6 ms·

D&D (& most modern high fantasy) was heavily influenced by LOTR. Saruman lived in Isengard (a tower), therefore the common modern high fantasy trope is that wiz

D&D (& most modern high fantasy) was heavily influenced by LOTR. Saruman lived in Isengard (a tower), therefore the common modern high fantasy trope is that wizards live in towers. Here’s a thread explaining why Saruman lived in the tower of Isengard. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/33b4v3/lotr_why_does_saruman_have_a_tower_what_was_it/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/33b4v3/l...

bombcar 5y ago
Fantasia has a wizard’s tower and it predates LotR, it’s an older trope.
- 3np 5y ago
  A lot of things popularized by Tolkien and later trickling into D&D lore have very old roots. If it weren't for Tolkien there may not even have been a D&D. I'm in line with Saruman.
- teddyh 5y ago
  > Fantasia has a wizard’s tower Does it? It has a wizard, and later there’s the mountan peak with Chernobog, but no wizard’s tower, from what I recall.
  - bombcar 5y ago
    Mickey is in a tower it seems based on the stairs the buckets are being carried up. But maybe it’s just visually some stairs.
    - GeoAtreides 5y ago
      I don't remember Chernobog or a Mickey or buckets in An never-ending story... The Empress had a tower, true, but I wouldn't call her a wizard per se
      - bombcar 5y ago
        Fantasia was a 40s Disney cartoon with a famous Mickey scene
      - shagie 5y ago
        https://video.disney.com/watch/sorcerer-s-apprentice-fantasia-4ea9ebc01a74ea59a5867853 https://video.disney.com/watch/sorcerer-s-apprentice-fantasi...
      - teddyh 5y ago
        The Neverending Story (Die unendliche Geschichte) by Michel Ende was published in 1979, and mostly takes place in the country of Fantastica. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (which mentions and describes Saruman and Orthanc) was published in 1954, 25 years earlier. Fantasia was a Disney animated movie from 1940, but did not, as I recall, feature a wizard’s tower.
KineticLensman 5y ago
> Saruman lived in Isengard (a tower) He was the only one of the three named wizards in LOTR who lived in a tower. Gandalf didn't really have a fixed abode and Radagast lived in tune with nature, on the western side of Mirkwood.
- ewindal 5y ago
  Radagast fits the druid archetype more than the wizard archetype nowadays. Gandalf is a unique case in my head. He’s more of a battlemage, the way I see it, if you ignore that he’s basically an angel.
  - ValentineC 5y ago
    Weren't all three of them (ex-Maiar) angels?
    - daneelsan 5y ago
      Yes
shagie 5y ago
We can go back further to Mark Twain with Chapter 7 of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court titled "Merlin's Tower" https://www.gutenberg.org/files/86/86-h/86-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/86/86-h/86-h.htm I'd also point to the towers of ancient times being places where astronomy and astrology where practiced and the linkage between astrology, divination, and wizards.
- Aerroon 5y ago
  Wizards are the scientists of fantasy worlds. They study the world to figure out how it works. An astronomy tower sounds quite useful to have. A single tower that you live in is also a castle.

bombcar 5y ago

Fantasia has a wizard’s tower and it predates LotR, it’s an older trope.

3np 5y ago
A lot of things popularized by Tolkien and later trickling into D&D lore have very old roots. If it weren't for Tolkien there may not even have been a D&D. I'm in line with Saruman.
teddyh 5y ago
> Fantasia has a wizard’s tower Does it? It has a wizard, and later there’s the mountan peak with Chernobog, but no wizard’s tower, from what I recall.
- bombcar 5y ago
  Mickey is in a tower it seems based on the stairs the buckets are being carried up. But maybe it’s just visually some stairs.
  - GeoAtreides 5y ago
    I don't remember Chernobog or a Mickey or buckets in An never-ending story... The Empress had a tower, true, but I wouldn't call her a wizard per se
    - bombcar 5y ago
      Fantasia was a 40s Disney cartoon with a famous Mickey scene
    - shagie 5y ago
      https://video.disney.com/watch/sorcerer-s-apprentice-fantasia-4ea9ebc01a74ea59a5867853 https://video.disney.com/watch/sorcerer-s-apprentice-fantasi...
    - teddyh 5y ago
      The Neverending Story (Die unendliche Geschichte) by Michel Ende was published in 1979, and mostly takes place in the country of Fantastica. J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (which mentions and describes Saruman and Orthanc) was published in 1954, 25 years earlier. Fantasia was a Disney animated movie from 1940, but did not, as I recall, feature a wizard’s tower.

KineticLensman 5y ago

> Saruman lived in Isengard (a tower) He was the only one of the three named wizards in LOTR who lived in a tower. Gandalf didn't really have a fixed abode and Radagast lived in tune with nature, on the western side of Mirkwood.

ewindal 5y ago
Radagast fits the druid archetype more than the wizard archetype nowadays. Gandalf is a unique case in my head. He’s more of a battlemage, the way I see it, if you ignore that he’s basically an angel.
- ValentineC 5y ago
  Weren't all three of them (ex-Maiar) angels?
  - daneelsan 5y ago
    Yes

shagie 5y ago

We can go back further to Mark Twain with Chapter 7 of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court titled "Merlin's Tower" https://www.gutenberg.org/files/86/86-h/86-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/86/86-h/86-h.htm I'd also point to the towers of ancient times being places where astronomy and astrology where practiced and the linkage between astrology, divination, and wizards.

Aerroon 5y ago
Wizards are the scientists of fantasy worlds. They study the world to figure out how it works. An astronomy tower sounds quite useful to have. A single tower that you live in is also a castle.