Sauron/Voldemort = Both disembodied Dark Lords looking for a way to regain physical form and recruit evil followers.
The One Ring/Horcruxes = Both vessels for the Dark Lord to store their life force.
Gandalf/Dumbledore = Both wise, quirky grey-bearded old wizards who mentor the heroes until tragedy strikes.
Frodo/Harry = Both orphans and reluctant heroes who have scars that hurt when evil forces are near. In the films both have blue eyes, dark hair and pale skin.
Gollum/Dobby = Both little skinny creatures, who don’t wear much and constantly refer to themselves in the 3rd person.
Cave Troll/Troll = Both huge bluish lumbering oafs who wave clubs.
Shelob/Aragog = Both ancient, enormous, flesh-eating spiders.
Nazgul/Dementors = Both Grim Reaper-like black hooded figures who make anyone near to them feel morbid and frightened.
JK Rowling is a right copycat, ain't she? Can anybody think of more parallels?
Star Wars too. Most of the main characters and plot points have their counterparts in these stories and many other folk tales. Indeed all Superheroes are orphans for some reason
I'm not into Star Wars myself, but my brother is and he tells there are a lot of similar plot lines and characters to Rings and Potter. It all goes back to 'The Hero with a thousand faces' stuff I suppose.
These character types or archetypes are classic and existed way before Tolkien (as someone has already pointed out). It depends how artfully the writer uses them as both Tolkien and Rowling do which is why they are successful.
Check out Vladimir Propp's seminal work on Russian folk tales for heroes and villains, donors and rewards etc.
Originally posted by Wicker Man: Star Wars too. Most of the main characters and plot points have their counterparts in these stories and many other folk tales. Indeed all Superheroes are orphans for some reason
Star Wars tells one of the oldest stories known to man. It tells of a poor boy who goes on an exiting adventure, meeting and defeating evil and rescuing a princess as well. Sound familiar?!
Originally posted by Wicker Man: Star Wars too. Most of the main characters and plot points have their counterparts in these stories and many other folk tales. Indeed all Superheroes are orphans for some reason
Originally posted by Wicker Man: Star Wars too. Most of the main characters and plot points have their counterparts in these stories and many other folk tales. Indeed all Superheroes are orphans for some reason
Yeah. Poor boy goes on adventure to defeat evil and rescues princess. It's the oldest story going!
