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The Freehold of Valyria is also presented as a place that produced wonders, some of which still exist in the present day, such as the family sword of House Stark: It had been forged in Valyria, before the Doom had come to the Freehold, when the ironsmiths had worked their metal with spells as well as hammers. Four hundred years old it was, and as sharp as the day it was forged Martin, , p. These tales of lost homelands and of a great people now diminished suffuse both The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire with a sense of melancholic romance.
Both worlds are clearly in decline, now in twilight, long after the dawn of greater ages. Because of this, the men of the past are undeniably greater than their poor descendants, both in their achievements and as individuals. These world- building elements reinforce the notion of restoring the past as something good and proper and a future of change as frightening and evil. The Return of the King, the third part of The Lord of the Rings, chronicles the return of the united kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor under the leadership of Aragorn, heir to Nmenor.
No onehuman, elf, or dwarf questions whether or not this restoration is proper, necessary, or just. The only character to object is Denethor, Steward of Gondor, whose line has reigned for centuries. Since he is portrayed as clearly mad he burns himself alive not long after , his objections are ignored. As George R. Martin himself notes, He ruled wisely and well is a glossing-over of what will most likely be a challenging transition, but Aragorn is never shown as less than a noble man who both does well and does good. In this way Gandalf, who orchestrates Aragorns rise to power, is much more a reactionary than a reformer.
The hobbits, the linchpin of the plan to defeat Sauron, are honored after the fall of Mordor, but their common man status remains unchanged and they look forward to returning to their middle-class lives in the Shire; indeed, no better option is presented to them. Why do such characters seem to accept this blatant inequality?
Renly is a schemer and not a reformer, and expresses no intention to challenge the mores of the very culture that marginalizes him. The concept of escape in literature, as discussed by J. Green, P. The sub-genre has a focus on atmosphere and ambiance. Moth-eaten, ill-made.
The simplest explanation is that, within the context of the story, Aragorn, like all descendants of Nmenor, is simply made of better stuff Shippey, These folk are superior to their allies the Rohirrim, and most certainly to the Easterlings and the Haradrim, who openly serve Sauron.
Faramir describes this hierarchy to Frodo and Sam: For so we reckon Men in our lore, calling them the High, or Men of the West, which were Nmenoreans; and the Middle Peoples, Men of the Twilight, such as are the Rohirrim and their kin that dwell still far in the North, and the Wild, the Men of Darkness. Tolkien, b, p.
This description of Men of Darkness is particularly striking because the. Haradrim are described as brown and swarthy; in other words, not even white, as are the Rohirrim and Nmenoreans.
It is interesting to note that this sort of racial stratification is not restricted only to humans. The elves were divided into the Eldar, who had answered the call of the Valar, and the Avari, who had not. The Eldar themselves are further subdivided: the Vanyar, who responded most swiftly to the summons of the gods, and who were the least numerous; the Noldor, who came second; and the Teleri, who tarried most along the way. Hobbits were also stratified, split into the Fallohides, the Harfoots, and the Stoors. The Fallohides most resembled the elves in appearance and the most important hobbit families Baggins, Took, and Brandybuckwere all of this sub-race.
Naturally, the Vanyar are the fairest of the elvesthe most blond-haired and blue-eyedjust as the Fallohides were the fairest of the hobbits and the House of Hador were the fairest of the humans. Clearly, the best of each race is that which most possesses an Aryan look, a troubling observation. In A Song of Ice and Fire the hierarchy is not so clear-cut, but is real nonetheless.
Daeneryss father was thrown down in Roberts Rebellion, and she and her brother were spirited away before they could be killed along with him. She grew up in the land of Essos, far from Westeros, with nothing left of her heritage but scattered memories and the color of her eyes and hair. Yet by hatching dragons from stone she restored to the world a fire and magic that had not been seen in an age. Like Aragorn, she too is an echo of a romanticized past.
As she gains power and influence, she forces upon Essos the cultural standards of Westerosor those that she has read about, for ultimately she is a pretender to the culture she champions. She breaks the slave trade, throws down tyrants, ends bloodsport in the form of the fighting pits because the Westerosi consider these things wrong, but despite these reforms it never occurs to her to improve upon the customs of a homeland she does not even remember.
Fantasy literature, often derided as superficial and escapist, is one of the most popular and enduring genres of fiction worldwide. It is also—perhaps. Download Citation on ResearchGate | Fantasy Literature: Challenging Genres | Fantasy literature, often derided as superficial and escapist, is one of the most.
The ultimate rightness of her given tradition is never questioned, which makes even her most well-intentioned efforts look colonial, and worse for the fact that she is white and the denizens of Essos are most definitely not. For all her reformist zeal, Daenerys never attempts to improve the lot of women, ultimately content to leave them as the virtual property of their fathers or husbands, nor of racial minorities such the folk of the Summer Islands, who are described as black as pitch.
