Episodes 1-8 of this series are based on original novel #1 of Record of Lodoss War by Ryo Mizuno, called "The Grey Witch". There are also manga and graphic novels by the same title based on this original novel available from CPM Manga. Episodes 9-13 are loosely based on the original novels #3,4,6,7 in the Lodoss War series. The story developed in these last episodes is unique to this animated series from the original story Mr. Mizuno developed. The later animated series "Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight" follows the original novels and "corrects the record" starting after the end of episode 8 of this series.
The Collector's Edition DVD includes a trailer made by the series' Japanese producers aimed at selling it to a U.S. distributor. For this purpose, the Japanese dialogue was replaced with temporary English voice acting utilizing a group of uncredited actors.
While most of the characters in the story were faithful adaptations of their manga counterparts, Woodchuck (the thief) underwent some unexplained changes. In the anime he is a fairly nice person who is rather clumsy in his thievery and a bit on the lazy side. In the original manga he has far less of a heart, is much greedier and better at thievery, and ultimately works to meet his own needs rather than the needs of Parn and the others.
A couple of the songs from the series seem to be reprized from the the 1989 horror film, Leviathan.
The first episode of the series "Prelude to the Legend", is not actually the beginning of the series. Since in Japan each episode was sold as a standalone OAV (direct to video), to try to boost sales of the introductory video release, the producers opted for an action-packed episode instead of a slower paced one introducing the characters. The strategy worked, and the 12 other OVAs were released in order.
Chronologically, the first episode would be placed between episodes 5 and 6.
Chronologically, the first episode would be placed between episodes 5 and 6.