lego got to get one more line of bionicle toys out of it, while the bionicle team got to have fun one more time.

But thats not what happened, as not only did mata nui not awaken(it would take 3 more storylines past this point before that happened), but the big flashback was where everything went wrong so to say.

this is where bionicle shifted hard from a story trying to be a myth with very clear religious and spiritual overtones, into full on sci-fi.

and you can tell that shift occured very clearly as they abandoned all their original plans for how metru nui was supposed to look like in the poster above, showing the very alien like enviornment that was mata nui's insides, into the far more boring and safe(as well as full on science fiction) setting in the poster below.

now im not going to say that everything that came after this point was bad, far from it, there was a lot of really awesome stuff that happened afterwards, but it was the critical turning point where Bionicle steered away from the essence that made it more than just another toyline, an attempt at creating a myth that while it had sci-fi aspects, was ultimately a story of faith, destiny, and trying to find ones place in the universe, into just another sci-fi story.

Basically you can sum it up as the point where mata nui went from a god who was also a giant robot, into just a giant robot.

and man, does it make the lore, and tone a mess.

while the new universe does make logical sense, it lacks the soul(pun very much intended) of what made bionicle, bionicle.

and you know what the really sad thing is?

The final part of the story, where Mata Nui is FINALLY awakened, only to lose his own body, and find himself trapped in his mask as its launched into space before crashing back on the shattered planet that he came from, could so easily have fit into this mythical storytelling.

what actually happens is that mata nui learns he was actually just a giant robot created by some scientis in a lab 100 000 years ago to travel the cosmos, learn about the universe, then come back and fix the broken planet. then he repairs his own, unstable, proto type body that wasnt really working out, makuta senses him and follows him, they duke it out, mata nui kills him, then uses the last of his energy to fix the planet, before dying. oh, also rather than being his actual brother, makuta was actually just a computer program mata nui created. and Makuta isnt even his real name. his actual name is Teridax. im not kidding. oh and the actual thing that destroyed the world? it was a fight amongst some tribesmen using the resident dues ex machina substance that began oozing from the planet's core. again, im not kidding.

here is how you could easily fix it, while keeping in the same tone with what was suggested in the first three years about makuta and mata nui's origins.

The exiled and humbled divine being, cast from heaven, and forced to wander the world he himself played a role in wrecking so long ago, as he travels across the world, and befriends the people he essentially left behind to create the matoran in a better place, rather than fix the mess he, ironically enough given his defining attribute, created.

basically a bionicle take on the atonement/labors of hercules.

and then, having wracked his brain on how to solve the problem of his brother having taken control over his own body, he stumbles upon the solution.

his brother's own, broken, non-active body, which after their ancienct, and catacylsmic clash his brother left behind to follow him to the ocean moon.

and so his journey becomes to essentially take a page out of his brothers book, and do what he did to him in reverse. Repair the mighty body of a god, and then take contrel over it.

after the great journey of hardship and pain, now comes the ressurection before ragnarok, the final battle.

see how easy it is to rewrite this story about what is essentially two computer programs fighting over different continent sized bodies into a story about gods fighting a thematic and climactic showdown on the ruins of a planet they themselves wrecked to pieces to begin with?

but of course the story has to end, and it ends on a note tying into the original message. you cannot create, withouth destruction coming first, and so to win this conflict, mata nui has to destroy something. himself.

His own body.

Like any good jesus analogue, he gives his own life in a sense, as he chooses to give up on the possibility of regaining his own body and with it, regaining his true power and goodhood for the sake of the future of his people and this planet, driving his own skull into the oncoming moon that served as his home for all these years.

and with his final bit of power as his brother's dying body begins to give up on life, he spends the last moments of godhood to do what he, the god of creation should have done from the start. fix the mess he and makuta left behind.

putting the massive planet back together into one whole, while also terraforming it into the green wonder it used to be.

then, we end the story as we began. with a prophecy, where Mata Nui predicts before his toa, as his spirit returns to slumber once again that he will return, but for now, they must make their way forward withouth him, in this new world, that they now must make their own destiny here on the Paradise he promised them so long ago.

