***Official*** Amazon Rings of Power Thread (1 Viewer)

[NewlyRetired]

Lots and I mean LOTS of massive rumors floating around now, and the rumors seem to have some legs.

If you want to go into Season 2 fresh, do not look for these online as they are loaded with spoilers. I stopped reading myself so I don't know how far the rumors go.

The biggest, and easily the most juicy, rumor is that Amazon has quietly acquired the full rights to the Silmarilion and did this specifically for season 2.

In general from what I can tell, the rumors have upset the die hards who already hated Rings of Power to begin with. Should be a nice bumpy ride again

Supposedly season 3 is already half written.

If you don't care about spoilers and want to jump on the hate train, OneRing has all the details.

This would actually make a world of difference to this series if true. I'd be inclined to do a season of flashbacks to explain it all. Would be so cool if true.

Speaking of back story, and this is a very very small spoiler if true, so I will tag to be safe

Spoiler: Minor spoiler

One of the rumors is that season 2 will kick off with an entire stand alone episode dedicated to the backstory of Sauron

 

[B Maverick]

I read LOTR and the Hobbit when the movies were announced. LOTR was an amazing trilogy of films. I was disappointed they didn't have the Hobbits save the Shire and be heroes there as they did in the books. Massive miss IMO. But as far as complaining, I can't. The Hobbit on the other hand, had a good first and second movie. The third? should of left it at two.

As far as the Rings of Power, I didn't read any other Tolkien and went in wondering how it connects to the Hobbit and LOTR. I thought the characters were good and didn't see anything wrong with how they met, were portrayed, introduced, etc. Guess I am not a big enough Tolkien nerd?

Looking forward to S2 and 3...

 

[beer 30]

Lots and I mean LOTS of massive rumors floating around now, and the rumors seem to have some legs.

If you want to go into Season 2 fresh, do not look for these online as they are loaded with spoilers. I stopped reading myself so I don't know how far the rumors go.

The biggest, and easily the most juicy, rumor is that Amazon has quietly acquired the full rights to the Silmarilion and did this specifically for season 2.

In general from what I can tell, the rumors have upset the die hards who already hated Rings of Power to begin with. Should be a nice bumpy ride again

Supposedly season 3 is already half written.

If you don't care about spoilers and want to jump on the hate train, OneRing has all the details.

This would actually make a world of difference to this series if true. I'd be inclined to do a season of flashbacks to explain it all. Would be so cool if true.

Speaking of back story, and this is a very very small spoiler if true, so I will tag to be safe

Spoiler: Minor spoiler

One of the rumors is that season 2 will kick off with an entire stand alone episode dedicated to the backstory of Sauron

I can't like this enough

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

The biggest "rip off/derivative" I read as a kid was the original Shannara books, which started with Sword of Shannara.

I was/am a huge Tolkien fan, got me interested in genre. From there I started branching out and read a lot of stuff along the same lines. The Shannara series was awesome because there were still new books coming out but it was a blatant rip off. Still read and re-read them all.

I own every one of them and never thought about it that way lol.

Have to agree. I don't see Shannara as a rip off either. Notably The Sword of Shannara is not a magical item of power. It forces the wielder and the those exposed to it confront the truth about themselves. Allanon, I am sure that spelling is wrong, is the last of the Druids (i.e. wizards) and struggles with being the last of his kind and if he should continue the use of magic in the world by training new Druids. Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

I enjoyed season 1, looking forward to the rest. Do you think it will be one season per race, telling the story of how they were tricked into making the rings?

The elves made all the rings, I think.

sauron made the one ring.

The elves made all the rings, I think, except for the One Ring, which Sauron forged alone in the fires of Mount Doom.

The elves only made the elven rings. Sauron made all the other rings and handed them out to ensnare the leaders of Men and Dwarves. The three Elven Rings are the only rings his hands never touched.

