Wrath of Lich King's Blue Eye of Sauron

by Ross Miller { Jul 31st 2008 at 11:30AM }

The world of Warcraft (and subsequently World of Warcraft) owes a lot to Lord of the Rings ... but this is outright thievery! We jest, of course, but The Eye of Acherus does bear a striking resemblance, palette swap notwithstanding, of a certain bling-seeking, fiery ocular orb. The folks at WoW Insider have more on how the orb is used in questing.

In other WotLK news, check out what WI is dubbing the quintessential Death Knight armor set.

Gallery: Wrath of the Lich King: The Eye of Acherus

Gallery: Death Knight Blue Rewards

Tags: death-knight, eye-of-acheron, lord-of-the-rings, lotr, sauron, world-of-warcraft, wotlk, wow, wrath-of-the-lich-king

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

mr mobius @ Jul 31st 2008 11:42AM

Hmm...

Ryura @ Jul 31st 2008 11:42AM

I don't see a resemblance at all..?

Pharmacy @ Jul 31st 2008 11:43AM

It's an eye. There aren't fifty billion ways to draw one. Big deal.

Obie @ Jul 31st 2008 11:47AM

"Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."

Is it secret? Is it safe??

Jakka (Not sure why he got banned?) @ Jul 31st 2008 12:03PM

I'm not sure what's more sad & nerdy.

You writing in Black Speech?

Or me knowing what you wrote?

Obie @ Jul 31st 2008 12:05PM

You and me both buddy...you and me both. ;)

3ddreamer @ Jul 31st 2008 12:27PM

thirded. even know the how to pronounce it.

j.howlett @ Jul 31st 2008 12:58PM

one ring, man. and in the darkness bind them

mr mobius @ Jul 31st 2008 1:09PM

Translate please. No matter how huge a fan of Lord of the Rings I've never got round to learning any form of elvish (of which the black speech is a form if I remember right).

Obie @ Jul 31st 2008 2:32PM

Translation:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.

pow-pow-pow @ Jul 31st 2008 11:56AM

Everything about every Blizzard game is basically this kind of crap.

Warhammer -> Warcraft for example.

Tom18230 @ Jul 31st 2008 11:57AM

Yes because Diablo stole from LoTR
Yes because Starcraft stole from LoTR
Yes because.... NO clearly you're an idiot.

dark_inchworm @ Jul 31st 2008 12:12PM

Basically everything in existence now has entirely too much to owe to something years or even decades older. Get over it.

Jakka (Not sure why he got banned?) @ Jul 31st 2008 12:15PM

It's incredibly hard for any fantasy not to steal from LotR, same way it's almost impossible for MMO's not to be like WoW.

WoW,LotR,Warhammer/40K and Star Wars are all just templates that we use in order to first create,shape and eventually morph it a completely new idea.

Want some examples? Halo is an interesting mix of Warhammer and Star Wars although I can't be bothered to go into detail.Let's just say that there's something very 40K-ish about Flood(Tyranids anyone?) and a giant ring-world that's true purpose is a super-weapon.

theturtle363 @ Jul 31st 2008 1:39PM

i know you said you cant go until detail Jakka, but it really seems like you should. As a dedicated fan of all three things you listed, I see almost no resemblance between the Flood and Tyranids besides the Gravemind, your comment about the Halos seems especially misplaced, i cant think of anything like that in relation the the tyranids. As for Star Wars that's even more of a stretch the only thing the have in common is space ships and lasers.

Mr.ESC @ Jul 31st 2008 2:33PM

Warhammer stole from D&D,In fact most games are actually D&D.

Why all this hate against Blizzard and Valve lately? (With Valve I don't mean this article in particular but I have seen very negative responses) everyone supports Bungie and their mediocrity fests even when they charge up the ass for map packs for a game that refuses to cancel team kills.

Seriously Blizzard and Valve have made a lot of memorable and epic games and people hate them because there is always the tard that think criticizing popular things is cool (In my case I criticize Bungie because I really hate those guys so I’m not a hypocrite).

Also Warcraft does have some similarity with warhammer but Wow,Nah.

Then again maybe I’m making a big deal out of this maybe I should ignore fanboys because fanboys like to speak with their ass.

Geist @ Jul 31st 2008 5:46PM

Warcraft = Warhammer.
Starcraft = Warhammer 40k.

And everything = D&D = Tolkien.

Blizzard is not very inventive, but they are good at what they do and they apply a good art style to it all, so whatever.

Bouille @ Jul 31st 2008 11:58AM

All I see is an eye of fire... nothing original I agree, but LotR didn't invent the concept. Even if it is a direct intentional copy you know blizzard has done it for kicks. Harris Pilton anyone? WoW is full of references so lets not go overly hyped over this one.

finster @ Jul 31st 2008 12:08PM

Wow. A fantasy-based MMORPG that lifted a concept from LOTR? This is certainly surprising...

Xoviet chiK @ Jul 31st 2008 12:21PM

Simpsons did it. Simpsons did it. Simpsons Did It!

Mr.ESC @ Jul 31st 2008 2:33PM

I Lol'd.

jimmygotsmack @ Jul 31st 2008 12:22PM

Why does it always have to be an eye. Why not something like an ear, or a nose. Hell, I'm sure people take notice saw a frozen blue ass while questing.

Ian O'Rourke @ Jul 31st 2008 5:47PM

Because the 'all seeing asshole' would be too damned scary.

Blank-Mage @ Jul 31st 2008 12:26PM

Long live FFXI, I say.

Lorem @ Jul 31st 2008 1:15PM

I agree. VIVA LA FFXI!

theturtle363 @ Jul 31st 2008 1:16PM

As cool as it looks the stats on that Death Knight armor arent so hot

John Musco @ Jul 31st 2008 1:24PM

Slow news day, huh?

F1 & The Way PC used to be. @ Jul 31st 2008 1:36PM

Looks like Sauron finally got Clear Eye :)

Ian @ Aug 27th 2008 10:21AM

Ben Stein in WoW?! Yes!

Lekko @ Jul 31st 2008 2:05PM

I'll only call it a ripoff if when you have it, it lets you waterbend.

OmegaVader @ Jul 31st 2008 2:43PM

well they are already stealing Deeds from LoTRO, what more is an eye?

Writhes @ Jul 31st 2008 9:17PM

It's quite possible its a reference to lord of the rings. WoW devs put that kind of stuff in their game all the time. Think of all the celebrity easter eggs in the burning crusade. All the easter eggs from shows, movies, books, and other games in Azeroth... How exactly would this be any different?