The Lord of the Rings influenced The Belgariad

Eddings gave the account himself, in The Rivan Codex. He noticed a Tolkien paperback in its umpteenth printing, concluded that readers wanted the shape rather than the novelty, and sat down and drew a map and a list of the things such a book has to contain before writing a word of it. The list is visible in the result: a farm boy who is the lost heir, a wizard who arrives to collect him, a fellowship assembled one representative per nation, a stolen object of power, and a dark god sealed away. Filed MEDIUM rather than HIGH, and deliberately. It is a genre being followed on purpose rather than a book being answered, which is exactly what makes Eddings's candour about it unusual and worth recording.