Dragons against elves: the great battle for the throne of epic fantasy is fought on television

Less than two weeks will separate the premieres of the two biggest blockbusters that can be seen this year on television.

Both based on great literary phenomena.

The two, prequels of stories that broke records in the audiovisual.

The two, essential for the future of their platforms.

And the two belonging to a genre, that of epic fantasy, which has ceased to be considered minor to reach the general public.

(August 22 on HBO Max) and

(September 2 on Amazon Prime Video) will bring George RR Martin and JRR Tolkien to compete against each other, and week after week , for the throne of television.

The House of the Dragon

, with Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik as top managers and closely followed by George RR Martin, is the first production derived from

that sees the light.

Its action takes place about 200 years before the mother series and will tell the story of the Targaryen house with the book

, by Martin, as a basis.

Since the end of the great success of HBO began to be glimpsed, the American chain got down to work to try to keep the goose that lays the golden eggs active and began to work on several possible extensions.

The path has not been easy, and it meant, for example, investing some 30 million euros in a pilot episode starring Naomi Watts that they ended up discarding.

In addition, there are seven other possible continuations in the development phase.

It is very likely that its future will depend, in large part, on the success or failure of

which will measure the ability of

to become a profitable franchise for the network.

Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen in 'House of the Dragon'.

For its part,

is a project to which Amazon Prime Video has dedicated a lot of time and a budget within the reach of very few.

In 2017, the company announced the purchase of rights for the television adaptation, for which it is estimated that Amazon paid about 300 million dollars (about 292 million euros).

To this should be added the cost of producing the eight chapters of the first season, which the specialized magazine

calculates at around 465 million dollars (452 ​​million euros).

The first season of

, with 10 chapters, is estimated to have cost around 200 million dollars (194 million euros).

Patrick McKay and JD Payne are ultimately responsible for

, and Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona directs the first two episodes.

Much of the filming took place in New Zealand, following in the footsteps of Peter Jackson's films, and the film trilogy has also been the benchmark in its visual commitment.

The story is set thousands of years before the events of

and

and follows a group of characters as evil resurfaces in Middle-earth.

An image from 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power'.

Although it can be considered as a clash of titans, those responsible for the series do not see it as a battle.

“Fantasy fans are voracious readers and viewers.

There are a lot of people in this world who like Tolkien and Martin equally.

I am one of them, ”Ryan Condal, screenwriter and head of

tells EL PAÍS in an interview by video call.

“I grew up a Tolkien fan and came across George RR Martin's work as a fan of high fantasy, and I like them both equally.

I will watch both series.

In fact, I'll probably watch more

simply because I've already seen our series," adds Condal.

More information

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literary universes

Behind these fictional universes are two of the most widely read authors of the genre in the world who have marked the path of epic fantasy.

Tolkien (1892-1973) laid the foundations with the creation of Middle-earth.

Martin (73 years old) updated the genre with the seven kingdoms of Westeros.

“Tolkien presents a more classic fantasy, an epic of good versus evil.

He was a philologist, while Martin is a journalist, he looks for darker, grayer conflicts and characters”, defends Javier Marcos, head of Los Siete Reinos, the largest website dedicated to the world of

in Spanish and press spokesperson for the Spanish Tolkien Society.

Marcos cites Tom Shippey, one of the greatest experts on the writer of

, to illustrate the comparison between the two authors: “Tolkien writes his stories as the world should be, with alliances, with people working together for a common goal… And Martin tells us the world as it really is, raw, with pain, with despair, and showing that the good guys don't always win in the end."

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Trailer for 'The House of the Dragon'

Milly Alcock and Emily Carey as the younger versions of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower in 'House of the Dragon'.

“Tolkien almost invented a genre, he set the rules that the whole world has followed.

The only one who has been able to reinvent it on a massive popular level has been Martin”, defends Ricard Ruiz Garzón, writer, teacher and curator of the 42 festival, dedicated to fantasy and which will celebrate its second edition in Barcelona from November 2 to 6.

