Ogier and Ents

[RAND AL THOR]

One more thing. A book may open in a thousand different ways. There are many many ways to begin a book and capture the reader. Mimicking a popular book's intro for that particular reason is a very weak excuse and I DO NOT think that this was RJ's motive.

[Guest The Thin Inn Keeper]

One more thing. A book may open in a thousand different ways. There are many many ways to begin a book and capture the reader. Mimicking a popular book's intro for that particular reason is a very weak excuse and I DO NOT think that this was RJ's motive.

I agree entirely, I personally didn't really feel the need for it.

 

As for the "comfort" thing, I'm almost certain that he has been quoted. I don't have the link though.

 

If it was done as a way to show respect, well, I also feel that that's a pretty odd thing to do in the first pages of the first volume of your life's work... but hey.

[Llewin]

I dont remember ever reading that RJ said he wanted to make the first book 'more comfortable'...regarding his Tolkien-esque beginnings...

I'm under the impression that he was quite clearly quoted in a Q&A session, I'm sure someone here has it.

I'd like that Q&A session link if anyone has it :)

That said, the great majority of Tolkien's inspiration was the legendary stories of old English, almost all of his character types, creatures, and races have their foundations in the mythology of northern European antiquity...

I'd say that old English is one source. He picked and chose from all over the world. The problem is that the reader immediately recognises familiar stories, and misses  those that are not familiar with.

Agreed... Though I would say that Anglo-Saxon/germanic mythology was his primary focus...

Ok so Ogier and Ents... some similarity? Yep... Other similarities?

I'm confused. How is an Ogier similar to an Ent? Surely an Ent is similar to the Greenman?

I dont agree that Ogier and Ents are *simliar* but that they have *some* similarities, just as Ogier and  elves have similarities and the Aelfinn and Eelfinn have similarities with the Fey creatures as well... when these things get mixed up, jumbled together, and confused over millenia of re-tellings we are left with stories of magical tree people and Fey instead of giant big-nosed bushy aliens from another universe and wierd foxy/snakey aliens from another universe...

 

Trolloc = Troll

Trolloc tribal names:

Ahf'frait = Afrit

Al'ghol = Ghoul

...

etc.

etc.

Those are some of the most obvious....

 

That list and more are listed somewhere in here:

http://www.darkfriends.net/wheel/

 

There's also a long article on mythological elements in the WOT.

That is a useful link, thanks :)

[CUBAREY]

RJ wished to make the reader comfortable." From my point of view, this really seems to be a very weak point.  I can accept such a statement if it were made by a poor author but I fail to see why a distinguished author like RJ would say such a thing

 

First, at the time he wrote The Eye Of The World Rj could have been described as a journeymen writer ( he had wriiten several of the Conan novels and a few other novels, but had not attained real critical or popular acclaim).

 

Second, A great or very good author can pull-off the trick of incorporating elements from a well known work without being seen as an unoriginal hack. A poor author who attempts the trick will be seen as a hack. Thus the fact that RJ used the device (succesfully) only goes to show that he was correct in both using the device and believing himself a good enough author to to it well.

[Mr Ares]

Are any of your characters or cultures designed to pay specific homage to any particular work or author?

 

No. In the first chapters of The Eye of the World, I tried for a Tolkienesque feel without trying to copy Tolkien’s style, but that was by was of saying to the reader, okay, this is familiar, this is something you recognise, now let’s go where you haven’t been before…I must admit that I occasionally drop in a reference…

 

-Glimmers Interview, July 2002

[RAND AL THOR]

I must say that RJ's actual words express his view in a completely different manner. People's interpretations have misled me. Thanks, Ares, for that quote. It clears up a lot.