an incredible look into how the cumulative and compounding effects of small details, oft unnoticed, can impact how we percieve a world. Either we immerse in it, or always feel that something is not quite right. Excellent insight as always Ian!
Thanks so much, Mohammed! This is the stuff I believe most strongly in, but in genres like fantasy it's hard to articulate their value. I'm glad to see others finding the merit in sweating the small stuff!
I'm an avid reader of fantasy and fiction. Often times ill find myself unsatisfied with the continuity or internal logic of a world and not drawn in for obvious reasons, and others I will feel unease with it but without being able to identify why.
what you highlighted here hits that square on the head. i ws internalizing small inconsistencies that made me unconsiously feel that something was off, without fully understanding. well done Ian!
See, it’s interesting, I can see in the costumes and set design… the showrunners cared. I know many think they didn’t (allegations of AI writing etc etc), but I believe the showrunners did, and do, care.
What I think they didn’t do is take stuff like this seriously enough, which happens all too often in many genres, but especially fantasy.
Not even 9:00 AM and have already read the most delightfully unhinged post I'm likely to find today This is absolutely fantastic and you should probably also talk to somebody about these feelings you have about art design. :D
I love this post so much 😊 this is the kind of conversation I have as a writer all the time. "If we made this moment more realistic, how could we use it to add character moments or setting moments?" It's such a wonderful trove of ways to deepen your story! If this is the way you habitually watch TV you'd be welcome to come watch with me and my husband any time 😂😂😂
I'm so glad I'm not alone! This is frequently how I write, too. I often say that carte blanche is harder for me than having constraints, because constraints become like handholds on a climbing wall that you can depend upon.
And yes, I am also very annoying to watch TV with and we should have a watch party!
Oh man, I’ve heard of that one. I have a protracted argument running with some friends of mine regarding whether stealth is even theoretically possible in space. I’ve gotta watch that or read the book, I hear it’s good.
I found both the first book and the first season of the show a little draggy for my taste - I struggle w police procedurals and that's a big part of the plot of that first story - but overall, it's a beautifully realized deep world. It started life as an RPG world and it shows. I'm finishing the final book as an audiobook right now. My one piece of nitpicker advice is if you have a hard time with PC protagonists who just happen to find themselves on the front lines of history at every major event for 30 years, this may not be your series 😂
I really love this and I really appreciate the idea that nitpicking at World building is only really valuable if it detracts from the story. Or if accuracy would add to the story, if it doesn't or makes the story worse or less compelling then it doesn't really matter. It's not a litmus test of purity it's to make all of our wedding better and I really appreciate that.
Looks like lazy 3D modelling. Easier to texture 3 pieces than 40. Can't really say as I haven't seen the show past the first one or two episodes. It's obvious from your description of the scene it is all created by people who don't understand the mechanics of wagons, nor do they care what viewers think. It's about cashing in and not a true love of story.
Were one to create historic solid wheels you would create two rounds with boards lapped together with the seams 90 degrees opposing to keep them from easily breaking. Basic woodworking.
I agree it’s absolutely lazy, and people often use the title of “fantasy” as license to ignore governing mechanics like how a wheel works. That said, I’ve heard a number of interviews regarding the show and I actually do believe the creators cared. That care didn’t necessarily translate over to quality, and it CERTAINLY does not mean the megacorporation that funded the whole thing cared, but I do believe the CREATORS cared.
What needed to happen is those creatives needed to get more serious about understanding the undergirding of these stories. For all his magical creatures and devices, Tolkien was meticulous about accurately rendering army logistics, for example. He did his homework, and I unfortunately don’t think RoP did in this regard.
I am sure you are correct about it being more oversight than care. I think I expect too much having waited almost 50 years for the time these shows could be made. I find that in these modern adaptions visual sensation is prioritized over story accuracy to a point where it hurts the immersion. It is entirely possible that some of us (myself) are so invested in the esthetic it taints the story for us. RoP had kind of a blank slate to work with regarding story but for me it never captured the essence of Tolkien to me. The role reversal of Galadriel and Elrond just felt off to me. Isildur wasn't believable as the amiable screwup. It never took me to the Argonath moment like Jackson managed. I suppose I should just stick to reading.
I agree. I also think there’s a general misunderstanding with fantasy, that because anything is theoretically on the table then the way to wow is through spectacle. But wonder and awe, I would argue, start from the ground up. What’s so sensational about The Shire? In a way, nothing. It’s wonderfully mundane, but Tolkien draws out the magic from the bottom stuff long before he throws elves and giant castles at you.
