I'm Upset Because I Found Out The Forsaken Are Blatant Rip of Cook's 'The Taken'

[nophone]

Asmodeus and Samael. Sound familiar

They are the demons from the bible, RJ borrowed heaps but he made it better

Neither of those demons are in the Bible but are only spoken of in apocryphal texts. RJ could have gotten the Forsaken names from those, but I doubt it. Samael/Samuel/Sammuel aren't exactly the most uncommon names by the way. And although it is possible I doubt that RJ ever read the book of Tobit or any of the other texts those demons are included in.

 

Actually, I beg to differ. It would make perfect sense for him to have borrowed such things. The basic premise is that their stories are our legends, and our stories are theirs. Be'lal, Rahvin and perhaps even Ishamael are other examples of Forsaken having borrowed names. I'm pretty sure a few more fit as well.

 

 

Yeah, I think he took some from Beo Wolf. I never read it, or saw the movie for that matter, but I heard people discussing characters and remember thinking "oh that was ripped off from TWoT" lol... now i know better... I think it was Grendal that comes to mind. Ishy is def from religious background. "Judaism has generally viewed Ishmael as wicked though repentant" - wikipedia.

[Talmanes]

Off the top of my head lets compare: Star Wars has the force/ WOT has the one power/true power

WOT has Aes Sedie/Asha'man/Star Wars has jedi. LOTR has orgs/ WOT has trollacs. I would venture to guess that I could go on for some time looking for "likeness" in some of the most popular  scifi/fantasy  series of our time.

OK the force is used through metaclorins(I know its spelled wrong) in the blood of the jedi. The one power is channeled through people from the true source. Completely different. Aes Sedai and Asha'man are also completely different the jedi. Aes Sedai are only women, do no harm, etc. Asha'man are only men, are only used as warriors, etc. Orcs are not even close to Trollocs at all. They are both evil and not human that's it.

[nophone]

Off the top of my head lets compare: Star Wars has the force/ WOT has the one power/true power

WOT has Aes Sedie/Asha'man/Star Wars has jedi. LOTR has orgs/ WOT has trollacs. I would venture to guess that I could go on for some time looking for "likeness" in some of the most popular  scifi/fantasy  series of our time.

OK the force is used through metaclorins(I know its spelled wrong) in the blood of the jedi. The one power is channeled through people from the true source. Completely different. Aes Sedai and Asha'man are also completely different the jedi. Aes Sedai are only women, do no harm, etc. Asha'man are only men, are only used as warriors, etc. Orcs are not even close to Trollocs at all. They are both evil and not human that's it.

 

Aes Sedai used to refer to both men and women w ho channeled the OP. Did you know that "The Force" is recognized legally as a religion in Australia?

[Taura-Tierno]

OK the force is used through metaclorins(I know its spelled wrong) in the blood of the jedi. The one power is channeled through people from the true source. Completely different. Aes Sedai and Asha'man are also completely different the jedi. Aes Sedai are only women, do no harm, etc. Asha'man are only men, are only used as warriors, etc. Orcs are not even close to Trollocs at all. They are both evil and not human that's it.

 

Orcs in LotR were created from elves - trollocs were created from crossbreeding humans and animals, right? Neither are natural, both are a result from evil experiments, etc.

 

Nazgûl wear black cloaks and have poisonous blades, just like Myrddraals.

 

The One Power and the Force are similar in name, if not in any other way. The Power ... The Force ...

 

Anyway. Evil, monstrous minions are frequent in fantasy literature, as superevil guys in black cloaks. Similarities and "rip-offs" can be found when comparing lots of fantasy works, if you try to find the similarities. Doesn't mean that it's a real rip-off.

 

In Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy, one of the magics is described as addictive, and you're in extacy when you use it. That part of it is very, very similar to the One Power, which is addictive and is supposed to be wonderful to wield. Doesn't mean that Hobb's ripped off that part of the One Power. I'm sure there are other series that have magics that are addictive.

[Impressive Bosom]

I read Glen Cook's The Black Company books around 88 or 89 and had forgotten how fantastic they were...I came back across them the other day.

 

My jaw dropped reading about ''The Ten Who Were Taken'' ... The Taken.

 

I love Mr Jordan and WOT (and admire and appreciate what Brandon Sanderson did with The Gathtering Storm) and all its brilliance and always will and can't wait for Towers of Midnight and I understand that all fantasy borrows from each other...Dark Lords/Rings/Magic/Farmboy Heroes/Swords/Quests etc...but this is just WAY too similar. I mean WAY too similar.

 

It makes the similarity to Dune look like nonsense.

 

It makes Goodkinds series look stunningly original.

 

WAY too similar for comfort.

 

JMO

 

 

Fish

 

Consider this. There is a well-known cultural anthropoloist named Joseph Campbell (The Golden Bough, Hero of a Thousand Faces) who has often made the point that legends and folklore are often eerily similar between peoples who have been seperated by oceans, continents and centuries... peoples who would never have had any contact with one another. There are, for example, literally hundreds of examples of the cinderella story and none of them were 'ripped off' from each other.

 

The concept is that there are certain images, certain concepts - sometimes very specific ones - that resonate within all people, and as such the stories that arise will often be similar because the human condition is universal even as it is ever-changing. A great deal of fiction (fantasy, sci-fi or otherwise) oftentimes seems derivative due to a mixture of some authors serving as inspirations to others... but more often than that, it is because there are certain universal themes in the stories that resonate throughout all of mythology because it resonates throughout all of us.

 

In my opinion, RJ has accomplished something borderline miraculous in how unique, how original and how comprehensive his vision has been, even if the themes are the same as have been told over aborriginal campfires and druidic circles since the dawn of man. I can assure you that there are a great many versions of 'The Chosen/The Taken' that long predate either (Ring Wraiths, anyone?), but that certainly doesn't mean that either were 'ripped off' from someone else. In a sense these concepts don't belong to any one storyteller, and they will be used again and again in the future just as they have been in the past.