How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Changed the Fantasy Genre

In this video, we explore how J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis redefined the fantasy genre, and how their friendship led to some of the most memorable books ever written.

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[douglasphillips]

Tolkien subverted the trope about killing a main character. Martin made a trope of the subversion.

[gameoftomes]

CS Lewis and Tolkien hated each other’s works. BFFs but different takes on what fantasy should be. Edit: I misremembered. Tolkien was against Lewis’ conception of fantasy, but Lewis didn’t hate Tolkien’s works, just had differences in opinion on method and the craft of writing.

[sekreuzdeor]

I'm not a bookworm. at first I'm a fan of Narnia movies and I watched LOTR and became a fan. I NEVER KNEW Tolkien and Lewis are friends.

[TheMaryweather]

It would interesting talking about the connection Tolkien and classic fantasy works have to modern young adult fiction.

[logicaldude]

If you look into what these guys were doing, a lot of their personal letters and other writings/interviews, you'll figure out that these two guys were part of a small group of academics who saw that a new power was rising in the world. And a lot of their colleagues were teaming up with a worldview that most people would call evil. I'm talking about places like the Tavistock Institute, the Malthusian professors and millionaire donors who believed they were gods and that almost all of humanity should be corralled like cattle or eliminated outright, people like that. Tolkien and Lewis both understood this intimately... in fact, Lewis' Space Trilogy's final book is about this exact scheme. They just saw things differently when it came to how to express their ideas.

Lewis is known for Chronicles of Narnia, but that's a child's series... if you want to know what he really thought, read the Space Trilogy. It's far more mature and esoteric.

[matthewjrose]

Tolkien, Lewis, Martin, and Pullman are like the fathers of fantasy

[mr_indie_fan]

"50 years after tolkien's death" actually tolkien died in 1973, and a song of ice and fire was published in 1996; nowhere near 50 years.

[chlnmich]

Nice and so informative! Been curious about the friendship of Tolkien and Lewis.

[NoNameNo.]

Amazing, you mentioned these two legendary authors….without mentioning that the key to their deep friendship, understanding of justice, and conception of fantasy are based in their deep and abiding Christian faith. What a missed opportunity

[Cody-]

0-:30 didn’t happen in the books the white shores with a green country under a swift sunrise is Frodo arriving in Valinor.

[exumbra]

Why are we talking about Game of Thrones for over a third of the video? Martin is NOT either of the titular characters here, and his works have a theme of fatalism for the sake of punishing your audience, not realism.

[stormshelteratmos]

What horrible contrasts. Just stick to Tolkien and Lewis.

[diehgo_sp]

Tolkien created a perfect world, Martin gave life to a porn parody - just our world with dragons and stuff.

[ImToastAlso]

I would have liked to have listened to this, but I can’t take the vocal fry.

[MissBookiverse]

Love the general idea of this video but wish it had not only focused on white male authors. Tolkien’s influence is strong in works by Le Guin or Robin Hobb, too.