In form and structure, The Lord of the Rings is not only a trilogy and a novel, but also a collection of poems, rocking songs, independent stories and historical phrases. Tolkien first began to write the story of Middle-earth in the muddy trenches on the western front of Europe during the First World War ... Different from the general author, Tolkien did not list the outline first, then fill in the plot, and finally polished the details smoothly; On the contrary, high flyers, a linguist at Oxford University, first created several languages, then compiled the peoples who used these languages-elves, humans, dwarves, or other races under the dark forces-into a book, and finally wrote stories in a few words or in a huge space. In addition, Tolkien's creation does not pursue clarity, but "like waves lapping on the beach", telling different stories over and over again, with overlapping or contradictions during the period. In other words, Tolkien did not actually create a simple story background, but documents that can be handed down by the whole civilization, including myths, legends and history. What do we know about the ancient vikings? Perhaps the content from itself is just a few Sakya; How much do you know about the Russians in Kiev? The earliest records preserved now are almost only the chronicles of previous years. For Tolkien's readers, The Lord of the Rings and his related works (Poké mon Diamonds, Lost Stories, Children of Lin Hu, Fall of Gondor Forest, etc. ) It gives them a reading feeling that ancient scholars study ancient documents, and many medieval languages created by Tolkien bring a special sense of alienation. The reading pleasure brought by this kind of text can't be included in the form of "novel". Tolkien himself said that he would create his own mythical epic for the Anglo-Saxons, just like The Ring of Nibelungen or Beowulf.
In contrast, Fire and Ice lacks this epic sense, although this is also the author's original intention. What is an epic? It is nothing more than the legend of ancient heroes. Fire and Ice is an excellent novel, but it is not a so-called "heroic legend"-george martin's heroes either died in the army (such as Prince Rega), or died in a power struggle and coup, and after their death, they were flooded (such as Ned Stark). Up to now, in the five-volume novels, most of the characters appearing in the scenes are similar to the little devil (the notorious aristocratic dwarf) and jon snow (the illegitimate child who associates with exiled prisoners). Obviously, such a hero will not appear in Tolkien's story, and it has hardly appeared in many the legend of heroes in history.
Therefore, in the long run, The Lord of the Rings and fire and ice are not comparable in one dimension, just as no one will compare Homer's epic with War and Peace.