I dont know about you, but i think that would have been a lot more interesting that desperately trying to rewrite the entire setting to be full sci-fi because you didnt want to continue with the spiritual and religious themes that you never managed to shake off anyway.

mind you, it's not impossible to have this kind of twist and make a good story about it, but when you commit to telling what is essentially a religious tale that is basically the coming of christ, Ragnarok, the exodus, and the eternal kingdom on earth into one, you are not going to be able to swerve into making it full on sci-fi withouth it feeling, really, really jarring.

And guess what? it makes Bionicle Lore feel really, really jarring. Or iffy as you put it.

[thekingofwinterblog]

So to give an explanation to how the Onu-Matoran went from historians and archivists to traders, we need to explore the different enviornments they found themselves in.

The original home of the Onu-Matoran was Metru Nui, a highly developed, and ludicrously dense city state.

However, unlike most city states, this one did not from what we can tell have much greater trade with the rest of the lands of the Matoran universe, or at the very least not great trade networks that saw great amounts of goods flow from one end to the other in a mutually profiting arrangement.

No, Metru Nui is a self sufficient city state, which generally produces what it needs itself.

In this kind of enviornment, there is little need for dedicated traders as we know them, sure there would be shop owners and suppliers, but not people who could build widespanning trade networks that would necessitate something as advanced as a trade guild.

However, then they get to Mata Nui, and the entire picture changes.

Mata Nui is an island the size of mainland Denmark, and is ruled over, not by one, highly developed and centralized city state, but 6, rather spread out ones.

In such an enviornment, the need for a dedicated class of traders would be an absolutw neceasity, especially when all 6 city states would require metal given their techlevel.

And it's here Onu-Koro comes in.

It's a city dedicated to harnessing the great bounty of the earth, with a mine going so far down they reached Mata Nui's skin, and have built a massive highway for easier transportation of goods.

Onu-Koro by all accounts seems to be the richest and most developed of the 6 cities on the island, and no wonder given how necessary it is to the entire islands economy.

And because it, and trade is so important, trade is a huge part of their culture, being the providers of the lifeblood that the economies and ways of life that all 6 cities need to function.

On bit of "early and missed worldbuilding" aspect of 2001 Bionicle, there are the very fun interactions in MNOG in the Onu-Koro, between Whenua and representatives of Ussalry, miners and traders (last one doesn't get as much representation further down the line).

First one, is how Ussarlyman describes the sudden dense layer of stone (which, as we belatedly know, is Mata Nui's surface): he calls it "with high organic levels", and even elaborates for Whenua.

Depiction of GSR appears fairly mundanely robotic, so organic traits to it make it very interesting - its also a Bionicle! IIRC it has been described as organic-like in Hapka books around Bohrok, but more concrete mentions benefit that.

Before that, he also suggest moving Onu-Koro to other Wahi. This is a really cool detail - perhaps, Onu-Koro has evolved from an aboveground settlement (as it could have been in 2000 story bible), or moved from another location already.

Since miners compose the actual tangential events of the chapter, it is the third Matoran who falls into interest - evidently, a Guildmaster of the Trade Guilds.

(there is a much stronger focus on Toa "descending from heaven" in 2001 than in subsequent retellings 2001 plot; you can tell they expected to wrap it up sooner, and it is something 2016 reboot tried to play with)

The Guildmaster, expectedly, is worried about both the sudden unbreakable layer and stalling of Le-Koro route. Onu-Koro trades Protodermis to Po-Koro, where goods are finished, whereas Onu-Matoran recieve stone (? Perhaps it is higher quality, or easier to work with aboveground). Evidently all Matoran engage in trade, which is why Le-Koro route is important (Le-Matoran can access Onu-Koro, but with much difficulty); he dismisses proposition to travel by sea, as it has even more Rahi than the unlit tunnels (according to him). He even tries to drag in Onua, asking if the fabled hero is unable to help do the trade route faster.

There is a really cool characterisation to Saffire's Onu-Matoran; there is a very strong current of them being workers and traders. Later depictions sort of sidestepped that, with their former Metru Nui culture being that of miners and scholars. I wish there was more of a dedicated source to culture of Matoran of Mata Nui; it is a topic that is fraught with complexities of not exoticising oppressed cultures, but if care would be given to it, I imagine it could be a really great piece of worldbuilding.

[thekingofwinterblog]

A Lie of Individuality

You know my favorite part about chapter 419?

