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Author Topic: Eragon  (Read 21650 times)

Reaves

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #60 on: January 11, 2009, 03:10:31 AM »
Tolkien wanted to do something about the absence of a real English "myth", discounting Arthur and the Knights. He wanted to create a world that could have existed in the far past, so long ago that nobody remembers it anymore.

That is why the ocean is on the left, why the Shire is placed where it is, and other geographical features. Harad is most likely supposed to represent Africa. (I believe Tolkien both confirmed and denied that, actually)
He even had his own Atlantis-type legend: Numenor, buried beneath the sea when the Numenoreans tried to overthrow the gods.

However saying Tolkien stole the Middle-Earth map seems slightly ridiculous. Despite the above evidence, Middle-Earth really doesn't look all that much like the Europe-Africa region, except for the glaring left coastline. And really, that was his purpose: to create a world that was similar to our own.

I personally don't care that Paolini used a map very similar to Tolkien's own; I do think it would not have been too much work to come up with something original, but hey, idk.
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mtlhddoc2

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #61 on: January 11, 2009, 07:05:10 AM »
the map Tolkien used was not the Euro-African map, but a partial-pangea map, essentially, what scientists have long believed the ancient past super-continent to be, and also what they believe it will become again. The "old-world" lanterns in LotR are nothing more than flashlights. And there were other "throwbacks" to our "modern" times as well. The Simarillion showed more of these than the Hobbit and trilogy did. (If I remember it correctly, it has been 25 years or so since I read the books).
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The Jade Knight

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #62 on: January 11, 2009, 09:07:12 AM »
As a self-styled "minor Tolkien guru", I am somewhat skeptical.  Certainly, of course, it is expected that certain "modernisms" will have entered into Tolkien's works, as he was not a professor of History, but I do not think there were an unduly large number of these.
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mtlhddoc2

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #63 on: January 11, 2009, 02:36:28 PM »
LOL, you dont have to be a professor of history to know that there were no flashlights thousands of yeas ago lol
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little wilson

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #64 on: January 11, 2009, 08:18:31 PM »
The thing is, Tolkien modified the map of the real world. If Paolini really wanted to use that map, he could've modified it so it wasn't so blatantly obvious where he got it.
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Re: Eragon
« Reply #65 on: January 12, 2009, 12:17:22 AM »
I hate seeing Paolini's name in the same sentence as like King and Pierce and Pullman. I saw this link for an interview with Paolini Pierce and Pullman and it said 'Paolini, Pierce and Pullman talk fantasy' I hate that.

Sometimes I wonder if when Paolini started writing the books, did he expect to get them published? 'Cause if he  didn't, then he probably wouldn't have bothered to make his own map in the first place….
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little wilson

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #66 on: January 12, 2009, 01:02:29 AM »
Even if he wasn't going for publication when he started it, you'd think that when he aimed to get it published, he would've changed the map a bit from where-ever he extracted it.
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Shaggy

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #67 on: January 12, 2009, 01:23:24 AM »
True. He's probably just too lazy  ;D. And I would have thought his editor(s) would have mentioned something about it, too….
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The Jade Knight

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #68 on: January 12, 2009, 03:23:22 AM »
Paolini was initially published by his parents.  That ought to tell you something.

And there are no flashlights in the Lord of the Rings, mtlhddoc.  Stop being so silly.
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Shaggy

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #69 on: January 12, 2009, 03:24:51 AM »
Good point about Paolini, Knight. (He saved a lot of money doing that, though.)
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The Jade Knight

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #70 on: January 12, 2009, 03:29:03 AM »
The funny thing about your response is that you're implying that the only other way he could have gotten published would have been through a vanity publisher.  I love it!
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Shaggy

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #71 on: January 12, 2009, 03:31:04 AM »
Me? I am? What's a vanity publisher? A publisher who's vain??
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The Jade Knight

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #72 on: January 12, 2009, 03:34:30 AM »
A vanity publisher is a publisher that you have to pay to get your book published with.  They are different from most publishers which pay you to publish your works.
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Shaggy

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #73 on: January 12, 2009, 03:36:01 AM »
Oh, yeah, that's what I was talking about. I just didn't know they were called vanity publishers. Thanks.
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mtlhddoc2

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Re: Eragon
« Reply #74 on: January 12, 2009, 03:51:08 AM »
Quote from: The Roasting Chestknight on January 12, 2009, 03:23:22 AM

And there are no flashlights in the Lord of the Rings, mtlhddoc.  Stop being so silly.

As I stated previously, he didnt call them "flashlights" - he called them "old world lanterns" - the Hobbit is chock full of them.
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