Dragonlance vs Lord of the Rings
HERE'S WHAT I THINK
J R R Tolkien is seen as being the father of fantasy and to any true fantasy fan Lord of the Rings is required reading. That being said it doesn't necessarily mean it is the best fantasy story out there. The Hobbit was a fast paced story with something new happening in every chapter. After Tolkien wrote the Hobbit he moved into more adventureous territory and made the follow up a trilogy. The follow up was a lot slower than the original and harder to follow. To me Tolkien had left his original format and tried to create a literary epic, he did of course succeed, but no matter how I tried to like Lord of the Rings I never could. The constant singing/poetry in the book was completely unnecessary and did nothing to enhance the story, in fact it detracted from it. The story also has too many wasted plot elements, it is a good story but it definitely ain't God's gift to fantasy like some Lord of the Rings followers seem to think. And what's with the wizard that uses a sword instead of magic and an all powerful ring that all it seems to do is make the wearer invisible?
Lord of the Rings has now become a total product range. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance however was designed as a total product range. Dragonlance was designed as a side product of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. The book trilogy was designed to back up the new Dragonlance role playing game and because of that the group of friends in Dragonlance were on the lines of the Dungeons and Dragons scenarios each having their own traits, their own strengths and weaknesses and from a range of species (human, half-elf, kender and dwarf).
Overall there have been over 200 Dragonlance novels. It is easy to argue that Dragonlance is based on Lord of the Rings, just as it is easy to argue that Weis and Hickman took Tolkien's concepts and spun them into a real epic.
Lord of the Rings definitely wins on the film front as it has a proper Hollywood film to back it up, unlike the not so well animated Dragonlance film that has just been released but at least Dragonlances first film outing blows away The Lord of the Rings first outing.
Dragonlance vs Lord of the Rings
Personally I think this argument is going to be a little bit one sided. But for those of you who have not experienced the world of Dragonlance be sure to check out my Dragonlance lens on Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Which do you think is the best
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byDragonlance
Arizona-Snow says:
I'm sorry but I have to disagree with Jeremy's first two paragraphs. Dragonlance isn't a rip off of LoTR. Dragonlance is a Dungeon and Dragons story using all of the D&D style characters (which Tolkien set the foundation for). The group leader Tanis is an half-elf that grew up with an elven princess, they were childhood sweethearts, the so called LoTR counterpart has little in common with this. Also as laid out in Dungeons and Dragons elves are magical beings that are usually the guardians of the earth and humans always bring evil back to the world. If you change any of the rules like the dwarves living underground, being short and stubby with beards and a grumpy disposition; and elves being protectors of nature then it isn't mainstream fantasy. Having said that Flint has to be similar to Gimli, a dwarf is a dwarf, but the similarity ends there really.
And I have no idea where he gets the idea that Takhisis and Sauron are almost exactly the same character, one was female the other was male, one was a god the other was mortal, one was a five headed dragon the other was human! Of course they had the same character traits, how can good fight evil if there is no evil to fight?
Next he'll be saying that Raistlin is exactly the same character as Gandalf cos he casts spells.
Posted October 04, 2009
Jeremy says:
...I'm 33 now and reading through 'Chronicles' again and sadly, every single time they introduce a new plot arc, I can look at it and say "wow, that's a direct rip-off of 'Rings'...the group leader having this old, confusing and shattered love with an elven princess, Flint could practically look in the mirror and see Gimli, the elves 'fleeing Qualinesti' because the humans brought the evil back to the world. I tried like hell to deny all this until I got to the battle at the Tower of the High Clerist, which might as well be a word for word plagiarism of the Helm's Deep sequence in 'The Two Towers'. From there I could no longer turn a blind eye.
Hell, Takhisis and Sauron are almost exactly the same character, how Berem got the gemstone is so blatantly stolen from Smeagol killing his brother to get the Ring...I really could go on and on.
However, if it werent for Legends and the later books going in different, original and vastly superior directions, I would be forced to conclude that Weis and Hickman were just a couple of hacks. But since those later books really make Krynn a much richer world with deeper characters, I have to vote Dragonlance.
