Dragonlance based on Mormonism?!?

[Krieg]

Krieg; yes I do, as a matter of fact. Just renewed it a month or two ago in time for my brother's wedding, as it had just expired.

Thanks Josh.

Dragonlance, at its core, is very heavily christian, and as a subset, leans pretty LDS in theology.

Only reason i care? Dragonlance is responsible for making me a devout and pretty orthodox Hindu, so i've spent a lot of time thinking about and analysing the religious aspect of DL. maybe too much time =)

I know it wouldn't be apropriate for the board, but there is a very interesting story lurking in there somewhere.

 

[talinthas]

well, i started hindu, and had some rough times, and then read a lot of DL, and felt better.

It certainly impressed James Wyatt when we spoke about it =) You're right though, it is kinda interesting, and certainly not for these boards, but definatly why i'm a DL fan to the core =)

 

[Dimwhit]

Wow, didn't know there were so many Mormons hanging around here (myself included).

I never saw any strong Mormon doctrine in Dragonlance, so I wouldn't doubt there is influence there.

Of course, there are Mormons out there who think Star Wars is totally based in Mormonism. And that Steve Martin is Mormon. And...never mind.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Of course, there are Mormons out there who think Star Wars is totally based in Mormonism. And that Steve Martin is Mormon. And...never mind.

Every few years, rumors begin circulating among Mormons that a famous celebrity has converted to mormonism. I remember that for a while, there was a rumor going around that Harrison Ford converted (it was false, of course).

A few famous Mormons out there who really are Mormons include Don Bluth, Steve Young, Ken Jennings (the all-time Jeopardy champion), Gladys Knight, Sandy Peterson (game designer who wrote the original Call of Cthulhu RPG back in the early 1980s, and also helped design the classic PC game Doom), the late J. Willard Marriot (who founded the Marriot hotel chain), Orson Scott Card, and, of course, Tracy Hickman.

Additionally, Eliza Dushku and Matthew Modine were both raised Mormon, but are not currently active.

 

[qstor]

Other than Tanis wanting Laurana and Kitiara, I really don't see it either.

That's probably cause the guy can't make up this mind Not that he wants more than one wife...

Mike

 

[MormonYoYoMan]

That's probably cause the guy can't make up this mind Not that he wants more than one wife...

Mike

As if any husband, LDS or otherwise, would want more than one woman to tell him to pick up after himself!

(Old thread, but it's OK since this is an old joke.)

 

[Umbran]

There are various levels of this sort of thing. Narnia is Christian allegory. This is pretty easy to spot, as one thing in the story represents something else; Edmund=Judas. The reason Tolkien would reject this for Lord of the Rings is because there are none of these correspondences.

Yes, but then Tolkien was a linguist, and would be careful about his word choice.

The Lord of the Rings proper is not Christian/Catholic allegory, for the reasons you state - there aren't too many elements in the trilogy that are direct analogs to what is found in common Christian mythology.

The Silmarillion, however, is (thinly veiled) Christian/Catholic allegory, and if it had been published in his lifetime, Tolkien would have a hard time denying it.

That means that LotR isn't allegory, but is instead a story set in a world that runs on Christian metaphysics.

 

[MechaPilot]

I've been told by a number of folks raised in the Mormon tradition that the South Park episode is actually pretty accurate, for all it's slanted reporting.

Despite my uncle having converted to the Mormon faith, I have to admit that the bulk of my knowledge about Mormonism comes from that South Park episode, couple of programs on the History channel about Brigham Young and the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and the posthumous baptism of jews. I have to admit that the skeptic in me has some of the same problems with the Joseph Smith story that the episode raises, but that's hardly unique to Mormonism; each religion has its own aspects that when looked at skeptically doesn't smell right.

 

[MormonYoYoMan]

Tolkien did attempt to avoid allegories, for he felt allegories are too easily misinterpreted. He did write the following:

"T[HI]he Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work,[/HI]" he wrote, "[HI]unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like "religion", to cults or practices, in the Imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism[/HI]" (Letter 142).

Despite his intent, it remains for the reader to accept or reject the "behind the curtain" reality of Middle Earth and its stories.

 

[Staffan]

As if any husband, LDS or otherwise, would want more than one woman to tell him to pick up after himself!

(Old thread, but it's OK since this is an old joke.)

That is some impressive thread necromancy.

As for the original topic of the thread: there's a difference between "influenced by" and "based on." It's fair to say that both Dragonlance and Battlestar Galactica falls in the first category.