why no gnomes?

[Turjan]

You need to go a lot further back than J.R.R.T. to get an original thought on the subject. He didn't exactly invent the house, he -just- (*chuckle*) made it more accesible to folks who couldn't read the older languages .

I just read a comment by the Grimm Brothers in their translation of Irish Fairy Tales from 1825, where they grudgingly used the term "elves" for those little critters, because the use of this word had become incredibly fancy in the literature of the 1700's .

 

[Hypersmurf]

Hypersmurf, you have made my night.

I'd heard that Sword of Shanarra was a shameless LotR ripoff, but until reading your posts, I didn't know just how bad it was.

Have you not read a word I've posted?

I suppose you'll try and tell me that the powerful-yet-somehow-oddly-irrelevant King of the Silver River is just a Tom Bombadil analogue.

Bah, I say.

(And if I could find my damned copy, I'd give you some proper counter-examples! I've got Elfstones and Wishsong, but I can't find Sword!)

-Hyp.

 

[Dark Jezter]

I guess I wasn't paying attention, Hypersmurf.

BTW, has anybody here read The Iron Tower Trilogy by Dennis L. McKiernan? I've heard that it emulates LotR so closely that it's almost plagurism.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I guess I wasn't paying attention, Hypersmurf.

Hmmph. Don't know why I bother sometimes.

-Hyp.

 

[hong]

Hmmph. Don't know why I bother sometimes.

-Hyp.

Stop being an idiot, Hyp. I know for a fact that it's Tolkien who ripped off Terry Brooks, not the other way around. This is because I read the Shannara books before I got to the Lord of the Rings. Please check your facts before posting nonsense to Web newsgroups.


Hong "as I always do" Ooi

 

[Hypersmurf]

This is because I read the Shannara books before I got to the Lord of the Rings.

I've seen people complaining that Sword of Shannara is ripping off Wheel of Time

-Hyp.

 

[Klaus]

In the LotR RPG monster book (Fell Beasts and Prodigious Magic, iirc), there are entries for vampires and werewolves. Since all creatures are accompanied by a text excerpt from a JRRT book, I suppose he included them in Middle-Earth.

Vampires are evil spirits that could possess a body, akin to a ghost's malevolence ability.

Werewolves were big, friggin' huge wargs that could assume the shape of men (no hybrid form, though, in spite of the book's illustration).

 

[Buttercup]

But why all the focus on just Sword? Couldn't one argue that Elfstones (which is actually a half-decent novel) is just a rip-off of the siege of Gondor? Right down to the younger son sub-plot, and the unexpected aid from a traditionally 'evil' source?

If one wanted to argue that, one would actually have to read Elfstones. And that's way too much dreck before breakfast.

 

[Gallo22]

Sword of Shannara may be a clone of Rings, but Terry Brooks' other books are great and I've loved everyone of them. If your not reading him just because of the first book, your missing out on some good fantasy. They have all been on the best selling list for a reason. "Scions" is fantastic and his latest trilogy is even better.

This may be fighting words, but I prefer Brooks to JRRT.

Gallo22

 

[dcas]

In the LotR RPG monster book (Fell Beasts and Prodigious Magic, iirc), there are entries for vampires and werewolves. Since all creatures are accompanied by a text excerpt from a JRRT book, I suppose he included them in Middle-Earth.

Vampires are evil spirits that could possess a body, akin to a ghost's malevolence ability.

Werewolves were big, friggin' huge wargs that could assume the shape of men (no hybrid form, though, in spite of the book's illustration).

Both are mentioned in The Silmarillion. Sauron took the form of a werewolf when he battled Huan, the Hound of Valinor, and took the form of a vampire after he was defeated.

Gnomes are in Tolkien's writings, if you look hard enough. They're called Petty-dwarves and they died out during the First Age.