I have been meaning to post this for a while and now I've got all the examples I can find I will post! I'm sure other people have realised this and I'm sorry if it's already been posted, but has anyone else noticed Skyrim is based on the LOTR films?

Examples:

Moria orcs are VERY similar to the falmer!
Whiterun is almost identical to Edoras (and Rohan), it's on top of a hill in the middle of a vegetated field ect.
The designs in Whiterun are identical to the designs on the swords and building of Rohan
Looking from the side at Whiterun you can see mountains in the background just like the films
The wood elves could be based on the ones from the films and books
The stone carvings/designs in Dwemer ruins are exact to the Dwarven ones in the films
--EDIT--
The elven armour is exactly the same as the films, except the colours!
ALSO NOTE: I didn't mean based 100%, i just mean they must have taken a lot of ideas from the LOTR films

Thats all I've got onmy mind now but I'll probably remember the other few later, if you guys have any comment please!

HAHA, after seeing all these comments I realised I've worded it very wrong by based i do mean inspired...otherwise...trolol

What?

Since when did dragons decide to wtfpwn the world in LotR?

Where the hell is the One Ring?

What about the Hobbits?

Where the [censored] is my Rivendell?

Who are the Nazgul?

Why can't I ride an oliphaunt/mammoth?

Dwemer Runes are NOTHING like Dwarven runes in LotR, and hell the runes you see in LotR are elvish:

http://images.uesp.net/b/b7/AyleidLanguage_example.jpg

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081215132414/lotr/images/f/f3/Moria_runes.JPG

NOTHING ALIKE

Oh my Talos, not again.

Tolkien borrowed heavily from Norse mythology and culture in his depiction of Rohan. Bethesda has always drawn heavily from Norse mythology and culture for its depiction of Skyrim and the Nords. The similarities are the result of similar source material, not the result of Bethesda "copying" Tolkien.

The only thing they have in common is the fantasy setting. Tolken didn't invent elves or orcs.

this 100%

He never said Bethesda copied Tolkien.

OP, I remember reading a magazine article several months back where Todd Howard said they drew heavily from the Lord of the Rings films for inspiration. That's a great thing in my opinion!

A lot of fantasy games/books/films are gonna be inspired by the greatest fantasy story of all time. I agree with Clusterfact, it's good to see. LOTR is the best so to draw inspiration from that is never a bad thing.

And i personally love how Rohan-like Whiterun is if they introduce mounted combat and spears (both of which were shown in game jam) i'll be a very happy

Me too.

LOTR films? /facepalm

Try the LOTR books, and there we go!

If any thing, its more based on Norse mythology.

no

edit : though now that I think about it, LOTR may be based a bit on Morrowind

LOL Apeloffen, first thing I thought when I saw the title.

i think skyrim was heavly inspideaaard by haalo daaerp

Inspired by yes, The music you hear as you arrive in a village or small town is unmistakenably LOTR style & there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

whats so wrong with it being sorta like the LOTR books... fan boiz need to chilll out

Everything is based off a tolkien because tolkien has written the most in depth fanstasy world in history pretty much a bible.. Now basing it on the movie even it didn't go by the Lord of the Ring books good enough but still had the same feeling that it was tolkien.

Nobody in this thread said there was anything wrong with it being inspired by LOTR.

In the film, weren't that goblins we saw in moria, and not orcs?

No.
This one I have to admit. Not too inspired in the design department.

Holy [censored], Tolkien invented mountains!

Because Tolkien's elves are short cannibals with mohawks and completely black eyes? You should check the label on your game disk to make sure you didn't load up Dungeon Siege.
Double no.
Look up the meaning of the word 'exact.' But it is a pretty clear visual homage.

That's only half true, and to the extent it's true, it svcks. Go play Morrowind.

I still can't figure this one out.

Yes. Bethesda have taken a lot of inspiration from LOTR in both Oblivion and Skyrim - but especially Skyrim.

Personally, i'm fine with it though. Skyrim still feels like a fairly unique world.

no morrowind does not even have close to the amount of depth Tolkien has put into middle earth.. or any of his books regarding the races, factions, lands and more I don't care how much of annoying fan you are to the game it is not in scale of anything Tolkien works it is made BGS for god sakes they can't make/tell stories at all most of its lore is just not there such as dwarves its just assumptions by its player nothing more.

I don't believe I made any comparisons between Morrowind and Tolkien. I just said that Morrowind's creativity doesn't borrow from Tolkien. So hold your horses and capitalize your letters.

And if you looked into the lore surrounding Morrowind, you would have to concede that it has more narrative complexity, esoteric and intellectual depth than Tolkien's straightforward stories of heroes and gods. Tolkien may have described the minute details of certain places in his work more thoroughly, but does detail and description make a work inherently better? Does making a fantasy world bigger make it better? In any case, Tolkien never really laid out the beliefs, social structure, religion and economy of a truly foreign culture the way TES III does with the Dunmer.

Morrowind was a video game, not a novel, so it aimed to tell stories in a different way. You can't compare its narrative intent to LotR.

Well, that's just your own ignorance.

Man...and I thought it was based on the US Civil War....

Which one?