The Eye of the World, from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and the Well of Ascension, from Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, seem to be far too similar for coincidence. Here follows a lot of evidence, so if you're already convinced, skip to the bottom for the good bits:
a pool filled with mysterious fluid
tEotW:
a pool took up the entire cavern, except for the walkway around it, perhaps five paces wide. [...] Its surface was as smooth as glass and as clear as the Whispering Water. Rand felt as if his eyes could penetrate it forever, but he could not see any bottom to it. [...]
The stone struck the glassy surface and slid into the pool without a splash, or so much as a ripple. As it sank, the rock began to swell, growing ever larger, larger and more attenuated, a blob the size of his head that Rand could almost see through, a faint blur as wide as his arm was long. Then it was gone. He thought his skin would creep right off his body.
tWoA:
Staring at the glittering waters. They were gathered in a small depression in the rock, and they looked thick - like metal. A silvery white, glowing liquid metal. The Well was only a few feet across, but its power loomed in her mind. [...]
She stepped onto the pool. It resisted her touch, but her foot began to sink, slowly.
an immense reserve of power, to be used in great need
tEotW:
"The Power to mend the seal on the Dark One's prison, or to break it open completely. [...] No one living knows [...]either the how, nor more of the why than that it would be needed one day, and that that need would be the greatest and most desperate the world had faced to that time. Perhaps ever would face.
tWoA: I can't find a relevant quote, but the power from the Well of Ascension is what the Lord Ruler used to reshape and shift the entire planet, and what Vin could have used to do the same if she'd understood what was really going on.
... power which the main character takes, emptying the pool
tEotW:
Light filled him, and heat that should have burned yet only warmed as if it took the chill of the grave from his bones. [...] Rand pulsed with the beating in the cord, like the heartbeat of the world. It filled his being. Light filled his mind, till only a corner was left for what was himself. [...] Warmth built in Rand, the warmth of the sun, the radiance of the sun, bursting, the awful radiance of light, of the Light. [...]
"The Eye is gone, but there's something in the middle of the pool, a crystal column, and steps to reach it."
tWoA:
she started to burn. She recognised the sensation: it was exactly like the feeling of burning metals in her stomach, except it came from her entire body. Her skin flared, her muscles flamed, and her very bones seemed on fire. [...] She was glowing. She felt the power within, as if it were trying to burst back out. It was like the strength she gained by burning pewter, but amazingly more potent. It was a force of incredible capacity. [...]
She screamed, her glow fading, then fell into the now empty pool, head knocking against the rocks.
up in the far northern reaches of the world
tEotW is far out in the extreme northeast of the continent, beyond the Blight.
tWoA is actually under Luthadel, but was rumoured to be (and in fact was, in earlier drafts of the book) in the northernmost Dominance, that of Terris.
with a book named after it.
tEotW: all quotes above come from book 1, The Eye of the World, chapters 50-51.
tWoA: all quotes above come from book 2, The Well of Ascension, chapter 58.
Although Brandon Sanderson wasn't yet personally involved in the Wheel of Time series at the time he wrote the Mistborn series (Robert Jordan was still alive when The Well of Ascension was first published), I think I've read somewhere that he was always a fan of the Wheel of Time series.
Was the Well of Ascension definitely based on the Eye of the World?
Are there any quotes from Sanderson himself to confirm or deny this?