Tolkien vs. Rowling

[luminary_extraordinaire]

The Lord of the Rings is at its best in imagining Middle Earth--its 
wonderous places and encounters. J.R.R. Tolkien is a master in 
inventing the magnificient epic world, its races and creatures, and 
the histories and languages of its inhabitants. However, 
characterization is NOT a strong point of Tolkien. With very few 
exceptions, Tolkien's characters rarely grow. There is very little 
narrative arc (i.e., character growth and development) in Tolkien's 
books. Of course, the positions and placements of the characters 
change, but they remain essentially the SAME characters with the SAME 
personalities throughout the whole book. For example, Samwise 
started out as a FAITHFUL, LOYAL servant of Frodo, and he ended up as 
a FAITHFUL, LOYAL friend of Frodo. Aragorn started out as a NOBLE 
ranger, and he ended up as a NOBLE king. The Lord of the Rings is not 
about a narrative arc or the growth of the characters, but about a 
long series of episodes in which the essential nature of the 
characters is demonstrated again and again (and again). 

I can see the lack of narrative arc is a reason why Peter Jackson 
(the director of the Rings movies) made changes to the charactes. In 
the Fellowship of the Ring movie, Frodo started out as a scared, weak 
hobbit. However, he will slowly "grow" as a character during the 
course of the next two films. The three movies will gradually 
develop Frodo into a strong and brave hero. Peter Jackson "scale 
back" the character of Frodo to allow Frodo the "room" to grow as a 
character. I'd have to say it's a wise choice on Peter Jackson's 
part. (of course, legions of Tolkien fans are complaining and 
insisting that in the movie Frodo should have faced the Black Riders 
alone and bravely at the fork.) 

Harry Potter books, on the other hand, are better in 
characterization. Rowling's "magical" world and its settings are 
pale in comparison to Tolkien's. However, Rowling is much, much 
better than Tolkien in creating lively, endearing, realistic 
characters who develop and grow over time. Rowling created 
characters that readers, especially teenagers and children, can 
relate to. The main reason readers love Rowling's book is not its 
magic, wizards, witches or Hogwarts. It's the characters--Harry, Ron, 
Hermione, the Weasley, etc. that people fell in love with.

Ironically, while the Lord of the Rings movie develops the 
characters, the Harry Potter movie fails to capture the essense of 
the books--its CHARACTERS. Instead, the Harry Potter movie focuses 
on the "magical" world.