Did Christopher Paolini "borrow" from YW books?

[illiriam]

Okay, I don't know if this has been brought up before, I did a quick look through and didn't see anything like it.
Anyone who has read the Inheritance Cycle (the Eragon Books) will remember the not-so-subtle Star Wars references, or rather, well, themes I guess works. If you haven't, think back, SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT farm boy, lives with uncle, wants to see the world and have adventures, something amazing happens, uncle dies and goes off adventuring, saves beautiful princess, has to travel to another land to train, etc.
My 28 year old brother borrowed my book and movie and when he returned them to me, he commented that he was surprised Paolini didn't have to pay George Lucas royalties...
And this is going somewhere in relation to YW, I promise, just hold on a minute longer...

But basic point, Paolini has a tendency to "borrow" from other stories. Not dissing him, because I own all three books and eagerly await the next one.
My main point in bringing this up, is the elfin language. I believe it's just called the Ancient Language. It is what the elves speak in, and what people use for magic.
They can either speak in it, or use the words to change something, to cast a spell.
Sound familiar?
I was just thinking, that there is a possibility that Paolini read the first few YW books, and got the idea for the Ancient Language from the Speech. I mean, they can't lie, and they can change the way something is by using the language, and oaths spoken in it are binding...

I know he could've gotten the idea from somewhere else, or came up with it all on his own, but I just wanted to know if anyone agreed with me that there are a lot of similarities.
And thank you for putting up with this long-butt post if you actually read it all the way. lol

[Jacq]

When I was reading the third one of that cycle, my boyfriend delighted in reading the synopsis of the previous two books. He did it aloud, in a grand theatrical voice, perched atop the bed - and replaced all the names with "yoda" and "luke", etc. >_>

Though Paolini may have read the YW books, I'm not sure it's a direct borrowing of the theme. The power of the "True Name" and that sort of thing is all over the place, it's almost become one of those universal fantasy elements. Even Grim's old Rumplestilkskin used that idea to a point. I'd be more inclined to agree with you if there were other similarities in the series, but magic seems to work completely differently in Eragon's world. There's no "source" for example, other than the wizard himself. Books (read: dictionaries) of words in the Ancient Language are another thing: I think a dictionary in the Speech would be useless unless you had the power and the context and the intent behind it (I've always wondered if Carmela could lie in the speech). Thats why the Book of Night With Moon seems to read more as a story than a dry old index.

But he definately "borrowed" the idea. I just doubt DD was the original source

[illiriam]

OH, I hadn't thought about the source behind it. It started out as a random thought line I had when taking a break from studying, and I decided to think about it some more instead of study. haha.
And as for Carmela, I don't think she would be able to, but then again maybe the Speech works differently for non-wizards. Because I thought that to change something in the Speech was to actually change the being itself, and I don't know if that is the same if you aren't a wizard. (I started thinking about whether Carmela could make water boil by asking it to in the Speech, or if that is just a wizard thing, again)

But part of what connected it in my mind was how the Speech could change things, and how the elves would change their appearance (blue furry elves, etc) by using the Language, but then again I don't know if that would be the Language itself or their magic.
Now this seems like a theory question. lol. Speech or magic.

[Zirsta]

Some of my friends were noticing the Star Wars/Eragon similarities too. But some of them were complaining of similarities to The Lord of the Rings too. Nazgul/Ra'zac riding winged beasts, the endless stair was in the LOTR first, the elves and dwarves that dislike each other, and Beorn. In Eragon Beorn is a bear from the Beor mountains, and in Tolkiens books Beorn is a man who can change into a bear. So there are "some" similarities running through the books.

The Speech eh? That's an interesting idea, although a lot of books I've read have a language of magic of some kind. Possible but improbable.

[kk]

I remember when I started reading the Young Wizards books, my friends and I would fill in the words we didn't know of the Speech (which is just about all of them), with words from the Ancient Language of the Inheritance series... combine that with the Norse runes, and it made a pretty good system of writing and speaking... for 6th graders, as we were at the time.

I'd recognized some similarities in Star Wars and Eragon, of course... is it sad that I knew the whole plotline of Star Wars, just from reading Eragon? So much so, that when I saw the first Star Wars movie for the first time, I laughed through it all, thinking, "Wow... this Paolini guy needs to get his own plotline..."

Also the magic in Inheritance is similar to Wizardry, I think. I can't remember which book (Eldest, I think?), but the book spoke of how the magic worked, so that it took energy from you when you performed it... the bigger the 'spell,' the bigger the energy loss. As if, to look at it one way, it was taking from you the energy it would have required to do it yourself.

I consider that a bit similar to YW; with the energy loss, of course. How that would be measured for Wizardry, I do not know. For example, how would you measure the energy for a trip to the moon? How would you 'do that yourself;' how much energy would it draw?

It's an interesting thing, really... I need to go reread those books, both Inheritance, and YW...

[Jacq]

Paolini's magic is pretty much a matter conversion sort of thing, isn't it? I seem to recall a part where he takes energy out of the local flora, and the reason he doesn't eat meat is because he sometimes kills things to heal himself?

Ignoring the obvious Dragonball-Z reference there, I think that this is something fundamental that doesn't exist in the YW realm. Moving matter and energy and starfire and things is one thing, channelling it to a different purpose, but to actually remove energy from something else for one's own gain seems to contradict the Oath.

I'm currently reading some cheeseball high fantasy book (can't remember the name, but it's by Lackey and Mallory) and they have a bit of this idea as well. A wizard/mage/dragon/unicorn/whichever can use someone else's magical energy, but it must be "freely given".

