Stephen King's epic novel The Stand is soon to get its second TV adaptation, but the author drew surprising inspiration from Lord of the Rings. If there's one other property that comes to mind when thinking of King's apocalyptic tale of good vs. evil, it's definitely not Lord of the Rings. They're both complex, engrossing stories, without a doubt. But on the surface, the two books, and their accompanying adaptations, would seem to have very little in common.
One thing they do share is a huge scope and scale, and stakes high enough that they could mean the world falling to the control of ultimate evil. They're also much more personal stories than one might think, with multiple characters given sharp focus and an opportunity to develop as events progress. At the end of the day, all of the impossible things that happen in both The Stand and Lord of the Rings are merely a framework for telling a very human story, even if most of the characters in Lord of the Rings aren't human.
That's all to say that The Stand and Lord of the Rings might be a bit more alike than they first appear. King himself seems to think so, as the latter directly inspired the writing of the former.
Stephen King: How Lord of the Rings Inspired The Stand
One early inspiration for The Stand, which Stephen King mentions when talking about the book in his non-fiction release Danse Macabre, was the 1949 sci-fi novel Earth Abides, by George R. Stewart. That story took a look at the remains of civilization after the outbreak of a deadly plague. Where The Lord of the Rings comes in is that King had long wanted to write an epic tale of that type, but in a contemporary American setting. The Earth Abides inspiration, combined with a story about a chemical spill in Utah King saw on the news, seen through a Lord of the Rings-esque lens, equaled The Stand.
Interestingly, King also says in Danse Macabre that Stu Redman is the Frodo equivalent of The Stand, while Randall Flagg is Sauron, and his corrupted Las Vegas is a stand-in for Mordor. If one looks further, some other parallel character choices are evident. Trashcan Man could well be The Stand's Gollum, but so could Harold Lauder, as he can't keep straight his light and dark sides. Mother Abigail could well be the Gandalf of The Stand, serving as a wise old sage that's more powerful than they first appear. Of course, one often does simply walk into Las Vegas.