# Lord of the Rings vs. Harry Potter



## Elisha (Sep 20, 2021)

Hey everyone, 

I personally am a big critic of the Harry Potter series, although I must confess that I have never read the series, simply because I have no desire to. I believe that it copied Lord of the Rings and more primarily Tolkien in countless ways. So, this thread is for everyone to discuss why they dislike the series and more importantly how it copied Tolkien.


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## m4r35n357 (Sep 21, 2021)

Is there anything else you haven't read but still dislike? 

Sorry, couldn't resist!

In case you think I am just being mean, consider someone who has seen the LotR films, and decides they don't like Tolkien!


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## Licky Linguist (Sep 21, 2021)

Hi there Elisha!

’Copying’ another book is actually a fuzzy matter. Even the most impressive novels of all time were inspired by another text or took ideas from a work that was not of its author.

Miss Rowling is also a Tolkien fan, and his works did influence Harry Potter. That is not to say that _everything _she wrote was copied from LotR. If you ask me, I would say that only a fraction of the whole series even has 'Middle-Earth vibes'.


*A few similarities*

Harry Potter has Horcruxes, which should all be destroyed for the hero to win.
LotR has the One Ring, which should be destroyed for the hero to win.

Harry Potter has gigantic, terrifying spiders which (mostly) mean no good.
LotR has gigantic, terrifying spiders which (definitely) mean no good.

Harry Potter has a Pensieve which is a bowl filled with liquid that you can store memories in.
LotR has the Mirror of Galadriel which is a bowl filled with liquid that shows you the past, present, and future.

Harry Potter has Dumbledore, a wise elderly wizard who guides the hero and offers guidance.
Lord of the Rings has Gandalf, a wise elderly wizard who guides people and offers guidance.


*Some differences*

Harry Potter is set in a modern(ish?) school environment, with a teenage boy discovering he has magical abilities, and fighting the Dark Lord who has set out to kill everyone.

LotR is a novel set in medieval times, with many people carrying out very different roles and fighting the Dark Lord who has set out to kill everyone.


Harry Potter revolves around one particular hero who has lots of friends to help him fight and bad guys to stop him: there is very little 'grey'. People are usually either very evil or very good.

In LotR, however, there are two clear main characters, lots of grey (Denethor, Boromir, etc.), and many side stories. Lord of the Rings is clearly more detailed, having many more characters, description and less action.


Harry Potter may have some backstory, but it's a tweensy amount compared to LotR. There are books - in the plural form! - as backstory.


There may be similarities, but they are negligible. The differences outnumber them one to a thousand. Maybe you should try reading Harry Potter to see for sure!


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## Ealdwyn (Sep 21, 2021)

Licky Linguist said:


> Maybe you should try reading Harry Potter to see for sure!


This.

I mean, you say you are a big critic and yet you have never read it. I don't see how you can make a valid criticism of something you have no experience of.


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## ArnorianRanger (Sep 21, 2021)

Like you @Elisha 1913 I was initially critical of the Harry Potter series despite having no first-hand experience with it, but when I realized that was quite indefensible (one really cannot be publicly critical of something they have never read to my mind) I started to read one of the books that a family member had on hand.

My biggest concern with the story is an almost excessively detailed and focused view of evil. This is not a riff on Rowling's writing of the story, which I found incredibly absorbing, pulling one into the story quickly and easily and not letting one go. However, when reading fantasy I personally prefer storylines that do not necessarily leave me brooding over the dark elements I encounter within it overmuch, and this is exactly what the book I was reading did; I could not stop coming back to the horrible things that were described as happening to Harry and Co. at the expense of not really being able to appreciate that there were good things worth fighting for. I found myself terribly disinterested in hoping Hogwarts and the rest of the "good" magical realm would be preserved in the face of attacks by the evil characters in the story because the good did not seem all that great (Hogwarts is an incredibly corrupt institution from what I read), and the evil was pervasive, noxious, and imagination-consuming.
This is something I have noticed my favorite authors generally do really well, that is, present the good things as still worth fighting for. Tolkien is a great example of this; I have never felt myself so stirred for the preservation of potatoes, gardens, and other such good, simple things than I have been when following the Fellowship's journey across Middle-Earth. Similarly, C.S. Lewis presents a picture of sublimity in his Chronicles of Narnia and Space Trilogy that makes me want to shout "For Narnia!" 
Even when staring down the destitution of the poor in their works _The Cypresses Believe in God _and _Les Misérables_, respectively, José María Gironella and Victor Hugo show us there is still good in the world, still the amelioration of suffering for the destitute, and that this is worth fighting for.

While I found myself captivated by descriptions of good things in the above stories, in the Harry Potter book I read my imagination could not shake the descriptions of horrors and dark things that terrorize. That's not an entirely fair critique of the whole series as I have not read all the books (yet...), it does mean as a reader who does not enjoy always thinking of an evil in a story the series is not one I enjoy in terms of its portrayal of the storyline (even if it is quite entrancing).

Thanks,

ArnorianRanger

P.S. I would avoid criticisms that it "copied" LOTR because LOTR itself very neatly copies numerous elements from other, older epics. Inspiration that manifests itself in the form of similar elements is not a bad thing, and the Harry Potter series certainly is not handicapped by similarities with LOTR in my limited experience.


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## Elisha (Sep 29, 2021)

Wow! You guys did an amazing job defending Harry Potter! My mind is now changed and I respect Rowling for taking inspiration from Tolkien. I do not know if I will ever get around to reading it as I have an incredibly long and ever-growing reading list, but if I ever get a chance I will make an effort to. 

I think that Harry Potter may be a very light and entertaining fantasy story that may indeed be a page-turner, but Tolkien's work is on a much deeper and more profound level! Someone gave me a great metaphor today and it is as follows "Harry Potter is like candy and Tolkien's work is like very fine wine." I think that is a phenomenal line which I will often quote in the future!


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Oct 2, 2021)

I read the first 7 or 8 books, as they came out, but they eventually became too bogged down in long-winded exposition for my taste; the courtroom sequence tested my patience. Something similar happened with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I may get back to both at some point, but like you, I have several stacks of books to read first. 😁

That said, your OP reminded me of an incident in which T. A. Shippey was the "pro-LOTR" side of a radio debate against an "anti" literary critic, who, as they were riding the lift down, after the show, confessed to never having actually read the book.

I seem to have neglected to welcome you to the forum, Elisha, so welcome! And, as always, don't forget the New Members forum, if you'd like to introduce yourself "formally", and say something about your particular interests:








New Members


Meet and greet the newest TTF members. -- [ One thread per new member only! ] --




www.thetolkienforum.com


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