That is an excellent point. I'm not sure that ever sunk in before. From the moment it is described you feel comfortably rooted in the quiet countryside and yet there are those little oddities that say we aren't in Kansas anymore. Just enough. If you took away the Hobbits, Hobbit Holes, and a Wizard it would just be a pleasant walk through a normal village. That really sets it in the mind as a happy peaceful place, so we aren't overloaded in the first chapter. Then later when exciting things happen as a reader I am not already desensitized to it. Thank you for mentioning this as it feels like finding a gold coin. Simple yet there it is.
"Spoked wheels don’t feel so bad here, do they? That’s because The Shire evokes a 19th century English countryside aesthetic! In The Lord of the Rings’ first chapter, Tolkien describes Bilbo’s momentous birthday party as approaching like a 'locomotive.'"
So disappointed that Tolkien used such an anachronistic metaphor.
On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, I’ve spoken to dozens of people who read LotR and glossed right over it, which means for them it wasn’t jarring. In that regard, I’d say Tolkien pulled it off.
Great essay, you did make those dang wheels worthwhile.
Also great footnote about Miyazaki. Having realistic/historical details in a work of high fantasy is like adding salt to beef-- it brings out the full, rich flavor of the setting, grounds it, makes it less like a museum or a caricature of reality, and more immersive.
On a similar note, Miyazaki likes to tell such stories with ordinary, human main characters and personal stakes, that get wrapped up into the whimsy, the beauty, and the horror. Many fantasies ditch the lead's "ordinariness" as soon as possible to indulge in power fantasy, or worse, "realistic" grimdark misery porn. But-- like the wheels for the setting-- that's at the cost of depth and value for the character.
I see a wizard level a city with a word, but without seeing any of the ordinary people living there, with their own dreams and problems and families that they love and struggle with... well, frankly, why should I care? And then we get kinda desensitized to it, and the same media goes ever bigger and louder, trying to sell itself on shock value instead of depth and truth.
The personal, the practical, the ordinary, the human-- these are what highlight the epic, the extraordinary, and the alien in a work of fantasy or scifi. Too much of the latter without the former, and you forget the meaning of such words.
PS a good example of this is in the newest Dune films. You only truly feel in awe of those massive sandworms after seeing a regular person look up to them, and while that music plays ofc.
Such fantastic points you’ve made here, Mosnar! I agree with everything you’ve said. I try and summarize it to people by saying that wonder and awe begin from the ground up. If you can’t look into the mundane and find the magical, then even your magic is likewise doomed to feel mundane.
The same exact rant can be had about excess handwavium in science fiction.
In fact your friends who love Star Wars but hate fantasy are self-contradictory, because Star Wars is space fantasy. It's not remotely science fiction. It's lovely as space fantasy, mind you, but if they scoff at wizards and dragons I can't imagine why space wizards and space dragons are better.
I completely agree, and I’ve actually pointed out that exact fact to them. What’s even more astonishing is they don’t disagree at all — they readily admit that Star Wars is space fantasy, but will still say that they can tolerate rancors but not dragons. They’re aware of the contradiction but nonetheless live by it.
Many years ago, my dad accompanied my older brother (an unemployed engineer at the time) to the hardware store to get a part required for a home repair job. After trying (and failing) to convince my brother he could accomplish the desired task with a couple of simple items readily available then watching my brother walk away to continue his quest for ‘replacement part required,’ the hardware store owner turned to my dad and said, “That boy ain’t got enough to do.”
Ian, completely agree with about 99 percent of what you have here, and I think your point about world building enhancing story is really well made.
My only quibble is that I don't think you considered an important factor in your comments about the wheel: manufacture.
My understanding is that the process of making the wheel, creating the felloes in particular, can take a certain level of specialized skill and tools that might not always be available. Thus, the solid design, especially the plank design, while far from optimal, might be easier to make if all you have is an ax and saw and need to get your cart moving for another couple of miles, or if you can't afford to get actually good wheels.
I also wonder if, for a lot of medieval peasant hauling work, the issue was less about moving weight (stones, lumber, siege equipment) and more about moving volume (firewood, hay, grain). If it's more about volume, then maybe a simple plank wheel with cross pinning might be functional enough? Thus why a lot of medieval paintings show the spoke, because the painters 1) are richer, 2) aren't watching peasants at work in the fields so much, 3) see mostly spoked wheels, so that's what they paint.
