EotW and LotR

[Quixotic]

The collective community subconscious follows the same vague guidline in almost every story.  Hero, Quest, Obstacles, Great Evil, Big Showdown.  The only differences are the characters and circumstances.  Even then there is only so much room for difference.

 

Someday ,I would like to see someone shatter the convention in a way platable to the majority of readers, and in a comprehensible , brilliantly written way .

 

So far , we have Heroes= several Protagonist

 

                Quest = Destiny, radical change in destiny and objectives

 

                Great Evil = Multiple Evil . Sometimes , even the Protagonist turns evil !

 

                Big Showdown = Series of showdowns , Series of Big Showdowns affected by shifting destinies

 

The standard conventional pulp fiction appears ( though I might be wrong) to be slowly diverging away from the conventional fantasty formulas .Then again , everything here might all just be wishful thinking. ;D

[Davian93]

Heh!  If you want to see a story that seriously rips off another book, look at Eregon vs. Star Wars!  Kinda spooky.  I still liked Eregon though, it dosn't have to be 100% original to make me happy, I love new twists on old stories!

 

Considering the Eragon books were written by a home-schooled 15 year old who freely admits that Star Wars is one of his favorite movies/trilogy of movies it is just a tad annoying.  Personally I thought the books sucked horribly and I could pull a better fantasy novel out of my 4th point of contact but hey what can you do?  People still buy them and rave about how "creative" he is. Also, the only reason he even got published was because his family has friends in high places at a publishing house.  Oh and the movie sucked too.

 

[HighWiredSith]

Going back to influences - I can't help but feel that Dune has a much more direct influence on WOT than does Lord of the Rings.  The Tolkien influence seems general at best, the language is similar, as are the names and the general elements of the fantasy hero quest.  But if you dare to do one to one comparisons, you can get a lot more out of comparing Herbert.  I can't help but feel that the Aes Sedai were at least partially influenced by Herbert's Bene Gesseret and that Rand is very similar to Paul Atredies.  Herbert's Fremen water culture is certainly present in the way the Aiel are presented. 

[Andraste]

Oh, the Dune influence is highly present too. I was just mentioning that EotW is very comparable to the LotR trilogy. Get down too it, there are many differences. Fact of the matter is, Tolkien wrote dozens of other books of history for his world. And JR took his on to the next level of creativity continuing.

 

I, myself, would love to see another radical change in the fantasty/sci-fi genre. But I do not believe such ever really occurs.  Another man [maybe woman] just becomes great and suddenly the "father of", etc.

[Egerog]

anyone just starting to read The Wheel of Time series and is put off by the superficial similarities to The Lord of the Rings. I encourage you to try to read on you will get over it soon and relish in the play an twists that this book has brought on old themes. 

The author has created an original world with original chareters and original plots. I think any superficial similarities are set there as a literary device to show us what they are different from, they might not be homages to the sources but mockery.  The world he set up in the 3rd age put women on the top of the power structure which has even reached remote places like the two rivers and the aiel waists. One of the themes in the book is mistrust and division between people intending good.  The author set it up on the lines of the most basic division in humanity, gender, and flips it from most typical fantasy genera and the medieval era they often resemble. People draw parallels between Moirayne Gandalf in LOTR but gandalf is honest and always in comand and adored by the heroes, People almost alway don't want to do what Moirayne wants. Even Lan is insubordinant to her at times.  Moirayne manipulates events an people to get them to do what she wants, often deceiving them but without lies. I don't think the heroes appriciate what Moirayne has done till book five.  The cosmology of the world is interesting and unique.  Time is divided into ages like in LOTR but that is where the similarity ends.  Middle Earth (Arda) was created at a beginning point in time while The Wheel of Time the ages keep repeating over and over (Tarmon Gai den is not the end to the world but the end of an age) i can go on and on ...

[Davian93]

I can't help but feel that the Aes Sedai were at least partially influenced by Herbert's Bene Gesseret and that Rand is very similar to Paul Atredies.  Herbert's Fremen water culture is certainly present in the way the Aiel are presented. 

 

You wouldn't be the first person to notice that similarity.  Although I will admit that RJ has borrowed ideas from others, he has definitely made them original with his placement within his universe.

[Samuraiflip05]

In all truth it really shouldn't matter if stories are similar, so long as there are substantial differences.  As long as the book doesn't read out where you can't figure if you are reading one or the other then let go of the other book and enjoy the story you are reading.  There are very few truly original ideas in fiction anymore.  The key is to make an old standard new and fresh so it appears original to some degree.

[Andraste]

In all truth it really shouldn't matter if stories are similar, so long as there are substantial differences.  As long as the book doesn't read out where you can't figure if you are reading one or the other then let go of the other book and enjoy the story you are reading.  There are very few truly original ideas in fiction anymore.  The key is to make an old standard new and fresh so it appears original to some degree.

 

Obviously, in this recent page and half since the first, my reason for introducing this topic was misunderstood.

Yes, I have read more than EotW in the WoT series. And more than once. As I would encourage anyone else to do. I was just mentioning some similarities in the first book with LotR and, true, left it open for debate; but it is obvious that most people would agree though try to deny that vehemently and go on to say that RJ's world is far different or more similar to Herbert. Both would I agree with, but I was only referring to the first book.

And as it is put by Samuraiflip05 above, "It really shouldn't matter". And it doesn't. But the comparision is always interesting in great works.