I never said he wasn't a good writer and that the stories weren't engaging. And he created the first mainstream, persistent fantasy world in English literature (I say "mainstream", because as mentioned, people like Lovecraft had done it before). But the fact remains that once you get over the fact that he was first, Middle Earth isn't really a very unique concept.

I just get tired of seeing Tolkien's world hoisted up on a pedestal.

It used to annoy Gary Gygax also since a lot of D&D came from other sources like Gordon R. dikeson, Fritz Leiber and L. Sprague de Camp IIRC

Can't believe i have to write this again.

Tolkien was inspired by the anglo-saxons when he was creating the people and cities of Rohan. The Anglo-saxons were a group of people in the north or scandinavian part of europe. That's why the helmets looks so alike.. Search for "Anglo-Saxon Helmet" You'll find a helmet that's nearly identical to Theodons helmet.

He was incredibly inspired by his own life aswell, the different languages aswell is very inspired by old languages aswell.
I even think he had a professor degree in the Anglo-Saxons... The first thing he did with his LOTR world was to create languages, and i think he said the elvish was very inspired by old welsh

Tolkien was inspired by history, so is Skyrim...

Sorry, I just don't see how this game could be classified as "Tolkien inspired". There might be some similarities, but they're way too damn general to pin it on LOTR. It would be like saying Star Wars was inspired by LOTR because it has good vs. evil, sword fights, and a level of mysticism. All fantasy games have similaries, but that doesn't mean they are borrowing ideas from each other. So much of Skyrim is vastly different from anything LOTR.

For the most fun history lesson on the Anglo-Saxons:
http://www.myspace.com/themountaingoats/music/songs/the-anglo-saxons-39821577

LOTR is awesome, can't wait for The Hobbit, if there's one coming. <-- i whould also like to see a movie about the Harad people, like where do they go? they don't dissapear like the orcs, because the Harad people are humans.

Just so you know, The Hobbit is coming out on movie, and it's divided into 2 parts :thumbsup:

The first part is schedueld (poorly spelled, i kno) late 2012 i think, and the second part in 2013... Not any spesific release date though.

Good vs evil is inspired on Zoroastrianism.

I have seen so many threads on this...
but yea it is and there are some people making a Skyrim LOTR mod, same goes for Game of Thrones, But take a step back and realize that Tolkien is the basis for ALL of modern day fantasy settings, so it isn't anything special.
In fact Beth actually has broken out of some of them, e.g Dragons are wyverns, Dwarfs are... not short, but they have held onto a large majority

He's one influence. Howard and Lovecraft were writing at the same time as Tolkien.

"Took inspiration"?! He practically copied the entire mythology! Okay there is no Yiggdrsil or Wyrd. But every creature came from their mythology. Dragons, Elves, Dwarves ect I am sure others have said all this, but the reason why it feels like Tolkins world, it has a very Old Norse feel to it because the Nords are based on them. So its two stings of their mythology being brought together by coincidence. Even the art work is Norse and most of the "Nord" based items like sheilds will have a heavy Norse influence, houses, religion and much more. You can see the influence, my avatar is an Old Norse carving. I would certainly not say Tolkin has influenced all fanstasy that is being created but it certainly started it and we would not have the genre without his works.

Hence, "took inspiration".

What I hate about these discussions is how its made to sound like the only influential fantasy writer ever is Tolkien. what the hell.

This has been the case with most of the TES games so far, inspired by the same source(s). It has a very distinguishable vibe to it though, it's very easy to tell the difference between the vast lore of TES and the lore of LoTR.

I can understand the your feelings, but LOTR has had over half a century (3/4 for the hobbit) of influence on the genre. It's kind of like how everyone remembers Edison, but we're using Tesla's AC to power our world.

I don't get Lord of the Rings at all from looking at Skyrim. Instead, it reminds me more of a Norse version of the Conan universe, albeit a wimpy Norse version of the Conan universe -- complete with far more use of high fantasy magic than that of Conan's world.

I wonder what Lovecraftian reference we will get in Skyrim, there is some in every Beth game.

The kingdom of Rohan were based on Anglo Saxon Culture ( with horses ).

The Angles and Saxons were Germanic Tribes so its easy to see where the northern Europe Influance comes from

Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy etc...

Nothing in this world is apparently original anymore, you can always find something it reminds you of.

Most of the medieval fantasy we have today are inspired on Middle Earth, and this involves The Hobbit, LOTR, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales...

:nod:

Most fantasy settings like to base their races in a very European setting for some reason, and I think it has more to do with the fact that Dark Age to Renaissance Europe is more easier to base something on. Tolkien didn't start western fantasy, he just set and popularized a mold for later interpretations.

I'll never forget being young and reading "The Hobbit" for the first time. It inspired such wonderful imagination and set the standard for every other piece of fantasy literature I would read in future years.

Right now I am reading George RR Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, and it is perhaps the greatest fantasy I have ever read. I would strongly encourage everyone to pick up the first novel, "A Game of Thrones". Serious, serious stuff.

It definitely is, unless Todd lied when he said so.

Yes much of modern high fantasy is inspired by Tolkien.

Yes it is a good thing, in my opinion.

But Elder Scrolls has lots of nice twists and editions on pure Tolkien.