Questions tagged [inspiration]
Use this tag for questions about the inspiration behind ideas (names, characters, objects, titles, etc.) in science fiction or fantasy works. Use [influence] for questions about how SF&F works have influenced other works or culture.
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What inspired the name Shrek?
Simple question: is there any information about the inspiration or thought process behind the creation of the name Shrek for the eponymous film and franchise?
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The Art behind Bruce Wayne’s visual design
When Bill Finger and Bob Kane first introduced Bruce Wayne in detective comics 27, was he visually inspired by any actor like Clark Kent was by Harold Lloyd or Joker with Conrad Veidt ?
If he was ...
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What story by Charles L. Harness is R. A. Lafferty alluding to here?
In the 1970 novelette "Animal Fair" by R. A. Lafferty he apparently alludes to some story by Charles L. Harness. What story is that? (And who was that "old Greek philosoph"?)
The ...
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Which comic book elements inspired Rachel Dawes' portrayal as Bruce Wayne's childhood friend?
Has Christopher Nolan ever talked about the idea behind Rachel Dawes? Especially her depiction as Bruce Wayne’s childhood sweetheart, a concept I loved about her character. She was originally created ...
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Why the title "World Enough and Time" for the Doctor Who episode?
The first part of the Doctor Who Series 10 finale is an episode entitled "World Enough and Time", an obvious reference to the opening line of the poem "To His Coy Mistress" written ...
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Real-world language inspiration behind the fantasy words used in the Tiger and Del series?
I've started reading Jennifer Roberson's Tiger and Del series after discovering it as an incorrect answer to a story-ID question. An important theme in the worldbuilding is the huge cultural divide ...
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Background for the bull with the head of a man in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?
Is there any literary background for the concept of a bull with the head of a man (like a reverse minotaur) in C.S. Lewis's Narnia book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?
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Which one of Batman’s inspirations inspired his martial arts abilities?
I know it’s normal for a character without special powers such as Batman to have hand to hand skills, but Batman was fashioned after pulp heroes and film noir characters. The Shadow inspired his dark ...
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Origin of the name Gallifrey (out of universe)? [duplicate]
Where does the name Gallifrey come from, out of universe? When was it first used in the show, who came up with it, and what inspired the name? Does it have any connection with Galileo, perhaps?
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What inspired Edgar Allan Poe's submarine?
There is a February 1845 story by Edgar Allan Poe, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade, in which he recites a long litany of natural wonders, which are explained in his footnotes to the text, ...
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Is there any evidence on whether "Balrog" from Street Fighter is named after the Balrogs in The Lord of the Rings?
In the original Japanese version of Street Fighter II, Balrog is a claw-wielding Spanish ninja/assassin. When the game was localized for the US, this character's name was changed to Vega.
In the US ...
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Killing an adept, in James Branch Cabell and Fritz Leiber
From Figures of Earth (1921) by James Branch Cabell:
He came upon Manuel like a whirlwind, and Manuel had no choice in the matter. So they fought, and presently Manuel brought the vermilion knight to ...
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Is there evidence for or against the possibility that George Lucas read “Nathan the Wise”?
If I describe a famous classic work of fiction as follows:
A young orphaned chivalrous knight fighting a powerful lord meets a wise old man who will serve as his mentor, and saves a young lady who ...
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Was this poem about Superman and Robin inspired by a specific comic?
I'm wondering if eight-year-old boy-genius Gerald Bostock was inspired by an actual comic with his poem Thick as a Brick (written on the 3rd of March 1972).
Here is the relevant passage:
Won't you ...
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Did plankton inspire Giger's design for Alien
I was recently reminded that during David Attenborough's series The Blue Planet, Attenborough makes a claim that one particular form of plankton inspired the design of Giger's alien as seen in the ...
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Was this idea used in Anderson’s The Man Who Counts based on a real life idea?
In Poul Anderson's The Man Who Counts the heroes create ships made of ice to fight a battle at sea. This is rather similar to a real world project conceived during WWII - Project Habbakuk to create ...
