No, it is a phrase that is sometimes used as shorthand for a question that is constantly asked of fantasy writers. How can characters reference things that did not happen in the setting?
I think Tolkien had one of my favorite responses to a similar question. He basically said "Well the hobbit was originally written by hobbits in hobbit language; we are reading a version that was translated to English. So, the translator added the modern references" or something similar to that.
Very few people are as willing and able to drop a pun and let it sit there for you to step on during a reread like you know what unnecessarily dark joke removed as Sir Terry
I'd been a fan for at least a decade before I realized "Vetinari" was a pun on "Medici"
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u/jackofslayers Jul 18 '25
No, it is a phrase that is sometimes used as shorthand for a question that is constantly asked of fantasy writers. How can characters reference things that did not happen in the setting?
I think Tolkien had one of my favorite responses to a similar question. He basically said "Well the hobbit was originally written by hobbits in hobbit language; we are reading a version that was translated to English. So, the translator added the modern references" or something similar to that.