1 00:00:02,610 --> 00:00:09,420 [Auto-generated transcript. Edits may have been applied for clarity.] I was my great pleasure to introduce Doctor Theresa Speth from the University of Siegen. 2 00:00:09,930 --> 00:00:18,600 And over in Siegen there is a huge project called um transformations of the popular that's exploring what it means to be popular. 3 00:00:19,260 --> 00:00:29,700 And Teresa and our colleague Hans are, uh, co-investigators on a module in the area within this project, 4 00:00:30,540 --> 00:00:40,500 which looks precisely at medieval fantasy or medieval fantasy as something which is popular and has become even more popular over the years. 5 00:00:41,010 --> 00:00:50,520 Uh, trazer and I are working together in a project called Prequels and Sequels, and we had a workshop on this subject earlier in the year, 6 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:57,780 but I'm delighted to introduce her here and look forward to seeing how our project has been developing since April. 7 00:00:58,310 --> 00:01:03,480 So. Thank you, Caroline. 8 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:08,190 And, uh, thanks to all of you who made it to this last talk. 9 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:16,740 Slowly, bit by bit, it's getting more and more complex and maybe even confusing for at least some of us. 10 00:01:17,340 --> 00:01:25,410 The three major franchises in which I'm interested in today's middle Earth, Westeros, and the Northern Kingdoms are growing. 11 00:01:25,710 --> 00:01:33,290 Nevertheless, the centrepieces or motherships can be named relatively easy for tall cannon Martin. 12 00:01:33,540 --> 00:01:37,079 The story works quite similar. There were novels then. 13 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:44,280 At some points they were adapted to visual media, films or TV series, retelling the events in this new medium. 14 00:01:44,910 --> 00:01:52,350 Peter Jackson's Lord of the rings as well as HBO Game of Thrones, became popular in the early 2020 tens. 15 00:01:52,770 --> 00:02:01,500 This success made lots of people buy, or at least reread the novels, which became then bestsellers themselves, sometimes even again. 16 00:02:02,250 --> 00:02:06,450 Looking at The Witcher franchise, things are already getting a bit more complicated. 17 00:02:06,780 --> 00:02:11,160 Again, novellas and novels by Andrea Kosky laid the groundwork, 18 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:19,980 but The Witcher became known to a broader audience through a series of video games, and especially the first part of it became a big success. 19 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:26,070 The Witcher three Wild Hunt was bought 30 million times until the end of 2020. 20 00:02:26,730 --> 00:02:33,120 Only after that, the Netflix series came into existence and became again itself popular. 21 00:02:34,620 --> 00:02:39,899 Something has changed and is changing in the genre of epic fantasy since 2000. 22 00:02:39,900 --> 00:02:48,930 We can see that there are differences in what part of a franchise becomes popular at first when it does that, and what happens after that. 23 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:59,580 But based on the core texts and productions, all of the three franchises have experienced a considerable amount of expansion recently. 24 00:02:59,820 --> 00:03:05,340 There have been a lot of new production like Lord of light, Rings of Power, Worf, 25 00:03:05,340 --> 00:03:11,999 Thor, Hiram, House of the Dragon, Blood Origin, or sirens of the deep with as you see, 26 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:19,290 a lot more coming and announced or confirmed as different as all these free story worlds are, 27 00:03:19,290 --> 00:03:24,450 the series and films have one thing in common they all are prequels. 28 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:30,990 What is told takes place before the plot of Lord of the rings, Games of Thrones and The Witcher saga. 29 00:03:31,650 --> 00:03:37,260 Nevertheless, the prequels are connected to their originals actually in several ways. 30 00:03:37,530 --> 00:03:44,010 First, they are set in a pre-existing story world that is already very familiar to the recipients. 31 00:03:44,490 --> 00:03:50,850 At the same time, prequels expand these by providing them with new knowledge, events, and characters. 32 00:03:51,330 --> 00:03:58,500 Second, the events are somehow or very explicitly leading up to the plot that we already know from the original. 33 00:03:59,220 --> 00:04:06,420 Third prequels include characters that either are familiar to us, for example, Elrond or Galadriel, 34 00:04:06,750 --> 00:04:12,750 or characters that can be closely connected to protagonists we know, for example, to Daenerys Targaryen. 35 00:04:13,950 --> 00:04:20,460 What we observe with the big epic fantasy franchises is what can be called transmedia storytelling. 36 00:04:21,180 --> 00:04:26,700 The stories, and here are called Henry Jenkins, unfold across multiple platforms, 37 00:04:26,700 --> 00:04:32,310 with each new text making a distinctive and valuable contribution to the whole. 38 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:38,430 To be honest, this is nothing that is really specific for the genre of epic fantasy. 39 00:04:38,850 --> 00:04:47,760 Transmedia storytelling is everywhere. Inspector Morse, sex and the city, X-Men, The Devil Wears Prada as well. 40 00:04:49,230 --> 00:04:52,410 Lewis, as we know May know is a spin off. 41 00:04:52,410 --> 00:04:55,830 Morse is a prequel to Inspector Morse based on novels, 42 00:04:56,100 --> 00:05:01,990 and Just Like That tells us what happened to the protagonists of sex and the city after the series has taken. 43 00:05:02,410 --> 00:05:05,910 So we have a sequel here with X-Men. 44 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:11,530 We have all of it. And even and to be honest, I somehow lost track of that as well. 45 00:05:11,980 --> 00:05:17,680 The Devil Wears Prada two makes it very clear that we're going to have a sequel there. 46 00:05:18,340 --> 00:05:26,590 So although this list is really weird, it gives us all the different formats of transmedia expansion prequels, sequels, and spinoffs. 47 00:05:27,220 --> 00:05:35,200 What is now striking about transmedia storytelling and epic fantasy to me is that it is nearly exclusively focussed on prequels. 48 00:05:36,070 --> 00:05:45,160 Of course, productions like The Hatch Knight or The Nightmare of the Wolf, where the story of Carroll's mentor is told may be called spin offs, 49 00:05:45,460 --> 00:05:52,870 but I think they are more properly described as prequels as well, because they are also set into storyboards past, 50 00:05:52,870 --> 00:05:58,630 and their events are also leading up to what we know from Game of Thrones or The Witcher. 51 00:05:59,650 --> 00:06:07,360 So even though there have been multiple productions in the last few years, neither of them is interested in the future of the story worlds. 52 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:17,170 This might change in our future, but I suppose that epic fantasy will stick, at least for a while, with its focus on the story worlds past. 53 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:24,220 So my talk today on critique is focussed on prequels as an effect of the genre's popularity. 54 00:06:24,730 --> 00:06:32,530 Thinking about transmedia storytelling, I want to talk about how prequels are embedded in an already existing story world, 55 00:06:32,830 --> 00:06:42,730 and what challenges and affordances there are. Being a medievalist, my focus here lies on how epic fantasy uses medieval narrative structures, 56 00:06:42,850 --> 00:06:49,270 motifs, and inventories to link the prequel in a consistent and interesting way to its original. 57 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:53,469 After some short theoretical remarks in this regard, 58 00:06:53,470 --> 00:07:03,550 I want to explore these logics of transmedia storytelling in the novels Fire and Blood and House of the Dragon both being both being prequels. 