Quote:
Originally Posted by Haramu
I know the professor inspired a lot of authors like J. K. Rowling but it seems fantasy writers nowadays haven’t anything else to add. They can’t make anything new and fresh. ...
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I don't think there is much in Tolkien that was truly new. As you say, his main input was making it fresh for his time. He drew on sources, what Jung calls archetypes, from Norse and Celtic mythologies, but there are also huge chunks of Mesopotamian, Indian and Greek tales in there too, not to mention philosophies from Plato to Nietzsche. Drawing on so many themes it is hard to imagine how any writer could avoid Tolkien's influence. Even when authors go back to the root stories they cannot avoid the comparison. Tolkien has become the standard that others get measured by.
One series I really like is Stephen Lawhead's
Pendragon Cycle (Taliesin, Merlin and Arthur), because it draws on the Atlantean myths and throws them into the mix with Celts. In that legendarium it is we Anglo-Saxon invaders who play the 'Orcish' role, which is one of the interesting twists. The books also won a C.S.Lewis award, so the Inkling influence is aknowledged.
Another favourite is Babylon 5, a TV series, but again the comparisons are explicit. Instead of being set in a distant past it is set in a distant future with Vorlons and Shadows in the role of Maiar and sentients like humans aspiring to join them beyond the rim of the galaxy. There is even a Beren and Luthien tale, Sheridan and Delen, where she gives up part of her Minbari nature to merge their two races.
These two examples may not appeal to everyone, they both have their flaws and stand in the shadow of Tolkien, but they are special to me because, in the course of their story telling, they introduced me to ideas that I might otherwise have rejected as old fashioned, obsolete or simply un-interesting.