Great examples. And keeping rigid control of internal consistency can be... good. But lets go to the Game of Thrones example of Tyrion being suddenly treated as a super-handsome sex magnet (because it made me smile.) Lets say that near the end of the next book, in the last "Tyrion" chapter, all the barmaids he's hanging around and a couple of working girls and basically any woman he passes starts to eye him and seem hypnotized and attracted. And then the chapter ends. And Tyrion won't have another chapter until the next book.Gethsemani said:Sure, good writing, excellent acting and emotional hooks can make the audience forgive the occasional slip up in internal consistency or sudden ass-pull on behalf of the writers (the eagles at the end of Return of the King, anyone?), but internal consistency is very much a hallmark of quality.
You can't get good quality if the internal consistency isn't there, simply because people will notice that the "laws" of the fiction seems to change all the time. A good writer can handwave it (No one seems to mind that Fallout 2 decided that the Vaults were actually social experiments), but when too much keeps changing it severely detracts from the quality for many people. This is especially egregious if the work in question is trying hard with world building.
Just imagine Lord of the Rings if the writers couldn't decide if Frodo was actually having trouble staving off the Ring's influence, for example. Every other scene has him talking about what a burden it is only for the next scene have him shrug it off with a spiffy one-liner ("Not as heavy as your MOM, Sam"). Some might accept it, but a lot of people would probably get confused.
Or imagine Star Wars if the Force Awakens had suddenly decided that the Force wasn't real and that the Jedi were all mentally ill for believing they had magic powers. How many fans would have received that change well?
Or how about if George RR Martin decides to "reveal" that Jamie Lannister is actually NOT a true Lannister, but rather Aegon's step-brother and have a dragon show up to be Jamie's best-friend? Meanwhile, the Night's Watch has a change of heart, gives up their vigil and goes to Braavos to have a drunken slay out?
Maybe. Or maybe people have legitimate issues with changes to the established lore of the fiction they like. Especially if it is fiction that either prides itself on its' internal consistency and logic or fiction that roots itself in reality. I don't think anyone cares about the internal consistency of Sharknado, since it is explicitly meant to be over the top and zany, but a lot of people care about the internal consistency of Game of Thrones. If Arya suddenly sprouts wings and flies, while Tyrion is treated as a super-handsome sex magnet, people are bound to be upset because it clearly violates everything that has been established earlier.
Hence, when Bethesda decides to "keep" elements of Fallout that were explicitly tied to specific places (deserts, super mutants, radscorpions, deathclaws) while moving the location to the other side of the continent, some people are bound to be upset because Bethesda doesn't care for the lore.
Now yes, that sucks. It's very out of character and it does look like a bad idea going forward for the character and the story. But given the quality of George R.R. Martin's work up till this point (I happen to like ASoIaF very much) I'd give him the benefit of the doubt that he may be setting something up as opposed to immediately running crying to the internet about how he "ruined" Tyrion.
Not many, totally agree. But can you GUARANTEE that someone COULDN'T write something awesome with that premise. That really was my point, I value quality over nitpicking minutia. Just because I'd believe in an example like the SW: TFA 99% I'd really hate a course change like that. But I can say 100% that if (somehow) someone managed to write something brilliant with that change (even if the force itself was written out of the story entirely) I wouldn't care at all and would STILL love Star Wars.Gethsemani said:Or imagine Star Wars if the Force Awakens had suddenly decided that the Force wasn't real and that the Jedi were all mentally ill for believing they had magic powers. How many fans would have received that change well?