It's how All For One's great big, brutal final reveal destroys Tomura by ripping away the single most important part of his character journey as a Villain, and throwing it in the trash.

One of the lost in translation moments this series lost from Japanese to English is the fact that the terms for ones ability in this series would more correctly be translated as ones "individuality", and no character is defined more by this than Izuku and Tomura.

Izuku because of his lack of it defined him as a person, but for Tomura, ALL of his development has been based on finding his own individuality and building himself on it.

One of his biggest moments of growth was when he finally realized that one of the things that made his urges go away was to fully give in to his urges, which he saw as finally giving in to what he was meant to be. What his quirk, his genetically set destiny had laid down before him.

He was born with a quirk of total and absolute destruction, and so he was genetically predisposed to destroying things. It was only natural that this was what he was meant to do, and so each and every impulse of destroying things he ever had was completely justifiable.

He didn't really have any culpability in it. That's why he hated hero society so much. Because it rejected him from the moment he was born, because he was born with violent urges, just like Toma was.

Except that was all a big, fat, fucking lie.

Shigaraki was never born with any destructive urges in life.

The feelings he had, whatever their origin, had absolutely nothing at all to do with any predisposed genetic urges.

And that means that his justifications for why he killed and murdered was all based on a lie, a flimsy foundation, a hollow base.

A lie based on his belief in his own Individuality.

[thekingofwinterblog]

I recently did a few polls on my yt channel community page - which (ok not many people votes so the data may be irrelevant) seem to have kinda shocking results - it showed that the Baba Yaga arc in the manga, contrary to my belief, was not the most popular part of the manga - and to the contrary, maybe the least liked part.

So that made me curious, is the only arc I as a famous dick that shits on the manga too much like actually not that good?

What is your oppinion on the Baba Yaga arc,especially compared to the following manga arcs?

It's pretty strong to be honest. Vwry strong, with good villains, good character moments, and set in motion by manga Maka's greatest moment of weakness, when she was too much of a coward to either confront and talk to Crona about learning about medusa and then go from there, or go to the higher ups about it, which would have had crona suffer the consequences.

Instead she hides it all away, like a coward, unable to decide on a course of action and what it could lead to.

And she is punished for it by being separated From Crona, which thematically means that her moment of weakness set into motion the entire rest of the series.

And unlike a lot of shonen arcs, the story does NOT end on a happy note, at least not for Maka, as while arachne and her faction is defeated, medusa used her like a puppet, and didn't hive her any hints of where Crona was, meaning that for Maka it was all for nothing.

Amd thats just our main character's journey. There is plenty more.

No the problem with the arc, and the reason why i think a lot of people might sour on it, is that taken as it's own, the manga version of the arc is great... But the anime version has the benefit of leading directly into the final part of the story, and so while it doesnt aim as high from a character standpoint regarding the whole archne/medusa plot, it works just fine as the events that sets the final battle into motion.

By contrast the manga version is soured by everything that comes after.

Noah is the single most forgettable and BORING villain in all of Soul Eater, with his faction being little better, and so his defeat of Musquito and kidnapping Kid doesnt feel particularily interesting when you know where it leads as it's extremely dissapointing.

The whole Liz and Patty being on their own, starts off interesting as post timeskip Patty seems to be completely losing it and backtracking to who she used to be, but it doesnt go anywhere.

Black Star is pretty much the only one of the characters who gets a good outcome, as while the following arc is rather shit, his development from Mizune's death and eventual rematch with kid is the best part of that arc.

The single worst off though, Is Maka.

The baba yaga arc should for Maka, have been what the whitebeard war saga was for luffy. A great story, where all of her efforts are ultimately all for absolutely nothing.

The point of ultimate failure who's effects would define her decisions from then on.

But that's not what happens, because while Maka has a lot of nice moments after this, the climax of the arc is where Maka's journey as a coherent journey where you can trace her development in a logical manner ends.

The timeskip afterwards, rather than have her being utterly depressed or angry at the world, at Medusa and most of all at herself, instead has her in a great mood, and playing around with wanting to look cute, which isnt out of character per say(as maka is defintily a tomboy with a girly streak) but is utterly BAFFLING to have her be like this at this point when she should have been at her lowest.

