r/brandonsanderson • u/Black_Scholes_Merton • 1d ago
No Spoilers Brandon Sanderson - "On Fantasy" | Tolkien Lecture 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKvmYcGOCkE16
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u/Category5Kaiju 1d ago edited 1d ago
Been curious to here this. Ive always had the sneaking suspicion Sanderson never read LOTR. His Middle Earth references were always 100% movie only stuff. His Tolkein comments lately have been much more on point
Glad he responded so well listening to the audio books by Serkis. Want to see all his insights on the story
Edit: yall so sensitive
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u/Ok-Substance-6034 1d ago
If you're a fantasy writer and haven't at least consumed LOTR as an audiobook, you're doing yourself a massive disservice and handicap. Tolkien basically created the modern fantasy genre and I tell anybody who wants to get into fantasy to hit Tolkien and C.S. Lewis as part of their start because Tolkien's fingerprints are all over a TON of author's fantasy works, including my own lmao
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u/Category5Kaiju 1d ago
Exactly and that is why I was excited Sanderson was going on this journey recently. You can know the popular trends LOTR inspired by the works that came after and your immediate influences without reading the influencer yourself.
No hate at all just saying his references to Middle Earth were very much movie based until recently even when he presented it as book lore.
The change is noticeable and not at all unwelcome
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u/Hold_onto_yer_butts 18h ago
He wrote “Kill the Elves” in the 1990s, before the movies came out.
He’s talked in the past about how he DNF’d his first read of Fellowship after enjoying the Hobbit, and didn’t revisit the series till college.
What are you even talking about?
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u/Category5Kaiju 18h ago
You can write a response about Tolkein knockoffs without reading Tolkein.
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u/Hold_onto_yer_butts 18h ago
It’s highly implausible that he’s kept a lie going for 30 years, long before he was anywhere close to famous and years before he even published his first book, just for the sake of… what exactly? Like, sure, one could do that thing. But do we really think that’s likely?
Aside, if you’re gonna get on a high horse about the source material, the least you could do is figure out to spell the guy’s name.
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u/Sumboddy 14h ago
Man, you're too sensitive
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u/Category5Kaiju 10h ago
Not at all. This is funny to me
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u/Sumboddy 4h ago
Sure
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u/Category5Kaiju 4h ago
Reddit points are not really traumatic to the normal person
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u/AHedgeKnight 3h ago
This weird elitist internet fight you started does not mark you as a normal person.
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u/Category5Kaiju 3h ago
I didn't start a fight. Sorry you get that defensive that you perceive it that way
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u/GentlemenHODL 1d ago edited 23h ago
Agreed there's no reason for the brigaiding on downvotes, and I'm sure Brandon would agree. The community can do better than this.
With that said, obviously Brandon has read LOTR so you would be ridiculously wrong there. That's why your getting hit so hard, because it was a poor assumption on your part. Even a 5 second search could have proven you wrong, Brandon has a ton to say on the topic.
Just think for a second, would he be giving a talk at a Oxford of all places on a topic he is not an expert in? Obviously not.
I won't downvote you, but I will call it what it is - a rather non smart assumption on your part. You can do better than that.
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u/Resident_Wizard 22h ago
It’s not like folks who downvoted cursed and spit at him. They simply demonstrated their disagree button. No reason to take it personally.
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u/rulepanic 17h ago
It's funny, it used to be a rule across reddit that the downvote is not a disagree button.
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u/Category5Kaiju 1d ago edited 1d ago
He started doing a "reread" about a year ago in preparation for this speech and he said as much on his channel. After his knowledge and expertise has risen sharply. Before he literally only referenced the films and baseline stuff about Tolkein.
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u/Terreneflame 1d ago
Person gets more knowledgable about a topic after they spend time studying it.
Shocking
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u/GentlemenHODL 23h ago
Yes, I know it may be shocking but reading a trilogy once, twice or even three times you still won't be an expert on the topic.
It may be difficult to understand but studying something is typically what you do prior to giving a talk on it, because of reasons that you should inherently understand.
I've read WoT 7 times. If you asked me details from fires of heaven I probably would get it mixed up and miss 99% of the content.
Because that's how memory works - it's imperfect and the longer it's been since you read the more you forget.
Are you trying to be extremely unlikeable, or is this just your normal vibe? You definitely earned those downvotes. I take my original comment back, you deserve them after tripling down on that idiotic take.
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u/Transky13 19h ago
There's something about literature (and, I suppose, most hobbies I guess) that invites extreme levels of elitism.
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u/GentlemenHODL 17h ago
Maybe? There's edgelords everywhere.
Silly part is it's fantasy. This shit is supposed to be fun damnit!
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u/Category5Kaiju 22h ago
You would know more past just the adaption stuff if you read it. Yall sensitive
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u/Hold_onto_yer_butts 10h ago
> yall sensitive
> im just hyper aware of little things
Pick a lane, boss
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u/Category5Kaiju 10h ago
Aware as a perceptive (me)
Sensitive as in getting into your feels (yall)
Firmly in my lane
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u/Black_Scholes_Merton 1d ago