Inspirations from Phantastes

    While reading Phantastes, I started to see definite similarities between that of McDonald’s work and those of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Seeing as McDonald was one of the first writers of fantasy literature, it isn't a shock that he was such an inspiration to these authors.

    Some obvious similarities are in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series. The portal to another world through the wardrobe is akin to the way that Anodos is transported to Fairy Land. When Anodos returns home, he finds that time had moved slower than he had thought while he was inside the strange world he had visited. In Narnia, is very such the same. The children are inside Narnia for years while time has stood still in their world.

    In Tolkien’s the Lord of the Rings, there are several of times where trees are both dangerous and helpful to the heroes much like those in Phantastes. The tree, Old Man Willow, tried to kill the Hobbits for being in the forest right outside of the Shire on their way to Bree. It is also mentioned that there had been a time where the trees had attacked the Shire and they had to fight them off with fire. In Phantastes, the Ash and Alder tree want to destroy Anodos much like Old Man Willow. But trees are also portrayed as being good. The spirit of the Beech tree protects Anodos, the same is true of the Ents who are actually very helpful and protective of the heroes.

    It’s hard to imagine Narnia and Lord of the Rings without these elements, and it was very interesting to see where the author’s ideas might have sprung from.