“I’m not specifically criticizing Tolkien here”: LOTR Fans May Not Like What George R.R. Martin Has Openly Said He’d Change about Lord of the Rings

Two of the greatest works in the fantasy genre in the last century have to be J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings series, and George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series. Where the former laid the foundations on which the genre stands today, the latter is a perfect showcase of how one can build off the legacy created by the greats and become one themselves.

Although both writers have their own kind of writing style and have created masterpieces through that, their names are often put in competition with each other. Tolkien has an extremely dedicated following, despite his works having come out decades ago. With this in mind, it is not surprising that they can often be protective of his creation after his passing.

With this in mind, one can assume that Martin could easily be in deep trouble after what he had to say about the legend in an interview.

The Student Knows Better?

George R.R. Martin has a reputation for never holding back when it comes to his opinions. Being well-versed in his profession, he has been quite vocal about everything ranging from how his works are received in live-action, to how he feels about some of the most classic works of all time. During an interview with Time Magazine, he did not hold back when it came to his thoughts on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.

In the past, the Game of Thrones writer has always been brutal about his thoughts on the writer, despite Tolkien being one of his biggest inspirations as a writer himself. This instance was no different, however, he was a little more cautious. He started by addressing the tension between him and LOTR fans head-on, mentioning that they hold quite a misconception about him.

While his comments in the past may make them believe that he is critical of their beloved writer, Martin’s feelings towards Tolkien are quite the opposite. Placing the LOTR writer in a god-like position, he mentioned that he looked up to him in every way possible.

I’m not specifically criticizing Tolkien here — I don’t want to be portrayed as blasting Tolkien. People are always trying to set up this me-vs.-Tolkien thing, which I find very frustrating because I worship Tolkien, he’s the father of all modern fantasy, and my world would never exist had he not come first!

He even went as far as to claim that the GOT world would not have existed had it not been for the masterpieces created by Tolkien.

George R.R. Martin VS J.R.R. Tolkien and His Fans

With all that said, George R.R. Martin talked about one of the biggest things that he was able to take from ready classic novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as those inspired by him. Although there is no denying that the Lord of the Rings series is a masterpiece in every definition of the word, since it was written almost 70 years ago, it cannot help but be a product of its time.

When I read fantasy books by other writers, particularly Tolkien and some of the other people who followed Tolkien, there’s always this desire in the back of my head to reply to them: “That’s good, but I’d do this part differently,” or, “No, I think you got that wrong.”

Keeping this in mind, Martin explained that, often, when he is reading such works, he cannot help but be reminded of how things have changed when it comes to the literary landscape since then, especially when it comes to the fantasy genre. He mentioned that he finds himself looking at these works through a lens of how he would end up doing certain things differently.

Nevertheless, I am not Tolkien, and I am doing things differently than he did, despite the fact that I think Lord of the Rings was one of the great books of the 20th century. But there is that dialogue that’s going on between me and Tolkien, and between me and some of the other people who follow Tolkien, and it’s a dialogue that’s continuing.

Be it small details, aspects of the world-building, character arcs, or endings, it seems that the writer cannot help but use his analytical brain when he is reading these works. Not as a critic or someone trying to compete with a classic, but as a writer looking at something amazing and wondering how they would replicate the same in their own style.

While many might be critical of such an approach, it is important to remember that before he became George R.R. Martin, the writer of Game of Thrones, he was Geroge R.R. Martin, a reader and a fan of The Lord of the Rings.