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Default   #36   Daring Scylla Daring Scylla is offline
Double Rainbow
i'd be glad to, though I'm no where near as competent or eloquent as this person, who brings up most of the ones I think of. I've summarized them here, though, in case you don't want to go read it. (the link is one Kotetsu very kindly provided way back in the beginnings of the thread, and it's interesting to note that the author of this blog noticed a lot of the same plagiarisms I did) namely...
The Earthsea novels, which I've read, probably gave Paolini the idea for his systematic Magic in the Inheritance - the whole bit about not being able to lie, about true names virsus everyday names, and the names of objects (like 'brsingr' for fire) let you control the object. The 'true name' idea was also used by Raymond Feist and Jonathan Stroud for sentient beings, but the idea makes sense and is easily adapted or modified to fit the story in question, so it's not surprising that it shows up a lot.
Also, i've read the Ruby Knight by David Eddings, which I enjoyed. I've reread The Elenium series so much I probably know the books by heart. Imagine my surprise when I saw the bridge scene in Eragon, lifted straight from the Ruby Knight. In both scenes, a seedy stranger charges a toll to get across, during which one of the characters secretly cuts the man's purse and steals his money. The characters then cross the bridge and at the end hear a "howl of anguish" [these exact words are in both books] come from the other side. There are other passages and sentences similar to David Eddings's writing throughout the series, usually descriptions (that I've noticed).
Another series, the Belgariad, by David Eddings again, likely gave Paolini the idea for his dragon mark on his hand. (I have not read the Malloreon which comes after the Belgariad)
Then there's the blatant names which were either identical or incredibly similar to landmarks/other names in Tolkienn's books. The ones I noticed (marked in the blog) were Fornost, Aragorn, Elessar and Imiladris, though the blog notes more. Some, like Valinor, he didn't even bother to change. However i have read another book - i forget the name though if I remember I will tell you - used or 'edited' some LotR names too, including Gandalf and Mordor.
If you take a look at some of Raymond Feist's books - it's interesting to see other people have noted this too - the blood ritual the elves perform in Brisingr is almost verbetim from one of his books
I have not read the Anne McCaffery series, but it's been said that the telepathic link btween dragon and rider was originally her idea, though Bruce Colville also used it in one of his books too, so there you go.
There's the obvious star wars link, in regards to the "Eragon morzan's yer Da" and the "Luke I'm yer Da" not to mention the plotline, which continues from Eragon into Eldest. I think that as Eldest and Brisingr continue they get more original, but more boring. I barely remember Brisingr, i'll have to go through it again and see what he may have taken in there.
EDIT: let's also not forget that Paolini tried to create his own Elvish (and Dwarvish) language, both of which I'm not about to bother translating. However, that was one true 'inspiration' rather than direct plagiarism.
Also, apparently the Wheel of Time series have a lot of 'inspiration' for Paolini, but i've never read them so i wouldn't know. I need to, though. but that's unrelated
I'm not at my best declaiming crap in english, but I hope that quick(lol) summary helped a bit
in the end, I'm still not sure what Paolini wanted when he published this book series. I don't know why he thought it was a good idea to publish plagiarised material. I'm interested to see how the next book plays out though.
bitches please
Last edited by Daring Scylla; 12-10-2011 at 05:42 PM.
Old Posted 12-10-2011, 05:17 PM Reply With Quote