Quote:
Originally Posted by Conan46
Tolkien "borrowed" like crazy. Lifting half of his dwarf names from the Elder Edda, also including Gandalf and Frodo. "Mirkwood" is a name he got from William Morris. The Kalavela was borrowed from. Dwarves and Elves and Goblins were all from folklore. His elves were somewhat based upon Native Americans. His Hobbits were somewhat based upon Kentucky Hillbillies. All authors borrow from other authors. There is nothing original under the sun. The ingredients are already there, authors are just cooks remixing the ingredients.
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Tolkien was a professor who specialized in Old English and Nordic literature. He published editions of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and a translation of Beowulf. It's not exactly shocking that LOTR was heavily influenced by various classic English, German and Norse epics, legends and myths.
I'm use to the music culture where pretty much everyone borrows from each other all the time, sometimes with permission, sometimes without. Until fairly recently, most musicians made all their money on gigs, and didn't really care if other musicians covered their songs or not. Just as a somewhat recent example, listen to the start and beat of Rick James 1981 hit Super Freak, then listen to the 1990 MC Hammer hit, Can't Touch This. If you listen to Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash's VH1 Storyteller album, they talk about using PD songs as the basis for new songs and how everyone borrows from everyone else.
Really, once you get away from the super touchy authors and the big money properties, authors are a lot more open about how they are influenced by various writers and stories, some old PD stories, others contemporary writers and stories. That's how sub genres start up.