Disclaimer: I am not intending any form of disrespect to the owners and/or creators of the relevant intellectual property. I love them all. Everything is ultimately derivative in my perception and the art of creating good stories includes the stretching and mixing of all forms of experience. The similarities could also be coincidence or even subconscious influence: I don’t know.
Having recently posted my thoughts in various social media outlets this month (via Facebook, Twitter, and Discord) I wanted to officially consolidate and document them with a blog post. I give you two potential sources of inspiration for The Wheel of Time (WoT) series by Robert Jordan (1990) (RJ & Brandon Sanderson and published by Tor Books), starting with The Eye of the World, that I feel may have had a significant influence on his creation:
The Last Dragon, directed by Michael Shultz (1985)
Ladyhawke, directed by Richard Donner (1985)
The Last Dragon:
- One or two users have made a reference to the final battle of Leroy Green, aka “Bruce Leroy” (portrayed by Taimak) and Sho’nuff, aka “The Shogun of Harlem” (portrayed by Julius Carry). I speculate that RJ drew a parallel to this battle with Ishamael failing to draw enough of the True Power when fighting Rand al’Thor.
- Leroy attains the status of “The Last Dragon” – it is right there in the name and could even be the last time the Wheel ever spins the Dragon out if it were taken in the literal sense and Sony Pictures writes them into the same universe. The Wheel of Time Television Series is being produced by Sony Pictures Television (& Amazon Studios) and The Last Dragon is a property of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group so it seems they could combine the universes.
- Mazrim Taim, a false dragon, could have had his name inspired by Taimak, the actor who portrayed Leroy Green.
- Mazrim Taim was called M’Hael which means “Leader” in the Old Tongue and Bruce Leroy was The One and Only Master.
- Channelers of Saidar (females, in WoT) appear to “glow” to other channelers of the same sex when “embracing the One Power” and one may innately have the “spark” which will eventually force them to channel. If you watched the ending clip of The Last Dragon linked in the bullet point above, the glow and the sparks flying could be the pertinent sources of inspiration.
Ladyhawke:
- 6 minutes into the film Phillipe Gaston (portrayed by Matthew Broderick) is in the sewers, spots something floating, & freaks out: it is a water buffalo skull floating down which could have been inspiration for trollocs and the trolloc chapter emblem.
- Etienne of Navarre (portrayed by Rutger Hauer) and his warhorse Goliath have an uncanny understanding & loyalty to each other. This is represented in the scene where Goliath requires Navarre’s approval for Gaston to move him which could have been inspiration for al’Lan Mandragoran and Mandarb.
- Gaston muttering aloud to God could have been an inspiration for Rand / Lews Therin Telamon muttering.
- Gaston going on about the connection in dreams and the reality of them could have been an inspiration for Tel’aran’rhiod.
- Navarre turning into a wolf & his love for Isabeau could have been an inspiration for Perrin Aybara and wolfbrothers.
- Isabeau of Anjou is Ladyhawke and could have been inspiration for Zarine ni Bashere t’Aybara (called Faile which means “Falcon” in the Old Tongue). Ladyhawke and Faile also end with a silent e.
- Forced separation: the curse where Navarre couldn’t see Isabeau for a long time (day/night separation) could have inspired the situation where Faile was Gai’shain for a while and created a forced separation from Perrin.
On a side note, Mads Mikkelson, a Danish actor, is a fan-casting favorite for Lan and bears a striking resemblance to a young Rutger Hauer, a Dutch actor.
That concludes my musings on the similarities between the three. It’s been commented before that these are all typical history and fantasy tropes (e.g. King Arthur Pendragon “Chief Dragon,” Merlin “Myrddin Wyllt”). I’m hoping Harriet McDougal may eventually affirm or deny my scuttlebutt.
Musings 