Ancient Literature Discussion (History, Myth, Philosophy &c.)

[LegalLoliLover]

Fixed. Thank you for your correction.

[LegalLoliLover]

When people say that Lord of the Rings is more timeless than Game of Thrones, do they not know that stuff, like Romance of the 3 Kingdoms and the Epic of Gilgamesh are more timeless than either of two combined?

[Mattias]

Well LoTR is almost a century old at this point so it's definitely stood the test of time, while ASoIaF is never getting finished so will probably be forgotten a decade after Martin dies.

[LegalLoliLover]

Oh, I agree that Lord of the Rings is more timeless than Game of Thrones, but as someone familiar with 3 Kingdoms and Gilgamesh, this feels like the sun and the moon watching a glowworm grudge match.

[LegalLoliLover]

Also, Journey to the West, I guess. I get that in Asian legends, dragons are gods, while in most western ones, they are just big beasts, but in Journey to the West, dragon piss is a totally legitimate medical ingredient. LotR and GoT got nothing on that.

[Mattias]

Yeah, what the Hobbit was really missing was that one chapter where Bilbo rooted around in Smaugs dung looking for the Arkenstone, like Tea Leoni looking for a sat phone in Jurassic Park 3. Would really bring the whole story together.

[Ideofago]

When people say that Lord of the Rings is more timeless than Game of Thrones, do they not know that stuff, like Romance of the 3 Kingdoms and the Epic of Gilgamesh are more timeless than either of two combined?

This is precisely why pissing contests are pointless.

[Mattias]

I don't know, It's kind of fun to speculate on how a thing will be received decades or more after it's release.

Like is One Piece going to live forever or will it peter out once the manga ends like Bleach did?

[Ideofago]

That's not a pissing contest, that's a thought experiment.

[Deathhappens]

When people say that Lord of the Rings is more timeless than Game of Thrones, do they not know that stuff, like Romance of the 3 Kingdoms and the Epic of Gilgamesh are more timeless than either of two combined?

Why are you comparing an ancient epic that was written as a pseudo-historical or religious document to modern fiction?

[LegalLoliLover]

Well, the word "timeless" means that whether it be modern or ancient shouldn't matter. The fact that you said this shows that neither Rings nor Thrones is "timeless", but rather simply "modern".

[Deathhappens]

You just might be the first person who's ever taken the expression "timeless classic" literally.
Which is an achievement, of sorts.

[LegalLoliLover]

I mean, there are works that really are timeless classics, though.

[Tarlo]

I mean, there are works that really are timeless classics, though.

Paradise Lost? Lovercraft Stuff? 1984?

[LegalLoliLover]

Well, I'm not gonna list all of them. I used 2 examples each for a total of four. I'm not listing 20 just for a short forum post.

[LegalLoliLover]

Not sure if I asked this before, but unlike Three Kingdoms, where Wei/Jin are orthodoxically relegated as the "bad guys", due to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Tokugawa are usually portrayed positively in Sengoku Era stories, correct?

[Ideofago]

You just might be the first person who's ever taken the expression "timeless classic" literally.
Which is an achievement, of sorts.

for once i don't really disagree with lvl because bullshit praise like "timeless classic" is so lazy I'd take it literally just to spite its users

[Mattias]

Not sure if I asked this before, but unlike Three Kingdoms, where Wei/Jin are orthodoxically relegated as the "bad guys", due to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Tokugawa are usually portrayed positively in Sengoku Era stories, correct?

I don't think the shoguns are ever depicted as good. Better than others options, sure. But never good.

[LegalLoliLover]

Yes, but Tokugawa was, as you said, portrayed as "better than the other options", correct? I recall watching the Romance of the Three Kingdoms TV series from the 90s, and the final arc was basically a sob story about how the benevolent kingdom was being consumed by the hegemony. I ask this because of the new Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty game coming out. From what I can see, it will either end at the death of Lu Bu or, like Koei's other fantasy on history game Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers, go no further than Red Cliff. Otherwise, it would be kind of hilarious if the protagonist works for Shu, defeats the "demonic horde" conjured by big, bad Wei, but then gets steamrolled by Jin's human soldiers. This is different than William Adams working for Ieyasu in Nioh or Hide working with Tokichiro in Nioh 2, given that those 2 are generally not vilified in traditional Japanese stories as the rulers of Wei and Jin are in traditional Chinese stories.

[Tarlo]

Well, I'm not gonna list all of them. I used 2 examples each for a total of four. I'm not listing 20 just for a short forum post.

Your examples are too old, the topic was about recent works like LotR and Song being called timeless classics