Eragon - WoT total rip-off

[Rasheta Ardashir]

I think it's kinda sad that everyone is all angry about how someone ripped off other books. The books were VERY well written for a 15 year old and the movie as a movie was awsome let's just leave it at that :) That's just my view on it though.

[maeve]

Let's not say rip off - he was heavily influenced by Anne McCaffrey and she actually gives him a great review. I don't see any resemblence to WOT, except in a very generic way. If Anne can be magnanimous(sp???) then who are we to critise a young man's first book.

[baalzamon]

Im Sry for all the earagon lovers out there but i just need to vent. eragon is a formula fantasy. that is all! i could find a hundred identicle books by stoping by the borders fantasy section and picking up random books. when my little brother told me i needed to read it i told him i already had. Having known only that it was about a dragon rider i amazed him by discribing the entire book and world. the movie was no better. the reading level is harry potter at best and the plot is totally sterotypical. i am a hardcore LotR and WoT fantasy reader and it sickens me when a hack kid can get instant fame as a child prodigy when he vommits up a story i played on the play ground in 1st grade when we weren't in a power rangers mood. if anne mcaffery approves of him then my respect for her lowers (not that it was very high, she is a talented childrens author but most people should move on by high school). there thats better.

[O.o Jack K5 o.O]

any 15yr old with the patience to write an entire novel could be called a prodigy. maturety level is almost non-existant at that age, but im sort of interested in what he may write in 20 years, or 30. he may turn out to be really good, but a 15 yr old really doesnt have much to say seeing as how they havent really thought for themselves for very long if at all.

 

note: personally i dont think most people actually think for themselves. they just let somone whom they believe to be more inteligent than they tell them the answers. its the reason the world is going to end soon. you see the universe expands not by the force of dark matter or dark energy, but by mind energy. mind energy is created by thinking thoughts. eventually not enough thoughts will be thought each day, and the universe will emplode.

[bearit]

I find Eragon to be a complete ripoff of Star Wars, LOTR, and WOT, in one single book.  Christopher Paolini is making money off of other peoples ideas, all mashed up.  You could argue that dragon riders are not in any of those, but they were a huge part of Dragonriders of Pern, which leads to all of the smaller ideas he ripped off from other books. 

[Guest leebarr]

I do not see the rip off where did you come up with that

[bearit]

Here are all of the ripoff's I found leebarr

Star Wars: Young Farmer (Eragon, Luke) lives with Uncle, the Empire as it is commonly reffered to comes and kills his remaining family, and the young farmer becomes the first new member of an ancient organization that died out recently when some of it's own members turned evil and overthrew them.  The farmer sets off on a journey with a former member of the organization who has been in hiding for several years to watch over the boy.  They are trying to find the rebels and after the old member of the organization dies, primarily defending the young boy, the boy reaches the rebels and they fight the empire in a massive battle in which the rebels win, and the farmer performs a seemingly impossible task (killing a shade, shooting lasers in through a small hole). Part 2 involves the young farmer going to recieve higher training from a member of the ancient order that is even more powerful then the member he travelled with in the first book, the stronger member also trained the member the farmer travelled with in the first part.  That plot could fit to both Star Wars 4 and 5, and Eragon and Eldest.

 

LOTR:Overall Fantasy landscape, Epic Quest.  Here are some names from a anti-Eragon site, check it out if your anti-Eragon http://wings-immortal.net/aryas-eyebrows/'>http://wings-immortal.net/aryas-eyebrows/

-Eragon (Aragorn)

-Arya (Arwen)

-Elessari (Elessar)

-Valinor (Valinor)

-Beor (Beorn)

-The Lonely Mountain (The Lonely Mountain)

-Melian (Melian)

-Morgothal (Morgoth)

-Isenstar (Isengard)

-Imiladris (Imladris)

-Hadarac Desert (Harad Desert)

-Mithrim (mithril)

-Eridor (Eriador)

-Angrenost (Angrenost)

