Tolkien, in the introduction to LOTR, says "It is neither allegorical or topical." and also says that "I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations...". So Julian is on pretty safe ground there. I'd take the 'cordial' part in the context of his friendship with C.S. Lewis, the canonical example of loading up your fantasy with Christian allegory.
Regardless of which, if you look for Christian allegory, you can find it, but I don't think Tolkien would regard it that way.
I don't think LOTR was a particularly big influence on Glorantha, but I do think Greg and Tolkien work quite similarly. Both freely adapt myths and legends from other cultural sources to their own work, and as a result there is a real mythic feel, rather than (like most fantasy authors) just recycling fantasy tropes from works they have read. Where D & D etc draws on LOTR as an inspiration, Glorantha draws on many of the same sources as LOTR for inspiration. Notably, plenty of Norse myth and saga influence in both.
At 6:48 PM +0000 22/2/02, Wulf Corbett wrote:
>Actually, I always thought Tolkein was an enormous influence on
>Glorantha, since it seems in various ways and places enormous effort
>has been made to make sure it IS NOT Tolkein...
Might be right on that one!
At 4:42 PM +0000 22/2/02, giangero wrote:
>Chsa Glut of the Tunnelled Hills.
He is referred to, but often not by name, in quite a few places.
Cheers David
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