 

[NewlyRetired]

Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

It has been decades since I have read them, but I seem to remember it was not "advanced" science / technology, it was "ancient" science / technology. If memory serves, Shannara was set in the distant, post apocalyptic, future of the earth where science and technology was lost with only a few people trying to learn the old ways.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

It has been decades since I have read them, but I seem to remember it was not "advanced" science / technology, it was "ancient" science / technology. If memory serves, Shannara was set in the distant, post apocalyptic, future of the earth where science and technology was lost with only a few people trying to learn the old ways.

I meant advanced like further beyond our current real-life science. There was a book where a Druid was captured by an AI computer and put in a state like in the Matrix and forced to fight virtual enemies. As he did so the computer used the magical energy he was expending to create electricity to power itself. In the same book other characters fought monsters the AI created, and the monsters had cybernetic enhancements. That is my memory anyway. Also, some kind of body horror where the AI captured people, grafted their living head to a robot body and used their fighting skills against their companions, but unfortunately the head was still alive and conscious of what the robot was doing but could not stop it.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

It has been decades since I have read them, but I seem to remember it was not "advanced" science / technology, it was "ancient" science / technology. If memory serves, Shannara was set in the distant, post apocalyptic, future of the earth where science and technology was lost with only a few people trying to learn the old ways.

Also found the setting you mention very interesting. All the races were human originally, but nuclear radiation had caused some humans to mutate into trolls, dwarves, and gnomes, while some humans remained human. Only Elves, and as it turns out Demons, were different and existed as magical beings before humans evolved. The nuclear wars of the humans mutated the Elves to be more human and they emerged from the hiding only after the nuclear war. Demons were defeated in a great magical war before humans evolved and were locked in a void, emerging in the book Elfstones of Shannara as the baddy with their magical powers intact. It was a great setting.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I was entertained.

 

[Klimtology]

Anyone know when the second season will be available?

 

[NewlyRetired]

Anyone know when the second season will be available?

There is no release date yet but it is expected some time in 2024. Principal photography was completed last summer I think and they are finishing up all the back end post production stuff now.

 

[Psychopav]

Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

It has been decades since I have read them, but I seem to remember it was not "advanced" science / technology, it was "ancient" science / technology. If memory serves, Shannara was set in the distant, post apocalyptic, future of the earth where science and technology was lost with only a few people trying to learn the old ways.

Also found the setting you mention very interesting. All the races were human originally, but nuclear radiation had caused some humans to mutate into trolls, dwarves, and gnomes, while some humans remained human. Only Elves, and as it turns out Demons, were different and existed as magical beings before humans evolved. The nuclear wars of the humans mutated the Elves to be more human and they emerged from the hiding only after the nuclear war. Demons were defeated in a great magical war before humans evolved and were locked in a void, emerging in the book Elfstones of Shannara as the baddy with their magical powers intact. It was a great setting.

I thought the elves were actual middle earth elves which stayed hidden until the end of the third age or whatever Brooks called it. I could be wrong of course, it’s been a long time since I read these. I really enjoyed the Word and the Void series when it came out.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

It has been decades since I have read them, but I seem to remember it was not "advanced" science / technology, it was "ancient" science / technology. If memory serves, Shannara was set in the distant, post apocalyptic, future of the earth where science and technology was lost with only a few people trying to learn the old ways.

Also found the setting you mention very interesting. All the races were human originally, but nuclear radiation had caused some humans to mutate into trolls, dwarves, and gnomes, while some humans remained human. Only Elves, and as it turns out Demons, were different and existed as magical beings before humans evolved. The nuclear wars of the humans mutated the Elves to be more human and they emerged from the hiding only after the nuclear war. Demons were defeated in a great magical war before humans evolved and were locked in a void, emerging in the book Elfstones of Shannara as the baddy with their magical powers intact. It was a great setting.

I thought the elves were actual middle earth elves which stayed hidden until the end of the third age or whatever Brooks called it. I could be wrong of course, it’s been a long time since I read these. I really enjoyed the Word and the Void series when it came out.

