HP & LOTR

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 120918


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Jennifer Nielsen <Jen at a...> wrote:

Jen: 
> In my view, there are clear comparisons between Sauron/Voldemort,
> Dumbledore/Gandalf, Harry/Frodo, and Sam/Ron.  But just because JKR said she
> was inspired by LOTR doesn¹t mean she lifted every character directly.  You
> might make the same comparisons with HP and Star Wars: Voldemort/Darth
> Vader, Dumbledore/Obi Wan Kanobi, Harry/Luke, Ron/Han Solo, and
> Hermione/Leia.
> 
> This is all made easy because these are classic characters: ultimate bad
> guy, older mentor, reluctant hero, loyal best friend, et cetera.
> 
> There are several definite similarities between the HP and LOTR books, I
> agree. I just don¹t think there's an exact match for each and every
> character.


Geoff:
I expanded on this point in a series of replies to GEO's post in message 120767 a day or 
so ago and said that I felt that there is no "one size fits all" answer to comparing 
characters. I see Harry as an amalgam of Frodo and Aragorn for example with certain 
characteristics which would be applicable to both. And there are major folk in HP who do 
not equate to LOTR (and vice versa) - Minerva McGanagall springs to mind in this context.