It's getting better all the time... (Destiny)

by GrimBrotherIII, Saturday, May 03, 2014, 08:56 (3639 days ago) @ Cody Miller

"It's Mythic Science Fiction. It comes with a very healthy dose of Fantasy, and we believe that is ultimately important..."

I feel like fantasy and science fiction are at odds.

With fantasy, you codify the ignorance of the past, whereas science fiction strives for understanding an knowledge. This is why science fiction is often dealing with interesting philosophical issues, and fantasy rarely so. (Also why science fiction is better).

It's sort of a contradiction if you ask me.

I definitely see where you're coming from here, but would ultimately have to disagree on several counts pure based on my own reactions to some of my favorite fantasy universes and franchises and what they represent:

Tolkien's works are literally filled with allegorical historical knowledge, be it Biblical in the example of Aragorn's becoming ME's "savior", Illuvatar v. Melkor in the Silmarillion, etc., or racially charged in the examples of the Thorin/Thranduil and Legloas/Gimli relationships, or perhaps the most obvious of historically accurate inspirations; how Saruman and his Orthanc industrial revolution that came out of John Ronald's own horrific experiences in WWI.

Bioware's Dragon Age series is also an extremely historically aware franchise, many of the plot cruxes being based on conflicting moral choices dealing with kingdom politics, royal family feuds, racism, sexism, war-mongering, public distrust, national betrayal, and the contrasts of Monarchies and Theocracies, etc.

Martin's Game Of Thrones (like someone else already mentioned) Is i think the most obvious example of a fantasy universe that is actually hyper-aware of the realities of humanity's brutal and complicated past, with an overwhelming amount of moral, social, economical, political, and religious subplots that can beautifully and sometimes gruesomely capture the true essence of true historical human behavior.

- III