59 00:07:03,910 --> 00:07:11,470 I will concentrate on two types of terror texts to analyse how the expanded story world and the entrance to it is framed. 60 00:07:12,220 --> 00:07:14,920 But let's first get back to popularity. 61 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:22,600 I already talked a lot about the books, films and series being popular, and we heard a lot of that in the last two days. 62 00:07:23,020 --> 00:07:31,360 But what does that mean? What it doesn't mean is that something is liked or deemed especially worthy by experts. 63 00:07:31,690 --> 00:07:33,910 These would be qualitative categories. 64 00:07:34,810 --> 00:07:43,330 In contrast, I would suggest that popularity can be defined as a quantitative category, and I quote a colleague from zig. 65 00:07:43,330 --> 00:07:47,170 And being popular means getting noticed by many. 66 00:07:47,830 --> 00:07:56,050 Tolkiens novels were followed by many. Game of Thrones was trained by many, and all these individual acts of noticing are counted. 67 00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:05,470 They get accumulated and get staged in rankings or charts, bestselling lists, Amazon rankings, or other forms of TV or film charts. 68 00:08:05,770 --> 00:08:08,800 Tell us what many other people read or watched. 69 00:08:09,610 --> 00:08:16,000 This way, we know what is noticed by many, and this fact can change the attitude towards a book or film. 70 00:08:16,810 --> 00:08:24,670 We could also say, quote, when something is declared to be popular, it is irrevocably transformed and viewed differently. 71 00:08:25,060 --> 00:08:32,560 It makes a difference whether and how film, novel and so on appears in charts, rankings, tables and lists. 72 00:08:33,540 --> 00:08:41,490 By staging popularity. In these ways, it is suggested that we should read or watch the things that many others did, 73 00:08:41,790 --> 00:08:47,040 thereby attracting even more attention and popularity to the things that are ranked. 74 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,409 Now, before getting to prequels in particular, 75 00:08:52,410 --> 00:08:59,370 I want to give you a quick impression on how transformative popularity can be in the context of transmedia expansion. 76 00:09:00,030 --> 00:09:03,120 In Germany, the Lord of the rings appears in bestseller lists. 77 00:09:03,120 --> 00:09:09,600 In the early 1980s, right after Rough Patches animated film was released a year a year before. 78 00:09:10,260 --> 00:09:17,010 Three years in a row. Tolkien Tolkiens novels are ranked as one of the top ten best sold books of the year. 79 00:09:17,370 --> 00:09:19,920 In 1980, even listed as number one. 80 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:31,440 As you can see here, a very successful re-entry of the books into the two leading German bestseller lists took place in the early 2000. 81 00:09:31,890 --> 00:09:39,840 The novel stayed in 20, in the top 25 for several weeks in a row, climbing even to the top 5 in 2001. 82 00:09:40,230 --> 00:09:47,550 What happened in December 2001, two and three Peter Jackson's movies reach German cinema. 83 00:09:47,970 --> 00:09:50,580 Each saw more than 10 million people. 84 00:09:51,660 --> 00:10:02,850 Part two and three even climbed to the top 100 of the year 2002 and 2003, where the Shelf Fellowship came in on second place in its release year. 85 00:10:03,540 --> 00:10:12,630 So the movies were not only a big economic success, making a profit of nearly $3 billion in box office up to March 2025. 86 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:19,290 Moreover, they became very popular, as we saw looking at the bestseller list. 87 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:27,990 This popularity isn't restricted to cinema, thanks to new dimensions of cross-media marketing and novel status as long sellers. 88 00:10:28,290 --> 00:10:33,870 The popularity of the movies causes a renewed popularisation of Tolkiens novels. 89 00:10:34,260 --> 00:10:37,500 Movies and books attract attention to each other. 90 00:10:38,130 --> 00:10:43,320 An indication for this interdependency also are special editions of books that 91 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:47,430 are being released right after new productions have reached the franchises. 92 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:55,700 Several special editions show how publishers react to the movies and accompany them and their success. 93 00:10:56,150 --> 00:11:02,510 Interesting in terms of transmedia storytelling is one of the latest additions, the one you see here on the right. 94 00:11:03,290 --> 00:11:10,010 The covers of the book originally have been character posters that Amazon used for the marketing of Rings of Power. 95 00:11:10,670 --> 00:11:19,460 They show the upper body or part of the upper body, and a special character item here, hinting us towards Galadriel, Elrond, and Sauron. 96 00:11:20,030 --> 00:11:28,370 So even though the concrete source material of the prequel cannot be found in Lord of the rings, the covers well known from Amazon, 97 00:11:28,670 --> 00:11:36,950 are used to direct attention back to the books, hoping for more and renewed popularity popularity. 98 00:11:36,980 --> 00:11:44,510 So turns out to be a major influence in the evolution of transmedia franchises and their storytelling across different media. 99 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:50,330 I want you to argue that prequels are first and foremost an effect of popularity, 100 00:11:50,630 --> 00:11:55,820 and they speak to the significance of popularity in our contemporary popular culture. 101 00:11:56,510 --> 00:12:00,470 They come into existence because an original has been noticed by many. 102 00:12:01,190 --> 00:12:06,680 A prequel, then, is supposed to build up on this and become itself popular. 103 00:12:08,300 --> 00:12:12,500 House of the Dragon clearly kept that promise in comparison to Game of Thrones. 104 00:12:12,500 --> 00:12:15,680 The prequel could triple its viewers in the first season. 105 00:12:16,130 --> 00:12:22,280 Even the number of viewers in the first episode exceeded those of the Game of Thrones seasons one. 106 00:12:22,910 --> 00:12:29,130 Such a number of viewers can only be reached when people already have been attracted to in season two and six, 107 00:12:29,180 --> 00:12:32,450 to a successful original and the story world. 108 00:12:32,990 --> 00:12:38,090 The popularity of House of the Dragon, of course, was staged in streaming charts, 109 00:12:39,140 --> 00:12:44,330 but the attention the prequel was getting was also emphasised by talking about big numbers. 110 00:12:44,690 --> 00:12:48,950 Right from the start, HBO published statements on the show's performance, 111 00:12:49,460 --> 00:12:55,790 besides total numbers that drew comparisons to other shows and articulated superlatives wherever possible. 112 00:12:56,330 --> 00:13:00,290 These were then discussed in lots of articles in entertainment magazines, 113 00:13:00,290 --> 00:13:06,230 newspapers, in print and online that were also read, clicked, and bought by many. 114 00:13:07,190 --> 00:13:13,280 We see here to quotes from variety referring to HBO statements announcing that the prequel 115 00:13:13,970 --> 00:13:19,910 quote drew the largest audience in the paid TV history in the pay TV channels history and had, 116 00:13:20,090 --> 00:13:23,930 quote again, the biggest series premiere ever. 117 00:13:24,890 --> 00:13:33,440 Whether or not a prequel can live up to such a successful premiere depends on how well it is embedded into the story world of Westeros in this case, 118 00:13:33,860 --> 00:13:41,180 and whether it can contribute to the franchise and its story in the way that seems exciting and valuable to recipients. 119 00:13:41,330 --> 00:13:47,650 Keeping them streaming. That epic fantasy is popular changes the way it is perceived. 120 00:13:47,660 --> 00:13:52,460 It isn't nerdy any longer, but has become a legitimate part of popular culture. 121 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:59,810 Moreover, epic fantasy being noticed by so many people also transforms the genre and their story worlds. 