No, by the time of the events of the Sword of Shannara the Elves are essentially men with pointy ears and a unified society. There is nothing special about them, they are not immortal, and neither are they magical. There are chapters in the second book of the original trilogy, The Elfstones of Shannara, that go in depth into the Elven history. In the deep past the Elves were very magical and coexisted with other good beings like fairies and imps. But the evil Demons existed also and took many forms. The Elves and their allies defeated the Demons eventually in a war that was nearly as devastating as a nuclear war and at the end of that war the Elves locked the remaining Demons away in a void. The remaining Elves stayed deep in the forests until they encountered men but if I remember correctly by that time there were many men and technologically advanced, so the Elves stayed hidden. The nuclear war caused the Elves to mutate to be more like men and most if not all Elves lost their knowledge of magic. When the Druid order was created, like a thousand years before the events of the Sword of Shannara, one the leading Druids was an Elf and he saved the last artifacts of ancient Elvish Magic and the legends of Elvish history. As a side note, there were beings in the books that were thought to have existed, or were descendants of, magical beings that existed with the original Elves. The King of the Silver River and the witch sisters.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

The biggest "rip off/derivative" I read as a kid was the original Shannara books, which started with Sword of Shannara.

I was/am a huge Tolkien fan, got me interested in genre. From there I started branching out and read a lot of stuff along the same lines. The Shannara series was awesome because there were still new books coming out but it was a blatant rip off. Still read and re-read them all.

I own every one of them and never thought about it that way lol.

Have to agree. I don't see Shannara as a rip off either. Notably The Sword of Shannara is not a magical item of power. It forces the wielder and the those exposed to it confront the truth about themselves. Allanon, I am sure that spelling is wrong, is the last of the Druids (i.e. wizards) and struggles with being the last of his kind and if he should continue the use of magic in the world by training new Druids. Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

I'm sure you know this already but there was a short-lived TV series covering the first couple of books that was actually pretty decent. And the lead from the show is actually catching on as an up and coming Hollywood start now all these years later (I believe he's the main villain in the 2nd Dune movie coming out soon).

 

[Buckna]

The biggest "rip off/derivative" I read as a kid was the original Shannara books, which started with Sword of Shannara.

I was/am a huge Tolkien fan, got me interested in genre. From there I started branching out and read a lot of stuff along the same lines. The Shannara series was awesome because there were still new books coming out but it was a blatant rip off. Still read and re-read them all.

I own every one of them and never thought about it that way lol.

Have to agree. I don't see Shannara as a rip off either. Notably The Sword of Shannara is not a magical item of power. It forces the wielder and the those exposed to it confront the truth about themselves. Allanon, I am sure that spelling is wrong, is the last of the Druids (i.e. wizards) and struggles with being the last of his kind and if he should continue the use of magic in the world by training new Druids. Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

I'm sure you know this already but there was a short-lived TV series covering the first couple of books that was actually pretty decent. And the lead from the show is actually catching on as an up and coming Hollywood start now all these years later (I believe he's the main villain in the 2nd Dune movie coming out soon).

He was Elvis in the biopic last year I believe?

Show was okay, they wisely started with Elfstones for the first season. Despite it being on MTV it did actually manage to rise above cheesy bad teenage drama at times but still had some eye-rolling moments occasionally to it. Decent casting and was impressed they kept to the book ending for season one’s finale (since its not a happy ending.) I think there was a thread on here for the first season.

Would be nice if someone got the rights and did a more serious adaptation/reboot someday. Same with the Sword of Truth book series, like Shannara it had some good parts like the casting but mostly the Hercules/Xena folks running it really butchered that tv show adaptation.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

The biggest "rip off/derivative" I read as a kid was the original Shannara books, which started with Sword of Shannara.

I was/am a huge Tolkien fan, got me interested in genre. From there I started branching out and read a lot of stuff along the same lines. The Shannara series was awesome because there were still new books coming out but it was a blatant rip off. Still read and re-read them all.

I own every one of them and never thought about it that way lol.

