On vacation in Croatia earlier this September, I was jostled by Game of Thrones tour groups investigating the nooks and crannies of the ancient city of Dubrovnik, which provides backdrops for the most popular TV show in the world, now airing in 170 countries.
Whenever I sidled over to listen to the tour guide, I heard something like this: “Remember in Season 5 when “XYZ” happened ? Well, it was right here!” The group usually nodded in eager appreciation.
Soon after returning home, I read this article about the Game of Thrones worldwide phenomenon:
George R. R. Martin, Fantasy’s Reigning King
Whether you’re a fan or not, it’s a fascinating article, especially the part about “how we engage with an imagined universe.”
A Startling Conclusion
Fans into Game of Thrones constantly mull over, dissect and debate the smallest details of this “imagined universe.” Here’s a brief summary from the article:
AS IMPRESSIVE AS Martin’s universe is, his fans’ engagement with it is perhaps even more so. In the science fiction and fantasy (SFF) community, people often refer to fanac (short for fan activity), which takes many forms: cosplay (costume play), fan art, fan fiction, even filk — a musical genre comprising original songs, parodies and covers — all shared and celebrated at local meet-ups or regional and national conventions.
Technology has increased the number of venues, including podcasts, wikis, websites and message boards, for nerding out over a particular topic or piece of arcana, which previously may have occurred only in the back of a bookstore or game shop and now takes place largely online.
In Martin’s case, this fanac seems to be in a permanent state of frenzy… All told, it’s possible that more has been written about the fictional kingdoms of Westeros than about some actual countries on earth.
Note that last line: these fictional kingdoms are more interesting to more people than some real countries. Such is the power of fantasy to wrap us into its worldview.
The author continues by describing how this immense fan energy is related to the actual books themselves.
The cumulative effect of all this activity has created a meta-layer, or perhaps a para-layer, a kind of atmosphere that exists above, next to, under and all around the fictional world created by Martin.
This para-layer doesn’t actually change or otherwise affect the canon: It is crucial to the integrity of both the fans and the author himself that the boundary between the two is impermeable — there is no feedback loop…
In other words, there is an actual reality created by the text of Martin’s stories. Thus, an “impermeable boundary” exists between the canon (i.e. the actual text) and all the what if’s and should have been’s generated by fan opinion swirling around it.
Finally, this commentator (who is obviously well-versed in the Game of Thrones sub-culture) makes a startling conclusion:
Theories are just that: theories, until they’re proved correct. Martin is the creator, we are the fans, and we rely on him for underlying text that is coherent and internally consistent, unchanging and unchangeable.
And this is the way we want it. For one thing, it’s more fun to argue about theories when you believe that there is objective truth. (my emphasis)
Every basic theology draws the exact same conclusions, almost verbatim:
- God is the creator, we are God’s creatures.
- We rely on God (the author) for reality, given to us in a text, the Bible.
- The canon of the Scriptures (yes, we use the same word) is also coherent and internally consistent, unchanging and unchangeable.
- This canon of Scripture is objective truth.
So What?
Having regularly bemoaned our post-truth culture’s loss of any conception of objective truth, I find this foray into the Game of Thrones universe heartening in three ways:
1) It shows: “This is the way we want it.” People who invest in a worldview (even the Game of Thrones universe) want objective truth at the bottom of it. Otherwise, nothing really matters. It’s no use discussing or thinking. As Solomon says, “all is vanity.”
Modern relativism, detached any trust in objective truth, claimed to offer ultimate freedom. Every person could construct his or her personal, individualized version of reality (e.g. “it may not be true for you, but it’s true for me”). But even Game of Thrones lovers see this as a lie. The human condition WANTS objective truth.
2) It shows: Christians can rejoin the cultural conversation in new ways. We might say something like this to our friends who are Game of Thrones fans:
“Let’s agree that objective truth exists. Tell me about the reality described in your canon; then let me tell you a little about the reality my canon describes. In fact, our canons have much in common—miracles, evil monsters, flawed but noble heroes, even dragons and resurrections!”
Not only might such conversations actually be fun (“how does the resurrection of Jesus differ from that of Jon Snow?”), they would be a welcome change from Christians either bludgeoning people with our truth (and inevitably turning them off) on the one hand or feeling too intimidated to say anything on the other.
3) It shows: Ordinary people matter in our culture’s fight over objective truth.
The assault on objective truth began through postmodernism entering universities in the 1970’s, primarily through leftist thinkers. But it has gone mainstream today primarily through rightist politicians like Donald Trump who assault the meaning of truth itself and label as “fake news” any fact or evidence not to their liking.
It is intellectually inconsistent to proclaim the objective truth of Scripture yet agree with the shredding of objective truth happening all around us. The Reformation proclaimed from the mountaintops, “all truth is God’s truth.” We cannot stand for God’s truth, if we do not take a stand for all truth.
Question: Do you agree that objective truth exists? What new thoughts does this article generate for you? Please share them in a comment.
