Just an off-topic thread for WTW

[alexader]

Jubal_Barca,ok i can't find something right now to"attack"you lol,so you won a battle ,but not the WAR,lol,MUHAHAHAHAHHAAAA ,If anyone else has an opinion,please tell it,also jubal_barca if you want to insult me just send me A pm,ok,i am open,LOL,LOL,LOL.

[Taranaich]

The fact is that Tolkein is where the modern concepts of the major fantasy races first appeared. If you can find references of
- Human size 'elder race' Elves
- Heavily Armoured slow moving Dwarves with Axes
- Orcs as wild rampaging hordes of man sized man killers

Tolkien didn't invent the modern vision of elves. He based his elves on the Alfar of Norse mythology, who were beautiful and powerful humanoid beings, with a great deal of intermarriage with humans and a lot of battle.

The modern pointy-eared, forest-dwelling, androngynous elves are a creation of Dungeons & Dragons, which was unfortunately perpetuated by the Lord of the Rings movies, and are a rather sad shadow of the mighty, virile beings he had in mind, who had no problems wielding big axes or living in caves. The D&D Elves seem to bear a closer resemblance to Dunsany's elves in The King of Elfland's Daughter than Tolkien's.

Likewise, Tolkien's orcs are rather different from modern fantasy orcs: his are usually much shorter than humans, with swarthy skin, fangs and surprising intelligence. Compare this to the frequently green-skinned, porcine-faced orcs who are usually bigger and much more stupid than humans.

Tolkien did, however, give us the modern Dwarf (even if he envisaged them more as Jewish than Norse, bizarrely enough), and a lot of work was still highly influential.

I personally think Warhammer owes more to Michael Moorcock than Tolkien: the central war between Law and Chaos (and, more subtly, Man vs Himself) is central to Moorcock's stories, and just as important to the Warhammer setting. By extension, Warhammer also takes a lot of Moorcock's own influences H.P Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (the chaos gods, lizardmen etc). Warhammer's more a melting pot of fantasy than having any one inspiration, as well as taking real history for their races and history.