122 00:14:00,970 --> 00:14:05,650 The fact that all three major franchises follow this prequel trend speaks to that. 123 00:14:06,190 --> 00:14:10,360 But the changes are not limited to the limited to the logics of production. 124 00:14:10,660 --> 00:14:15,940 They are also affecting the way prequels tell their stories and engage with their originals. 125 00:14:17,590 --> 00:14:23,409 As a medievalist, in this part of my talk, I want to focus on the way motives, narrative structures, 126 00:14:23,410 --> 00:14:31,450 and inventories from medieval culture and literature are adapted to depict the historic past of the story world. 127 00:14:32,470 --> 00:14:37,510 Looking at House of the Dragon, I want to argue that by designing a historical past of Westeros, 128 00:14:37,510 --> 00:14:44,710 the prequel items intensifies the neo medieval character and aesthetics of the secondary world and its plot. 129 00:14:45,340 --> 00:14:54,730 Moreover, neo medieval motives and narratives are used and provide important structures for the plot and the connection between prequel and original. 130 00:14:55,270 --> 00:15:00,520 The result is that House of the Dragon seems to be even more neo medieval than its original. 131 00:15:01,180 --> 00:15:11,380 Instead of giving you a long treatment or a long talk about major achievements in research, I want to focus on the term neo medieval. 132 00:15:11,530 --> 00:15:22,090 In contrast to medieval, what makes epic fantasy special is the fact that it develops a secondary world that seems to be somewhat medieval, 133 00:15:22,450 --> 00:15:27,550 but has itself no claim to any historical or scientific accuracy. 134 00:15:28,060 --> 00:15:34,960 Even though Westeros to some extent resembles a medieval Great Britain and its and its historic conflicts. 135 00:15:35,290 --> 00:15:39,520 Game of Thrones doesn't revive the Middle Ages as an historic epoch. 136 00:15:41,110 --> 00:15:44,710 It rather picks up bits and pieces from different cultures, 137 00:15:44,770 --> 00:15:50,500 from different medieval cultures that were present in different temporal and spatial contexts. 138 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:56,889 We can think of the different forms of leadership that are displayed in Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms that 139 00:15:56,890 --> 00:16:02,710 we would find in very different times and places throughout the long epoch that we call the Middle Ages. 140 00:16:03,700 --> 00:16:10,689 But because Westeros doesn't want to be historical, all these different concepts can be mended and patched up, 141 00:16:10,690 --> 00:16:14,710 like Umberto Eco set to create a story world in its own right. 142 00:16:15,370 --> 00:16:22,360 Moreover, the adaptation of medieval culture and literature is amalgamated with contemporary discourses. 143 00:16:22,870 --> 00:16:26,230 We heard also that we already heard a lot about them. 144 00:16:26,380 --> 00:16:30,070 We could name gender stereotypes, gender discourses, 145 00:16:30,070 --> 00:16:41,200 or maybe as well discourses about migration or ecological, um, ecological discourses that we have right now. 146 00:16:42,790 --> 00:16:49,990 Richard AD sums this special way of working with a popular imagination of the middle age is very up, very clear. 147 00:16:50,470 --> 00:17:03,670 And he says, instead of instead, um, of creating traditional kinds of historical authenticity, it displays a similar trim of the medieval. 148 00:17:04,030 --> 00:17:14,510 Neither an original nor a copy of an original, including an adequate number of cultural references to make it belong to and to reinforce the brand. 149 00:17:14,530 --> 00:17:18,520 Medieval. So you see, he prefers the term medieval. 150 00:17:19,150 --> 00:17:28,720 So in popular culture, the medieval or neo medieval becomes an imaginative field not bound to historical authenticity or scientific accuracy. 151 00:17:29,260 --> 00:17:34,570 The brand evokes specific expectations that can be recognised relatively easy. 152 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:42,880 Interesting to me now is to have a closer look at transmedia expansion and the neo medieval character of House of the Dragon. 153 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:53,440 How are motives, narrative structures and adapted to embed the prequel into the story world, and to give a link to previous elements in the franchise? 154 00:17:53,860 --> 00:17:57,910 What is the new and valuable contribution the prequel has to offer? 155 00:17:58,540 --> 00:18:03,670 Is there maybe something like neo medieval logics of transmedia storytelling? 156 00:18:04,540 --> 00:18:09,820 Exploring House of the Dragon as a prequel? We need to first have a look at its source material. 157 00:18:10,360 --> 00:18:16,210 Martin's novel Fire and Blood was published in 2018 and is a prequel itself. 158 00:18:17,910 --> 00:18:25,830 The pair of text reveals that the book is framed as a chronicle, telling, quote, the history of the two Korean kings of Westeros. 159 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:35,550 In this sword stakes horse fiction, an arched knights of the citadel named gilding appears as awesome before the story even begins. 160 00:18:35,580 --> 00:18:42,660 Several pieces of information are given to reactivate what the what the recipients know about Westeros. 161 00:18:43,350 --> 00:18:46,530 Old town is known to be the scholarly capital of it. 162 00:18:47,070 --> 00:18:53,700 When Samwell Tarly turns to the Citadel, it resembles to some extent the Library of ancient Alexandria, 163 00:18:53,700 --> 00:19:00,760 collecting and storing all the knowledge and history of the world that the reader is about to learn. 164 00:19:00,780 --> 00:19:08,250 Something about Westeros past also becomes clear by naming the Targaryen kings in Song of Ice and Fire. 165 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:14,970 It is often referred to a long the past reign of two kings in Westeros ever since icons conquest, 166 00:19:15,570 --> 00:19:24,030 especially Aegon as the first king of this chronicle, gives us a hint that the decades around and right after the conquest are about to be told. 167 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:30,029 The fact that dragons have lived in Westeros throughout this given reign is self-evident 168 00:19:30,030 --> 00:19:34,440 and familiar to everyone who knows Song of Ice and Fire or Game of Thrones. 169 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:43,620 So from this first page of text, the novel gives away a lot of information that already helped to embed the upcoming plot into a known story world. 170 00:19:44,070 --> 00:19:54,090 From the start, the book reveals itself as a prequel. It does that by using the source fiction that is new medieval chronicle chronicles 171 00:19:54,090 --> 00:19:57,810 retelling the history of the world or the reign of kings and emperors. 172 00:19:58,140 --> 00:20:00,680 A very common genre of medieval literature. 173 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:09,800 The first word chronicle in German vernacular, was written in the mid of the 13th century by a man called Rudolf von EMS. 174 00:20:10,460 --> 00:20:11,870 Beginning with the creation, 175 00:20:11,870 --> 00:20:19,970 the World Chronicle tells the story of Christian salvation and combines it with world history and a description of different parts of the world. 176 00:20:21,050 --> 00:20:28,790 Here we see manuscript around 1300, and we see an illumination showing the fight between David and Goliath. 177 00:20:29,510 --> 00:20:35,120 Besides that, there are chronicles that focus on the reign of kings, just like all my students. 178 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:41,930 Thus, one example, again from the midterm Middle Ages is the Emperor's Chronicle, 179 00:20:42,170 --> 00:20:49,130 written in Latin in the first half throat in the first half of the 12th century by one or more unknown clergymen. 180 00:20:49,910 --> 00:20:56,030 As the title suggests, this chronicle is focusing on kings, emperors and popes of the Roman Empire. 