Have to agree. I don't see Shannara as a rip off either. Notably The Sword of Shannara is not a magical item of power. It forces the wielder and the those exposed to it confront the truth about themselves. Allanon, I am sure that spelling is wrong, is the last of the Druids (i.e. wizards) and struggles with being the last of his kind and if he should continue the use of magic in the world by training new Druids. Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

I'm sure you know this already but there was a short-lived TV series covering the first couple of books that was actually pretty decent. And the lead from the show is actually catching on as an up and coming Hollywood start now all these years later (I believe he's the main villain in the 2nd Dune movie coming out soon).

I remember it existed and I watched it. I don't remember a whole lot about it.

 

[the moops]

The biggest "rip off/derivative" I read as a kid was the original Shannara books, which started with Sword of Shannara.

I was/am a huge Tolkien fan, got me interested in genre. From there I started branching out and read a lot of stuff along the same lines. The Shannara series was awesome because there were still new books coming out but it was a blatant rip off. Still read and re-read them all.

I own every one of them and never thought about it that way lol.

Have to agree. I don't see Shannara as a rip off either. Notably The Sword of Shannara is not a magical item of power. It forces the wielder and the those exposed to it confront the truth about themselves. Allanon, I am sure that spelling is wrong, is the last of the Druids (i.e. wizards) and struggles with being the last of his kind and if he should continue the use of magic in the world by training new Druids. Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

I'm sure you know this already but there was a short-lived TV series covering the first couple of books that was actually pretty decent. And the lead from the show is actually catching on as an up and coming Hollywood start now all these years later (I believe he's the main villain in the 2nd Dune movie coming out soon).

What series was this?

 

[FreeBaGeL]

The biggest "rip off/derivative" I read as a kid was the original Shannara books, which started with Sword of Shannara.

I was/am a huge Tolkien fan, got me interested in genre. From there I started branching out and read a lot of stuff along the same lines. The Shannara series was awesome because there were still new books coming out but it was a blatant rip off. Still read and re-read them all.

I own every one of them and never thought about it that way lol.

Have to agree. I don't see Shannara as a rip off either. Notably The Sword of Shannara is not a magical item of power. It forces the wielder and the those exposed to it confront the truth about themselves. Allanon, I am sure that spelling is wrong, is the last of the Druids (i.e. wizards) and struggles with being the last of his kind and if he should continue the use of magic in the world by training new Druids. Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

I'm sure you know this already but there was a short-lived TV series covering the first couple of books that was actually pretty decent. And the lead from the show is actually catching on as an up and coming Hollywood start now all these years later (I believe he's the main villain in the 2nd Dune movie coming out soon).

What series was this?

The Shannara Chronicles

Find out how to watch The Shannara Chronicles. Stream the latest seasons and episodes, watch trailers, and more for The Shannara Chronicles at TV Guide

www.tvguide.com

 

[Psychopav]

Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

It has been decades since I have read them, but I seem to remember it was not "advanced" science / technology, it was "ancient" science / technology. If memory serves, Shannara was set in the distant, post apocalyptic, future of the earth where science and technology was lost with only a few people trying to learn the old ways.

Also found the setting you mention very interesting. All the races were human originally, but nuclear radiation had caused some humans to mutate into trolls, dwarves, and gnomes, while some humans remained human. Only Elves, and as it turns out Demons, were different and existed as magical beings before humans evolved. The nuclear wars of the humans mutated the Elves to be more human and they emerged from the hiding only after the nuclear war. Demons were defeated in a great magical war before humans evolved and were locked in a void, emerging in the book Elfstones of Shannara as the baddy with their magical powers intact. It was a great setting.

I thought the elves were actual middle earth elves which stayed hidden until the end of the third age or whatever Brooks called it. I could be wrong of course, it’s been a long time since I read these. I really enjoyed the Word and the Void series when it came out.

