This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Burai: The "nonhumans are Tolkien ripoffs" bulletpoints strike me as a tangent that fogs the point. E.g. what again does Runequest elves being plants have to do with "fictional stand-ins for real cultures"?
Tulling: It illustrates that there is a similar mechanism at work when it comes to portraying stock non-human races. For humans one can use real cultures as a template, for non-humans one uses the tolkienian archetypes.
Ununnilium: I'm taking the Runequest example out, though, because that's just a step too far, and would be best saved for a page discussing those archetypes:
- The Runequest role-playing and game setting likes to twist things around: Its elves are plants, and hostile to meatkind.
Roland: Not really sure the Eddings example is entirely fair, as it's most obvious in the Belgariad series.
Logos: Most of the Eddings parallels look OK (they agree with my own noodlings of long ago), but a few need fixing IMHO. The Arends are a bit like Norman French (who were in fact Viking settlers who adopted the local culture, as Vikings were wont to do), but I would generalise them more as feudal Europeans. The Mimbrate Arends are very like the Feudal French, with their armoured knights and courtly life on the backs of the peasantry (later exported to England with William the Conqueror) - "Mimbre" itself looks a little French. I haven't been able to pin the Asturian Arends down, though there might be a clue in the Asturias region in Spain - it was once a principality. The Wacite Arends, from Polgara's recollections and Beldin's mimicry, actually sound Irish, and seem to have been the least elitist (one of the reasons why Polgara liked them so much). I'd remove the qualifiers on the Nyissans being Egyptian - they had the eye makeup and the head-shaving, and the pharmacology, and lots of snakes. Dunno about the Ulgos being the Jews - there are parallels, but it doesn't sit quite right. The East-West divide seems pretty much like it was in the Cold War. The heavyset Murgos would not look out of place wearing bearskin hats and heavy overcoats, and the Thulls fit into the mould of the generic, put-upon peasant Slavs. As for the Nadraks, they appear to resemble ancient Turkics or ancient Bulgars or similar. Nobody seems to have tackled Drasnia. Thing is, they also appear to be English - I would bracket them as the land of Jamesbondia, with Rhodar as a nicer version of Henry VIII and Porenn as Queen Victoria. :-)
Doktor von Eurotrash: My two cents: the Asturian Arends are the Saxons to the Mimbrate Arends' Normans. Think Ivanhoe. I'd agree 100% on the Wacite Arends being Celts of some description. Drasnia is indeed mainly Spy Country, though its depiction as mercantile, prosperous and pretty gives me a vibe of early modern Germany (pre-Prussia).
Charred Knight: Hiromu Arakawa created Amestris, Ishval, and Xing by combining cultures of several different nations. An example is that the people of Ishval wear clothing thats found in both India and the Middle East. In addition the name Ishvala most likely comes from Ishvara a hindu concept. They also have warrior monks most likely based off the various budhist warrior monks (most famously Shaolin)
That Other 1 Dude: That thing about the villains from Phantom Menace falls under Space Jews
Ross N: Columbia (the USA) has a different spelling from Colombia (the South America country).
Columbia actually came first strangely enough.
Nobodymuch: Is there a trope for the tendency to equate everyone who happens to mention "honor" with the Japanese? Because it's happening here. The Klingons bear no more resemblance to any past or present Japanese culture than they do to, say, French chivalry or Lakota Sioux.
Smoot: One interesting template are the Gurkhas of Nepal. The Gurkhas are legendarily tough, but physically small, troops hailing from the Himalayas, who have served with the British since the 1700s. They turn up as a possible influence on Tolkien's Dwarves- short, but extremely hardy, and hailing from the mountains (also, compare the Dwarvish "Khazad ai menu!" (The Dwarves are upon you) to "Ayo Gurkhali!" (The Gurkhas are upon you) ) Also, the word for "Lieutenant" in Nepali is Jemadar (compare with ST:DS 9's "Jem'hadar"- incredibly hardy, fearless troops serving on behalf of another 'country'.)
Kerrah: Can someone tell me what the Warcraft orcs have in common with samurai?
Master Hand: I made a redirect for this page, but I'm not getting an alternate titles box. Can anyone explain?
Helter Skelter: Don't know about the Code Geass Britannia bit—the page currently has it that Code Geass' Britannia is a Fantasy Counterpart of America because it moved the seat of power to North America. After that, the similarities end. Rather, Britannia is a general Europe.