181 00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:00,170 It. Prologue. In the prologue it says, and this is my translation. 182 00:21:00,650 --> 00:21:06,710 A book has written to be interpreted. It tells us about the Roman Empire and is named Chronicle. 183 00:21:07,250 --> 00:21:15,560 It reports for us on popes and kings, both good and bad, that lived before us and took care of the Roman Empire on to this day. 184 00:21:16,010 --> 00:21:18,740 This I will tell you to the best of my abilities. 185 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:27,919 The speaker wants to provide a continuum that links past and present the readers, that this teaches the readers about their past, 186 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:34,430 but it also provides coherence, as the events of the past are presented and interpreted in retrospect. 187 00:21:34,970 --> 00:21:44,150 The history of kings and popes helps to understand the current situation of the Empire by providing a direct line of kingship. 188 00:21:45,670 --> 00:21:50,710 Present. Kings and emperors can be legitimised and they are provided with gravitas. 189 00:21:51,250 --> 00:21:55,210 The chronicle reassures the readers of the past and its significance. 190 00:21:56,780 --> 00:22:00,980 Fire and blood adepts. This genre of medieval literature to do a similar thing. 191 00:22:01,550 --> 00:22:05,630 Like the medieval recipients, Martin's readers know about the present. 192 00:22:05,690 --> 00:22:13,069 The events A Song of Ice and Fire. The Chronicle creates a genuine part of the story world, and on the other hand, 193 00:22:13,070 --> 00:22:18,740 the events recounted explain how things developed and led up to the plot we already know. 194 00:22:19,370 --> 00:22:27,320 Like a medieval chronicle, the prequel creates a long continuum, providing coherence, linking past with present. 195 00:22:27,950 --> 00:22:33,020 It enriches the story world and gives background to things happening later in the world's history. 196 00:22:34,670 --> 00:22:40,610 Adapting the narrative structure of medieval chronicles also influences the way the story is told. 197 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,480 The author of the chronicle must rely on different sources. 198 00:22:45,740 --> 00:22:50,180 This is especially true for those times and events he couldn't witness himself. 199 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:55,250 What can be told was handed down in written text and therefore is limited. 200 00:22:55,880 --> 00:23:02,600 In addition to that, the arch master can only utter speculations about characters feelings or hidden agendas. 201 00:23:03,260 --> 00:23:08,210 Hence, insight to the characters minds that we know from Song of Ice and Fire are missing. 202 00:23:08,930 --> 00:23:16,310 The source fiction also implies that The cronies is talking about his own sources and their reliability. 203 00:23:16,850 --> 00:23:23,090 By doing this, the prequel gives insight into how knowledge is produced and passed on over generations. 204 00:23:23,690 --> 00:23:33,139 We learn, for example, that sources get corrupted during the replication process because their auditioned and imitations made the cut material. 205 00:23:33,140 --> 00:23:37,850 Cultural and social circumstances of this literary production of the past of Westeros 206 00:23:38,150 --> 00:23:43,160 very much adapt the production and tradition of text that we know from the Middle Ages. 207 00:23:44,060 --> 00:23:49,430 The information do not only enrich the story world, but add an historic dimension to it. 208 00:23:50,690 --> 00:23:57,290 The author of the Targaryen chronicle so is dependent on divergent source material, and he reflects on that. 209 00:23:57,590 --> 00:24:02,090 And this also creates an uncertainty about what really happened. 210 00:24:03,350 --> 00:24:10,940 This becomes especially important when the wearing of Westeros and his offsprings is told, as least two sources are mentioned, 211 00:24:11,300 --> 00:24:16,730 the texts of Septon Eustace and the Full Mushroom do not only recount events very different, 212 00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:22,400 but both authors seem to have own agendas and alliances that influence their retellings. 213 00:24:23,090 --> 00:24:29,479 So what is told in Fire Blood about the tiger in dynasty seems to be open, at least to some extent, 214 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:36,410 to question, because no one really can testify to what happened, what was done or thought behind closed doors. 215 00:24:39,140 --> 00:24:47,600 The. This gives the TV series House of the Dragon the opportunity to contribute to the story world in a way that can be seen as new and valuable. 216 00:24:48,140 --> 00:24:51,530 The series drops the new medieval chronicle structure. 217 00:24:51,950 --> 00:24:56,569 Instead of telling the whole history off to Gary and King the prequel, 218 00:24:56,570 --> 00:25:01,880 it tracks those parts that are dealing with mistresses, reign, and what comes after that. 219 00:25:02,450 --> 00:25:07,670 Both things enable a storytelling that elaborates the plot in comparison to the novel. 220 00:25:08,180 --> 00:25:17,120 Not only can divergent agendas and secrets be told in another way, the series also suggests showing what really has happened. 221 00:25:17,180 --> 00:25:19,850 Independent of unreliable sources. 222 00:25:20,540 --> 00:25:27,770 This way, the prequels select source material and can elaborate its storytelling by giving new information and insights. 223 00:25:28,940 --> 00:25:33,950 Even though the Chronicle style disappears, the storytelling remains very neo medieval. 224 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:38,090 One example for that are the opening credits of season one. 225 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:46,520 They provide ritualised entry to the story world, and Jonathan Break sums up the function of these texts as follows. 226 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:51,950 In preparing us for the text and offering us the first encounters with it, 227 00:25:52,250 --> 00:25:58,130 and through a pair of text hold considerable power to direct our initial interpretations, 228 00:25:58,430 --> 00:26:05,960 telling us what to expect and establishing genre, step, gender, style, attitude and characterisation. 229 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:12,140 But as the opening credits in question belong to a prequel, they also have additional functions. 230 00:26:13,580 --> 00:26:17,570 They must embed the prequel in the story world right from the beginning, 231 00:26:17,930 --> 00:26:23,299 so they provide links to other productions set in Westeros, draw on recipients knowledge, 232 00:26:23,300 --> 00:26:31,640 and reactivated at the same time, they have to give recipients an impression about the genuine contribution that is about to be made. 233 00:26:32,330 --> 00:26:38,930 House of Dragon does all that by using the motives, genealogy, and lineage from medieval literature and culture. 234 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,579 Doing this, I want to argue the series are tense of intensifies. 235 00:26:43,580 --> 00:26:47,540 Its new medieval appears and advertises it in its opening credits. 236 00:26:49,140 --> 00:26:52,620 And I may well skip these. Let's have a look. 237 00:26:52,950 --> 00:26:59,049 How many of you have watched House of the Dragon? Okay, that is a considerable amount. 238 00:26:59,050 --> 00:27:05,500 So I'll skip the the opening credits and you will see pictures and stills of it later on. 239 00:27:05,530 --> 00:27:09,050 So. Yes. 240 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:16,800 To link the prequel to the original, some key parts of Game of Thrones credit of the Game of Thrones credits are adapted. 241 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,940 You may be remember the iconic theme from Game of Thrones. 