Midkemia - Inspiration

Inspiration

Though all fantasy works published after Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings are usually acknowledged as indebted to him to some extent, Feist has fairly directly borrowed elements amounting to entire cultures. The elves are described using Tolkien's own words, including borrowings from his Elvish languages (for example, moredhel, Feist's name for his "dark elves", is found in Tolkien and comes from the Sindarin elements mor 'dark' and edhel 'elf'). The Elven city of Elvandar is heavily borrowed from Lothlórien, and the Mac Mordain Cadal is certainly influenced by Moria. However, Feist's Elves - unlike Tolkien's - do age and eventually die, though they are very long-lived. Feist's Dwarves are also distinctly Tolkienesque. Feist himself is forthcoming about the influence, calling his use of Sindar an "homage." Readers have noted that the influences are less pronounced in later books.

Also Feist has borrowed and used cultures throughout history to base his nations, countries and people in, such as Roman influences in the Quegan culture, Arabian influences in Keshian culture, and Asian influences in the Tsurani culture. From references, it can also be inferred that Kinnoch is influenced by Ireland, Krondor by London, Darkmoor by Germany, Bas-Tyra by France, Novindus by India and Australia, and Rodez by Spain.

Midkemia is the world setting from Feist's college role-playing group, also known as the Thursday Nighters (until they became the Friday Nighters due to late games and early morning classes), which had begun as an outgrowth of the Triton Wargaming Society at UCSD. D&D, published by TSR, Inc., formed the root of the Midkemian game, but like many groups playing D&D at that time, the Thursday Nighters modified and evolved the rules wholesale, until they were barely recognizable as having any relationship to D&D. Feist came into this group after the original campaign had been developed by fellow students at UCSD, and played for three years before he began writing his stories, the first of which were humorous short stories set in the game realm. None of those stories were ever published. Later Feist decided to try his hand at serious fantasy, and asked if anyone objected to his using Midkemia, as it saved him the trouble of world-building from scratch. Feist has mentioned on many occasions that many of the constraints of that world created dramatic issues he would never have dreamed up on his own, and for which he was grateful. Several of the novels are dedicated to other members of that group from college. None of his books are based on campaigns, as the game takes place roughly 500 years after the novel Magician. Feist has likened himself more to historical novelists rather than fantasy writers, stating that he writes "historical novels about a place that doesn't exist." None of his characters are "player characters" from these Friday Nighter sessions, save two, Praji and Vaja, introduced in the novel The King's Buccaneer, characters created for Feist's campaign, by his college friend, Richard Spahl.