# Read the mythology!



## undertheshepherd7 (Apr 23, 2012)

Hey, guys! I'm fairly new to this website, but I've been crafting worlds since I could walk.  Noticing that there was a Research forum on here, I felt compelled to give a good bit of advice:  Read the mythology.  Without mythology, there would be no fantasy genre.  All of those epics, fables, and mythologies all shaped the fantasy we love today!  After reading and studying up, you'll be able to really flesh out your world from the races to the magic to history and to the lore.  You'll find the roots of everything we know of today in our modern fantasy right in mythology.  Tolkien (him being my biggest inspiration) almost literally pulls stuff straight out of mythology and makes it his own.  Dwarves are straight out of the Norse myths, so are elves.  Gandalf means "wizard" in Old Norse.  Heck, even in the Hobbit when Bilbo takes some treasure out of Smaug's lair and Smaug goes out to burn down Laketown (and ultimately to his death) is parallel to Beowulf.  One of Beowulf's peasants steals a goblet out of a dragon's lair and the dragon comes out to destroy the Geats.  The dragon is slain (along with Beowulf too).  It's all about the mythology!  You'll get great ideas, a good way to shape your races, and you'll take a path to how you want your world to be.  If anyone would like suggestions, I can post a few good epics and myths to read.


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## Shockley (Apr 23, 2012)

Some points:

 1. I'd say most of the things you're talking about are folklore, not mythology. 

 2. Gandalf doesn't mean wizard. Gand means 'wand.' Alf means 'alf,' which is the basis for modern elves. Tolkien actually took the name from the Heimskringla, which is a history (with some lies) of the ancient Scandinavian kings - and one of his favorite stories growing up had a character named Gandolf. It's unrelated to any mythic meanings.

 But otherwise, yeah.


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## grahamguitarman (Apr 24, 2012)

Your preaching to the converted really, but yeah much of fantasy does have its roots in folklore and mythology.


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