Was Kumandra Inspired by Tarkir?
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Aug. 22, 2024, 9:34 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Five clans inhabit Tarkir, each of which uses a body part of a dragon as its symbol, and the Tarkir block began in 2014; in the Disney movie Raya and the Last Dragon, released in 2021, there are five nations in the world of Kumandra, each of which is named after a body part of a dragon, so I wonder if the makers of that film were inspired by Tarkir when they conceived of the idea of Kumandra? As a side note, I also think that they makers of that film may also have drawn inspiration from Legend of Korra, as well, since that series was still fairly recent when the film was released.
What does everyone else here say about this? Do you believe that Kumandra was inspired by Tarkir?
FormOverFunction says... #3
Creatives interact with each other a lot, and if they’re on the clock to get ideas put together it seems more likely than not that there are connections. I wouldn’t wait for anyone fessing up to it, though. Plenty of plausible deniability... and none of the upper brass would have had any idea at all anyways. I vote they’re linked, though it’s (obviously) nothing formal. Good catch!
August 23, 2024 12:42 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
legendofa, FormOverFunction, yes, I agree that that was likely a pure coincidence, more than a conscious decision, by the story writers at Disney.
August 25, 2024 7:37 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #5
Honestly, I was leaning a little more towards “my poetry homework is due tomorrow and I’ve got nothing, so I’ll just copy the lyrics from this song that no one will probably recognize.”
August 25, 2024 7:40 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
FormOverFunction, now that the internet exists, plagiarism is far more difficult, since anyone can research something that they may suspect of being copied.
August 25, 2024 7:51 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #7
Totally agree. Corporate lawyers, though, are also skilled at skating the line between two circumstances. It’s absolutely different enough to not be a problem ;P
August 26, 2024 1:04 a.m.
RiotRunner789 says... #8
It's possible there is related Dragon Lore. Such as generally, dragons like to hoard treasure, breath fire, et cetera.
Could be a more obscure source about the five parts of a dragon that both groups came across while researching for their prospective projects.
legendofa says... #2
I haven't seen Raya and the Last Dragon, and I don't know the production schedule of (it looks like it started in 2018?), so the possibility's maybe there. I think this is more a case of parallel concepting, where they came up with the idea independently. Five is a good number of factions for a self-contained story--enough to provide layers of conflict without losing track of the factions, as M:tG has shown many times--and the dragon "parts" that inspired the factions in each story are different to the point where they don't seem to correspond that well.
Both ideas are pretty clearly drawn from the same well, so to speak, but I would be surprised if there was more than a loose, indirect inspiration if there was any at all. (I also think Disney wouldn't go out of their way to advertise the connection if it was there, but that's a different discussion.)
August 23, 2024 12:15 a.m.