to think that JKRowling has borrowed more than she should from Lord of the Rings?

[JonRonseal]

Can we have a game of spotting J. K. Rowlings unconscious borrowings from Lord of the Rings?
To start off: The Dark Lord (Sauron/Voldemort) has been defeated in the backstory. He is 'less than spirit' and can only return if he can get the Ring/Philosopher's stone. A short person (Harry/Frodo), aided by a wizard (Gandalf/Dumbledore) must prevent him. The short person's scar aches when the Dark Forces are near -- for example the Ring Wraiths/Dementors which take all happy thoughts from you.
Frodo/Harry and his pals encounter a willow tree which thrashes its roots about in an attempt to kill them.
They also encounter a treacherous double agent -- Wormtongue/Wormtail.
Anyone spot any more?
(Originally posted this in another thread but no one noticed it).

what about The Worstr Witch

was reading atht to dd2 last night - a witches boarding school where they get given cats when they start (some schools give owls) the book says

written in the 70s

God I loved the worst witch.
My headmistress looked just like miss hardbroom.

Message withdrawn

lol

i think this is standard fantasy fare though

worst witch is good, actually the tone of the books does remind me of hp.

Oh I loved the Worst Witch!

The spiders - Shelob in LOTR, and the Spider in the Chamber of Sectrets.

Wormtail is a bit like Gollum as well - a creature not killed by Harry/Frodo, and therefore indebted in some way, and will play a critical role in the endgame of the story.

Yes, and also the Narnia stories -- Centaurs are proud there and you aren't supposed to ride them without a great deal of courtesy. Ditto the Centaurs in Order of the Phoenix.

Oh, Gandalf/Dumbledore dying and therefore increasing their power - perhaps Dumbledore will have handed power to someone?

The whomping willow seemed the worts rip-off. Even the same species of tree FGS. I don't think she can have realised what she had done.

Black riders are similar to Dementors as well - the feelings of blackness and despair when they're near.

Snape - he could turn out to be a Saruman character, but I rather think he will end up on the good side - in fact I think he may save the day and end up headmaster. Or die, helping Harry.

I think ideas are bound to be recycled to some extent. I have read books where I am sitting there thinking, have I read this before? I think we can find similarities like this in a lot of books if we tried.

even aslan gets killed to become stronger

Agree, tortoiseshell. It's not that I am an anorak or anything: it's just that reading all these stories to DCs at around the same time I could not believe how much she had reproduced from LOTR.
I think that she must have read it so young that it passed into the compost heap of her brain and got shovelled onto Potter without her noticing.

OP...i havent read harry potter but always assumed it was poor man / child's lord of the rings

oh, am getting huge cultural fatigue of it all now...its everywhere..they are bringing out stamps now...asda / bloomsbury fight on radio...its just like the beatles for me now..a great big yawn..

And, Pigleto, when Aslan comes back to life, having failed to be killed by dark side, he says to the Witch: 'You have forgotten that there is an older magic [or somesuch], which is exactly what Dumbledore says about Voldemort forgetting the older magic of love that perotects harry from the Voldie killling curse

Oh oh oh, and also the very idea of Horcruxes - the idea of putting some of his power into objects, such as a ring - when the rings of power were made, Sauron poured his power into them, which is why he needed the one ring back.

And Dobbie, though admittedly a goodie, talks in the same way as gollum: always using the third person instead of first and second.

Agree, suzy, is poor man's Lord of Rings. Was quite good at first, but am v v tired of it now.

One of the Harry Potter books has, in an early chapter, the sentence: "A silence fell downstairs."
Thumpety-thump, crash.

A lot of that is very true now I think about it. But I suppose there are elements of folk tales that are common to all fantasy stories - Tolkein borrowed (or celebrated) a lot of British and Norse mythology and culture in LOTR. So I suppose it was public property.

I prefer LOTR. So does DS#1 thankfully.

and terry pratchet

I've not read pratchet. What has she drawn from that, rebelmum?

He writes the disc world series and it's all about witches and wizards. They have wizard school too. It's very witty and parodies everyday life.