GoT is the latest and most current variation on a theme, and that's about it. The fact of the matter is that GoT did not invent the fantasy genre, nor did the writers invent the plot lines they use. Popular artists these days usually do just fine and so do their fans right up to the point where they start trying to pretend the world didn't start until they showed up. Arguably four of those things are happening in the US right now including kingsmoots, since that's just a fancy name for a popular vote - nothing more. In fact, some are so commonplace and unspectacular they don't even require a fantasy backdrop at all because they occur regularly in real life. There isn't a single one of those plot lines unique to GoT. So long as I can show you every one of those list items in a 2000 year old storybook available in the top drawer of every motel in the country you've got no case. It's really about where/when/who you want to stop saluting. And when you go back that far, you're smack into Elric of Melnibone, Book of Swords, and then game-wise, TSR and D&D territory, which only of course came well after The Hobbit and Conan the Barbarian.Īnd one can of course make the argument that all of this, swords and sorcery, gods, demons, stories of evil and valiant kings queens and champions, could not have been possible without the Bible, which is one of the greatest storybooks of all time.

Tamriel started with Arena, which predated GoT at bare minimum in release and there's no telling when Arena/TES was first conceptualized, although reports are from Bethesda that they started thinking about what would eventually become Arena while tossing ideas around with the team from Wizardry.īut if you really want to take the gloves off software-wise, it could be said that nothing in the CRPG arena can go a minute without thanking Zork, which in turn must spend its time thanking Colossal Cave Adventure.

Elder scrolls game of thrones