ATT JMS: B5 and Lord of the Rings?

[b5jms-owner at cs.columbia.edu]

Subject: ATT JMS: B5 and Lord of the Rings?
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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+  1: Apr  8, 1996: tom at ssd.hcsc.com (Tom Horsley)
*  2: Apr  9, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: tom at ssd.hcsc.com (Tom Horsley)
Lines: 32

The more I watch Babylon 5, the more I get reminded from time to time of
things in Lord of the Rings (lest anyone, especially JMS get the wrong idea,
this is not an accusation of any kind). I'm just wondering if Tolkein was
a concious influence or I am just imagining things?

For instance:

Lord of the Rings has an ancient enemy that has been defeated once in a
previous age and now has gathered its strength again to challenge a new age
(Sauron <=> Shadows).

Rings also has ancient powerful wizards hanging around from the previous
age to help the new age in its battle (Wizards <=> The First Ones).

Both stories have "rangers" who are defending folks that aren't even aware
of their danger from the enemy.

I was also strongly reminded of the "Saruman, Your staff is broken!" scene
at Orthanc when Delenn confronts the Grey council in severed dreams (which
I finally got to watch last night - remind me *never* to get Delenn pissed
off at me :-).


These are just some of the echos I hear and remember off the top of my
head, there are (of course) plenty of story elements that don't remind
me of Lord of the Rings (but they aren't what my question was about :-).
--
--
Tom.Horsley at mail.hcsc.com
Work: Harris Computers, 2101 W. Cypress Creek Rd. Ft. Lauderdale FL  33309
The 2 most important political web sites: http://www.vote-smart.org (Project
Vote Smart), and http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/TomHorsley (Me!)

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 13

All the elements you point to are just tools that recur in any saga of any
size.  The dark forces, the one who turns, the source of ancient
wisdom...it goes back all the way to the Illiad and the Odyssey.  Compare
Kosh to the Oracle at Delphi and you'll have a pretty close match.

LoTR and B5 use the same tools, which have taken on different names over
the last 6,000 years.  That's all.



 jms


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