242 00:27:21,690 --> 00:27:26,820 We also have a different camera settings, so we have the camera flying over in stone, 243 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:34,170 an architecture built of stone, and we see different scenes out of that, and only in the long shot. 244 00:27:34,170 --> 00:27:37,410 In the final scene, we have an overview of the city. 245 00:27:38,100 --> 00:27:45,569 Like in Game of Thrones, the scenes are shown in the Empire that are shown in the opening credits vary from episode to episode, 246 00:27:45,570 --> 00:27:50,820 evolving with the narration of the series, but how do the opening credits work? 247 00:27:51,600 --> 00:27:57,149 As you may remember, a red liquid flows for the city of Stone on its way. 248 00:27:57,150 --> 00:28:02,370 This liquid, quickly recognised as blood, flows through different kinds of apparatuses. 249 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:08,640 These things somehow look and work like clock wheels and are decorated with different ornaments. 250 00:28:09,120 --> 00:28:14,220 The stream of blood flowing through the city symbolises the bloodline of House Targaryen. 251 00:28:14,730 --> 00:28:19,740 Each cogwheel symbolises one person that becomes part of the Targaryen lineage. 252 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:24,930 The blood runs through them once there are descendants and the lineage continues. 253 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:32,340 The setting for all this is Old Valyria, also representing the ancient ancestry of the Turk Aryans. 254 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:38,970 After flowing through the city all these blood streams and pouring into the citadel of the House of the Dragon, 255 00:28:39,930 --> 00:28:47,040 the opening credits give us a lineage of House of the Dragon, but the bloodline isn't limited to protagonists. 256 00:28:47,820 --> 00:28:51,780 Instead, it includes a long series of ancestors. 257 00:28:52,170 --> 00:28:54,900 This links the TV series To Fire and Blood. 258 00:28:55,350 --> 00:29:02,009 People who read the novel can decipher who is represented by the co-creators that precede those of the protagonists, 259 00:29:02,010 --> 00:29:04,980 because they already know a lot about these characters. 260 00:29:05,700 --> 00:29:14,220 The interesting thing is that lineage is that the lineage shown adapts genealogical thinking that has its roots in medieval culture. 261 00:29:14,850 --> 00:29:21,690 In the European Middle Ages, once place in a genealogy provided identity and legitimacy. 262 00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:28,379 Both things became especially important when heritage or high offices were concerned along an 263 00:29:28,380 --> 00:29:35,940 unbroken lineage of a family or office like kingship was seen as a sign of stability and gravitas. 264 00:29:37,910 --> 00:29:43,280 All this importance, and here it come to number one and meaning of lineage and genealogy, 265 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:49,400 and the way it is represented are rooted in nature because they are based on reproduction. 266 00:29:49,910 --> 00:29:58,850 But the contrary, the contrary is actually the case because genealogical thinking and all its construction principles are cultural. 267 00:29:59,180 --> 00:30:06,890 They are constructed in the special and specific cultural surrounding agreed on by society, on its meaning. 268 00:30:07,610 --> 00:30:11,540 But contingency and coincidence are very bad arguments. 269 00:30:11,540 --> 00:30:16,520 When heritage, the significance of a house or the legitimacy of a king are concerned. 270 00:30:17,330 --> 00:30:21,920 Therefore, genealogical thinking tries to implement continuity. 271 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:26,240 The status quo is explained by referring to the preceding. 272 00:30:26,870 --> 00:30:36,410 This explanation uses reproduction and birth, and therefore gives the impression that the lineage and genealogy are totally based on nature. 273 00:30:37,100 --> 00:30:45,920 One strategy to suppress this impression of being unproblematic and of being natural per se, is the symbolisation of blood. 274 00:30:46,970 --> 00:30:50,750 By using red colour to link the individuals in the family tree. 275 00:30:50,930 --> 00:30:57,320 The lineage presented in medieval manuscripts is closely connected to birth and reproduction process. 276 00:30:59,270 --> 00:31:02,750 This mode of representation is crucial for the opening credits. 277 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:10,460 Like medieval genealogies, this plot stream gives the impression that the order presented is a natural one, not a cultural one. 278 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:17,420 In addition to that, the flow of blood for the stone walls stresses the continuity of the House Targaryen. 279 00:31:17,990 --> 00:31:24,980 Moreover, blood reference refers to multiple, often crucial scenes crew of birth scenes in this series. 280 00:31:25,490 --> 00:31:29,990 When Rhaenyra's mother tells her that the child beds are women's battlefields. 281 00:31:30,350 --> 00:31:37,610 It becomes clear that birth and blood are also connected to questions of female agency and gender discourses. 282 00:31:38,390 --> 00:31:43,580 The bloodline in in the intro refers also to the purity of blood as well. 283 00:31:44,090 --> 00:31:50,239 The legitimacy attributed to view pure Valyrian blood is a big issue for Rhaenyra sons, 284 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:54,350 as well as for the Dragon Seed and their ability to claim a dragon. 285 00:31:58,730 --> 00:32:02,570 One of the most important positions in a lineage is its starting point. 286 00:32:02,990 --> 00:32:07,910 We know several stories in the medieval literature where protagonists link themselves 287 00:32:07,910 --> 00:32:14,780 and their families to famous ancestors like Niaz Shalmaneser or magazine O. 288 00:32:17,030 --> 00:32:22,610 Two quick, such famous forebears like these distinguished individuals and whole families. 289 00:32:23,300 --> 00:32:30,350 But they're also marked the ultimate beginning of the lineage, because there really is no need to search for older ancestors. 290 00:32:30,530 --> 00:32:37,330 When you claim that shaman is the founder of your dynasty, as they mark the starting point of a family line, 291 00:32:37,340 --> 00:32:41,510 these forebears are found in the top position in medieval lineages. 292 00:32:42,620 --> 00:32:50,930 In his World Chronicle, name calling on universal for 12 of measure, spec included a lineage for the Carolinians. 293 00:32:51,710 --> 00:32:53,630 I just presented by these two figures, 294 00:32:53,630 --> 00:33:05,150 holding a parchment scroll from which the lineage unfolds with our noses as ancestor at the top in the Konica Sancta Pantaleon is on the left. 295 00:33:05,420 --> 00:33:12,200 We see a genealogy of the Salesians and Ottomans, beginning with Louis Dolf again at the top of the line, 296 00:33:14,030 --> 00:33:20,209 while House of the Dragon goes without telling about Aegon's Conquest, Aegon's root icon remains present. 297 00:33:20,210 --> 00:33:28,490 As founder of the House Targaryen, he has the top position in the bloodline from his cogwheel decorated with his crown, 298 00:33:28,700 --> 00:33:31,010 the blood is released for the first time. 299 00:33:31,610 --> 00:33:39,350 Egan not only marks the start of family's history, the clock will also show the escape of the dragons from old Illyria, 300 00:33:39,620 --> 00:33:48,620 thereby linking the Targaryen's family, thereby linking the Targaryens to ancient Valyria and therefore their mythical origin. 301 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:56,570 At the end, it is revealed that all these stones, walls, stone walls and streets we see are part of old Illyria, 302 00:33:56,900 --> 00:34:00,680 and we could recognise that when we are some point into the story, 303 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:11,480 when we see this, there is this model of Old Valyria that he has in his chambers, so h dignity and the mythical origin of the bloodline are staged. 304 00:34:15,030 --> 00:34:21,540 We already saw that cockpits are decorated with special character items related to history or personality. 