Books that are similar to Belgariad

[devilsgrin]

i agree completely with you evil genius.
Paolini has most definitely taken HUGE pieces of the Belgariad to "write" his derivitive piece of drivel called Eragon. I read the book hoping for something as good as the hype... how disappointed i was.
there are large pieces of text that appear to be cut and pasted out of Pawn of Prophecy - particularly a conversation between Belgarath and Garion (even the names Eragon and Garion are blatantly similar) where they discuss the possible and the impossible. Sapphira for all shes a dragon is essentially Polgara, her whole manner is protective mother/guardian a'la Polgara.
There are other literary works that Paolini the plagiarist has taken liberties from, but aside from Lord of the Rings, and Anne McCaffrey's dragonriders of Pern, no other work has been as copied from as the Belgariad.

Just as an aside, in the books i can't recall whether Morzan's sword - Misery is its translated name - has the colour of its pommell stone mentioned, however as the blade is red and the sword was made specifically for the rider of a red dragon, i would assume that the pommell stone would have been a large ruby rather than a sapphire... the movie took too many liberties even with Paolini's book for it to be a reliable basis for argument.

Sapphira did look amazing in the movie though, and Rachel Weizs was flawless as Sapphira, she's now my favourite to play Polgara if there was ever a movie. theres a certain amount of caring in her appearance, and a look of "don't you dare mess with my child" about her in several things, the Mummy Returns most obviously.
I detested Jeremy Irons as Brom - just as I detest Jeremy Irons in any and all fantasy genre films that he's been in. Overacted, clearly under-directed, and as a result, campy and OTT.
Ed Speelers did as well as he was able to being a rookie actor, considering the clear lack of directorial and scriptorial support he received. that said, he had both the wrong hair and eye colour, and Chris Egan who played Roran for a few minutes in the film should have been chosen in his place. He's at least been acting for near to a decade - especially if they were going to skip on Eragon's plain brown hair and puppy-dog brown eyes.

[evil_genius666]

Have u seen the movie too? You can see in the movie that the sword "Zargon" who kills dragons has an orb on the pommel..which incidentaly is blue.

[Overread]

hmm here is a pic of the sword in question from Eragon:
Zar'roc Sword of Eragon Limited Edition CB Swords - Fantasy and Reproduction Swords and Sword Accessories - CB Swords

[evil_genius666]

Lol thx I thought it was called Zargon hahaha

[Overread]

I think zargon is something from the 80s tv - a place - zargon I have certainly heared the name before but can't place it at all - but some older sci-fi or fantasy is certain!

[evil_genius666]

I think it just popped in my head.

[Balinor]

First off, yes the film of Eragon was rubbish, but it was nothing like the book. Personally I loved the first book (the second being more dull imo)

Secondly, of course theres going to be some similarities between any fantasy books.

Garion was a farmboy when it all started. In Eragon..Eragon was a farmboy too
Most heroes start out as lowly farmers or similar
.....Druss (David Gemmell) started out as a farmer/woodcutter
....The first ohmsfords were working in the family inn (Terry Brooks)
....Richard Rahl was a woodsman (Terry Goodkind)
.......Sam Gamgee was a farmer, the list goes on
its part of what makes the story interesting, that someone who isn't so important, manages to have a great adventure.


The twins (Beltira and Belkira). In Eragon theres a twin too. They even have the same mind as Belkira and Beltira.
You can't say somethings the same just because there is a twin in both books, the twins in eragon don't share the same mind afaik (although if you can point it out i'll concede the point), they just can communicate mind to mind


The silver mark on the right hand of Garion (In Eragon...Eragon has a mark on the right hand too the same as Garion)
Ok, this is similar, but it's not even significant, many heroes have scars or marks that distinguish them from a crowd, take Harry Potter or frodo of the 9 fingers

The sword. In Belgariad we have the sword of Iron-grip. While in Eragon theres the killer sword...and would u belive theres a blue orb on the pommel of the sword too (See Eragon the movie)
That sword was, as you said, IN THE MOVIE. If you remember the books, they are nothing like the movie, in fact, the only things they really kept the same was the character names.