No, by the time of the events of the Sword of Shannara the Elves are essentially men with pointy ears and a unified society. There is nothing special about them, they are not immortal, and neither are they magical. There are chapters in the second book of the original trilogy, The Elfstones of Shannara, that go in depth into the Elven history. In the deep past the Elves were very magical and coexisted with other good beings like fairies and imps. But the evil Demons existed also and took many forms. The Elves and their allies defeated the Demons eventually in a war that was nearly as devastating as a nuclear war and at the end of that war the Elves locked the remaining Demons away in a void. The remaining Elves stayed deep in the forests until they encountered men but if I remember correctly by that time there were many men and technologically advanced, so the Elves stayed hidden. The nuclear war caused the Elves to mutate to be more like men and most if not all Elves lost their knowledge of magic. When the Druid order was created, like a thousand years before the events of the Sword of Shannara, one the leading Druids was an Elf and he saved the last artifacts of ancient Elvish Magic and the legends of Elvish history. As a side note, there were beings in the books that were thought to have existed, or were descendants of, magical beings that existed with the original Elves. The King of the Silver River and the witch sisters.

This all tracks but weren't the elves the remnant who chose not to go in into the West at the end of the second age, and isn't that why they were no longer immortal and had lost their magic?

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

It has been decades since I have read them, but I seem to remember it was not "advanced" science / technology, it was "ancient" science / technology. If memory serves, Shannara was set in the distant, post apocalyptic, future of the earth where science and technology was lost with only a few people trying to learn the old ways.

Also found the setting you mention very interesting. All the races were human originally, but nuclear radiation had caused some humans to mutate into trolls, dwarves, and gnomes, while some humans remained human. Only Elves, and as it turns out Demons, were different and existed as magical beings before humans evolved. The nuclear wars of the humans mutated the Elves to be more human and they emerged from the hiding only after the nuclear war. Demons were defeated in a great magical war before humans evolved and were locked in a void, emerging in the book Elfstones of Shannara as the baddy with their magical powers intact. It was a great setting.

I thought the elves were actual middle earth elves which stayed hidden until the end of the third age or whatever Brooks called it. I could be wrong of course, it’s been a long time since I read these. I really enjoyed the Word and the Void series when it came out.

No, by the time of the events of the Sword of Shannara the Elves are essentially men with pointy ears and a unified society. There is nothing special about them, they are not immortal, and neither are they magical. There are chapters in the second book of the original trilogy, The Elfstones of Shannara, that go in depth into the Elven history. In the deep past the Elves were very magical and coexisted with other good beings like fairies and imps. But the evil Demons existed also and took many forms. The Elves and their allies defeated the Demons eventually in a war that was nearly as devastating as a nuclear war and at the end of that war the Elves locked the remaining Demons away in a void. The remaining Elves stayed deep in the forests until they encountered men but if I remember correctly by that time there were many men and technologically advanced, so the Elves stayed hidden. The nuclear war caused the Elves to mutate to be more like men and most if not all Elves lost their knowledge of magic. When the Druid order was created, like a thousand years before the events of the Sword of Shannara, one the leading Druids was an Elf and he saved the last artifacts of ancient Elvish Magic and the legends of Elvish history. As a side note, there were beings in the books that were thought to have existed, or were descendants of, magical beings that existed with the original Elves. The King of the Silver River and the witch sisters.

This all tracks but weren't the elves the remnant who chose not to go in into the West at the end of the second age, and isn't that why they were no longer immortal and had lost their magic?

No, I have seen Brooks criticized for being derivative of Tolkien, but htat is mostly on plot lines and action scenes. I have never read anything in Brooks' work or by someone else that would indicate that his setting is supposed to be an extension of Tolkien's world after the Third Age.

 

[Buckna]

Some of the later books had pretty interesting story lines of magic interacting with advanced science / technology.

It has been decades since I have read them, but I seem to remember it was not "advanced" science / technology, it was "ancient" science / technology. If memory serves, Shannara was set in the distant, post apocalyptic, future of the earth where science and technology was lost with only a few people trying to learn the old ways.