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Inspiration for Iain M. Banks' Inversions?
Following some discussion on a private forum about the Culture series by Iain M. Banks, I found myself thinking that the science fiction novel Inversions shared some interesting similarities with the ...
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Which Abednedo are named after Beastie Boys titles?
Some Abednedo have been named after albums or songs by the Beastie Boys, most famously Ello Asty after Hello Nasty. The Abednedo themselves having been named after part of the refrain to "...
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Is Clive the robot a reference to Clive Davis?
In Despicable Me 3, the villain Balthazar Bratt, has robot sidekick named Clive. Clive is a fairly uncommon name, and Bratt (along with the theme of the movie) has an obsession with 80's pop culture ...
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What is the origin behind the line "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon."
Famously, in The Undiscovered Country has this line by Chancellor Gorkon, in response to Spock quoting Hamlet:
You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.
...
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Was Falkor influenced by East Asian dragons?
Falkor reminds me of East Asian dragons, in terms of his appearance and being a luck dragon. But I only see a mention that it has been drawn to look like one. I'm wondering about clear influences or ...
user167426
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What (if anything) is the inspiration behind A’ctelios Salash in "A Wandering Inn"?
A’ctelios Salash, the Carven City, Tombhome, the Shield Kingdom which Rots - I think I've seen the concept of a rotten giant being eaten and corrupting those who eat it. But I'm not sure where!
Does ...
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Where did this idea about aboriginal hunting parties come from?
The novel Vacuum Flowers, by Michael Swanwick, features this description of primitive hunting parties:
"Don’t you know where the tetrad comes from? Eucrasia patterned us after the ancient ...
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Did Roger Zelazny ever read The Lord of the Rings?
During one of the discussions of the Chronicles of Amber, the question arose whether Zelazny thought about creating an analogue of The Lord of the Rings, and how much did Tolkien influence him? Did ...
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Did Tolkien base the beacons of Minas Tirith on a real world communication system?
In The Return of the King, a series of large wooden pyres—beacons—are lit, each in once the previous one in order appears to burn, and so in this way lead to a beacon visible from Meduseld. This ...
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Were the Challengers of the Unknown inspired by Doc Savage and his Fabulous Five?
The Challengers of the Unknown are often said to have been inspired by Doc Savage and his Fabulous Five, but I don’t know whether it's true or just fan speculation. Did Jack Kirby ever say whether the ...
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What inspired the creation of Cyrus Smith?
What inspired the character of Cyrus Smith in the novel The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne? Did Verne ever explain the concept behind the character?
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Was Douglas Adams's Deep Thought inspired by Robert Sheckley's Answerer?
Robert Sheckley's short story "Ask a Foolish Question" (1953) is about a sophisticated machine called Answerer which can answer any question but only those that are "valid", ...
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Is there a connection between Dennis O’Neil’s League of Assassins and the hashashin?
Are there quotes and interviews from Dennis O’Neil on the inspiration for the creation of the League of Assassins? It is said that they were inspired by a real order of assassins — which I believe, ...
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Any real-world inspiration for the countries in the Black Magician series?
Trudi Canavan's Black Magician series, starting with The Magicians' Guild and continuing with the first trilogy and then a prequel novel and sequel trilogy, is set in a purely fantasy world consisting ...
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Was Emmeline Vance's name inspired by the fantasy author, Jack Vance?
When I read Order of the Phoenix, Emmeline Vance's name stood out to me immediately. I find It unlikely that Rowling ever read Vance, but seeing a witch named "Vance" in a fantasy work tends ...
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Was Max Shreck's name inspired by the actor?
According to Batman wiki, Max Shreck is an original character created for the film by Daniel Waters, one of the screenwriters on the film.
The character of Max Shreck shares his name with the actor ...
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What was the inspiration for the creation of the League of Assassins?
What was the inspiration for Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams in creating the League of Assassins?
