As anyone working in the arts and creative industries knows, ideas often interact with other ideas to germinate new ones, and sometimes ignite with enormous success. Such ideas include J.R.R Tolkein’s critically acclaimed The Lord of the Rings novel trilogy, written between 1937 and 1949. The high fantasy trilogy has long been considered a staple by experts in the genre since its takeoff in the 1950s. It later on inspired The Lord of the Rings movies in the early 2000s. But did it ever influence the Legend of Zelda series? According to the popular YouTuber Zeltik, it most certainly did.
From the concept of elf-like Hylians to the Triforce to Ganon as a classical Dark Lord Sauron-type character trope, it turns out there are a number of creative nods to Lord of the Rings in the land of Hyrule. Zelda staff member Takashi Tezuka was a great fan of Tolkein’s works himself, and his appreciation for Lord of the Rings is clearly seen in the first and second Zelda game scripts. Watch how Zeltik unpacks this information and more in his fascinating YouTube video below.
