The Sources of D&D

[TwinBahamut]

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the planar stuff and major demons and devils all came from Milton's Paradise Lost. At the very least, Demogorgon and Orcus are mentioned there, though of course, every demon in there comes from older, if often more obscure, sources.

However, I am certain that the D&D Limbo, defined by its wildly chaotic mix of all four elements, must have been copied directly from Paradise Lost with only a name change, since the realm of Chaos is described in the exact same way in that work.

 

[DreadArchon]

Yes! Remember, the idea of a thieves' guild was originally a joke -- 'In Lankhmar, even the thieves have a guild.'

[sarcasm]...Organized crime originates in a joke from the mid-1900's? Hmmm, learn something new every day. Darn that Fritz Leiber, inventing such horrible things![/sarcasm]

 

[Thurbane]

It may be noteworthy that the Rakshasa and it's DR 15/Good and piercing stems back to 1E, where it neede a blessed crossbow bolt to kill it. This in turn stems from and episode of Kolchack, Nightstalker.

 

[Faraer]

[sarcasm]...Organized crime originates in a joke from the mid-1900's? Hmmm, learn something new every day. Darn that Fritz Leiber, inventing such horrible things!

Not organized crime, thieves' guilds as seen in D&D.

[/sarcasm]

Good.

 

[SuStel]

Sure, but, the OP credited goblins to Tolkein too.

Therefore surely the criterion is where Gary Gygax & co saw the inspiration, rather than necessarily where it came from originally?

I suspect that a number of those were monsters from folklore and "they're in Tolkien too, so that's good."

Rangers (by Fischer) and hobbits (by Gygax via Chainmail) are certainly straight out of Tolkien, but the others have enough mythological weight behind them that the decision to include them was obviously more than just "They're in Tolkien, so lemme add 'em."

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

If you feel like scouring the Q&A with Gygax threads, several origins are revealed.

Of the top of my head, I remember Gary saying that the original Mind Flayer was based off of a horror movie monster.

I'll look over the thread and try to find a source for that.

 

[T. Foster]

D&D's lawful-aligned werebear is clearly modeled primarily on Beorn. OD&D directly cites Tolkien for two monsters that weren't listed in the OP -- rocs (which later D&D editions separated into two different monsters -- giant eagles (from Tolkien) and rocs (from mythology)), and spectres (which are stated as including Nazgul). Chainmail also cites Tolkien for red dragons. AD&D giant spiders also seem fairly obviously to come from Tolkien.

And of course treants (which were specifically called "ents" in Chainmail and OD&D) are so obviously from Tolkien that not listing them in the OP was presumbaly just an oversight...

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Of the top of my head, I remember Gary saying that the original Mind Flayer was based off of a horror movie monster.

I would be surprised if the original inspiration wasn't as simple as "Cthulhu".

Meanwhile, along with the troll and the paladin, Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions also gave us the swanmay.

 

[Hussar]

Heh, I just read Three Billy Goats Gruff by P. C. Asbjornsen to my little one. The picture of the troll in there and the description - "eyes as big as saucers and a nose as long as a poker" fits the D&D troll to a T. I'm not saying that that's the source of D&D trolls, but, the resemblance is uncanny.

 

[Dougan Axehammer]

Treants = also Tolkein
(I don't recognize the reference to werebears though?)