April 29, 2003

Harry Potter vs LotR
Colin

"I don't really like fantasy. It's not so much that I don't like it, I haven't really read a lot of it. I have read 'Lord of the Rings', though. I read that when I was about 14. I didn't read 'The Hobbit' until I was in my 20s--much later."

- J.K. Rowling, 'Newsweek' interview, July 2000

I should say that I haven't read the HP books, but have seen the films - I found them enjoyable enough, but clearly derivative of Tolkien. In my opinion, the two series shouldn't be compared at all, since they're so evidently aimed at entirely different audiences. Any fantasy author writing after 1955 is going to be influenced by Tolkien, consciously or otherwise - his ideas have been totally absorbed by writers of the genre who were often inspired to creativity by reading LOTR. Sadly, some authors are more blatant than others - my favourite example is a 'Star Wars' novel featuring a character called ELESSAR TARGON, which is almost laughably obvious!

Having said that, some of Rowling's ideas do seem suspicious to me. In her defence though, I'd be inclined to believe that she really hasn't delved too deeply into the fantasy/sci-fi genres - in interviews I've seen, she really doesn't appear to have any interest beyond her own writing. In the 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' film (or 'Sorcerer's Stone' as it's called in the US - why?), Lord Voldemort appeared to be dressed as a Ringwraith. ('Dr Who' aficionados may also agree with me that Voldemort's parasitic capture of Quirrel's body was similar to what The Master did in the late 70s / early 80s!)

'Chamber of Secrets' unsettled me a bit more though, where we see a living tree, and a malevolent, giant spider. I'd forgive the latter though, except that it's called ARAGOG! Then there's DUMBLEDORE. On another website, someone fantastically well-versed in Tolkien claimed that the word 'Dumbledore' appears in one of the Prof's more obscure poems. If anyone can confirm or refute this, I'd be interested to know! If it's true, is it an astonishing coincidence, or something more suspicious?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's impossible for fantasy authors today not to have nods to Tolkien in their works. On a simplistic level, even the idea of a band of disparate characters going on a quest is an ancient one - I think it's fair to say that Tolkien elevated this archetype onto an epic level, populating and sustaining an imaginary world in such amazing detail that I can find no superlatives to describe my amazement at this achievement. Whether JK Rowling is well-read in Tolkien is irrelevant - his influence on the fantasy genre is so overpowering that true originality must be extremely difficult!

I apologise for the length of this post, but will conclude with a good example to illustrate my conjecture. Up until quite recently, I hadn't read any Tolkien other than 'The Hobbit'. With the confidence of youth, I planned to write a sci-fi novel about four years ago (never even started, fortunately!) - one of my characters was going to be called MELKUR, even though this name was blatantly stolen from a 'Dr Who' story called 'The Keeper of Traken'. Now, having read 'The Silmarillion', I can see that the major villain's name may well have had an influence on the 'Dr Who' writer...! My novel, had it been written, would've featured a bizarre double plagiarism! (Another name I wanted to use was MARGOTH, because as a child, I enjoyed a family holiday at Margoth Caravan Park, Portrush, Northern Ireland - honestly! I think Margoth would've been more defensible than Melkur though!)