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theyusedthelamppost t1_j1uvp13 wrote

The thing that set HotD/GoT apart is that they aren't archetypal fantasy. They were pure dramas that just happened to take place in a fantasy setting. Dragons are just biological creatures that happen to exist in their world but not ours. People using magic pop up rarely, but the show never dwells on it. The shows are mainly about medieval politics and characters sitting across the table talking to each other.

Whereas other fantasy properties rely on the idea of 'wizards waving their hands to make glowy clouds appear' being a core trait of some main characters. Those are the ones that seem to struggle. I almost feel like no one has really figured out how to make that mechanic really feel good on screen yet.

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Garmgarmgarmgarm t1_j1wqx0x wrote

this applies to lord of the rings too. in jacksons first trilogy, gandalf uses magic like all of 3 times and he generally just uses it to start a fire or shine a bright light, or talk to a butterfly(i dont remember exactly). gandalf spends most of the trilogy using diplomacy to bring nations and factions into aragorns alliance against sauron so that the white city and the rohirrim can be saved, which also serves the purpose of distracting saurons focus from frodo. this politicking is infinitly more interesting than gandalf mowing down rows of orcs with flashy magic, ala scarlet witch vs kamar taj.

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RogerThatKid t1_j1v0y2z wrote

Exactly. In these stories, magic doesn't dictate the end results often. It can't be the dominating factor because when it is the dominating factor, the story is boring and bland. Nobody in the house of dragons has unlimited power. Everyone is held in check by something. It makes the story more compelling. Each character also has flaws, to go with their redeeming qualities.

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Irishfafnir t1_j1vg6th wrote

Ironically.magic(of the type we commonly think of anyway) is about as prevalent in the GOT universe as Lord of the Rings

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ro_hu t1_j1v5be6 wrote

I also think that fantasy shows that are supposed to be taken absolutely seriously are almost inherently going to fall flat on their face. Playing fantasy games there are few if any that don't have a tongue in cheek nature at some point. Also, I want to see a show about orcs, living and growing up in an orc village, that gets taken over by the evil overlord and they are forced to go fight humans in a human realm alongside weird little goblins and shit. I've seen the group of heroes fight monsters a thousand times, the formula has been done to death and while it is fun to roleplay occasionally, it is less fun to watch when better media has already done it.

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theyusedthelamppost t1_j1v5rk7 wrote

>Also, I want to see a show about orcs, living and growing up in an orc village, that gets taken over by the evil overlord and they are forced to go fight humans in a human realm

Warcraft does exactly that. Unfortunately the movie suffers from the same type of problems that plague many productions, but it does some things well. Orc culture, particularly Durotan, is handled well. And outside the movies, there is plenty of other storytelling (books/games) that do it well. It's a shame that the movie didn't perform well enough to get sequels.

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AlsoKnownAsAC t1_j1wzpta wrote

I really liked that movie despite its flaws. I have no idea what warcraft is or their lore but despite the dialogue or plot flaws I was still engrossed in the movie till the end and wanted to know more about their fictional lore. Like the whole orc family lives and what the orc shaman dude wanted to do. Whenever warcraft is mentioned I keep thinking that the setting had so much potential and if there would be a sequel.

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DepartmentCertain987 t1_j1xyhp9 wrote

>I also think that fantasy shows that are supposed to be taken absolutely seriously are almost inherently going to fall flat on their face.

Game Of Thrones/House Of The Dragon and LOTR all take themselves very seriously though?

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