She does not listen to the voice of these forgotten folk, nor does she further their cause. Both Aragorn and Daenerys are given the choice between restoration and transformation, between conservatism and progressivism, between the past and the future and both, in the end, make the same choice. There are many ways in which sexual minorities are marginalized in fantasy fiction. In The Lord of the Rings, this is accomplished simply by ignoring their existence. As far as we can tell, every biological resident of Middle-Earthhuman, elf, or orcis cis-gendered and heterosexual. The transformative and evil forces in this case, Sauronmay be once-men, but the sexuality of all normal beings of the world is much more clearly defined.
Men love women, women love men, and there is no suggestion that things have ever been otherwise. Obviously, some of this is due to the time in which the series was writtena more progressive approach might have gained Tolkien censorship or even charges of indecencybut it still set a troubling precedent that extends even to a more progressive era. This presents an interesting problem to modern readers of Tolkiens work, as much of the series concerns only the relationships between male characters.
Women are prizes to be won or treasures to be protected this is most particularly true of Aragorns fianc, Arwen , and are almost always kept off-screen. It is therefore not surprising that modern readers see homoeroticism in the close friendship of Frodo and Samwise Goodreads, Samwise occasionally pines over Rosie Cotton, back in the Shire, but it is his love for Frodo that keeps him on the quest of Mount Doom, and that saves him from the Rings corrupting influence. Since overt homosexuality does not exist in Tolkiens world, the deep connection between the hobbits seems even more sexual in nature.
In A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin again goes far beyond Tolkien and includes several characters who are gay or bisexual, even if not openly. Renly Baratheon is clearly involved in a relationship with the commander of his personal guard, Loras Tyrell, also known as the Knight of Flowers.
Loras, favorite son of a powerful House, is indulged in his indiscretions, while Renlys homosexuality is used by the Tyrells as a political tool. Renlys love for Loras binds him to the Tyrell family as tightly as his marriage to Loras sister Margaery. This affair is well known amongst the nobility, if not openly acknowledged except in mockery. Jamie Lannister refers to this relationship in his attempts to take Loras down a peg: Now sheathe that bloody sword, or Ill take it from you and shove it up some place even Renly never found Martin, , p.
Renlys little rose? I doubt that Martin, , p.
Even the Tyrells are unwilling to speak frankly about the sexuality of their favorite son, as Loras own brother Garlan says to the girl who pines after him: My lady, I have seen how you look at my brother. Loras is valiant and handsome, and we all love him dearly but your Imp will make a better husband Martin, , p. Among the gay characters of the series is Jon Connington, an exiled lord bent on restoring to power the son of a prince he once loved, and several minor characters like Kem, servant of the mercenary group the Second Sons.
Even characters who are essentially heterosexual have same-sex encounters: Daenerys with her handmaid Irri, and Cersei with her lady-in-waiting Taena Merryweather. Although Martin outshines Tolkien in the presentation of homosexuality, A Song of Ice and Fire still remains problematic. Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryenboth important, point of view charactersexperience same-sex encounters, and these are so explicitly detailed that they qualify the books in which they appear as inappropriate reading for children. The romantic relationship between male characters, however, is never spelled out with such specificity; indeed, many readers remain unaware that Renly and Loras were sexually involved, or that Jon Conningtons feelings for Prince Rhaegar were more than platonic.
Even Kem offers only hints of his feelings for the boy he knew once. In fact, when Loras and Renlys relationship was explicitly laid out in the television series, many viewers complained that that element had been added in for no reason Goodreads, This imbalance in presentation sends a clear message: female homosexuality can be safely presented as titillation for the presumed mostly male audience, while male homosexuality may be hinted at but must never be confirmed.
This practice has in recent years come to be known as queerbaiting, adding homoerotic tension between characters to attract attention without ever making that tension more than subtext Mai, Examples of queerbaiting can be found anywhere, but the television series Supernatural is a good example of the way a storyteller can strongly imply the presence of homosexuality while retaining the ability to deny its reality.
Queerbaiting is often used in relation to male homosexuality, as such feelings between women are assumed to be more palatable to a mass audience AP, To his credit, Martin has been willing to acknowledge the homosexuality of certain of his characters, but since the implications are so vague, the possibility of retraction always exists. Part of marginalizing a minority is the insistence that its concerns and even its perceptions are purely imaginary Gennis, , and it is disturbing to find the groundwork so neatly laid in A Song of Ice and Fire. This distinction plays into the perception that same sex relationships are either titillating when the participants are female or deviant when the participants are male , but in no case do they deserve the same respect afforded to heterosexual pairings.
Thus, the heteronormative model of love is justified and reinforced, closing the door to any true consideration of alternate sexual orientations. The heroes may indulge in same-sex relationshipsCersei and Daenerys may sleep with women, Frodo and Sam may be very closebut ultimately these relationships are always relegated to the margins. Renly is a schemer and not a reformer, and expresses no intention to challenge the mores of the very culture that marginalizes him.
Daenerys, fair-minded in so many ways, considers her dalliances with her bed maid an illicit pleasure, and never seeks to expand the privilege she enjoys to those for whom it is forbidden. These characters, personally and politically powerful, never work towards the betterment of people like them, and sometimes even hold them in contempt.
Cersei even thinks about the deleterious effect Ser Loras may be having on her royal son: She did not want Tommen.