In other words, 'does it work' is only half the question for a lot of this, but also, how hard is it to build or buy, and I am wondering how that factors into this discussion of the wheels.
This is a question, I honestly don't know anything about this, and would love to hear your thoughts.
(Nothing here should be taken as in anyway a defense of RoP or anything similar).
But really good analysis of how worldbuilding works with storytelling, and looking forward to reading more!
Maybe it’s the medieval spare tire? Spoke wheels take skill and craftsmanship. Anyone can bang a few planks together when their spoke wheel breaks. When the plank wheel breaks, just cobble another one together.
Seriously though, I spotted the wheels instantly when I saw the picture. I haven’t seen the show. I would have been right there with you complaining.
I saw the covered wagon too. I think it’s meant to be a medieval RV. To show that the traveler was from far away and wouldn’t be missed.
If they really needed an enclosed wagon, they could have went with spoked wheels and hard tops. Or wicker like Gandalf’s wagon. That would have made it feel less Western. Instead it looks like broke down Western–not medieval.
But also, I bet that was an expensive prop that never needed to be built.
Totally agree! And part of the reason why it’s such a shame is because the budget is obvious. A team absolutely spent a lot of time and money on that prop; they just focused on the wrong stuff.
Haven't watched the show and don't plan to, but I loved this! I tend to fall down deep research rabbit holes for details that end up barely mentioned in the story, but somehow putting in that time to figure out just what kind of bag my traveler would have actually packed in makes the time period (or generally evoked time period) come so much more alive! And then working those details in in a natural way that adds to the story rather than just being shallow window dressing that screams "hey, look, time period!" is an art form in itself. 😄
an incredible look into how the cumulative and compounding effects of small details, oft unnoticed, can impact how we percieve a world. Either we immerse in it, or always feel that something is not quite right. Excellent insight as always Ian!
Thanks so much, Mohammed! This is the stuff I believe most strongly in, but in genres like fantasy it's hard to articulate their value. I'm glad to see others finding the merit in sweating the small stuff!
I'm an avid reader of fantasy and fiction. Often times ill find myself unsatisfied with the continuity or internal logic of a world and not drawn in for obvious reasons, and others I will feel unease with it but without being able to identify why.
what you highlighted here hits that square on the head. i ws internalizing small inconsistencies that made me unconsiously feel that something was off, without fully understanding. well done Ian!
Hoo boy, if you think the wagon wheels are bad, you should see some of the "armor" they slap on these characters.
Oh trust me, I passed up many, many opportunities for this kind of treatment. That show is a target-rich environment.
I'm far from the consummate writer/historian, but that darn show is so low effort.
See, it’s interesting, I can see in the costumes and set design… the showrunners cared. I know many think they didn’t (allegations of AI writing etc etc), but I believe the showrunners did, and do, care.
What I think they didn’t do is take stuff like this seriously enough, which happens all too often in many genres, but especially fantasy.
Not even 9:00 AM and have already read the most delightfully unhinged post I'm likely to find today This is absolutely fantastic and you should probably also talk to somebody about these feelings you have about art design. :D
Thanks, Greg! I’ll take it 😆
I love this post so much 😊 this is the kind of conversation I have as a writer all the time. "If we made this moment more realistic, how could we use it to add character moments or setting moments?" It's such a wonderful trove of ways to deepen your story! If this is the way you habitually watch TV you'd be welcome to come watch with me and my husband any time 😂😂😂
I'm so glad I'm not alone! This is frequently how I write, too. I often say that carte blanche is harder for me than having constraints, because constraints become like handholds on a climbing wall that you can depend upon.
And yes, I am also very annoying to watch TV with and we should have a watch party!
We just finished The Expanse and were constantly pausing to comment on the subtle world building
Oh man, I’ve heard of that one. I have a protracted argument running with some friends of mine regarding whether stealth is even theoretically possible in space. I’ve gotta watch that or read the book, I hear it’s good.
I found both the first book and the first season of the show a little draggy for my taste - I struggle w police procedurals and that's a big part of the plot of that first story - but overall, it's a beautifully realized deep world. It started life as an RPG world and it shows. I'm finishing the final book as an audiobook right now. My one piece of nitpicker advice is if you have a hard time with PC protagonists who just happen to find themselves on the front lines of history at every major event for 30 years, this may not be your series 😂
I really love this and I really appreciate the idea that nitpicking at World building is only really valuable if it detracts from the story. Or if accuracy would add to the story, if it doesn't or makes the story worse or less compelling then it doesn't really matter. It's not a litmus test of purity it's to make all of our wedding better and I really appreciate that.
