I issue the greatest challenge of them all!

[Gurm]

Heh.

Eddings himself admits to being heavily influenced by Tolkien, whilst at the same time deriding some of Tolkien's sensibilities. Read "The Rivan Codex" for more information.

- Gurm

[Umfriend]

OK, now for the really really biggest, fatest, largest challenge:
Goto this thread and explain eachg association, ALL OF M!

http://forums.murc.ws/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38044

Now, that's a challenge 4 ya....
Umf

[ZokesPro]

Originally posted by Umfriend
OK, now for the really really biggest, fatest, largest challenge:
Goto this thread and explain eachg association, ALL OF M!

http://forums.murc.ws/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38044

Now, that's a challenge 4 ya....
Umf

Some of those associations are very subtle! Indeed it is the greatest challenge of all MURC, or just the Soap Box!

[SitFlyer]

Originally posted by ZokesPro
Some of those associations are very subtle! Indeed it is the greatest challenge of all MURC, or just the Soap Box!

I would definitely be very time consuming.

[Gurm]

And you had to sully my thread to add MORE fuel to the picture puzzle fire?

- Gurm

P.S. The new Robert Jordan book is out, at long last! He is now approximately 30% of the way through the series, at book 10. It has taken him 10 years to get this far. If he keeps on schedule, he MIGHT get 90% of the way through by the time he DIES.

[Guru]

Gurm I'm holding book 14 in my hand right now and it was relesed 7 years ago!

Just read the books before you start to critisise them!

[Guru]

Ups the swedish books seem to bee split in half meaning this one should actualy be # 7! Sorry!

[efty]

Just read Book 10 CoT. Gurm is somewhat right. The pace of the books is rather slow. He has not managed to tighten up a loose end from book 9.

I hope he manages to finish the series before he dies. The publisher says that there will be a prequel before releasing book 11. This is quite annoying having to wait 2-3 years for every book.

Another interesting series which I started a couple of years ago is the Dark Tower by Stephen King.

[Jessterw]

Originally posted by Gurm
P.S. The new Robert Jordan book is out, at long last! He is now approximately 30% of the way through the series, at book 10. It has taken him 10 years to get this far. If he keeps on schedule, he MIGHT get 90% of the way through by the time he DIES.

Hrm, a book a year really isn't that bad. I've never read any of them, nor have I really looked at/for them, so I have no tangible idea of how large each book is.

All this talk of derivative works is quite silly. Almost every piece of literature is a derivative of another. Sure a book's "greatness" is lessened if the contents are less than original, however that does not stop said book from being an enjoyable read. In addition, the fact that Tolkien established the modern framework for fantasy (in creatures and such), doesn't invalidate the work of an author who chooses to acknowledge that framework.

Originally posted by Umfriend
1. Composition of a party with individuals from different backgrounds
2. A clear sense of a quest (what is the objective of Pug, Rand etc)?
3. Tolkien had more than 7 gods, granted.
4. Main character disliked/was burdened by the quest

If these are meant to be indicative of Tolkien's work, then attributing them to him is largely wrong.

The use of characters from varying backgrounds has been a literary technique for some time now (centuries), as has a clear sense of a quest. Indeed most main characters (protagonist) in quest based plots (or any others for that matter) are burdened by one thing or another, either mental, physical, or social in nature.

[Guru]

And tolkien copyed some(if not most) of his work from Kalevala! A Finnish folk tale!

[Gurm]

Err...

*sigh*

Ok, let's address authors individually (again):

Jordan:

I'd LOVE to read the WoT before I comment on Jordan, but as I've said before I refuse on the grounds that he might NEVER finish it. But Julie has given me the "gist", and it's not AS derivative as most. I'll give him that. 'Course he's taking his DAMN SWEET TIME with it.

Eddings:

In addition to his own admission that everything he writes is (good or bad) influenced by Tolkien, we have...

- Horse lords that have a telepathic bond with their horses. (Riders of Rohan, anyone?)
- A dark god who used to be the light god until the other gods cast him out... (yeah this one is pretty common, but some of the other similarities to Melkor/Morgoth are pretty huge)
- A stock set of characters, many of whom are horrifying caricatures of themselves
- The hero is an underdog, doesn't want the "burden" placed upon him, but grows into it

*ahem*

Brooks:

The Lord of the Rings, by Terry Brooks:

{{{Insert complete text of "Sword of Shannara" here...}}}

- Gurm

P.S. Shall I continue?

[Guru]

I think Eddings gave his characters a lot more depht then Tolkien gave his! I have read the LOTR triology and the hobit 5 or 6 times but I still do not feel like I "know" the characters as well as I "know" Edding characters!

Also Belgarath the Sorcerer and the book about Polgara gives you a much bether "introduction" to the series then The Simalrillon!

And still Tolkiens work is not original! He borrowed mos of his writings!

[Gurm]

Guru:

Of course it does. The Silmarillion is a multi-thousand-year epic historical overview. On the other hand, the Histories of Middle Earth far surpass any other author's published work, full stop.

As for the characters - Eddings' strongest point, making him one of my favorite authors ever (up there with the late Douglas Adams and JRRT), is his ability to make his characters instantly human, instantly full of depth, and 100% identifiable-with (if that's a real term).

- Gurm

[Guru]

Originally posted by Gurm
Of course it does. The Silmarillion is a multi-thousand-year epic historical overview. On the other hand, the Histories of Middle Earth far surpass any other author's published work, full stop.

So is Eddings if you have not read them I recomend that you do, but you are right that you can not realy compare the 2!

Edit 7k years if I remember it correctly!

[Jessterw]

Originally posted by Gurm
Jordan:

I'd LOVE to read the WoT before I comment on Jordan, but as I've said before I refuse on the grounds that he might NEVER finish it. But Julie has given me the "gist", and it's not AS derivative as most. I'll give him that. 'Course he's taking his DAMN SWEET TIME with it.

As I said before, 10 years to do 10 books isn't all that bad. Just because most of us can read a book in a day or two doesn't exactly mean that taking a year to write a book is slow.

Eddings:

In addition to his own admission that everything he writes is (good or bad) influenced by Tolkien, we have...

- Horse lords that have a telepathic bond with their horses. (Riders of Rohan, anyone?)
- A dark god who used to be the light god until the other gods cast him out... (yeah this one is pretty common, but some of the other similarities to Melkor/Morgoth are pretty huge)
- A stock set of characters, many of whom are horrifying caricatures of themselves
- The hero is an underdog, doesn't want the "burden" placed upon him, but grows into it

- Native Americans came to believe that they were one with their horses. This is nothing new, just a fantasy type spin on it.
- A dark god who used to be the light god until the other gods cast him out? Replace the fist two instances of god with angel, and the last with a singular God and we now have the tale of Lucifer.
- ...
- It's rare to see a hero (in literature) that isn't the underdog or burdened by initially unwanted things. This is definately nothing new.