Celerity
shape without form, shade without colour
- Jan 24, 2021
- 2,733
After watching Game of Thrones, I started reading the A Song of Ice and Fire (ASoIaF). Later on, I also started the Wheel of Time series. Maybe it's just been me, but I have noticed a big difference in how the two communities treat open questions and mysteries left by the author.
ASoIaF fans tend to like speculation and will even praise theories they don't necessarily agree with for being interesting. WoT folks, at least on Reddit, are much more hostile to speculation and basically have very few ideas about how the story could have played out differently. They post a lot more analogies and reactions to canon content rather than posting genuinely novel ideas. Their adherence to canon like its scripture reminds me of some of the more intense Lord of the Rings fans out there. Criticism of the author (Robert Jordan for WoT and J.R.R. Tolkien for LotR) is also pretty swiftly punished a lot of the time while making fun of GRRM has become a daily occurrence on his fan websites.
It got me thinking about why. ASoIaF draws a larger crowd, but I think the way GRRM writes contributes to what kinds of readers enjoy his books. A lot more is left ambiguous and open to interpretation. At least so far in my reading, ASoIaF characters are also more conflicted and morally gray. The fact that WoT is a finished product may also play into it. More people read WoT and LotR as kids or teens, but even Harry Potter fans who read at the same age aren't as hardcore about treating the books like The Bible.
Basically, TLDR: Why are some fan communities more insular and cultish than others? Have you run into problems yourself in such situations?
ASoIaF fans tend to like speculation and will even praise theories they don't necessarily agree with for being interesting. WoT folks, at least on Reddit, are much more hostile to speculation and basically have very few ideas about how the story could have played out differently. They post a lot more analogies and reactions to canon content rather than posting genuinely novel ideas. Their adherence to canon like its scripture reminds me of some of the more intense Lord of the Rings fans out there. Criticism of the author (Robert Jordan for WoT and J.R.R. Tolkien for LotR) is also pretty swiftly punished a lot of the time while making fun of GRRM has become a daily occurrence on his fan websites.
It got me thinking about why. ASoIaF draws a larger crowd, but I think the way GRRM writes contributes to what kinds of readers enjoy his books. A lot more is left ambiguous and open to interpretation. At least so far in my reading, ASoIaF characters are also more conflicted and morally gray. The fact that WoT is a finished product may also play into it. More people read WoT and LotR as kids or teens, but even Harry Potter fans who read at the same age aren't as hardcore about treating the books like The Bible.
Basically, TLDR: Why are some fan communities more insular and cultish than others? Have you run into problems yourself in such situations?