For sure, it’s one of those tacit things that’s rarely said out loud, but ought to be more often! I’m glad you enjoyed the article, Kelley!
Looks like lazy 3D modelling. Easier to texture 3 pieces than 40. Can't really say as I haven't seen the show past the first one or two episodes. It's obvious from your description of the scene it is all created by people who don't understand the mechanics of wagons, nor do they care what viewers think. It's about cashing in and not a true love of story.
Were one to create historic solid wheels you would create two rounds with boards lapped together with the seams 90 degrees opposing to keep them from easily breaking. Basic woodworking.
I agree it’s absolutely lazy, and people often use the title of “fantasy” as license to ignore governing mechanics like how a wheel works. That said, I’ve heard a number of interviews regarding the show and I actually do believe the creators cared. That care didn’t necessarily translate over to quality, and it CERTAINLY does not mean the megacorporation that funded the whole thing cared, but I do believe the CREATORS cared.
What needed to happen is those creatives needed to get more serious about understanding the undergirding of these stories. For all his magical creatures and devices, Tolkien was meticulous about accurately rendering army logistics, for example. He did his homework, and I unfortunately don’t think RoP did in this regard.
I am sure you are correct about it being more oversight than care. I think I expect too much having waited almost 50 years for the time these shows could be made. I find that in these modern adaptions visual sensation is prioritized over story accuracy to a point where it hurts the immersion. It is entirely possible that some of us (myself) are so invested in the esthetic it taints the story for us. RoP had kind of a blank slate to work with regarding story but for me it never captured the essence of Tolkien to me. The role reversal of Galadriel and Elrond just felt off to me. Isildur wasn't believable as the amiable screwup. It never took me to the Argonath moment like Jackson managed. I suppose I should just stick to reading.
I agree. I also think there’s a general misunderstanding with fantasy, that because anything is theoretically on the table then the way to wow is through spectacle. But wonder and awe, I would argue, start from the ground up. What’s so sensational about The Shire? In a way, nothing. It’s wonderfully mundane, but Tolkien draws out the magic from the bottom stuff long before he throws elves and giant castles at you.
That is an excellent point. I'm not sure that ever sunk in before. From the moment it is described you feel comfortably rooted in the quiet countryside and yet there are those little oddities that say we aren't in Kansas anymore. Just enough. If you took away the Hobbits, Hobbit Holes, and a Wizard it would just be a pleasant walk through a normal village. That really sets it in the mind as a happy peaceful place, so we aren't overloaded in the first chapter. Then later when exciting things happen as a reader I am not already desensitized to it. Thank you for mentioning this as it feels like finding a gold coin. Simple yet there it is.
"Spoked wheels don’t feel so bad here, do they? That’s because The Shire evokes a 19th century English countryside aesthetic! In The Lord of the Rings’ first chapter, Tolkien describes Bilbo’s momentous birthday party as approaching like a 'locomotive.'"
So disappointed that Tolkien used such an anachronistic metaphor.
On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, I’ve spoken to dozens of people who read LotR and glossed right over it, which means for them it wasn’t jarring. In that regard, I’d say Tolkien pulled it off.
For the love of a wheel, the accuracy of a TV show was lost.
Great essay, you did make those dang wheels worthwhile.
Also great footnote about Miyazaki. Having realistic/historical details in a work of high fantasy is like adding salt to beef-- it brings out the full, rich flavor of the setting, grounds it, makes it less like a museum or a caricature of reality, and more immersive.
On a similar note, Miyazaki likes to tell such stories with ordinary, human main characters and personal stakes, that get wrapped up into the whimsy, the beauty, and the horror. Many fantasies ditch the lead's "ordinariness" as soon as possible to indulge in power fantasy, or worse, "realistic" grimdark misery porn. But-- like the wheels for the setting-- that's at the cost of depth and value for the character.
I see a wizard level a city with a word, but without seeing any of the ordinary people living there, with their own dreams and problems and families that they love and struggle with... well, frankly, why should I care? And then we get kinda desensitized to it, and the same media goes ever bigger and louder, trying to sell itself on shock value instead of depth and truth.
The personal, the practical, the ordinary, the human-- these are what highlight the epic, the extraordinary, and the alien in a work of fantasy or scifi. Too much of the latter without the former, and you forget the meaning of such words.
