9 Massive Franchises Clearly Inspired By Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings

Image via MovieStillsDB Published Jul 30, 2026, 4:15 PM EDT Angel Shaw is a Lead Writer and Critic on ScreenRant's TV team, covering new-release and classic TV shows across all major streaming platforms. She has been a writer with ScreenRant since 2022 and specializes in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and fantasy. Angel holds a bachelor's degree in language interpreting and is passionate about all things culture and communication—especially in how it relates to popular media throughout history (from Shakespeare to Friends to Game of Thrones). Sign in to your ScreenRant account J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is easily among the most influential pieces of fiction of all time. First and foremost, the author wrote a darn good story. There's adventure, magic, classic conflicts between good and evil, and poignant themes around hope and faith in the face of war and despair. That's just the start of what makes Tolkien's works so spectacular. This is an author who took things to another level, constructing a whole universe from the moment of creation through thousands of years of conflict, war, joy, love, devastation, and rebirth. The immense amount of time and work that Tolkien put into creating the structure, races, languages, and mythologies of The Lord of the Rings more than paid off. It's now the better part of a century later, and we still can't get enough of Middle-earth. The books have brought us several movies, including Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, and Prime Video now has its TV prequel series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The coming years will bring more in the way of film and television, and Warner Bros has several projects in the works. Still, the influence of The Lord of the Rings goes far beyond film adaptations and prequels. Tolkien established the framework for high fantasy as we know it, and several massively successful film, TV, and video or tabletop game franchises find their roots right here. Some are obvious right from the surface, while others require a bit more thought to discover just where Tolkien provided the inspiration. A Song Of Ice And Fire MovieStillsDB George R.R. Martin has been open about his opinions and appreciation for Tolkien's work, adopting the legendary author's approach to world-building within a fantasy environment. Like Tolkien, Martin has extended his legendarium far beyond the central story, planning out centuries of rulers, wars, and mysterious events. Additionally, Westeros and Middle-earth have similar, low-key magic systems that place supernatural elements in the background. Magic is rare and largely unavailable, and it typically comes with a heavy price. Martin also very specifically subverts Lord of the Rings' established tropes, challenging the black-and-white morality of its characters with well-placed moral duality. Stephen King's The Stand (& Connected Works) Stephen King took The Lord of the Rings' formula and brought it to the contemporary world in The Stand, explicitly stating in his non-fiction book Danse Macabre that his characters and setting are meant to directly parallel those from Tolkien's books. Las Vegas is set up as the new Mordor, with Randall Flagg functioning as Sauron while the group of heroes reflects the Fellowship of the Ring. King also adapted the themes of The Lord of the Rings, centralizing unassuming characters in the same way Tolkien centralized Hobbits. From there, The Stand became the wider The Dark Tower series, expanding King's works into a broader Tolkien-style legendarium. Star Wars Because Star Wars isn't a high fantasy, the parallels may not be immediately clear. Once you see them, though, it's like a smack to the face. Tolkien both took advantage of and invented a variety of key tropes that have been carried across the world of fiction. In terms of character archetypes, this includes a Wise Mentor, Dark Lord, and Ordinary Heroes. It's the hero's journey, but with more defined positions. Obi-Wan Kenobi parallels Gandalf, Sauron equates to Darth Vader, while Frodo is reflected in the farm-living Luke Skywalker. The Chronicles of Narnia The Lord of the Rings' influence on The Chronicles of Narnia exists more in the physical world than the fictional. Author C.S. Lewis was a good friend of Tolkien's, and the two frequently read one another's work. Lewis was among those who encouraged Tolkien to publish his Middle-earth stories, and was inspired to create his own fantasy world because of his friends' efforts. He even appeared to borrow some of Tolkien's terminology. That said, Tolkien didn't quite approve of Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia books, as he considered the mythology to be uneven and too heavily grounded in religious allegory. The Inheritance Cycle Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle is another that features a highly complex world with an extensive history and unique constructed languages. Eragon and the subsequent books use all the classical fantasy races popularized by The Lord of the Rings, including ethereal elves and mining dwarves. Just as Tolkien did, Paolini spent time constructing his "Ancient Language," which has its own grammatical structure. The Inheritance Cycle also leans heavily on those hero's journey tropes, layered over with that deep, extensive lore that holds the story on a steadfast foundation. The Elder Scrolls video game franchise is another that embraces the sorts of foundational high-fantasy tropes that Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings popularized. Once again, all the standard fantasy races are accounted for, though Elder Scrolls has expanded significantly. Additionally, like Middle-earth's four Ages, the Elder Scrolls timeline is divided into Eras, each marked by rises and falls of empires and geopolitical shifts. Oblivion and Skyrim, especially, embrace the aesthetic of The Lord of the Rings, matching Peter Jackson's film trilogy, specifically, in tone and architecture. Harry Potter We could write several articles analyzing the ways The Lord of the Rings influenced J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. While these fantasy worlds couldn't be more different, the character and thematic parallels are right on the nose. We again have the Wise Mentor who sacrifices himself (Dumbledore and Gandalf), a disembodied Dark Lord (Voldemort and Sauron), and a seemingly ordinary hero (Harry and Frodo). There are significant similarities regarding how Voldemort's Horcruxes sustain him compared to Sauron and his One Ring, and even magical beasts like Aragog and Shelob share parallels. The Legend Of Zelda The Legend of Zelda video game franchise has gone through several evolutions over the last few decades, but at the very foundation is, quite clearly, the structure of The Lord of the Rings. Co-creator Takashi Tezuka was a huge fan of Tolkien's work and used his love of the novels to shape the early concepts for the original game. As this world continued to expand, so did the Lord of the Rings influence. By Ocarina of Time, the kingdom of Hyrule was full of wholly unique races such as Zora and Gorons that parallel the likes of Elves and Dwarves. Death Mountain is even an easy duplicate of Mount Doom. Dungeons & Dragons The fantasy genre as a whole is heavily influenced by Dungeons & Dragons, but there really wouldn't be a Dungeons & Dragons without The Lord of the Rings—or at least it wouldn't be the same. While it's less obvious today, early D&D featured Hobbits, Balrogs, and Ents, all of which are specific to The Lord of the Rings. These creature and race names were later changed due to legal pressure, leaving us with Halflings, Balors, and Treants. Essentially, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson used the world format, mythology, and race-class pairings of Tolkien's fantasy books and set them within the game mechanics of medieval miniature wargaming. Movie(s) The Lord of the Rings (1978), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim TV Show(s) The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Video Game(s) The Lord of the Rings Online (dupe), Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria First Film The Lord of the Rings (1978) Cast Norman Bird, Anthony Daniels, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Morfydd Clark, Mike Wood, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Brian Cox, Shaun Dooley, Miranda Otto, Bilal Hasna, Benjamin Wainwright, Luke Pasqualino, Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt Created by J.R.R. Tolkien