[Dragaera] _Taltos_ and _The Hobbit_

[Jerry Friedman]

From: Alexx Kay <alexx at panix.com>


> A few months back, I reread Tolkien's _The Hobbit_, an old favorite. 
> Shortly thereafter, I reread another old favorite, _Taltos_, by Steven
> Brust.  Now I wonder if Brust had _The Hobbit_ on his mind while writing
> _Taltos_.  They're totally different in tone, setting, and themes... yet
> there are some striking similarities.
...

> * Bilbo is hired by a powerful wizard as a burglar, despite not thinking
> of himself as a burglar.  Vlad is hired by a powerful enchantress as a
> thief, despite not thinking of himself as a thief.

Heck, they're both stories where the protagonist is comfortable at home but is 
convinced to go There and Back Again.

> * The magical hiring figure isn't around for most of the major action
> sequences.  (Admittedly, this is a standard Campbellian trope.)

Who's Campbell?

But it's the same plot problem--Tolkien has to keep Gandalf out of the way when 
he'd be too powerful, as Paul Kocher pointed out, and Steven has to keep Sethra 
away ditto.

> * Early in each narrative, the protagonists meet a group of semi-mythical
> creatures who are hospitable and funny (Rivendell elves, cat-centaurs).
...

Actually, the formidable and half-animal cat-centaurs remind me more of Beorn 
than of the Rivendell elves.

> * The last major action of each protagonist is to give an item which they
> do not technically own to a third party (Arkenstone, goddess's blood).
...

At some risk to themselves but ultimately solving other people's problem.

> Silly, perhaps, but I thought it amusing enough to share.

Yeah, I like this kind of stuff.

I might add that in both books, somebody gets his or her rightful leadership 
position (Aliera as Heir, Bard the descendant of Wossname as King of Dale).  And 
an evil character who seems to have been defeated will come back later with a 
vengeance. :-)

Jerry Friedman