And, I'm a nerd
Fewer people read this than my xanga, so there's about to be a very nerdy post right here. Normal people should maybe stop reading, because whoa.
So, (and this is mostly directed at Caddie, because she is the only person out there I know of who has read both Robert Jordan and reads this) does anyone else see the similarity between Star Wars and the Wheel of Time series? I mean, there's a light side and a dark side, and there's a male main character who has to struggle to keep the light in power. The dark side wants him very badly, and, as the Dragon Reborn or as a Skywalker, he can either take his place next to the Dark Lord and get trained to be a pet monkey, or he can fight with kind of incomplete training in order to fight for good. (Yoda did tell Luke that if he left Dagobah to save his friends, his training would be incomplete, and he would not be powerful enough to fight Vader in the second one. And the Aes Sedai can not train Rand to channel, because he uses a different part of the One Source, which conveniently rhymes with Force....) I'm not saying that they're exactly the same story, and I've only read the first and part of the second of the Wheel of Time thing, but these similarities just seem to pop out in front of me.
I was going to make another nerdy observation, but then I realized that it would involve spoilers. But something about the third Star Wars reminded me of a slightly obscure Arthurian tale. When I was younger, I slightly wanted to be a Medieval historian, and discover the true identity of Arthur Pendragon. And so I read a whole lot of books on Arthur. Yeah.
So, the nerdiness has ended. But now this is a long post, and I have not much else to say. Go me.
So, (and this is mostly directed at Caddie, because she is the only person out there I know of who has read both Robert Jordan and reads this) does anyone else see the similarity between Star Wars and the Wheel of Time series? I mean, there's a light side and a dark side, and there's a male main character who has to struggle to keep the light in power. The dark side wants him very badly, and, as the Dragon Reborn or as a Skywalker, he can either take his place next to the Dark Lord and get trained to be a pet monkey, or he can fight with kind of incomplete training in order to fight for good. (Yoda did tell Luke that if he left Dagobah to save his friends, his training would be incomplete, and he would not be powerful enough to fight Vader in the second one. And the Aes Sedai can not train Rand to channel, because he uses a different part of the One Source, which conveniently rhymes with Force....) I'm not saying that they're exactly the same story, and I've only read the first and part of the second of the Wheel of Time thing, but these similarities just seem to pop out in front of me.
I was going to make another nerdy observation, but then I realized that it would involve spoilers. But something about the third Star Wars reminded me of a slightly obscure Arthurian tale. When I was younger, I slightly wanted to be a Medieval historian, and discover the true identity of Arthur Pendragon. And so I read a whole lot of books on Arthur. Yeah.
So, the nerdiness has ended. But now this is a long post, and I have not much else to say. Go me.
posted by Sneeze at 10:08 PM
2 Comments:
A lot of this is because they're both heavily stereotypical, I think. What's even more interesting (once you've read a bit more WoT) is the similarities between that and Dune... after the introductory novels, there's a split-off from Star Wars, because it's not as much about the motives, I think.
Hehe, and if you want a LOT of similarities, read Wizards First Rule. You don't even have to think to draw parallels with the WoT. Though in this case, I think Goodkind stole a lot of it from Jordan, and it's not just a case of some stereotypical fantasy stuff.
You probably would find it hard to argue that Jordan wasn't unfluenced by Star Wars (and Dune), though.
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