305 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:28,020 Those family members that sat on the Iron Throne are represented with their crown framing the cogwheel. 306 00:34:28,500 --> 00:34:33,270 The opening credits. So combine family history and genealogy of kings. 307 00:34:33,750 --> 00:34:38,190 This continuous line of kings again stresses the exclusiveness of the house. 308 00:34:38,670 --> 00:34:45,450 Such genealogies that show all the persons that held a specific office are common in the Middle Ages. 309 00:34:45,750 --> 00:34:54,930 Such forms of representation are even used for the papacy, a position that by definition cannot pass on through a vertical family history line. 310 00:34:56,010 --> 00:35:01,890 I brought one example with me here, which shows the King of England, kings of England and Scotland, 311 00:35:02,070 --> 00:35:06,690 beginning with William the Conqueror, and all of the kings are shown. 312 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:10,470 Very similar to House of the Dragon wearing the crowns. 313 00:35:12,710 --> 00:35:19,080 Genealogies always select that reveals the constructed character to be as convincing as possible. 314 00:35:19,100 --> 00:35:22,130 Lineages are focussed on vertical dimension. 315 00:35:22,820 --> 00:35:27,770 Often siblings and other women are excluded from the line to maintain a clear structure. 316 00:35:28,490 --> 00:35:32,930 Looking at. Yeah, looking at to hair is an alisan. 317 00:35:32,930 --> 00:35:37,280 In this intro we see that siblings as well as women are included. 318 00:35:37,820 --> 00:35:42,110 Nevertheless, the opening credits select and exclude other persons and characters. 319 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:46,550 Make of the cruel, for example, cannot be found in the lineage of. 320 00:35:47,660 --> 00:35:56,420 Why he would be a bad candidate for creating a convincing, convincing noble line is self-evident when we consider that cruel. 321 00:35:57,650 --> 00:36:02,479 Often other characters who are represented in fire and blood are excluded as well, 322 00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:07,370 and this is probably done to reduce complexity and for aesthetic reasons, 323 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:13,670 because otherwise the genealogy wouldn't be able to fit into the opening credits anymore. 324 00:36:16,170 --> 00:36:19,680 I'll skip the fusion of bloodlines. And if you want to ask, we could later. 325 00:36:20,100 --> 00:36:25,319 Um, I could later say something about that and we'd go straight to number six. 326 00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:31,220 Construction of one lineage. One important principle is still missing. 327 00:36:31,230 --> 00:36:34,890 Families and individuals want to gain power and legitimacy. 328 00:36:35,340 --> 00:36:39,780 Only one person can become heir or king or emperor. 329 00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:46,530 Hence, medieval genealogies construct one direct line to be again as convincing as possible. 330 00:36:47,070 --> 00:36:51,150 The intro to the prequel transforms this strategy in several ways. 331 00:36:51,540 --> 00:36:59,159 We saw that women and siblings are part of the line, and instead of focusing on one plotline, the camera flight and the switch. 332 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:04,590 This between the scenes show different parts of the lineage and the different lines of it. 333 00:37:05,130 --> 00:37:12,150 Especially this last scene emphasises that there are more than one bloodline that pour into the ritual of the house of the Dragon. 334 00:37:12,810 --> 00:37:20,160 The genealogy doesn't serve to stage the house. It doesn't only serve to stage the house exclusiveness and dignity. 335 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:26,840 It also shows how complex the genealogy of the House of the Dragon is, as the plot at the. 336 00:37:26,870 --> 00:37:32,820 As the plot evolves, more and more lines are added and become, and it becomes more and more complex. 337 00:37:33,450 --> 00:37:41,340 This represents the difficulty to find one legitimate heir and to decide which claim to the throne is the strongest one. 338 00:37:41,910 --> 00:37:52,260 In staging the genealogy, the protector stages the central conflicts and is the shape of the plot, while contingency is ruled out by one direction. 339 00:37:52,260 --> 00:38:02,010 Your genealogical line. This multi linearity that we see here emphasises the fragility of the house of the Dragon and its power. 340 00:38:02,610 --> 00:38:06,809 The house isn't threatened from the outside, its problem is in the inside. 341 00:38:06,810 --> 00:38:16,740 And maybe you remember the end of the prologue in the first episode where the voiceover says for he referring to Asia, Harris knew the cold truth. 342 00:38:17,100 --> 00:38:21,690 The only thing that could tear down the house of the dragon was itself. 343 00:38:23,700 --> 00:38:31,169 So I'll make a short conclusion when we remember the quote from Jonathan Cray about the functions of infrared para text, 344 00:38:31,170 --> 00:38:36,210 we see that the opening credits do way more than introducing genre and protagonists. 345 00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:40,560 They reactivate and intensify knowledge about the story world. 346 00:38:41,070 --> 00:38:46,830 They embed the prequel into the world of Westeros and help to elaborate a historical past. 347 00:38:47,340 --> 00:38:52,230 Moreover, they represent the central conflicts and plots of the series. 348 00:38:52,950 --> 00:39:00,690 We can see that the opening credits tend to be narrative themselves, accompanying the actual storytelling of the prequel. 349 00:39:01,740 --> 00:39:09,480 All this is achieved by adapting and transforming geological and chronicle thinking we know from medieval literature and culture. 350 00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:16,710 Constructing principles are adapted and get combined with discourses and tragedies targeted in the plot. 351 00:39:17,250 --> 00:39:24,180 The opening credits turn into a new medieval lineage that is an important link between the prequel, the novel, 352 00:39:24,180 --> 00:39:31,650 and the pre-existing story world, and makes an impressive first contact with it in comparison to Game of Thrones. 353 00:39:31,830 --> 00:39:38,910 The opening credits pick up central aesthetics, but intensify its new intensifies its new medieval character. 354 00:39:39,870 --> 00:39:42,360 Both prequels. Both prequels. 355 00:39:43,750 --> 00:39:52,750 Adapt medieval genres, narrative structures, and events in a way that facilitates the story worlds expansion into historical past. 356 00:39:53,140 --> 00:39:59,350 Overall, neo medieval appearances and aesthetics are even enhanced in House of the Dragon. 357 00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:04,270 Westeros is getting more and more neo medieval as it pasts unfolds. 358 00:40:04,750 --> 00:40:13,209 What we see here are neo medieval logics of transmedia storytelling, where epic fantasy is heading from here on, 359 00:40:13,210 --> 00:40:23,140 and how our popular imagination of the medieval is developing during this process will be an exciting thing to find out in the next couple of years. 360 00:40:23,710 --> 00:40:29,470 There are lots and lots of prequels in production, whether they all are realised in the end, 361 00:40:29,770 --> 00:40:34,780 and whether the transmedia storytelling and expansion will continue remains to be seen, 362 00:40:35,410 --> 00:40:42,700 but it will definitely depends on depend on how popular current prequels are and for how long they are. 363 00:40:43,030 --> 00:40:54,680 Thank you very much. Thank you. 364 00:40:55,970 --> 00:41:02,000 Grateful. Strong timing game. That means that we have quite a bit of time for questions. 365 00:41:02,510 --> 00:41:05,870 Um, so I will invite the first question from the room. 366 00:41:08,380 --> 00:41:11,410 As well. Yeah. Hey. Thank you for the talk. 367 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:16,630 Um, I was wondering. I find it hard to think about genealogy in the world to talk about. 