And following that, her next development is her fears of holding Soul back after he became a death scythe? Like... That could have worked if the development post timeskip was about her having come developed a svere self hatred for failing Crona with her moment of weakness, but that really is not the way it's portrayed at all.

Her interaction with Crona post this is something i have covered before, as while there is plenty of great stuff there, the whole package is utterly ruined by the terrible ending the manga ultimately got.

Overall, the baba yaga arc is good on its own, but it very much marks the point where the manga had reached a clear and coherent direction(after some early less than perfect chapters) to the point where afterwards it would begin to spin it's wheels.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Thoughts on Nyguss not being a death weapon/Sid not having made one (especially when he is so high ranked in a way)? Ofcourse there is the whole 'yeah Ohkubo made it up allong the way so he didnt plan to have that many death scythes or didnt think it through" but still I guess it could be considered weird to not be adressed in 113 chapters. Idk, maybe I'm just delusional just checking for other perspectives

I dont mind not all the weapons becoming death Scythes, but my problem with the death scythes in general is that the ratio of how many souls eaten to reach the endgoal is not so astronomically high that Death scythes should be all that particularily rare. Certainly not ao rare that there is only one per continent.

So i wouldnt put nyguss as the big one that stuck out, but yeah there is a logical problem here that there are so few of them.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Do you think the Silmarilion is worth reading as its own book? Once tried to as a kid but found it boring as if I was reading a fictional bible or something (ironic considering Im reading the real thing for the second time right now lol)

P.S. Also sorry if I came of as a dick in some of the replys to your post, wont happen again

Yes and no. There are some interesting stories there, but i cannot under any circumstances advice you to read the whole thing through from cover to cover. It's a history book, and it reads like one.

There are tales in it worth reading though, but i would far more advice you to instead read the actual books Christopher hammered together out of his father's work before his death, before trying to read the equivelant of their stories in the silmarillion.

The children of Hurin is not a perfect read(it has a couple of timeskips where it's clear tolkien had things planned, but because he didnt get it done before it finished, the book basically sums up a time of war and adventure in narration. Think how LOTR's early chapters had a passage where 17 years passes as Gandalf came and went as he tried to figure out Bilbo's ring, and you have it), but it's overall a pretty good book, that covers the important parts of Turin's life, even if it's a greek styled tragedy.

I havent actually gotten around to reading the Fall of Gondolin, but from what i hear it does a much better job of hammering in the point that the battle of the unnumbered tears really was the last chance the forces oppossing Morgoth had a chance to win in a conventional war, and it was impossible after.

as for the book version of Beren and luthien, from what i hear it has the problem that Christopher was unwilling to just hammer out one, definite version out of his father's many, many takes, so the version we got here is a sorta frankenstein of the many texts, where it's treated as all the various in universe legends about this tale in one, sorta overlapping book. all fine and dandy, except there are part that are extremely confusing, as there were versions where Beren was an elf as well, removing a lot of the logical reasons why the plot happens.

honestly, i would recommend just reading the lay of leithian, https://tolkienleithian.blogspot.com/2013/03/canto-i.html which tells most of the important and interesting part of the story, and has a summary for the second and less interesting part. it is a story told in song though.

as for the rest, there arent more direct books, but there is an alternative to the first part of the silmarillion, The Ainulindale. the creation of the world.

it unfortunately only covers the first part, and doesnt go far enough to cover the age of the lamps, the awakening of the elves and melkor's first imprisonment, but it's a far more engaging alternative and coherent retelling of the making of the world than the more abstract yet dry telling from the silmarillion.

as for the rest of the silmarillion, there is worth to most of the stories, but if you read the ones i recommended above, the only one i would say are must read, are:

chapter 2: which retells how the dwarves and ents came to be.

Chapter 5-9, and then 13, which tells the story of feanor and his sons from valinor to their siege of angband(narratively its far and away the most coherent part of the story, even with that skip between 9 and 13).

chapter 17-18 which tells about how men came to the west and became part of the political world there, the breaking of the great siege, and Fingolfin's famous duel with morgoth.

Also if you just wanna read the duel in song form as Tolkien originally intended, here's another lay of just that.

chapter 20: The battle of the unnumbered tears, the last shot of victory. Also told in Children of Hurin, but this chapter is actually good, so i'd recommend reading it regardless.

chapter 22: which explains what the hell happened to Doriath, and sees the story of the sons of feanor reach it's end.

chapter 23: The story of Earendil the mariner, and the war of wrath that ended Morgoth's reign, and sunk beleriand under the sea.

after that, if you want to read about the second age, go read fall of numenor instead. its a way better source, even if not hammered together by Christopher.

