David Eddings - Contemporary fantasists all bow politely to Lord Tennyson and Papa Tolkien,

Contemporary fantasists all bow politely to Lord Tennyson and Papa Tolkien, then step around them to go back to the original texts for inspiration--and there are a lot of those texts. We have King Arthur and his gang in English; we've got Siegfried and Brunhild in German; Charlemagne and Roland in French; El Cid in Spanish; Sigurd the Volsung in Icelandic; and assorted 'myghtiest Knights on lyfe' in a half-dozen other cultures. Without shame, we pillage medieval romance for all we're worth.

- David Eddings

source: David Eddings, Leigh Eddings (2007). “The Rivan Codex: Ancient Texts of THE BELGARIAD and THE MALLOREON”, p.6, Del Rey

topic: Kings, Inspiration, Knights, King Arthur, Assorted, Tennyson