Also found the setting you mention very interesting. All the races were human originally, but nuclear radiation had caused some humans to mutate into trolls, dwarves, and gnomes, while some humans remained human. Only Elves, and as it turns out Demons, were different and existed as magical beings before humans evolved. The nuclear wars of the humans mutated the Elves to be more human and they emerged from the hiding only after the nuclear war. Demons were defeated in a great magical war before humans evolved and were locked in a void, emerging in the book Elfstones of Shannara as the baddy with their magical powers intact. It was a great setting.

I thought the elves were actual middle earth elves which stayed hidden until the end of the third age or whatever Brooks called it. I could be wrong of course, it’s been a long time since I read these. I really enjoyed the Word and the Void series when it came out.

No, by the time of the events of the Sword of Shannara the Elves are essentially men with pointy ears and a unified society. There is nothing special about them, they are not immortal, and neither are they magical. There are chapters in the second book of the original trilogy, The Elfstones of Shannara, that go in depth into the Elven history. In the deep past the Elves were very magical and coexisted with other good beings like fairies and imps. But the evil Demons existed also and took many forms. The Elves and their allies defeated the Demons eventually in a war that was nearly as devastating as a nuclear war and at the end of that war the Elves locked the remaining Demons away in a void. The remaining Elves stayed deep in the forests until they encountered men but if I remember correctly by that time there were many men and technologically advanced, so the Elves stayed hidden. The nuclear war caused the Elves to mutate to be more like men and most if not all Elves lost their knowledge of magic. When the Druid order was created, like a thousand years before the events of the Sword of Shannara, one the leading Druids was an Elf and he saved the last artifacts of ancient Elvish Magic and the legends of Elvish history. As a side note, there were beings in the books that were thought to have existed, or were descendants of, magical beings that existed with the original Elves. The King of the Silver River and the witch sisters.

This all tracks but weren't the elves the remnant who chose not to go in into the West at the end of the second age, and isn't that why they were no longer immortal and had lost their magic?

No, I have seen Brooks criticized for being derivative of Tolkien, but htat is mostly on plot lines and action scenes. I have never read anything in Brooks' work or by someone else that would indicate that his setting is supposed to be an extension of Tolkien's world after the Third Age.

It’s really only the first book that is pretty derivative too. Also never seen anything about the universes supposed to be related in any way either. With how zealous the Tolkien estate guards their intellectual property, I’d be really surprised if there’s ever been anything on Brooks side saying the two are even loosely connected.

 

[NewlyRetired]

It’s really only the first book that is pretty derivative too.

The first book was very derivative, but that was to be expected in a way. Brooks himself has said many times that del Rey's entire motivation behind funding him was for him to recreate a more marketable version of Tolkien's original story, obviously with out stealing it entirely.

I saw this list online when looking for similarities

========================

1. The main evil, Brona, is a bodiless spirit who is pretty much immortal, kind of like Sauron
2. A ranger/fighter, who is also an heir to a throne, finds two main characters in an inn, and later travels with them on their quest – kind of like Aragorn and the hobbits.
3. There is a larger than life old-and-wise-dude-with-a-staff, cut from the same cloth as the main evil, who is helping the good guys – kind of like Gandalf.
4. On their quest they are kind of forced to go through the Dragon’s teeth, under the mountain – kind of like the mines of Moria.
5. The old mystic fights an immortal demon and falls into a deep pit of fire, but he later kind of comes back to life – kind of like Gandalf fighting the balrog.
6. The party of travelers: humans, elves and dwarves, break up and go their separate ways, on separate quests, only to meet up again in the end – kind of like the fellowship did in LOTR.
7. Masses of armies of evil things attack an ancient city, the last hope for mankind – kind of like Minas Tirith.
8. There is a mystic, Stenmin, who poisons a ruler through his words – kind of like Wormtongue.
9. There is a king who fails to protect a city, because he has gone mad – kind of like lord Denethor.
10. The ranger/fighter becomes king in the end – kind of like Aragorn

And the list actually continues, but I decided to limit my list to ten items...