[thekingofwinterblog]

The First Sin

So one bit of Tolkien's legendarium that most people miss, because it's only talked about in a rather obscure story, and never actually shown, is the thematic connection between Morgoth and Sauron's respective corruptions of humanity.

Sauron greatest "achievement" when he got to Numenor and corrupted the people there, was to get them to abandon Eru, and build an enormous temple dedicated to worshipping Morgoth, where they sacrificed Human beings in real, pagan sacrificial style.

It was in short, the ultimate defilement of the holy Island, far greater and more devastating to the Numenoreans than anything Morgoth did to Beleriand, for it brought the Numenoreans down to Sauron's level of their own free will.

The funny thing is though, Morgoth did the exact same thing. To such a degree that it's safe to assume that Sauron deliberately modelled his corruption of the Numenoreans in their blessed Island paradise, on the corruption of the Human race in their birthplace of Hildórien(this universe version of/inspiration for the Garden of Eden).

Like Sauron, Morgoth sought out the Human race when they were young, back when they were were still blessed by their inborn gifts of Illuvatar, and possessed a capacity/potential for creation that the King of Nargothrond would later describe as greater than the Valar.

And like Sauron, through lies and displays of power, he tricked the early Humans into abandoning Eru's words and teachings, culminating in them building a great temple to Morgoth in the great holy valley, in which either out of fear or genuine belief, every single human being alive at the time passed through at least once.

This all culminated when Humanity in it's folly, finally crossed a line, and on Morgoth's orders, began to sacrifice their fellow men in that great temple of stone they had used their godgiven powers of creation to make.

What followed was the entire Human race being stripped of that godgiven ability, and a lot of their blessings going with it. The true understanding of the "gift of man" aka natural death, that was humanity's great blessing and doom was broken, and ever after Humanity would need to face it with uncertainty and fear.

And where once the Human race was one, hereafter as Morgoth fled back west, the diminished Humankind splintered into many different parts, becoming the ancestors of all the various tribes and ethnicities that would follow.

Many turned away from Morgoth then, but the damage had been done, just as though the faithful survived the fall of Numenor, the entire Human race was now touched by the Original, first Sin, and all their descendants would be diminshed compared to what that original generation of Humankind had the potential to be.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Thoughts on C. S. Lewis / Chronicles of Narnia? (or other stuff like Screwtapes letters, space trilogy, etc)

havent read most of them.

That said i never thought there was anything wrong with Narinia, i just don't have great love and admiration for the series like i do Tolkien's legendarium.

I also happen to agree with tolkien that Allegory heavy stories tend to be rubbish, and generally pidgeonholes it into one, single kind of reading, and thats that.

Which is why its kinda hilarious that the best part of the series is the biggest allegory of the entire series, Aslan, who is a very blatant stand in for christ.

alsan is frankly speaking, a great portrayal of how to write an all around good godlike character, withouth making him boring, or being frustrated by his actions. I might not like allegory, but tropes themselves are not bad. It all depends on how you use them.

In fact i'd say that Tolkien could have learned a thing or two from Lewis in this regard, because with the execption of the ever lovable Valar of the waters, and Aule and his wife, pretty much all the valar who opposes Morgoth are a pretty bland bunch of characters, and this stems from the fact that Tolkien originally intended for them to be way more grey(which makes sense as in universe they would have been the original inspiration for ALL mythologies of present day that isn't the one true faith of Tolkien's christianity), which makes sense when you realise these guys would later down the line be remembered in the form of myths like Zeus and Odin, two very much not good top gods.

However Tolkien later decided to make them way more like Biblical angels, and scrubbed away the more by their nature chaotic valar and maiar, who in the original plans did not join Morgoth, but werent against him either.

Not necessarily a bad idea, but it's clear that other than Eru himself(Who is pretty on brand for the judeo-christian god), Tolkien was not good at writing such characters, which made a lot of moments very frustrating as The valar make terrible, or foolish actions(like not just going over and kicking Morgoth's ass immediatly after the silmarills business) but rather than have this be because of character flaws, and thus very easy to critique, he retroactively had to defend their more foolish choices with various levels of success.