Ruiz Garzón highlights several key differences in the writing of the two authors: the female characters (almost non-existent in Tolkien and very strong and varied in Martin);

the point of view (Martin narrates the stories of him changing the perspective between characters);

and Martin's incorporation of humor, sex and violence.

Beyond the differences, both

and A

(the series of books on which

and that Martin has not finished publishing) managed to bring epic fantasy to the general public.

“Fantasy is no longer a ghetto.

Right now we are the ones who cut the cod, the ones with the good stories.

It is no longer the ghetto for weird people who got together to play role-playing games and had pimples and were very pale because the sun never shone on them,” says Cristina Macía, translator of the books by George RR Martin and one of the directors of the Celsius 232 literary festival dedicated to fantasy, science fiction and horror and which held its 11th edition in Avilés in July.

"Without Tolkien, fantasy would have remained even more in the drawer of the youthful or the escapist," argues Ruiz Garzón.

He adds two keys to the extension of the genre: a generational change in his followers,

to which younger readers and viewers have joined en masse, and that reality has become very unrealistic: “You are more prepared for many things if you also read science fiction or fantasy.

Talking about realist literature as if it were the reality of the 19th century, that from time to time there was some change, doesn't make sense when now each newscast changes the rules of life. That terminology should be changed”.

A moment from the filming of the series 'The Lord of the Rings'.

The television of the platform era has looked at fantasy with special interest.

The recent premiere of

, the arrival this fall of the adaptation of

or recent public successes such as

and

demonstrate this.

Ruiz Garzón recalls that great representatives of previous golden ages of television, such as

or

, also embraced the genre.

it consolidated it in the first division and united critical, popular and even recognition in the awards: it is the most awarded series in history at the Emmys.

The option of having more hours of development, the technical possibilities also available to television and the changes in consumption habits accelerated by the pandemic have contributed to making it the medium chosen to adapt these stories ahead of the cinema.

Matt Smith, Prince Daemon Targaryen in 'House of the Dragon'.

The mission ahead

and

is not an easy one.

For channel and platform, it is vital that they are well received.

HBO seeks to remain at the top as a creator of multi-awarded prestige fiction that does not distance itself from a massive following, something it achieved with

.

And Amazon wants its own

that global success that it only seems to have found with

and that it needs to maintain its current good position in the platform war.

Both are interested in creating a franchise around these titles.

The two series have great support from their platforms: for

its managers are already planning more seasons, although they have not been officially announced, and Amazon has expressed interest in having 50 hours of

The 'Lord of the Rings' series has been shot in New Zealand, like the films directed by Peter Jackson.

the enemy at home

Despite having a lot going for it, neither series will have it easy.

For Cristina Macía, “they have the enemy at home”.

heiress

is challenged to recapture

audiences , and with the investments they've made, let's hope expectations aren't too high.

As for

she may have a problem with his own fans if they demand absolute fidelity to the original.”

Macía refers to the controversy that has arisen among some fans due to the participation of black and Latino actors.

Will there be an audience for both?

Or is it possible that simultaneous broadcast penalizes one and benefits the other?

“If they haven't done too badly, I think what they're going to do is give each other feedback.

There will be a kind of duel that we will live live, with legions of fans on one side and the other, "says Ricard Ruiz Garzón.

For Javier Marcos, the target audience for each series is not as similar as it may seem: “

will be a more familiar series, less political, very visual.

will be cruder, more dramatic, with grayer characters.

It will appeal to an audience that likes political intrigue, an audience that doesn't usually consume fantasy."

Emma D'Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen as an adult, and Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, in 'House of the Dragon'.

are asked

about this confrontation, Miguel Sapochnik is ironic: "I think there is a great audience out there... for

," he laughs.

Ryan Condal takes over and gets serious: “There's plenty of room for both of us.

I think everybody should be rooting for these two shows to be good and to work and connect, because they're such expensive productions that if we want more of them in the future, if we want big, expensive bets, we have to get them to connect. with the fans and thus we will have more series of the highest quality in the future”.

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