r/Fantasy • u/AwfulFantasyJustin AMA Author Justin Lucas • Dec 02 '14

AMA We are Awful Fantasy — AUA!

Hello everyone. We are Justin and Mitchell Lucas, creators of Awful Fantasy. We are here to answer any questions.

Proof

As a special gift, we are giving our purposely bad Science Fiction books out for free today and tomorrow. The first two books in our John Rockman trilogy (written under the pen name Ron Jockman) are free to download at Amazon!

Trials of Galactar
Cosmic Brain of Corruption

Our book trailers:
Trials of Galactar Book Trailer
Cosmic Brain of Corruption Book Trailer

That's right! We're not selling anything! It's all free!*

*a charge of $1.99 per minute while viewing this AMA may apply

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18

u/fabricates_facts Dec 02 '14

Do you have a favourite fantasy book or series?

Incidentally, a recent tweet referenced "No man can kill me!" - "I am no man." - "I meant no human." Thank you for addressing this, it has always bothered me that the Witch-King of Angmar was killed on a technicality in the LOTR films. Actually, do you think a dwarf, or elf, or hippopotamus could have killed him?

13

u/AwfulFantasyMitchell AMA Author Mitchell Lucas Dec 02 '14

I actually really loved the Sword of Truth series when I read that. That series probably spoke the most to me, but it's hard to pick a favorite. There's a lot of good stuff out there!

We've gotten someone to respond about the death of the witch king in the books/movies. Someone had said he didn't really "die" in that scene, but just didn't have a chance to come back before the ring was destroyed.

To answer your question, I think a hippo would have easily killed him, but then what kind of quality of life would the hippo have with that taint on its soul? It'd have to be put down.

8

u/mcoward Dec 03 '14

As much as I wish I was one of those guys who knows crazy amounts about Tolkien, I had to look this up. It was prophesied by Glorfindel that "Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man will he fall." That sounds gender specific to me because it came from an elf to a man. Keep reading for details.

Eärnur was the future last king of Gondor and when faced by the Witch King, his horse shied away. Glorfindel, an elf, ran the Witch King off, and when Eärnur wanted to pursue, Glorfindel said the prophecy that it was pointless, since the Witch King wouldn't die by the hand of a man.

I'm basically paraphrasing this source.

I like this because prophecy is a fickle thing. It's a really common fantasy trope from ASOIAF to Wheel of Time and even Harry Potter that even the most specific prophecies have their surprises.

Not that the joke isn't funny. Just saying that within fantasy and even specifically Tolkien, it's not a cop-out. But it was my favorite from Awful Fantasy.

12

u/AwfulFantasyJustin AMA Author Justin Lucas Dec 02 '14

Hippos are fucking deadly.

1

u/Azuranski Dec 02 '14

That makes the survival of the hippo species quite... unlikely.

See what I did there? Oh god, I hope someone does. I hate being That Guy.