So to summarize, narnia is a pretty good story, if not amazing, But aslan is a stand out character.

[thekingofwinterblog]

So, one of the more hilarious realizations i've had about Tolkien's elves, is that if Beleg Strongbow's Todor era ispired outfit is an indicator of what the Fashion trend amongst the Elves of the Kingdom of Doriath, then it means that both Luthien and Thingol most certainly followed suit.

Luthien's blue dress is both legendary and iconic, but here's how it's described in text.

"Blue was her raiment as the unclouded heaven, but her eyes were grey as the starlit evening; her mantle was sewn with golden flowers, but her hair was dark as the shadows of twilight."

Now there is nothing that says it cant have been a simple robe of some king with golden leaves imagery... But if we take the idea of Tudor fashion at Doriath's court as fact, then the dress Luthien wore during all of her adventures probably looked something more like this, only probably with a more sleeker lower half.

However, she still has a pretty nice, beautiful dress.

Now let's move on to Thingol.

Everyone knows Thingol, guy who married a Maia, father of Luthien, and the asshole overprotective dad who set Beren on the path that would send both him and Luthien towards Angband, who mellowed out a bit after his grandkid was born, and eventually took in Turin as his foster son.

He might not be the most pleasent guy(unless you're reading The Tale of Turin), but he's a pretty important character within Tolkien's story, who has a lot of iconic moments.

Him and his future wife falling heads over heels at each other, and communicating exclusively through thoughts for years after.

Him taking Turin Turambar as a foster son during the doomed soul's younger years.

Or his famous issue of the challenge for Beren to bring back a Silmarill for his daughter's hand, expecting him to die trying.

Now, every single time you remember those events, or read those passages again, remember that Thingol probably is not wraring the sterotypical Elven Robes you'd expect from an Elven Lord.

No, as King he would be the man responsible more than anyone else for the fashion in his Kingdom and court, and so, he would probably be wearing something like this during all his moments during the Silmarillion.

Basically Henry the 8th's famous outfit, only a bit sleeker, wearing a crown, and hopefully withouth the codpiece XD

[thekingofwinterblog]

There is no established way that elves dressed.

Don't know why you feel this strongly about it, but as it happens, you are wrong, we know pletora of ways Tolkien's elves dressed.

Tolkien himself drew a picture of Beleg Strongbow from the first age, and from it we can see that the Elves of Doriath dressed in pointed shoes with what seems to be long white socks, knee length pants, and what looks like a black doublet.

In other words, the male Elves of Doriath dressed in a style clearly inspired by Tudor england, only a bit toned down, and seemingly withouth it's more outlandish/silly features(Codpieces and those frilly necks for example).

We also know that elves seems to have prefered shoes over boots, though some elves(The ones of rivendell at the very least) used boots, though wheter it was the prefered footwear even then is another question.

Many elves also were clearly described as "Robed" in the sense of wearing actual robes, though what sort of robes and how fanciful they might be is not specified.

Famously they are also known to use enchanted cloaks, which we can presume looked pretty similar to the movie version.

Overall though, Tolkien made it clear that all of his various people dressed in a variety of styles, depending on their climate and their ancestral heritage. An elf from Doriath would probably not much resemble an elf from Mirkwood for example.

As for war, there would be a bit more overlap(though some differences as i'll go over below), as all elves dressed the same way for war, given Plate armor is not a thing in the book legendarium.

Namely iron/steel hauberks of interlocked metal rings, aka Mail/Chainmail.

All elves wore these though there is some question wheter they wore a surcoat above it as well.

It is possible that the elves did wear coats of arms above their mail shirts, but there is nothing in text as far as i can tell that auggests this, and all description of family crests and symbols suggests they carried such on their shields, not their armor.

As for their helmets, we dont know the exact style, but from what i can tell, there doesnt seem to have been any mentions of a full helmets amongst them, so there seems to have been a tradition of helmets with open faces, with fully closed off helmets being more of a dwarf thing.

Finally, there is one bit of Armor speciffically noted to be unique to Earendil, so there is a question wheter this was from his elven side, or his Human heritage, so this style would either have been the style of Gondolin, or the house of hador.

That of course being what Bilbo describes as "Panoply of ancient kings".