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Did Tolkien use Mont Saint-Michel as the inspiration for Minas Tirith
I am aware that Peter Jackson used Mont Saint-Michel as the inspiration of Minas Tirith, within the Return of the King movie.
If there any evidence that Tolkien used the same place as inspiration for ...
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Origin of T’Challa the Black Panther’s creation and Stan lee and Jack Kirby influences on creation of the character
What was the inspiration behind the creation of T'Challa the Black Panther? what influenced Stan Lee and Jack Kirby when they came up the character?
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What story is Shrek's donkey from?
I saw a post on Reddit that implied (without sources) that Donkey was one of the bad boys from pleasure island (Pinocchio), which explained how he can talk.
But I couldn't remember or find online any ...
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Did Chester Gould actually confirm that breathless Mahoney was visually based on Veronica lake?
Breathless Mahoney from the Dick Tracy comic strip is said to be modelled after actress Veronica Lake.
Is it true or just people’s assumptions? Has Chester Gould ever confirm that?
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What is the inspiration for Rappaccini’s daughter in the same-named novel
What was the inspiration behind Beatrice, the titular character in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel Rappacinni's Daughter?
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Inspiration for Red Impulse in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
I've been rewatching Science Ninja Team Gathcaman and my wife, who is Japanese, asked if the character of Red Impulse and his team of formation flying red jets was inspired by or named after the ...
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Any acknowledged real-world inspiration for the Centauri - Narn conflict?
One of the major plots of the Babylon 5 series is the conflict between the Centauri (an ancient but declining empire) and the Narn (a rapidly industrialising former Centauri colony), represented on ...
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Was it confirmed by anybody that an orc was modeled after Harvey Weinstein?
I just stumbled upon the story from 2021 that one orc in The Lord of the Rings from director Peter Jackson was modeled after Harvey Weinstein:
One orc among many in the Lord of the Rings movies was ...
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Was "Is this a pigeon?" from The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird, inspired by Bambi?
Is what has now become a famous meme, Yutaro Katori, a human android asks:
Is this a pigeon?
When seeing a butterfly, as they're still learning to recognise the difference.
On watching the much ...
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What inspired the fascist logo in the Doctor Who serial "Inferno"?
In the Doctor Who story "Inferno," the Third Doctor accidentally transports himself to an alternate universe, in which Britain has evidently been a fascist dictatorship since at least 1943. ...
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Was the firing squad scene in Hell Bent inspired by the similar situation in Carnage of Krell?
In the Doctor Who episode, Hell Bent, the Doctor is facing a firing squad, who are made up of those who respect him more than they respect the person giving them orders. In this case it is president ...
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Cover art on Lafferty's collection Nine Hundred Grandmothers
A three-breasted woman is depicted on the cover, by artists Leo and Diane Dillon, of the 1970 first edition of the R. A. Lafferty collection Nine Hundred Grandmothers. Was this cover inspired by a ...
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Was Douglas Adams specifically joking about British small talk?
There's this paragraph in the book:
“One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit of continually stating and repeating the very very obvious, as ...
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Similarities between The Wheel of Time and Tolkien's Legendarium
Did Robert Jordan ever remark on the similarities between The Wheel of Time and Tolkien's Legendarium? Especially names from The Silmarillion (Hurin, Huan &c.) and characters/themes (not names, ...
user128845
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Was T-Bob inspired by astromech droids or something else?
One of the characters I remember most from M.A.S.K was T-Bob who always reminded me of R2D2.
The page on fandom states that Wikipedia used to have a whole page for the character making the connection,...
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Was "Men Without Bones" inspired by the Yara-ma-yha-who myth?
The story Men Without Bones by Gerald Kersh is very old and ends with the memorable line, "We are the Martians -- they are the men!"
According to legend the Yara-ma-yha-who is a:
creature ...
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What is the first work to base Hogwarts uniforms on modern school uniforms?
The text of the first Harry Potter book describe the school uniform as a black robe with a black cloak, a hat, and dragon hide gloves when hand protection is needed, and I think that's pretty cool. ...
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