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<blockquote data-quote="Jay Verkuilen" data-source="post: 7731102" data-attributes="member: 6873517"><p>Well in a way they sort of were, but the way is indirect, so I guess it depends on how you feel the influence plays out. </p><p></p><p>The idea of alfar were the inspiration for elves in JRRT, though he obviously altered them a lot. Gygax was personally inspired more by authors such as Moorcock, Leiber, Howard, Vance, de Camp and Pratt, and, especially, Poul Anderson, than JRRT---he stated this quite clearly, and having read most of the cited works, I agree. For instance, much of <em>Giants </em>is a direct lift of the first Harold Shea novel by de Camp and Pratt with elaboration. These authors had elf-like characters in various mixes appear, having drawn on the Eddas, Celtic myth, Shakespeare, and the Matters of Britain, France, and Rome themselves. Like these authors, D&D authors starting with Gygax borrowed and remixed heavily to suit their purposes, and seemed to have been pretty casual about things, unsurprising in the pre-internet days. </p><p></p><p>Evidently "blacker than pitch" and "lives underground" were from the Eddas, though:</p><p></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drow_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drow_(Dungeons_&_Dragons)</a></p><p></p><p>Gygax's net was so wide he made up monsters from packs of dinosaurs which had strange made up critters in them. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite6" alt=":cool:" title="Cool :cool:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":cool:" /> Hence the bulette, rust monster, and owlbear.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jay Verkuilen, post: 7731102, member: 6873517"] Well in a way they sort of were, but the way is indirect, so I guess it depends on how you feel the influence plays out. The idea of alfar were the inspiration for elves in JRRT, though he obviously altered them a lot. Gygax was personally inspired more by authors such as Moorcock, Leiber, Howard, Vance, de Camp and Pratt, and, especially, Poul Anderson, than JRRT---he stated this quite clearly, and having read most of the cited works, I agree. For instance, much of [I]Giants [/I]is a direct lift of the first Harold Shea novel by de Camp and Pratt with elaboration. These authors had elf-like characters in various mixes appear, having drawn on the Eddas, Celtic myth, Shakespeare, and the Matters of Britain, France, and Rome themselves. Like these authors, D&D authors starting with Gygax borrowed and remixed heavily to suit their purposes, and seemed to have been pretty casual about things, unsurprising in the pre-internet days. Evidently "blacker than pitch" and "lives underground" were from the Eddas, though: [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drow_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)[/URL] Gygax's net was so wide he made up monsters from packs of dinosaurs which had strange made up critters in them. :cool: Hence the bulette, rust monster, and owlbear. [/QUOTE]
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