Jamcie Kerbizz said:
The only 'weird' thing is that accusation itself. These are grossly different writing styles of books and characters. The only common thing is character's general appearance traits... However Michael Moorcock was an unknown author in this part of the world and first translation and publication of his works showed up half a decade... after Witcher.
Even discounting unofficial (fan) translations, there have been Polish translations of the first Elric book since the mid-80s, and however well known they were in Poland it shouldn't really be weird to believe that a fantasy author would be a fan of the fantasy genre and seek out and read other people's work. Heck, we know that Sapkowski reads a lot of fantasy, because he wrote a encyclopedia of the fantasy genre, which includes references to the Elric setting.
And the similarity goes far beyond the character's appearance, and are too blatant to be coincidental. Just a random example, in the Witcher there is a historical event called the "conjunction of the spheres", where different worlds of the multiverse came together, resulting in the various creatures of we find in the Witcher setting being found in the same place. In the late 70s, Moorcock included a reference to an event called the "conjunction of a million spheres" in an Elric short story. Again, an event in which the various planes in the multiverse come together, causing reality to be altered.
And again,
this is not a bad thing. Virtually any fantasy story with a burned out, antihero protagonist who doesn't fit into society is in some way inspired by Moorcock and the Elric series to some degree. Drizzt' do Urden is inspired by Elric, and he's a totally different character because he has
black skin instead of
white skin. The entirety house Targaryen (and also Brynden Rivers in particular) from a song of ice and fire are one big Elric reference (they are albinos who literally come from a lost magical kingdom with draconic associations which once ruled much of the world using sorcery but has collapsed). These are fine because they are knowing and deliberate references by authors who understand that fantasy is a self-referential genre, not something they single-handedly created. Again, Martin in particular has been very open about his influences.
And again, there is no obligation to acknowledge your influences, it's just kind of assholish to deny any connection to people you clearly were inspired by.
Jamcie Kerbizz said:
One of the many reasons why when this whole train wreck was dragged to court they were laughed at back to doors.
It never went to court. Moorcock has stated publicly that he feels Sapkowski crossed a line, but the line wasn't borrowing from his work or writing similar characters or ideas (plenty of people have done that, and Moorcock has his own stable of inspirations), the line was refusing to acknowledge having done so. Legally there is no doubt that Sapkowski is within his rights. As mentioned, the question is not whether he plagiarised, the question is whether he was unfair in failing to acknowledge his references, which just based on simple professional courtesy and kindness I think he was.
That's the irony here. Noone would care if he'd just said "it was a homage" or "it was a reference" or even "it was critique/parody". What bothers people is the discourtesy of not acknowledging your inspirations.
Jamcie Kerbizz said:
Then google it for instant reality check (or maybe authors should be obligated to add numbers like with 'original nicknames 'the white wolf_2387' aka Jon Snow
).
Right, again though, the reason noone cares about Jon Snow is because
GRR Martin cites Moorcock as an influence. Martin's writing is incredibly metatextual and full of references to other fantasy authors and their work, but he's doing it on purpose and acknowledging that he's doing it. Often, the references are fun easter eggs for people who read a lot fantasy
which he does because he's a fan of fantasy himself, that's why he writes it. He's not pretending its his own original ideas and denying having been influenced by any of the people he references.