PS a good example of this is in the newest Dune films. You only truly feel in awe of those massive sandworms after seeing a regular person look up to them, and while that music plays ofc.
Such fantastic points you’ve made here, Mosnar! I agree with everything you’ve said. I try and summarize it to people by saying that wonder and awe begin from the ground up. If you can’t look into the mundane and find the magical, then even your magic is likewise doomed to feel mundane.
An excellent way to put it
i had never given the spoke wheel a single thought before this article. wow. mind blown.
Glad you liked it! I love this stuff a little too much — sometimes it gets too nitty gritty, but at other times it can yield fantastic results!
The same exact rant can be had about excess handwavium in science fiction.
In fact your friends who love Star Wars but hate fantasy are self-contradictory, because Star Wars is space fantasy. It's not remotely science fiction. It's lovely as space fantasy, mind you, but if they scoff at wizards and dragons I can't imagine why space wizards and space dragons are better.
I completely agree, and I’ve actually pointed out that exact fact to them. What’s even more astonishing is they don’t disagree at all — they readily admit that Star Wars is space fantasy, but will still say that they can tolerate rancors but not dragons. They’re aware of the contradiction but nonetheless live by it.
Many years ago, my dad accompanied my older brother (an unemployed engineer at the time) to the hardware store to get a part required for a home repair job. After trying (and failing) to convince my brother he could accomplish the desired task with a couple of simple items readily available then watching my brother walk away to continue his quest for ‘replacement part required,’ the hardware store owner turned to my dad and said, “That boy ain’t got enough to do.”
Ian, completely agree with about 99 percent of what you have here, and I think your point about world building enhancing story is really well made.
My only quibble is that I don't think you considered an important factor in your comments about the wheel: manufacture.
My understanding is that the process of making the wheel, creating the felloes in particular, can take a certain level of specialized skill and tools that might not always be available. Thus, the solid design, especially the plank design, while far from optimal, might be easier to make if all you have is an ax and saw and need to get your cart moving for another couple of miles, or if you can't afford to get actually good wheels.
I also wonder if, for a lot of medieval peasant hauling work, the issue was less about moving weight (stones, lumber, siege equipment) and more about moving volume (firewood, hay, grain). If it's more about volume, then maybe a simple plank wheel with cross pinning might be functional enough? Thus why a lot of medieval paintings show the spoke, because the painters 1) are richer, 2) aren't watching peasants at work in the fields so much, 3) see mostly spoked wheels, so that's what they paint.
In other words, 'does it work' is only half the question for a lot of this, but also, how hard is it to build or buy, and I am wondering how that factors into this discussion of the wheels.
This is a question, I honestly don't know anything about this, and would love to hear your thoughts.
(Nothing here should be taken as in anyway a defense of RoP or anything similar).
But really good analysis of how worldbuilding works with storytelling, and looking forward to reading more!
Maybe it’s the medieval spare tire? Spoke wheels take skill and craftsmanship. Anyone can bang a few planks together when their spoke wheel breaks. When the plank wheel breaks, just cobble another one together.
Seriously though, I spotted the wheels instantly when I saw the picture. I haven’t seen the show. I would have been right there with you complaining.
I saw the covered wagon too. I think it’s meant to be a medieval RV. To show that the traveler was from far away and wouldn’t be missed.
If they really needed an enclosed wagon, they could have went with spoked wheels and hard tops. Or wicker like Gandalf’s wagon. That would have made it feel less Western. Instead it looks like broke down Western–not medieval.
But also, I bet that was an expensive prop that never needed to be built.
Totally agree! And part of the reason why it’s such a shame is because the budget is obvious. A team absolutely spent a lot of time and money on that prop; they just focused on the wrong stuff.
Haven't watched the show and don't plan to, but I loved this! I tend to fall down deep research rabbit holes for details that end up barely mentioned in the story, but somehow putting in that time to figure out just what kind of bag my traveler would have actually packed in makes the time period (or generally evoked time period) come so much more alive! And then working those details in in a natural way that adds to the story rather than just being shallow window dressing that screams "hey, look, time period!" is an art form in itself. 😄
So true! Go down those rabbit holes, they’re the stuff that stories are made of!
Ah, yes, thanks for the explanation of why this wagon bugged me! And more importantly, for the deep dive into why small details matter
Of course! I'm glad others have enjoyed this fastidious little exploration of mine!