 

[Buckna]

It’s really only the first book that is pretty derivative too.

The first book was very derivative, but that was to be expected in a way. Brooks himself has said many times that del Rey's entire motivation behind funding him was for him to recreate a more marketable version of Tolkien's original story, obviously with out stealing it entirely.

I saw this list online when looking for similarities

========================

1. The main evil, Brona, is a bodiless spirit who is pretty much immortal, kind of like Sauron
2. A ranger/fighter, who is also an heir to a throne, finds two main characters in an inn, and later travels with them on their quest – kind of like Aragorn and the hobbits.
3. There is a larger than life old-and-wise-dude-with-a-staff, cut from the same cloth as the main evil, who is helping the good guys – kind of like Gandalf.
4. On their quest they are kind of forced to go through the Dragon’s teeth, under the mountain – kind of like the mines of Moria.
5. The old mystic fights an immortal demon and falls into a deep pit of fire, but he later kind of comes back to life – kind of like Gandalf fighting the balrog.
6. The party of travelers: humans, elves and dwarves, break up and go their separate ways, on separate quests, only to meet up again in the end – kind of like the fellowship did in LOTR.
7. Masses of armies of evil things attack an ancient city, the last hope for mankind – kind of like Minas Tirith.
8. There is a mystic, Stenmin, who poisons a ruler through his words – kind of like Wormtongue.
9. There is a king who fails to protect a city, because he has gone mad – kind of like lord Denethor.
10. The ranger/fighter becomes king in the end – kind of like Aragorn

And the list actually continues, but I decided to limit my list to ten items...

Yeah I read it back in the 90’s I think, even as a teenager it was obvious how much the book was “influenced” by LotR. When Allanon (i think?) falls from the bridge that was the moment when I was like “oh come on!” These days I bet it probably reads like bad online fan fiction. I do recall that the next couple of books to finish the first trilogy and the next series or so were much better and other than some elves and dwarves and such really had nothing to do with Tolkien. Don’t think I ever got into the much later books in the series.

 

[FreeBaGeL]

It’s really only the first book that is pretty derivative too.

The first book was very derivative, but that was to be expected in a way. Brooks himself has said many times that del Rey's entire motivation behind funding him was for him to recreate a more marketable version of Tolkien's original story, obviously with out stealing it entirely.

I saw this list online when looking for similarities

========================

1. The main evil, Brona, is a bodiless spirit who is pretty much immortal, kind of like Sauron
2. A ranger/fighter, who is also an heir to a throne, finds two main characters in an inn, and later travels with them on their quest – kind of like Aragorn and the hobbits.
3. There is a larger than life old-and-wise-dude-with-a-staff, cut from the same cloth as the main evil, who is helping the good guys – kind of like Gandalf.
4. On their quest they are kind of forced to go through the Dragon’s teeth, under the mountain – kind of like the mines of Moria.
5. The old mystic fights an immortal demon and falls into a deep pit of fire, but he later kind of comes back to life – kind of like Gandalf fighting the balrog.
6. The party of travelers: humans, elves and dwarves, break up and go their separate ways, on separate quests, only to meet up again in the end – kind of like the fellowship did in LOTR.
7. Masses of armies of evil things attack an ancient city, the last hope for mankind – kind of like Minas Tirith.
8. There is a mystic, Stenmin, who poisons a ruler through his words – kind of like Wormtongue.
9. There is a king who fails to protect a city, because he has gone mad – kind of like lord Denethor.
10. The ranger/fighter becomes king in the end – kind of like Aragorn

And the list actually continues, but I decided to limit my list to ten items...

Yeah I read it back in the 90’s I think, even as a teenager it was obvious how much the book was “influenced” by LotR. When Allanon (i think?) falls from the bridge that was the moment when I was like “oh come on!”

And funny tidbit on this. The actor that played Allanon in the show was also in the Hobbit movies