Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings

[dcgmck]

No: HPFGUIDX 107703

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:
[snip]
> There are a number of differences in addition to parallels. Sauron 
is continuing in the tradition of his master Melkor in wanting to see 
> the destruction of men but he is not specifically seeking Frodo; he 
> merely knows of Hobbits and the Shire. Voldemort wants to be the 
> Master of all, but has concentrated his hate in recent years on 
> Harry and is obsessed with revenge. 

dcgmck:

I beg to differ.  As Sauron is continuing in the tradition of his 
paster, so Voldemort has presented himself as the rightful heir of 
Slytherin.  As Voldemort has focused on Harry Potter, so Sauron has, 
thanks to Gollum's revelations under torture, focused on the name of 
Baggins, which is why Frodo travels to Bree as Mr. Underhill, for all 
the good it does him.  Both Frodo and Harry are perceived to stand in 
the way of their respective opponents' complete return to power and 
domination.

> Harry, although meeting the equivalents of the Nazgul and Shelob 
> (Dementors and Aragog), has not received any physical injury from 
> them. 

dcgmck:

Physical injuries are superficial, though I wouldn't discount the 
fact that Harry has been in the Healing Ward or at least treated for 
physical injuries in each of the first four books.  Each visit to the 
ward and encounter with Voldemort has left another psychological scar 
on Harry's psyche, as clearly evidenced throughout volume 5.  This 
seems to be a fair parallel to what happens to Frodo on his journey.  
At the rate Harry is going, I can easily see him ending up in a state 
similar to that of Frodo by the end of his ultimate confrontation.  
After all, it's archetypal.

> He is not trying to destroy an object of power; he is attempting to 
> stop a person of power - the dilemma being how to do it without 
> descending into evil himself (an echo here of Saruman and possibly 
> Boromir).

dcgmck:

I can't help thinking that objects are just tangible symbols, 
superficial signs for argument, but if one must have objects of power 
over which to wage war, there are the brother wands that each bear a 
feather from Fawkes at their cores.  A closer parallel might be the 
possession of the recording of the prophecy that Harry and members of 
the Order prevented Voldemort and his cohorts from retrieving.  

Another thought has just occurred to me.  Whereas Sauron imbued his 
gold ring with the bulk of his power, Voldemort seems to have 
invested and focused much of his regrouped power in his new body.  
How does that serve as a possible "object" in need of destruction?

> So, I stand by my oft expressed view that Harry is an everyman, 
> representative (to my view) of a Christian on the pilgrimage of 
> life. 

dcgmck:

I, too, have entertained the notion that Harry and Frodo are 
representative Everymen progressing on their respective pilgrimages 
through life.  My only problem with the idea is that I can't help 
noticing that each of these "poor" orphans seems to have a very 
fortuitous inheritance with which to finance their journeys...

> I shall don my well-worn and battle-dinted tin hat and take up a 
> defensive position behind the battlements.....

dcgmck:

No hard knocks intended...  :-)