Posted October 03, 2009
Sean says:
Dragonlance is by far better and tassletoff has a point if DL was made into a hollywood movie blow LOTR outta the water. Yes Tolkien spent his life making it an authentic story but Weis and Hickman brought the fantasy genre to a whole new level and let other authors depict their own versions of the story! It is brilliant and a never ending story and thats what fantasy readers want!
Posted December 27, 2008
Tassletoff says:
If Peter Jackson had made a Dragonlance film there would be no competition and The Lord of the Rings films are the only thing that makes LOTR look good. If LOTR had kender it would be much better - lol
Posted August 13, 2008
Lord of the Rings
fromthegreenroom says:
LOTR is much better in my opinion. I have read some of both and while Dragonlance is entertaining (I especially love the kenders and the old wizard who can't remember his hat) but it doesn't even compare to LOTR.
Posted November 08, 2009
Brayden says:
I think that LOTR is better. Tolkien put the poetry in to flesh out the world history and they helped to flesh out the personality of the different races.Tolkien had Gandalf limit his magic or else he could be the unstoppable person in the books and the book wouldn't be as interesting. Also magic has to have limits.And no, Tolkien had started out with the idea of an epic, or else he wouldn't have spent nearly his ENTIRE life researching and writing and creating languages from scrap. So I say that you are judging LOTR so badly because you dont like it. Editors will judge books on literary terms.
Posted October 09, 2008
Juice-Allen says:
i've never actually finished lotr, but i've never read dragonlance, so i say lotr is best.
i should read dragonlance and finish lotr.
Posted August 12, 2008
Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight - Trailer
Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight - Trailer 1
The first trailer for the upcoming animated film Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight. This trailer was first shown at GenCon 2007.
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Dragonlance Links
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Official Dragonlance Movie Site
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Dragonlance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dragonlance.com: Official d20 Dragonlance Gaming Products
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Dragonlance on Amazon
Dragonlance - Dragons Of The Autumn Twilight
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A Bonus Battle
A Lord of the Rings Fan Video
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Cheap LotRO Gold - Reviews and Prices
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The Lord of the Rings (50th Anniversary Edition)
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The Lord of the Rings - The Motion Picture Trilogy (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition)
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Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand byDragonlance vs Lord of the Rings - The Poll
The Final Word
Leave any miscellaneous comments here and dont forget to rate this lens, thank you!
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- The Box Ghost The Box Ghost Oct 5, 2008 @ 5:16 pm
- They both highly appeal to me. I just finished dragons of summer flame and was held tight to my seat the whole time. I am trying to read all of the core novels before starting the peripherals. but Lord of the Rings is simply amazing and you are evil person for making me choose between the two. The poems and songs and all of that in LotR i really like unlike you. there are some things in DL that i dislike but i love how detailed they are. That is what makes a book to me at least. I will choose LotR over the two though because like life not everything is fast paced. and if you don't want any spoilers then don't read this next part. it is about summer flame: Palin does a magic that not even Magius could do or so says Raistlin but all it did was make a really bright light. and this is supposed to make him the greatest mage that ever lived... yes the ring's powers are very retarded when wielded by anyone but sauron but so is that little bit of magic. its like a giant spotlight.
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- thymes thymes Sep 7, 2008 @ 12:40 am
- Nice, try Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Deathgate cycle too. Or Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time both are ridiculous now for my mandatory promotion, if you like fantasy books chances are you like replica swords so check us out: The Sword Guys
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- triathlontraining triathlontraining Jun 9, 2008 @ 1:44 pm
- Very nice lens! I haven't read any Dragonlance books, but I've had them recommended to me, so I should have a read. Thanks! :)
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- fefe fefe Mar 12, 2008 @ 12:49 am
- I am not sure I am familiar enough with Dragonlance to vote.
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- Styx Styx Mar 8, 2008 @ 3:27 pm
- This must have taken you a long time :) I liked it a lot. Thank You
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