-Furnost (Fornost)

-The Grey Folk (The Grey Folk)

-The concept that Elves are very beautiful, tall, and have hyper-keen senses, and extraordinary voices

-The idea that Elves are closely linked with nature; houses in trees

-The details of the Dwarfish religion

-The idea that Dwarves and Elves feud

-The concept that Elves came from “over the sea”

-The concept of Elvish immortality, except in cases of heart break and mortal wounds

-The concept of Elf-Human relationships (and the length to which one must go to achieve it)

-The concept that Dwarves are a rough, gruff, rock-loving race with great skill in gem and stone crafting

-The concept that elves do not sleep, but merely dream

-The God-blessèd map that is practically a replica

-Love interest between Man (Eragon/Aragorn) and Elf (Arya/Arwen) and the great lengths required to fulfil it

 

WOT:(Also from Anti-Eragon site http://wings-immortal.net/aryas-eyebrows/)

-Both have old men who seem at first to be old storytellers(Brom/Thom), but then turn out to amazingly important in the history of the story and help and tutor the main character as they travel together.

-Both have dark, scary bad guys (Ra'zac/Myrddraal) who always wear black capes and are difficult to kill.*

-In Wheel of Time another name for Myrddraal is Shade, when at war each Shade/Myrddraal is placed in charge of a few hundred Urgals/Trollocs and if the Shade/Myrddraal is killed the Urgals/Trollocs are much easier to kill. The Shades/Myrddraal are the biggest, most frightening characters.*

-Both have flying beasts that kill people (Lethrblaka/Draghkar)

-Both feature big grunting killing machines with horns, who wander in tribes tribes when not under someone's command and kill people (Urgals/Trollocs).

 

*the Ra'zac seem to have received the description of the Myrddraal, but the Shades-Main character (Eragon/Rand) was not raised by his own father, and wants to know about his real parents, but as soon as he finds out he decides that the man who raised him is really the one he wants to consider his father.

-Main character (Eragon/Rand) leaves his remote village where everybody knows everybody and nobody really knows where he went or what he is destined to become.

-Main character's mentor who originally took him from the village (Brom/Moiraine) dies just as he was beginning to trust him/her.

-Main character carries a larger than average bow that is common in remote village. People from everywhere else are amazed at how big it is and how strong he must be to wield it.

-Main character learns how to use a sword in a very short amount of time and is soon one of the best swordsmen in the world.

-Seventeen-year-old girl (Nasuada/Egwene) gets placed in a high position (Leader of Varden/Amyrlin) by a council trying to use her as a puppet, but character of high position (Eragon/Gareth Bryne) helps her out by swearing fealty to her, not to the council or cause. With this edge she is able to take control of the council and they grudgingly begin to respect her.

-Supporting male character, Roran/Perrin, the MC's childhood friend that he grew up with, saves his village from bad guys and becomes their leader, totally changing the way those people live.

-Supporting male character (see above) loses his house and family because of the main character.

-Supporting male character's girl (Katrina/Faile) gets kidnapped and carried off. He (Roran/Perrin) gets an obsessive I'll-kill-anything-that-gets-between-me-and-her personality. He drags lots of his devoted villagers after him in an attempt to rescue her. He has to travel in pursuit for weeks before he even knows for sure if she is alive.

-Supporting male character gives up his main weapon in favor of a blacksmith's hammer.  have the same name and the same personality

-In both, Magic can be contained in objects to be used later.

-The Dragon/Rider bond is kind of like the Aes Sedai/Warder bond. They can give each other strength, they can sense each other's emotions, and if one dies something drastic happens to the other one

-The term "dancing through the forms" is used to describe sword fighting.

-Main guy finds out that he is related to some one else (Murtagh/Galad) through his mother, who was amazingly beautiful, who disappeared, and who no one knew much about.

-Elves/Ogier can "sing" objects from wood.

Sorry it got a little long, but there is a lot of stealing going on.