Now a Panoply has several meanings, as it can be used to describe "a full suit of armor", but this is a later meaning, speciffically refering to a suit of full plate armor. The older meaning, and far and away the more obvious one when you take into consideration thst Earendil's son would found numenor, which was inspired by ancienct Greece and Rome, is the the breast armor worn back during antiquity.

Now, as Tolkien made clear there was never any true plate armor in the legendarium, this rules out the early breastplates from the bronze age and the greek golden age, and instead means that Earendil either wore a greek suit of scale armor around his chest(and some form of band armor over his shoulder, be it scales, or boiled leather), or Linothorax, the kind of paper armor that Alexander the great used to conquer the known world.

While the latter is possible, there is no mention of such kind of armor anywhere in the legendarium, but plenty of references to scale armor, so i find the first much more likely.

Which means that the Elves of Gondolin(or if we're being completely literal, only it's kings) may or may not have had breast armor similar to the kind of scale armor sometimes used by the hoplites of ancienct greece.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Frodo: No hobbit in the shire has ever killed another intentionally!

Pippin's sister, Pearl Took: Murdered the tyrranical matriarch of the Took clan; Lalia Took, through a convinient "accident", and was awarded for the hit by the rest of the family with a priceless necklace of pearls.

[thekingofwinterblog]

The fundamental differences between Martin and Tolkien

What separates the works of Martin and Tolkien?

Both created vast, sprawling worlds, good, strong characters, and detailed histories.

Both are Gardner style writers, of a perfectionist bent, but whereas Martin wanted a world where you never could be fully certain about anything of the past, Tolkien created a timeline so deep and well constructed that there is only one single mistake that has to be chalked up to bad in universe sources(a couple of dates during Bilbo's journeys).

Tolkien focused on creating a mythology, whereas Martin wanted a fantasy world that put a lot more emphasis on the nitty gritty.

They have a lot of differences and overlaps, and Martin is the first to tell you that his own works in created very much as a response to what he saw as flaws in Tolkiens works.

Some of these do raise some interesting questions, while others showcases that Martin's thoughts on Tolkien for good or ill formed and crystalized very early in life, and he's never really delved deep enough into the lore that many others have, else he would know the answers to a lot of the questions he asks(For example, we actually know way more avout the constitutional limits of Aragoen's power as a king than we do the legal limits of any kings of Martin's).

This is not to just throw shade at Martin as not "Getting" Tolkien, but that very much comes back to the big, big differences between them, because Martin very did not, and does not get Tolkien's ultimate philosophy.

Martin's biggest Philosophy as a writer is the phrase; "The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself".

This is not a bad philosophy as a writer. A lot of the best works of man is very about this, one single consept.

But it's not a be all, end all to story telling. Many great stories have been told about characters who's desires were very much NOT in conclift with itself.

A lot of Tolkien's stories is about this consept, but not all of his characters were. Thorin Oakenshield, Bilbo, Sam, Smeagol and Boromir would very much fit into this catagory, but Gandalf the grey would not, being a force of nature who serves as the big good in both the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Pretty much all of Gandalf's storybeats is about his limitations, and how it affects his mood and decision making, not the ethical questions thereoff.

And of course the most important Heroes in Tolkien's legendarium as far as Tolkien was concerned, Earendil, Beren and Luthien, do not fit this whatsoever. Their stories like Gandalf is about them seeking a goal, and how to reach it, the physical obstacles in their way, and how to overcome them, not any ethical dilemma they face on the journey.

And this in turn comes back to the biggest difference between the two of them.

For Tolkien had his own personal philosophy regarding what all stories worth telling are all about.

"Human stories are practically always about one thing, really, aren't they? Death. The inevitability of death."

"Nothing that ever happens to man is natural, since his presence calls the whole world into question. All men must die, but for every man his death is an accident, and even if he knows it he would sense to it an unjustifiable violation."

All men must die, and it is the reality of this that all actions people make is in response to.

Thorin Oakenshield set out to reclaim Erebor because duty demanded it, because if he did not, he and all his people who still remembered Erebor would die withouth ever seeing it again.