368 00:41:16,990 --> 00:41:22,299 Think about the incest that is going on. How does either. 369 00:41:22,300 --> 00:41:29,840 How's the dragon? Or if I am blood. Kind of. Not like in those that incest in its genealogy. 370 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:36,770 And how does that compare to like real world medieval genealogies and what would have been like permissible in the real world? 371 00:41:37,980 --> 00:41:42,469 Um, so one thing we see is that the bloodlines remain very complicated, 372 00:41:42,470 --> 00:41:47,630 even though you have incest, which is known to limited, uh, bloodlines in genealogy. 373 00:41:47,930 --> 00:41:58,759 So this is one thing. And of course, this is a kind of trick that is used to, at one point, make the Targaryens a special family. 374 00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:10,850 And it is often mentioned that this, this costume of incest remains from, um, Old Valyria, where this was no problem and cultural totally tolerated. 375 00:42:11,210 --> 00:42:17,990 So this is some kind of, um, yeah, maybe making them even more special. 376 00:42:18,410 --> 00:42:23,870 But of course, something that is at least in when the European Middle Ages are concerned, 377 00:42:23,870 --> 00:42:35,540 something that we cannot really see as medieval because medieval in the Middle Ages, incest, of course, was a big problem and a cultural taboo. 378 00:42:36,260 --> 00:42:42,589 But of course, at the same time, at the same time, they're all stories that target incest. 379 00:42:42,590 --> 00:42:47,569 And often there are two protagonists that meet each other, fall in love, 380 00:42:47,570 --> 00:42:53,420 have sex and then realise, oh my God, where mother and son, sister and brother and so on. 381 00:42:53,720 --> 00:42:57,890 And it becomes a real problem for them because they, 382 00:42:58,610 --> 00:43:06,340 they committed this really serious sin and there has to be some kind of plot turn to, um, make that good again. 383 00:43:06,350 --> 00:43:14,870 So this is something that is totally used, something new, which is brought in, but still kind of, um, kind of a topic in the Middle Ages. 384 00:43:15,020 --> 00:43:19,190 So we have some people wondering, uh, a prequel. 385 00:43:20,150 --> 00:43:23,540 We already know the ending because we have the main story. 386 00:43:23,870 --> 00:43:27,499 Um, how does this affect the narrative format of the prequel? 387 00:43:27,500 --> 00:43:30,230 Uh, does it make it different from the main story in any way? 388 00:43:31,070 --> 00:43:39,260 Yeah, I think the interesting thing is that this we could again say that this is some kind of medieval way of storytelling, 389 00:43:39,260 --> 00:43:43,300 because you may be those of you who study literature. 390 00:43:43,340 --> 00:43:47,990 Certain literary studies may have come across the name of Clements Lucas Key, 391 00:43:48,590 --> 00:43:57,400 who talks about, um, how, um, how is this no suspension bundle with tension? 392 00:43:57,410 --> 00:44:01,910 Tension? Yeah. How tension is created. And tension can be created in two ways. 393 00:44:01,910 --> 00:44:07,670 So we want suspense. Yeah. We want to know what happens or we want to know how things happened. 394 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:12,769 And for example, in the song of the belongs that everyone dies. 395 00:44:12,770 --> 00:44:16,969 We know that right from the beginning. So the question is, how do we get there? 396 00:44:16,970 --> 00:44:20,660 And this is the special kind of suspense that we have here. 397 00:44:20,660 --> 00:44:27,860 And that is and somehow also then related to, um, the middle medieval storytelling and of course, 398 00:44:27,860 --> 00:44:35,930 the fact that we know what happens in Game of Thrones gives a lot more room to explain how things evolved, 399 00:44:36,500 --> 00:44:44,750 what is what was crucial to that, what may be, um, was done to prevent special things that we know that happened. 400 00:44:44,750 --> 00:44:51,200 And so it's a I think it's a strategy to be more elaborate about all the things that happen in between. 401 00:44:52,130 --> 00:44:58,850 Hi. Um, so I have noticed recently, um, that as new books are being released, 402 00:44:59,150 --> 00:45:06,200 there's a faster, uh, or higher demand for the sequels to be out, um, from the authors. 403 00:45:06,470 --> 00:45:09,770 And do you think that's connected to, um. 404 00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:16,030 Sort of the demand for media because we have more prequels. 405 00:45:16,330 --> 00:45:22,750 Uh, people like what was just mentioned online, like how people already know how the prequels and sort of. 406 00:45:22,750 --> 00:45:28,690 So. Do you think that there's like, a reluctance to wait and to be in that second form of, uh, 407 00:45:28,690 --> 00:45:35,710 suspense now because most of the main media that we're consuming is prequels, and we know how that story ends. 408 00:45:37,510 --> 00:45:44,829 Um, I find it kind of hard to imagine what sequels to maybe, let's say, uh, 409 00:45:44,830 --> 00:45:54,459 Lord of the Rings or Westeros can be because we have these epic conflicts that are not to the full extent, but to some resolved at the end. 410 00:45:54,460 --> 00:46:04,960 So I would think you would have were you would be in the trouble to create a whole new world order, even though Caroline set for, uh, Game of Thrones, 411 00:46:05,770 --> 00:46:14,860 it just some things are as they have been before, but you would have to think in a whole new, different way about what can happen from here on. 412 00:46:14,860 --> 00:46:18,969 And, um, so I think this is part of the answer. 413 00:46:18,970 --> 00:46:27,340 Why we are so matched by fantasy is so much focussed on prequels, at least when these big franchises are concerned. 414 00:46:27,340 --> 00:46:38,229 And my personal guess is that this Fire of Blood novel is a very clever trick by Martin to create a new book in a shorter time period, 415 00:46:38,230 --> 00:46:40,120 and a book from which you can, 416 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:52,629 from now on, extract every now and again different generations and evolve on that an elaborate their, um, story without him being picked every time. 417 00:46:52,630 --> 00:46:56,650 When is the new book about Aegon coming or something like that? 418 00:46:56,650 --> 00:47:03,190 So yeah, I think, uh, these are two things that, uh, that cause this prequel trend, at least at the moment. 419 00:47:03,190 --> 00:47:11,650 But I will be happy to be proven wrong. So be very eager to see when we have sequels in these big franchises for the first time. 420 00:47:12,010 --> 00:47:17,440 Thank you. Um, thank you again for the fascinating talk. Um, God, I forgot my question. 421 00:47:18,790 --> 00:47:22,750 Sorry. You do want to go? Back? 422 00:47:24,250 --> 00:47:36,700 Um. Oh, yes. Um, I listen also, um, a lot of the examples that we've looked at in this talk of, you know, like Westeros and, um, 423 00:47:37,570 --> 00:47:46,360 and Lord of the rings, etc. are a little bit more like, I guess, grown up, maybe fantasy, like a bit more kind of adult fantasy. 424 00:47:46,570 --> 00:47:51,910 And I wondered with, um, shows like, you know, Disney's Percy Jackson adaptation and stuff like, 425 00:47:51,910 --> 00:47:56,150 children's literature does seem to be kind of joining that slowly. 426 00:47:56,170 --> 00:48:01,200 Do you think that we'll see some prequels of, like, the younger kind of kids fantasy literature? 427 00:48:01,210 --> 00:48:03,190 Because I haven't seen as much as that of that yet. 428 00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:13,059 To be honest, I don't know enough about children's literature and also this young adult trend at the moment, 429 00:48:13,060 --> 00:48:19,270 so I can not really say something more than a good guess, but this would be that. 430 00:48:19,450 --> 00:48:25,599 Yeah, maybe there will be more sequels, but I'm not very, very into that. 431 00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:31,190 So sorry. Thank you. I remember my question. 