Here’s an idea.

What if fantasy worlds and epics does not have to be burdened by the mind of a single writer?

We all know and love the rich and detailed worlds, histories, and stories that came from the minds of great writers of our time. But these stories are from the minds of a single creator and they are no match for what a collective are able to create. Just look at our Greek and Norse mythology!

Tolkien’s Middle-Earth is a fairly new mythology that went on to inspire countless fantasy worlds including George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series that went on to create a cultural phenomenon through its television series in the past decade. J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World can also be considered as one of these great intellectual properties that have resonated with countless people across the world (and along with it an endless opportunities for monetization).

These worlds were manifested, more or less, from the vision of an individual who have full control of its stories and elements. These worlds are also limited, then, by that individual’s imagination (although this is by no means a small limitation as we can see from the content they were all able to create), direction, and physical execution.

Tolkien’s work, until it was recognized, took him decades of writing and editing and didn’t see it reach the mass audience until he was long gone. George R.R. Martin first published the SOIAF in 1996, and the series (the books) are still no where near finished.

While this is perfectly fine for the fictional stories and worlds they’ve created through the existing platforms with their intended vision, they’re no match for what a collective of people were able to create centuries ago even with obvious technological handicaps in recording and distribution.

I can’t help but wonder at the what can be made possible if these stories and worlds do not have to be the burden of a single tormented artist, but a collective of creatives, or a DAO.

And wouldn’t this be the obvious next step in terms finding the new Middle-Earth scale phenomenon? Because to be honest, the most successful (in terms of longevity and reach) fantasies and stories are decentralized stories - our folklore, mythology, and legends!

Storytelling is something embedded in our DNA, a protocol in our behavior.

Stories, folklore, mythologies, and legends are vehicles that each culture use to pass on what it is to be human and how we came to be. In each culture they pass on important lessons, moral values, historical accounts, and beliefs. It’s what we use to identify ourselves to a certain culture.

Until the invention of writing, these stories were incredibly decentralized. No one knows the origin of folklore, thats how you classify a folklore. No one knows who told it first, or how true it was, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that something about it was important to the community whether it was a character and what they stood for, or a lesson it taught, and it passed on to the next generation.

The reason this form of storytelling is so successful is because of its decentralized nature that forces out the most poignant and resonating stories to the surface of each culture to endure time and the changes it brings.

I’m not sure of what’s the next step from here for storytelling.

It might be a dApp that is essentially fancy online forum. Or it might be something much more organic.

But it makes me pretty excited to watch it play out (if at all), or even start something that hopefully flourishes into something that has a life of its own, just like those folklore and myths.

I’m not sure if anything will happen at all to be honest, but it’s pretty exciting to imagine what if?

Maybe we’re a year away from a Middle-Earth that I’d get a chance to contribute to. Until then, I’ll be thinking and writing more about what that’ll look like.

Maybe.