Lord of the Rings vs A Song of Ice and Fire

A few months back, my friend Conan made a popular and controversial thread about A Song of Ice and Fire, calling it among other things, a “failure.” His thread inspired me to think much deeper about the series and make the obvious comparison, to Lord of the Rings. This episode is the discussion these two threads inspired, almost two hours discussing the merits of the two series, as well as the cultural context from whence they sprang. What does Tolkein’s world say about LOTR and what does Mar...