Does anyone else think Martin mined some of his ideas from the works of Anne McCaffrey?

1. Dragonriders

2. An ancient enemy that has gone missing for a very long time.

3. A caste of defenders that has dwindled to the point of being ineffectual.

4. Civilization derived from am earler, more advanced iteration.

Maybe she copied from Tolkien.

quote:

---

Maybe she [McCaffrey] copied from Tolkien.

---

i do not see that. What are your thoughts?

Every one of your bullets is a common plot device in sci-fi/fantasy literature. McCaffrey didn't come up with any of those on her own either.

quote:

---

Does anyone else think Martin mined some of his ideas from the works of Anne McCaffrey?

1. Dragonriders

2. An ancient enemy that has gone missing for a very long time.

3. A caste of defenders that has dwindled to the point of being ineffectual.

4. Civilization derived from am earler, more advanced iteration.

---

2. Sauron
3. Gondor (no kings, just stewards)
4. the present-day men suck ass compared to the age of isildur and his bros.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Does anyone else think Martin mined some of his ideas from the works of Anne McCaffrey?

1. Dragonriders

2. An ancient enemy that has gone missing for a very long time.

3. A caste of defenders that has dwindled to the point of being ineffectual.

4. Civilization derived from am earler, more advanced iteration.

---

2. Sauron
3. Gondor (no kings, just stewards)
4. the present-day men suck ass compared to the age of isildur and his bros.

---

This. You can't seriously think these two are the first to use these themes.

Hey, it seems to me that the parallels between Martin and McCaffrey are MUCH closer than the parallels between either of them and Tolkein. Clearly you disagree.

BTW, none of them are so blatant a rip-off as Avatar vis-a-vis "Winds of Altair" by Ben Bova.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Does anyone else think Martin mined some of his ideas from the works of Anne McCaffrey?

1. Dragonriders

2. An ancient enemy that has gone missing for a very long time.

3. A caste of defenders that has dwindled to the point of being ineffectual.

4. Civilization derived from am earler, more advanced iteration.

---

1. Wraiths riding Fell Beasts
2. Sauron
3. Gondor (no kings, just stewards)
4. the present-day men suck ass compared to the age of isildur and his bros.

---

Just a little addition.

It's fine to borrow ideas. Most good writers do it.

I read a LOT of fantasy. Every series has numerous parallels with other series. It's not just those two. I world also argue that pern and westeros are two VERY different stories.

quote:

---

I read a LOT of fantasy. Every series has numerous parallels with other series. It's not just those two. I world also argue that pern and westeros are two VERY different stories.

---

I agree. I did not say that Martin stole the story ... Only that he seems to have borrowed some major ideas:

The decline of the Night's Watch is very similar to the decline of the Weyr sytem.

The long interval since the war with the Others is very, very similar to the longer than usual Interval since the last Threadfall.

Valyria has at least some parallel in the civilization that colonized Pern.

Of course, the odd seasons in GoT is similar to Helliconia, though on a much shorter timeframe.

Every story has already been told. Seriously can you name any plot that is truly unique?

quote:

---

Every story has already been told. Seriously can you name any plot that is truly unique?

---

Memento

Everyone borrows from Tolkien.

quote:

---

I agree. I did not say that Martin stole the story ... Only that he seems to have borrowed some major ideas:

The decline of the Night's Watch is very similar to the decline of the Weyr sytem.

---

Decline of the NW is also like decline of Rangers/Dunedain.

You forgot the most important, unique part:

Impressing dragons from eggs.

Unlike some of the other details, this is pretty unique to Pern.

I mean, George R. R. Martin stole the albino dragonriders and royal incest from Elric, not Pern. So is the decadent, fallen civilization.

But having an egg and impressing the baby dragon, that's pure Anne McCaffrey.

Your first post was bumping an 8 year old thread?

Is Dragonriders of Pern any good?

Huge fan of the main storyline of Pern. Still go back and read it occasionally. Was looking recently and it is shocking to me how long ago she came up with it and how well it aged.

Never could get all the way through Got. Tried multiple times. Watched the series.

Definitely the premier Dragon/non human companion with humans concept to me. Pern is really more scifi than fantasy though.


Personally, aside from the generalized scifi/fantasy storyline tropes discussed above, I would say I don't find them similar at all.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

---

Your first post was bumping an 8 year old thread?

---

I respect the hell out of this

This thread needs to get laid

Sure, why not?

It's a silly artifact of people ignorant of how the Internet works, to care how old a thread is.

The first three books are brilliant. After that the quality varies, then declines. Now it's in the grave-robbing phase, like Dune and Middle Earth estate-released material.

How do the cones of dunshire play into all this?

kazvorpal said:

---

Sure, why not?

It's a silly artifact of people ignorant of how the Internet works, to care how old a thread is.

---

Leave it to a wbt sock to talk about how age doesn't matter.

Pretty accurate. I liked the others of the main arc to learn the scifi background of the original settlers and why things developed as they did. It doesn't hold up quite as well long term, I guess. Never got into the offshoots and the ones her kids have written. But the first three are pretty unique and excellent. Lots of dragon books try to be like her books. Have yet to read another that hits her mark though.