Realism in fantasy art

Disclaimer...I haven't slept for like 32 hours and I'm ill....so the text might not be coherent or easy to understand.

After receiving feedback about the first submission draft there were two issues addressed. One was realism in fantasy art and the other one popularization/commercialization.

Few minutes ago I wanted to listen to Mitternacht by E-nomine and the video I clicked on youtube was actually a music video for The Lord of the Rings featuring a scene that does not even happen in the book. (LotR MV - Mitternacht). Quite a coincidence because I was trying to figure out why fantasy art is getting so realistic. A new set for the Magic: The Gathering game is out today and there are illustrations by an artist named Slawomir Maniak. These paintings look photorealistic even though there are undead creatures on them. After staring at Elgaud Inquisitor for some time I was wondering if this level of realism makes me believe that those skeletons could be real. This image reminds me a lot of The Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson. When I was watching the video there are scenes from battle at Osgiliath that look pretty realistic, the very same way as Slawomir Maniak paints. I have no idea how real battle could look like but this looks real to me even though there are nazguls, orcs and other otherworldy creatures.

The problem with so realisticly done scenes is that they don't give any space for one's imagination. I've read The Lord of the Rings when I was about 9-10 years old and for me the creatures looked different and they looked more 'fairy tale' like. And Gollum was completely different! I wasn't imagining that world or creatures from it to look so realistic. Imagining a battle for me had certain limits. After reading tons of fantasy books where battles were fought I can finally make my own visualization of similar battle. After seeing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy whenever I think of the book I have the images from the movie in my head. All the illustrations from John Howe, Alan Lee and Ted Nasmith just disappear...no they don't disappear, they transform into the movie's realism. When I think of a battle, movie's battle scenes come to mind.

Is this the companies' intent? To strip us of the imagination fantastic elements can evoke? Well, showing us something that looks real makes it more believable. Less alienation happens nowadays and more people are willing to accept that there could be vampires and who knows what.