Inspiration and Influences[]
The same way as Lake-town, the city of Dale reflects some aspects from the Italian renaissance and some from the Byzantine era.
The same way as for Lake-town being a town in the east of the middle earth doesn't make the city equal to those from the eastern Europe. Masterus1 (talk) 19:39, November 12, 2014 (UTC)
Changed the description again; there was no reason for the filmmakers to conflate Dale and Lake-Town with the principalities and merchant republics of Kievan Rus and northern Russia. Tolkien very clearly stated that the Men of the region were of northern extraction, and were meant to reflect Scandinavia and northern Germany, hence the toponomy and character names. 69.243.190.73 18:26, September 20, 2016 (UTC)