Jordan and Tolkien

Q: I have noticed some similarities to The Lord of the Rings. Was Tolkien an inspiration for for you?
A: I suppose to the degree that he inspires any fantasy writer in the English language, certainly.

Q: What do you think of the parallels drawn between you and Tolkien? 
A: I assume the questioner means the parallels drawn by David Rothstein of the NYT. I find them interesting...I was not aware there were quite so many.

Q: How much did Tolkein, or even Edding's Belgariad chronicles influence the WOT series? 
A: Edding certainly not at all, and as for Tolkein, only to the degree that (1) he showed that it was possible to write a very large series of books, a very large story, and (2) the fact that I purposely did the first, oh, perhaps 80 pages of "The Eye of the World" as an homage to Tolkein in a way, that it was set in the same sort of pastoral country that Tolkein wrote about. 

Q: You have mentioned that you intentionally tried to re-create some of the feel of Tolkien's Middle Earth, especially in the first book. Considering many of the similar elements between the stories and the fact that time in your world is cyclical, with heroes being reborn through the ages, did you intend to imply that Middle Earth could possibly be "An Age long past. An Age yet to come?"
A: Certainly not. In the first hundred pages of THE EYE OF THE WORLD, I did try to invoke a Tolkienesque feel. But after that I have certainly not tried to reflect in any way Middle Earth. As a matter of fact, beginning back in that very early part of THE EYE OF THE WORLD, I deliberately took off in a very different direction from Tolkien, and I've been running hard in that direction ever since.

Reports from signings

The "Nine Rings Inn" in TEotW he readily confessed was a homage to our favourite professor - JRR Tolkien.

He intentionally started the series out kind of Tolkienesque, so that readers would feel like they already knew the land somewhat. Then he delibrately deviated from Tolkien so the readers would not know what to expect.
 

Raina's Hold / Thus Spake the Creator - Index