Originally Posted by
Temflakes403
Okay, defense for loreposting.
I think the prevailing mental image of loreposting and most that really indulge in it is the fat r/lotr goblin that will completely ignore any sort of thematic and prosaic devices to take the most literal interpretation of the work possible (in this context, literal within the portrayed world of the setting), treating it like alternate history and doing the classic Gibsonian otaku hunger for information, in spite of the information in question's possible worth.
However, I don't think this has to be the only way we can look at lore and those that focus on it. Because the strength of lore, I feel, is crystallizing and concentrating the power of subtext into a niche with no other equal, strengthening the main narrative with narratives of its own. Just as much as one can be enamored with, moved by, and invested in the main plot, its themes, characters, and strengths, all of this underlying information comes together to make its own contexts and places and things and times and beings to get invested in and to draw conclusions from. And this frees up a lot of potential, because there are many narrative avenues that would not be possible without this context; essentially reinventing the old technique of using a title and any other sort of multimedium materials to give the reader a frame of reference for the work in question, but doing so with entire narratives. I'm saying narrative a lot.
And with Nasu especially, I don't think you can use the argument of disregarding plot details and handwaving away larger references as shallow, maybe successful attempts at giving the impression of unpresent depth to a work. I mean, look at all the interviews where he goes on and on about lore tidbits, and how it all connects, and all the glossaries he makes, and all the focus he gives to this larger picture he has been building for over two decades. Could you really accuse anyone of becoming errouneously invested in it, of disregarding the literary meaning for made up shnaggels?
However, I think even Byegod acknowledges the fact that lore for lore's sake doesn't have the desired effect in this context. It doesn't have to be smoke and mirrors, but giving it all concrete backings will do it no good if it's not a foundation for a story. Yet I don't think even he was defending making lore books to justify the redditor slimy goblin brain. So, I imagine he, and by extension I because I'm tired of these supositions, comes to the stand still: Nasu hasn't made a new, main line piece of fiction in over 20 years. It's all been remakes of something dating as far back as his high school years. But, he always keeps introducing more lore, that we become attached to, for the simple reason that they're there in works we enjoy, and even more circumstances specific to the condition of Nasu fandomhood. We can't just explore these with easy to bang out lore books because then that takes the spice away, and yet the guy won't make new shit.
I don't think it's that unreasonable to be a bit frustrated.
This ended up being a defense of Byegod's attitude as well as lore posting, but so be it. I think lore posting is a facet with more validity than the evaluation I see pervade this thread, and I don't think byegod was fundamentally wrong in being frustrated with Nasu's output over the years. This doesn't mean he was right in everything as well, but when even the guy has admitted he's quite shite at communicating, I think he deserves a break.