: How do western publishers react to drafts that are obviously ripoffs of an existing work? For example, lets say you were to submit a draft to a publisher that is an obvious ripoff of an existing,

Neither of your examples are examples of plagiarism.
Thankfully there is far more leeway in the process.

Titles Not Protected By Copyright

For example, did you know that titles are not protected by copyright?
That means that you can actually write a book named Lord of the Rings also.

However, characters do fall under copyright protection so you wouldn't be able to write a book named, Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets.

The Chamber of Secrets is fine, however.

At An Abstract Level, All Fantasy Novels Are the Same

Also, consider the fact that many fantasy novels are the same.
Thank goodness no one can protect all stories that

have a short character (Bilbo) who begins a mysterious journey with a
wizard and ends up fighting a dragon.

Think about how few fantasy novels there would be.

Eragon?

Also, I've read Eragon and I'm not sure what book you think it is ripping off. It's obviously, not obvious.

Sentences, characters (to a certain extent) are protected.
But think about this too, even with characters there has to be some leniency otherwise James Bond would be the one and only spy novel you'd ever get to read.

Many authors are inspired by other novels (positively and negatively) to write their own novels and it really isn't a problem.

Mona Lisa: Only Portrait of a Woman

How about art? What if the Mona Lisa were the only "portrait of an interesting woman" that was allowed to be painted? That'd be quite terrible too wouldn't it?

Here's the deal: write your novel. Write your character and story and if it comes out of you, it may look a bit like another author's stuff, but it won't be. It will just be you.

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