432 00:48:31,550 --> 00:48:38,300 Um, with transmedia storytelling, we often see more than just one author or creator get involved. 433 00:48:38,300 --> 00:48:43,430 You've got different people who write the books, different people who work on the TV shows, different people who work on the games. 434 00:48:43,850 --> 00:48:48,800 Um, can you speak to that a little bit more on how that helps to expand? 435 00:48:48,950 --> 00:48:52,340 Um, a world or a universe sort of story? 436 00:48:53,780 --> 00:48:56,809 Um, yeah. Uh, so so you're right. 437 00:48:56,810 --> 00:49:08,150 Of course it does end there. Um, there are certainly more influences and more thinking about what would be appropriate in times like this. 438 00:49:08,150 --> 00:49:09,979 How have reactions been? 439 00:49:09,980 --> 00:49:20,420 So why do we have we could think about why is there less male violence or less male warrior while violence in House of the Dragon? 440 00:49:20,420 --> 00:49:27,500 And instead we have these very, very cruel birth scenes, and we often see blood and, um, 441 00:49:27,770 --> 00:49:34,130 and violence related to women, but not in a sexual way other than in Game of Thrones. 442 00:49:34,370 --> 00:49:40,610 So this seems to be something that comes in from different parts of the production process. 443 00:49:40,970 --> 00:49:45,320 But, um, you think you touched I think you touched a very interesting point, 444 00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:53,690 because I think what we could do as, um, as medieval scholars or literary scholars in general, 445 00:49:53,690 --> 00:50:02,899 is to think about more what to think more about what happens to the concept of the author when we have transmedia storytelling, 446 00:50:02,900 --> 00:50:08,840 because clearly we don't have the author and then some adaptation or something like that. 447 00:50:09,170 --> 00:50:18,409 But we have a process and a combination that is very, very complicated, and we're thinking about it and exploring it more. 448 00:50:18,410 --> 00:50:30,889 What does it mean? How is the how do ideas of, um, of origin, of um, of property, how do they change in this transmedia process? 449 00:50:30,890 --> 00:50:37,160 So that's a very good question. Interesting one. Uh, thank you for your very interesting presentation. 450 00:50:37,460 --> 00:50:46,880 Uh, my question is so for for different franchises, prequels, um, some prequels will be set sort of way, 451 00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:53,720 way before the original text, and then some will be set, you know, just a little bit before the text. 452 00:50:53,720 --> 00:50:59,900 Do you see any, um, significant differences between these two types of prequels? 453 00:51:01,280 --> 00:51:10,879 Um, I would say no. I think the only difference is where's the next prequel going to be, uh, squeezed in? 454 00:51:10,880 --> 00:51:18,560 Is it before that? Because we have a direct line of prequel happening and then directly what's happening in the original? 455 00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:27,290 Um, but one difference might be the extent to which, in these cases, the story world appears to be somewhat medieval. 456 00:51:27,740 --> 00:51:38,360 So the more we go into the past, the more opportunities I think, are there to create a more pre-modern or a more ancient story world. 457 00:51:38,360 --> 00:51:46,220 And this may be a thing that differs when we have different constellations of prequels and originals, I think. 458 00:51:47,060 --> 00:51:51,260 I think also you must get, uh, to jump in here. 459 00:51:51,500 --> 00:51:54,620 You must be more constrained if you have. 460 00:51:55,070 --> 00:52:00,500 I would just imagine if you had Robert's Rebellion as a new series, 461 00:52:00,800 --> 00:52:06,350 and we already know quite a lot about it, so we wouldn't be all that interested necessarily. 462 00:52:06,590 --> 00:52:08,630 We might quite like to see how it unfolds, 463 00:52:08,780 --> 00:52:14,329 but the storytelling would be really constrained by all of the information we have from Game of Thrones, right? 464 00:52:14,330 --> 00:52:18,229 When you go back much further, you have much more freedom, I think. 465 00:52:18,230 --> 00:52:24,049 And maybe these single contributions aren't deemed to be very interesting or valuable. 466 00:52:24,050 --> 00:52:28,280 When you each time you say what happened before that and what happened before that, 467 00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:33,530 and now we see what happened before that, that maybe would lose, uh, would lose. 468 00:52:34,130 --> 00:52:38,870 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that would lose the audience and wouldn't be very interesting at all. 469 00:52:39,050 --> 00:52:43,700 Right. Helen. Thanks. Um, what you were just saying about the prequels not wanting to be. 470 00:52:44,330 --> 00:52:49,069 This is what happened in this is what happened for it is it is kind of segways into my question quite nicely, 471 00:52:49,070 --> 00:52:52,610 because I was thinking about the difference between sequels and series. 472 00:52:53,150 --> 00:52:57,590 Um, and I wanted to know what you thought about them in your examples, you're thinking about. 473 00:52:57,830 --> 00:53:00,170 Sorry, this isn't a comment. I promise. There's a question. 474 00:53:00,950 --> 00:53:08,389 The the examples you were talking about a transmedia franchises, um, where there's there's a big production and then there's another big production. 475 00:53:08,390 --> 00:53:14,840 Um, but if you think about the fantasy literature, um, you know, the series is a classic. 476 00:53:14,840 --> 00:53:18,650 And then there's, you know, the all of the examples have gone out of my head, but then there's, 477 00:53:18,860 --> 00:53:24,770 there's the first trilogy and then there's the next trilogy, because the first one ended up so well, and then suddenly it's a 21 book series. 478 00:53:25,220 --> 00:53:29,540 Um, so I wondered if you. Oh, how much you. 479 00:53:29,570 --> 00:53:33,560 Thought, um, this is a product of transmedia. 480 00:53:33,590 --> 00:53:37,100 The prequel is a product of transmedia storytelling. 481 00:53:38,430 --> 00:53:46,650 Aam and also how you're conceptualising the difference between a sequel and a series. 482 00:53:46,740 --> 00:53:53,280 Mhm. And is that one. Yeah I think that's that's the tricky thing. 483 00:53:53,280 --> 00:54:07,259 But from right from right from the gut I would say a series may have other significance structuring and plot organisation. 484 00:54:07,260 --> 00:54:14,459 So you would have more as you have cliff-hangers you have recaps or something like that, even though they're not a special pair of text. 485 00:54:14,460 --> 00:54:22,620 But you to some extent have to remember people what happened in the last season or episodes or something like that. 486 00:54:22,620 --> 00:54:31,709 And I would say sequels, uh, or different sequels are in themselves to some extent closed, 487 00:54:31,710 --> 00:54:37,680 even though they have, um, they have links to what happened before or what can happen afterwards. 488 00:54:37,680 --> 00:54:41,040 So maybe this can be an answer to your question. 489 00:54:41,040 --> 00:54:46,649 But the other thing is that it to some extent, we have this structure in literature as well, 490 00:54:46,650 --> 00:54:52,320 because we have the we have some kind of serialisation with the trilogies, 491 00:54:52,740 --> 00:55:01,770 and then we have these sequel prequel logic when we have, as you said, new trilogies or new tetralogy or whatever. 492 00:55:01,770 --> 00:55:11,850 And um, yeah. So, so this may not be something that is totally due to, um, transmedia or big budget productions, I think. 493 00:55:12,500 --> 00:55:20,100 Right. Um, with that. So, um, I think having more questions online and everybody is going to sleep online and everybody 494 00:55:20,100 --> 00:55:27,059 here who's been so have shown so much fortitude over today is probably flagging as well. 495 00:55:27,060 --> 00:55:31,290 And just as well, because we have now come to the end of the workshop. 496 00:55:31,290 --> 00:55:34,000 And so I'm going to invite everybody to.