Sanderson books and their movie influences
Hi all,
Sanderson has talked in his lectures about how he takes movie plots and genre tropes and adapts them into his books. I personally think this is a big key to his success, so I went throguh and wrote down the ones I could think of. Please feel free to correct or add more if you think of them! --- and yes I guess spoilers for all books, if you conisder this as such
STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE
- WoK - Kaladin (sports movies/Gladiator); Shallan (dark academia); Dalinar (courtroom dramas, assassination thrillers)
- WoR - Kaladin (sports movies pt 2), Shallan (solo wanderer westerns), Dalinar (assassination thrillers pt 2)
- O - Dalinar (political war films), Shallan (Gothic mansion / Robin hood), Kaladin (I know I've seen the movie where the guy sees war from both sides and then can't choose who he fights with, but I can't pinpoint the film exactly? Kingdom of Heaven? Last Samurai? idk)
- RoW - Kaladin (Die Hard) & Navina (Academic thrillers/Oppenheimer), Dalinar (unsure), Shallan (unsure)
- W&T - Dalinar/Shallan (portal fantasy), Kaladin/Szeth (Buddy cop/RomCom structure, Pokémon), everone else (last stand finales, Helms Deep, Minis Tirith, etc you know the trope)
MISTBORN
- M: TFE- General (Oceans 11, Star Wars), Vin (My Fair Lady)
- WoA - General (political thrillers), Vin (Love triangle), Elend (Princess Dairies)
- HoA - General (War thriller) & Spook (Les Miserable)
MISTBORN: ERA 2
- AoL - Sherlock Holmes / westerns / batman
- SoS - davinci code / Seven / serial killer noir
- BoM - Ark of the convanent / guy ritchie's sherlock
- TLM - general (mission impossible / league of extraordinary gentleman/MIB), 3rd act reveal (Silo/Fallout), Marasi (secret spy organization thriller)
SECRET PROJECTS
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TotES- Princess Bride / Wizard of Oz / Pirates of The Caribbean (before anyone pushes back on this one, Tress's outfit is exactly Elizabeth's in the final act, its a lover needing to rescue their interest plot, the person who helps them is a legendary hero who's lost his mind and yet somehow still wins the day, and yes also pirates.)
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Yumi/NP - Your Name
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SM - Mad Max
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IotE- alien invasion / --- note, I haven't read this one, just going off what's been said about it
Lemme know how I did and what others you'd add to this!
E -
Posted Sep 14, 2025, 1:55 PM UTC