Imagine if Eragon had to ask permission to suck all those little plants dry.

[illiriam]

Energy conservation

This is true. In YW, they can combine their energy, and the twychild (rather not butcher their names right now, and the book isn't on me) bounces it back and forth, suggesting you can send it to another, but you can't just take it, like Eragon does with the plants and animals.
And thinking of this, its another similarity between the magics, that there is an infinite amount. Eragon can only use so much, before he uses his own life energy and dies (wizards can only use so much before they burn out), and while Eragon can take energy form his surroundings, there is only so much energy for the taking. If he was in a desert, there isn't much life, and so he is out of luck. And, yes, maybe he could reach farther out, but eventually, if he just kept taking energy, from plants and animals and even, gasp, people (which he totally wouldn't) then the energy for his spell would run out.
He shows respect for life and for energy by choosing to use this knowledge sparingly, which also reflects upon not wasting the Universe's energy.
And yes, I know it is highly improbable for Paolini to have used the basic's of wizardry for his own books, but it could always be a chain, or just an example of how prevalent this version of magic is in literature.

[alla]

When I read Eragon, I noticed bits and pieces drawn on from Lord of the Rings, Dragonriders of Pern and The Belgariad (by David Eddings), but I never really noticed any Star Wars stuff. Now that you mention it though, it is there...

The process whereby one author draws on another's work, or indeed some of their other works, is known as intertexuality, and it happens in many books, movies (and even songs, according to wiki). We've seen DD do this (or potentially at least) between the YW books and the Tale of the Five -discussions are http://www.youngwizards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=980 and http://www.youngwizards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=702 .

I'm not sure that Paolini specifically drew on the Speech when he created his magic. I agree with Jacq, that the concept is borrowed, but DD is probably not the original source - the idea of 'magic words' or 'words of power' has been around for a long time.

[Lazy Leopard]

When I read Eragon, I noticed bits and pieces drawn on from Lord of the Rings, Dragonriders of Pern and The Belgariad (by David Eddings), but I never really noticed any Star Wars stuff. Now that you mention it though, it is there...

I suspect that the more fantasy and SF you've read elsewhere, the more familiar bits you'll find in Eragon. I think the only other book I've read which made recognisable reference to so many other SF and fantasy stories is Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic, and it has the excuse that it's a work of parody. That said, a lot (most?) of fantasy literature draws on story elements which are old, even ancient, so it's not surprising to find paralells between stories, and it doesn't necessarily detract from them.

The specific example of a Magic Language is one such common element. You'll find it in other fantasy stories including (for example) Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea.

[willowtree]

Also, now that you mention it, did Tammy Pierce steal too?? I'm reading 'Trickter's Choice' and they have a common language (even though there is now magic involved)... you guys are making my think. I hate thinking!!! But the storyline from Star Wars? I'll have to takeyour word for it. I've never read (or seen) them. For LOTR, absaloutly! *Please apoligize for the spelling* The Speech too... the thief!!! Anyone else? *thinks* Probably. But now I'm hungry. *goes off to eat*

[alla]

By 'common language' do you mean what is known as the 'Common tongue'? Becasue that, in Tamora Pierce's world, is simply a plain old language that everyone speaks (as opposed to, say, Yamani, or I think the Carthaks have their own language...). Also, if you recall earlier books in TP's work, you do come across a couple of spells, which seem to be incantations more than anything else. From what I can remember, the magic users of the Tortallan world, don't use a magical language.

TP has borrowed aspects of old cultures - I'm not entirely sure on all of them, but I think that the Yamani Islands are based on Japan, Tortall itself is likely to be France or Spain (someone want to correct me on that?), Carthak is the other one out of that pair.. Not too sure on the others. Oh, Scanra would be based on the Scandinavian area - Vikings etc.

[nelina]

I've read both eragon and eldest, and as I was reading them, I noticed similarities from the YW books, a little harry potter, some other magic books I've read (which is , like, hundreds..) and even principle from other religions, such as taoism, mysticism,etc. (sorry if I mispelled any of that, I ond't mean to offend). I think it is just that CP is well read and educated and he just combined elements form many of the things he's read. Perhaps he's a fan of DD. I've also read trickster's choice, and I didn't really care for it too much; the multiple gods however, I did realte them to powers that be; I personally believe that any religion with one supreme god and other small ones is reffering to The One and The Powers That Be.

[Daylily]

Mmmm.
I had this conversation with some friends of mine a while back, and while one of them didn't get through half of book one(of Inheritance), the other loved the books all the better for being similar to Star Wars.
Personally, the more plot-stealing, the less I like. I enjoyed Inheritance because I liked the idea of Star Wars, and this just gave me another form.
Terry Pratchett is on my top ten list, along with Tolstoy, Poe, Rowling, Gaiman, and DD.
There isn't a single book where he doesn't make me laugh(except for Mort, but I don't like romance, even that subtle)
The paperback cover of Eric even has the title "Faust" scratched out. I also learned everything I know about ancient China form Interesting Times.

[dorotheia]

[willowtree]

Doratheia, I agree. I like The Inheritance Cycle, even though it is a little like other books. And to nelina, whenever I come across a big god and other little, or lesser, gods it more reminds me of greek mythology. Like, Zeus (big guy) and all his sons and daughters. And one reason I like Tamora Pierce (and DD) is the mythology, the myths, the gods etc. Ah, I love mythology!