Ever since H.R.R Tolkien released the "Lord of the Rings" 60 years ago, the series’ rich and well-developed universe has been quickly seen and used as inspiration for many other different works (Faming). Soon other forms of entertainment were influenced by the well-received works of literature. The table-top role-playing series Dungeons and Dragons uses a lot of the Tolkien’s races, like elves and dwarves, bands such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath used explicit references in some of their songs, and television shows like "Veggie Tales" and "South Park" have parody episodes based on the books. Out of all of these, however, video games stand the most influenced by "Lord of the Rings." One famous series, "The Legend of Zelda," is uniquely inspired by Tolkein’s Middle Earth because there are many similarities between the two worlds. However, "Legend of Zelda's" world of Hyrule has its own identity that is all its own.

One of the closest similarities that the two series have is with the different races created within them. Hobbits, elves, dwarves, and orcs all have their own variant in "The Legend of Zelda" series. Hobbits and the Kokiri, a race of child-resembling people that live in the forest and have fairy companions, are similar because both are generally small in size with slightly pointed, elvish ears (Aonuma, Hyrule Historia 234). Like the Hobbits, the Kokiri people were also generally happy-go-lucky and shy, never really leaving the woods they reside in, similar to how Hobbits preferred not to leave the safety of the Shire (Foster, Middle-earth 448 ). The race of people known as Hylians works as a combination of Tolkien’s humans and elves. Hylians tend to have a lot of the same physical characteristics as elves: both are tall, handsome races with iconic pointy ears and a strong affinity towards magic and their respective gods. The main difference between hylians and elves is that they do not have the immortality that elves possess, and their medieval society and town structure is more reminiscent towards humans then elves. Gorons can be seen as "The Legend of Zelda's" version of dwarves. While taller than dwarves and being made of stone, both races are stout, strong, long-lived people with preferences towards living in mountains or underground societies. Like dwarves, gorons are also one of the oldest living races in the land of Hyrule. Both moblins and orcs are similar because they are considered to be the primary muscle and ground soldiers for their leaders. Moblins and orcs are both reasonably unintelligent and generally useless when no one is left to command them (Aonuma, Hyrule Historia 59). Like Orcs, moblins are also the corrupted form of another species, but instead of being the equivalency of orcs being corrupted elves, moblins are simply corrupted pigs.

How each universe in these series were created also contain some similarities to each other. Both the Middle Earth and the land of Hyrule were created through the works of gods. While Middle Earth was created through the works of the god Ilúvatar, Hyrule was created with the power of the three Golden Goddesses, Din, Nayru, and Farore (Aonuma, Hyrule Historia 68). Despite being the gods, the Golden Goddesses share a lot of similarities with some of the Valar. Din is similar to Aulë in that both of them helped form the mountains and continents of their own universes, and like how Aulë was the one who created Dwarves, Din was most likely the creator of the Gorons. Nayru can be seen as being similar to Ulmo in that the two of them are considered to be deities of water, with Nayru herself being the creator of a race of sea folk known as the Zora (Aonuma, Hyrule Historia 145). Last of, Farore can be seen as Hyrule’s version of Yavanna, as they are associated with the color green and brought life to the worlds they inhabit (Foster, Middle-earth 548 ). Also, while not as strong of a theme, music is also involved in the creation of Hyrule. While the music Ilúvatar taught to the Valar is what formed the Middle Earth, in "The Legend of Zelda" each of the Golden Goddesses is viewed as a part of music or a type of instrument. Din is associated with Rhythm, Nayru is associated with string instruments, and Farore is associated with wind instruments.

Another thing "The Legend of Zelda" series has in coming with Tolkien’s universe is that both have similar antagonists. Like Melkor, the antagonist Demise is a self-centered tyrant who tries to take control of the world from the hands of those left in charge of it. Both Melkor and Demise wage war against the recently created worlds and cause immense damage before being drove away or sealed by the combined forces by heroic groups, like the Valar in Middle Earth or the five races in Zelda (Aonuma, Hyrule Historia 6). Demise, also like Melkor, forges his own keep which he uses to grow in strength and to recruit or create his own evil minions that he will use to conquer the realm, but in the end, both of them end up being sealed away for good. In their defeats, however, the two of them leave servants whose goal is to complete their master’s goal to conquer the world around them. Melkor leaves his greatest servant, Sauron, while Demise leaves some of his anger and malice in the lands of Hyrule, which manifests itself as the dark lord Ganondorf (Aonuma, Hyrule Historia 92).

Sauron and Ganodorf have more in common with just being considered dark lords (Foster, Middle-earth 436). The two of them manage to mask their evil itent from most of the land by adopting different titles or by working for the people; Sauron takes the name of Annatar and takes the title of Lord of Gifts, while Ganondorf makes creates a self-alliance with the king of Hyrule and takes the position of a counselor (Aonuma, Hyrule Historia 70). Under their time in disguise, they each spend year raising their armies in preparation while Sauron forges the one ring, and Ganondorf uses his minions to search for the holy artifact known as the triforce (Aonuma, Hyrule Historia 74). The main difference between the two is within the inevitable defeats of the two dark lords. Sauron is permanently crippled with the destruction of the one ring and his defeat put him in the void alongside his master Melkor. Ganondorf, however, is set to always be reincarnated, set in a never-ending battle against the forces of light.

As you can see, "The Legend of Zelda" does have some similarities with "Lord of the Rings," but instead of directly taking things it tries to create its own spin on things. There are several races and characters that share similar things, like the Golden Goddesses with the Valar, and the dwarves with the gorons. The main antagonists of the series also share similar goals, and both even end up leaving others to continue their conquests after their defeat.