The sotryteller that became a very important person. In Belgariad we have Belgarath as a storyteller then turned out to be Belgarath the Sorcerrer. In Eragon we have Brom as a storyteller then turned out to be a former dragon rider.
and in Shanarra we have a "wanderer" Allanon, who turns out to be the last druid, in LotR we have a old travelling magic man who turns out to be one of the most powerful wizards in middle earth, in Terry Goodkind's books, we have a grandfather who turns out to be the first wizard,

And would you believe theres another similarity? Garion is called the Godslayer and Eragon is called the Shadeslayer.
oh big deal, he killed something thats supposed to be almost mpossible to kill so they named him an xxxslayer, in James Clemens books the main character is a Godslayer, Gotrek and Felix are xxxslayers


if you look at a book without the detail most are similar. Young normal simple lad, learns of something powerful and scary, takes a journey with the help of some skilled allies, saves the day and proceeds to the next book.

The general plot of the book is not important, it's the character details, description of the environment and the emotions you feel when you read it that makes a story worth good.

[devilsgrin]

and alas for Eragon, the general plot, the character details, the enviromnental descriptors, the attemped emotive respone of Eragon are all lifted straight out of Anne McCaffrey's, JRR Tolkein's and David & Leigh Eddings works.
Yes there are bound to be similarities to other fantasy genre works, but Paolini's plagiarism is rather blatant.

[Balinor]

which eddings book? I'm only up to castle of wizadry, but I can't really see where your coming from, and I can't see the tolkein link either (not read McCaffrey yet), in fact, to compare the lord of he rings to eragon would seem rather degrading to tolkeins work imo

[devilsgrin]

pawn of prophecy in particular. especially before the quest begins with Mister Wolf and Garion discussing things...
the most obvious point is where mister wolf (at this stage he's not belgarath to readers yet - or to garion) is telling Garion about what is possible and what is impossible... he says something along the lines of "and in nine years you've discovered all things that are possible and impossible?" Brom says almost the exact thing to eragon - substituting 15 for 9.

[evil_genius666]

Hahaha yea...it just popped into my head

[zoran]

To me it seems that T. Williams has "borrowed" a lot from Belgariad in "Dragonbone Chair"

[ghost8772]

as far as epic level quests go, the Eddings' did pull off a decent story, however they did not have a monopoly on the "nobody kid from nowhere being orphaned and taken under the old male mentor's wing." people who haven't read eddings would slap a Star Wars label on the book instead. Yes, Paolini's writing came across as a mish mash of instances taken from books that he liked. Dragon's bonding with a rider. Rider dies, so does dragon. dragon dying, rider is smacked fairly far down, and likely dies, but some don't. The eddings ideas that seemed borrowed, was some of the magic ideas from the Elenium/Tamuli. Magic comes by proxy from a magical creature. the sword could have come from Eddings, though if I recall it had to be constructed by the rider him/herself, and each was unique, felt more like lightsaber than Riva Irongrip's Sword.

Honestly, Paolini is the reason I never took up writing. I KNOW I'd be writing down plots, scenes and conflicts I'd read and liked without even being able to tell what was original, and what was taken nearly verbatim from great works.

[Arthur Sting]

I have read Eragon and Eldest (will read Brisingr ) and I like them. And I also read all of the Belgariad & reading the Mallorean. My point to you Evil is that NOTHING now adays is original!

Yes it is similar (if not rip off) but Eddings' wasn't original eithar.

PS....When is there going to be a Paolini forum!!!

[devilsgrin]

you may get a paolini forum when he has enough books to qualify... two is clearly not enough.
When the Belgariad was published, it was not the first fantasy (of the style of fantasy we have now at least) to be released, but it was certainly a fresh take on a genre mired in heavy, heavy analogous themes. much lighter than the literary prose that Tolkien wrote, and infinitely less plagiaristic that Terry Brooks' Sword of Shannara - which is generally accepted as having been all but copied straight out of the pages of Lord of the Rings. Prior to Eddings' Belgariad, there were few others of note. not none certainly, but very few, and none who have had eddings' success (aside of course from Tolkien and Brooks) - clearly he wrote a series of books that people love.

there are differences between being unoriginal and being plagiaristic. clearly your a fan of Paolini's... books... and your entitled to like them. that doesn't change the fact that he's at best a poor writer too easily influenced by the works of others to not even realise he's copying large tracts of text from their books. or else a blatant plagiarist.
lets also recall that he would NEVER have been published by a major publishing house with Eragon and Eldest as his submitted works - he had to have his Daddy publish them for him.