LotR influences in Morrowind's Dagoth Ur plot

[greendogo]

Is it just me or does Morrowind's plot seem an awful lot like Lord of the Rings?

You have an evil mountainous wasteland (Red Mountain) where ages past the allied forces of good fought against the evil forces of a necromantic divine wizard. He is seemingly defeated, and temporarily banished.

There's even a single object born of the mountain (ring vs Heart), central to the villain, from which he gets all his power and which the modern day protagonist must destroy.

[Xui'al]

Is it just me or does Morrowind's plot seem an awful lot like Lord of the Rings?

You have an evil mountainous wasteland (Red Mountain) where ages past the allied forces of good fought against the evil forces of a necromantic divine wizard. He is seemingly defeated, and temporarily banished.

There's even a single object born of the mountain (ring vs Heart), central to the villain, from which he gets all his power and which the modern day protagonist must destroy.

Not really. Labelling either the Dwemer/Dagoth entente or the alliance of the other five houses as good or evil is very difficult. Perhaps we could best call it a difference of opinion between those who would be the Tribunal, Dagoth Ur, and Indoril Nerevar. Sure, it begins and ends on a volcano, but that's where the similarities end. Maybe if Gandalf had murdered Frodo, taken the ring, and made himself a god...

[url]http://www.imperial-library.info/content/battle-red-mountain[/url]

[url]http://www.imperial-library.info/content/real-nerevar[/url]

[url]http://www.imperial-library.info/content/war-first-council[/url]

[url]http://www.imperial-library.info/content/nerevar-red-mountain[/url]

[url]http://www.imperial-library.info/content/kagrenacs-tools[/url]

[greendogo]

Ha, point taken, but I think it's pretty clear from the context of the story that the narrative is on the side of the alliance between elves and dwarves.

[Xui'al]

That's the brilliance of ES, because it's a matter of whose narrative? Certainly, the evil monster at Red Mountain allied with the godless Dwemer is one supported by the Tribunal, but the books I linked to show that there are other stories. One might also question whether the Tribunal were not the bad guys: the Dissident Priests certainly thought so, and there's the whole Ministry of Truth thing: [url]http://www.imperial-library.info/content/progress-truth[/url].

[img]http://i57.tinypic.com/9h3m8m.jpg[/img]

[greendogo]

I need to pause this discussion and say: That is an awesome piece of art there. Where is it from?

[Xui'al]

I believe it is Michael Kirkbride's, one of MW's writers.

[cabal]

It is "Foul Murder" by Michael Kirkbride and is part of the [url=http://www.imperial-library.info/content/obscure-texts]Obscure Texts[/url], as the Imperial Library calls them.