| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Dark Wizard |
Posted - 09 Aug 2012 : 05:32:08
What are the literary influences and fictional inspirations for the Realms?
Like D&D had the Appendix N for further reading of stories that inspired the game.
Not sure if this has been discussed previously. Or if Ed already provided a detailed response on this topic. My guess is yes. I would appreciate directions to the correct thread or archive related to the topic question.
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| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Quale |
Posted - 11 Aug 2012 : 13:49:29
I think Feist's books are the most similar to the Realms (what's published at least, not some secret Ed's version that WotC/TSR suppressed). Those mentioned above share a few elements, but by that criteria it's possible to add thousands of other fantasy books. |
| Jorkens |
Posted - 10 Aug 2012 : 13:00:34
And thanks for the links; there is a couple here I didn't know about. |
| Dark Wizard |
Posted - 10 Aug 2012 : 06:22:04
Thanks, Faraer. You provided links to very detailed responses by Ed. And to everyone, you brought up some stories and novels I haven't heard of before. I'll add them to the list. |
| Faraer |
Posted - 10 Aug 2012 : 01:28:16
He's often answered that question, and about his favourite authors.
http://community.wizards.com/bookclub/blog/2011/05/10/fr_authors_speak:_your_idols
http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/09/interview-ed-greenwood-part-i.html
http://orullian.com/writing/edgreenwood_interview.html
http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2010/08/interview-ed-greenwood-elminster.html
etc. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 09 Aug 2012 : 08:36:53
Other influences were Narnia and the Celtic world as portrayed in Mists of Avalon (although he told me that he derived some things from the same sources that influenced Marion Zimmer Bradley, not her work itself).
But that just leads us back to Tolkien (who borrowed heavily from the Norse, Germanic, and Celtic mythos).
So we might as well throw classical mythology on the heap as well. There's a lot of the Greco-Roman back-biting in his pantheon. Also, the whole idea of 'god-blessed heroes rising from the masses to do super-human things'.
EDIT: Also, I recall Ed mentioning some influence from the poem The Lion and the Unicorn. Thats where we partially get Lurure and Nobanion (they are also based off of several other things - aside form their rivalry the poem does not give us much). Lewis Carroll's spin on it was that they were rivals working for the same side, but I have no idea if Ed was influenced by L.C.'s take. |
| Jorkens |
Posted - 09 Aug 2012 : 06:35:29
This is of course something that only ed can answer, but those I remember mentioned are Roger Zelazny's Amber books, Fritz Leibers Lankhmar stories, Tolkiens Lord of the Rings and various authors mentioned concerning gates and the planes (Philip Jose Farmer's World of Tiers, Michael Moorcock's multivers and C.J Cherryh's Morgaine stories). Howards Conan and other pulp fantasy and sci-fi have had some short mentions.
The interesting thing I see looking over the list is that most of these are so called "low magic" |
