# Silmarillions influence on Star Wars



## Curufinwe

Some of you may already know this but for those who don't, George Lucas whilst writing 'Star Wars' and all that goes with that title, brought in many features of other mythologies and fantasy writings - one being Middle-Earth. Examples of small features in which Tolkiens writings have been the name of the Ewok planet Endor - which in quenyan means Middle Earth - and the architcture of Naboo being similar to elven architecture. Anyway, I have a query, do you think that the character of Feanor has any similarity with any Star Wars characters or any other Silmarillion characters having any similar characters in Star Wars?


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## Hammersmith

I assumed Endor was named after the Biblical location where Saul consulted a witch. Much of Star Wars steals names from really cheeky locations (Mon Calamari case in point  ) and I certainly never imagined George Lucas wading through pages of literature to find his names. Stranger things have happened though.


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## Aiwendil2

I don't think that _The Silmarillion_ can have had a substantial impact on Star Wars - even if we assume (without evidence) that Lucas did in fact read it.

Of course, it cannot have had any influence at all on _A New Hope_, which was released in 1977, the same year as the published _Silmarillion_.

The use of the name Endor by both Tolkien and Lucas did catch my attention as well, but I think it quite improbable that Lucas took the name from Tolkien - "Endor" is a simple enough name for it to have been invented independently.

As for the architecture of Naboo - never having actually seen Elven architecture, how are we to judge any potential similarity? I simply don't see the connection.

I will say, though, that while I would guess that Lucas never picked up _The Silmarillion_, I do suspect that _The Lord of the Rings_ had a certain influence on Star Wars, if perhaps a deep and subtle one.


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## Hammersmith

Architecturally Naboo was based chiefly of the Reneissance Italian style. I think.


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## Curufinwe

The Naboo architecture is almost identical to a cover ted nasmith made for the cover of the silmarillion. And for Endor, have you ever seen the online lessons that someone has made? They haev plenty of side notes pointing to uses of Quenyan.


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## Greenwood

The first _Star Wars_ film (chronologically) was based on a Japanese samurai film (I think it was called something like _The Secret Fortress_), hence the light sabers and jedi (samurai).


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## Aiwendil2

Curufinwe wrote:


> The Naboo architecture is almost identical to a cover ted nasmith made for the cover of the silmarillion.



I cannot think of a Nasmith picture with architecture resembling Naboo's. Which picture is it?

And when was the Nasmith Silmarillion first made available? I seem to remember it being fairly recent. Obviously, unless it was at least a year or two before 1999, it could not possibly have influenced _The Phantom Menace_.

Even if there is some Ted Nasmith illustration that shows some resemblance to Naboo architecture, it seems very improbable that Lucas was influenced by it. Hammersmith is right; Naboo's architecture is fairly closely modelled on that of the Italian Rennaissance.



> And for Endor, have you ever seen the online lessons that someone has made? They haev plenty of side notes pointing to uses of Quenyan.



At the time _Return of the Jedi_ was being made, Quenya was much less widely known than it is today. "Endor" is a simple enough word that it is not astonishing that two people came up with it separately. I'll certainly grant that Lucas may have been influenced by the general style of Quenya as it is presented in _The Lord of the Rings_, though.

Greenwood wrote:


> The first Star Wars film (chronologically) was based on a Japanese samurai film (I think it was called something like _The Secret Fortress_),



I believe you're thinking of Kurosawa's _The Hidden Fortress_. I have not seen it yet, but supposedly there are a number of close parallels between it and _A New Hope_. However, I think it may be an exaggeration to say that the first Star Wars movie was "based on" it.


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## Ithrynluin

Aiwendil2 said:


> Curufinwe wrote:
> Quote:
> The Naboo architecture is almost identical to a cover ted nasmith made for the cover of the silmarillion.
> I cannot think of a Nasmith picture with architecture resembling Naboo's. Which picture is it?



Perhaps Curufinwe was thinking of this one:







This was certainly on the cover of one edition of _The Silmarillion_, but I can't see any resemblance.

In any case, this edition of the book was definitely released much much later than the Phantom Menace. Therefore, I also don't think Lucas was influenced by the works of Tolkien, at least not consciously, and certainly not substantially.


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