Beren was a mortal man, and so was doomed to die... But he eventually did as many men did, and fell in love, and like all who do, he wanted to spend his life with the person he loved. Meanwhile Luthien's story was about the fact that as an elf, she was not part of the cycle of death, but having to confront it head on, and feel what it was to lose the man she loved, she made a plea to to the Valar of death and so was able to enjoy life together with her love in exchange for giving up her immortality.

Gandalf is immortal, but the people around him who he loves dearly is not, and as everyone eventually dies, he is forced to find new companions again and again amongst the then younger generation.

Boromir was tasked with saving his people and country, with the very real reality that if he failed, he and all he loved would die, and this drove his actions for good or bad.

Bilbo, having finally settled into a standard hobbit lifestyle, still felt the pull to go out and seek something exciting in his life, and was given the choice of living comfortably until death claimed him in Hobbiton, or wheter to take a risk, and set out into the world on an adventure.

Meanwhile Tolkiens elves do not die natural death... But rather than this making them free from all such suffering, it instead just introduces other ills and challenges, having to either give up on the physical world, or fade away, with the forging of the rings of power being a mistake rooted in trying to stop their innevitable decay, so they can enjoy their immortality forever.

Meanwhile, all the societies Tolkien shows us, just as real life, imare built around the concept of the innevitability of death, and what we do in order to pass it on to the next generation after our death, and the consequences thereoff if we fail.

These ideas are not something Martin does not explore in great depths in his own way, just as Tolkien does not shy away from the human heart in conflict with itself, but it's not the rock upon which Martin bases all of his tales, the same way that the conflict of ones heart is not the basis of Tolkien's tales.

I would say neither is completely correct either. You can base a story about either concept as the core, or both, or neither, for there are other cores to structure a tale around that uses neither as the rock of the story.

[thekingofwinterblog]

The various silly adaptions of Elrond.

The Hobbit Animated Elrond.

Oh, his name means Star Dome, and he's the only viable candidate to claim High Kingship over the Elves. Okay, we can we can work with that, let's give him a swanky Star crown above the Dome that is his head... get it? Star Dome?

Bakshi Elrond.

Hmmmm... He's a famous counciler....how about a... A bored Roman Senator? Yes, that will do, it wont look silly or jarring with his people or his home at all. Why mayhaps the viewers will think of him as dressed like a numenorean councilman!

Didnt the Numenoreans dress more greek than roman?

Shush!

Rings of Power Elrond.

Hmmm... We need to portray him as he's building his political standing. Not as weary, but still untested and trying to prove himself... How about... A hobbit with a luxerious mane of locks, with Human proportions and dressed like an elf?

Yes, perfect! Here designer, have 10 million dollars for your glorious idea!

Um... Elrond had a pretty distinct blue coat of arms, maybe we should add that in, we have the rights to it i think, and-

PISS OFF, you hack of a "Historian"! When we want your opinion, we'll bloody well ask for it!

[thekingofwinterblog]

So one detail that is really, really sad about both the Hobbit and Lord of the rings, that is there from day one always hoovering over the narrative, but is never really explained, is the sad story of Sting, Glamdring and to a lesser extent Orcrist.

These weapons glow blue in the pressence of Orcs.

Its a detail that's never explained beyond the fact that it's because it's Elven weaponry from fallen Gondolin.

But we're never explained why only these out of all the elven made equipment in the franchise glows like this.

Clearly it was something unique to the Gondolinian smiths, and so you'd be forgiven for thinking on a first delving into the deeper legendarium, that it was snuffed out with the city itself, when Morgoth's forcea sacked it with Orcs, balrogs, dragons and early mechanical troop carriers.

A wonderous and in it's own way beautiful little bit of magic, lost to the world forever.

But no, that's not quite it.

While it was the sack of Gondolin that killed most of it's people, there was still hope for some sort of recovery for it's people, the true treasure of fair Gondolin that truly mattered...

But that hope was snuffed out by the sons of Feanor, when they assaulted the havens where the survivors of this genocide and many others had gathered and wiped almost all of them out.

In thw end, if there was any amongst them that knew the secret for how to make the blue glowing steel, it died here, where this attrocity took place and Elf killed elf on large scale for the third time, for the pettiest and most selfish of reasons.

Leaving Sting, Glamdring and Orcrist and those few other weapons from the city to survive as the last memorials to a dead and gone culture, the last children of a culture that Feanor's brood snuffed out in a slaughter.