Parallelism of the journey

Over lunch of fish and chips with friends, one of them commented that the Harry Potter series is pretty much the same as the Lord of the Rings. This conclusion was made after he had seen the international trailer of the fourth Harry Potter film, Goblet of Fire. After a serious thought, I actually agreed with him. Coming from someone who hasn’t read the books of JRR Tolkien and of JK Rowling, he’s got some good points.

Here are some points one could easily point out just by seeing the movies: both films have spiders, elves, trolls, dragons and wizards. Shelob has more back-story in LOTR than Aragog of Chamber of Secrets, but the story of the acromantula that Hagrid raised in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts told his story to Harry in the movie. The elves in these two stories belong at the different ends of a pole. Elves in Tolkien’s world are considered higher beings, while elves in Rowling’s wizarding world are slaves; Legolas is far from Dobby. Dragons are to be featured in the upcoming HP film; though we didn’t see any dragons in any of the three Lord of the Rings films, there are dragons in Middle-earth. Smaug the dragon pretty much figures a lot in The Hobbit, which I do hope Peter Jackson will start working on. Harry Potter revolves in the magical world of witches and wizards, while only five wizards stepped foot in the lands of Middle-earth.

Do the similarities end there? Nope. Take the villains; Lord Voldemort is akin to being as evil Sauron. The Dark Riders are almost as synonymous as the Dementors. Are the Death Eaters the Uruk-hais of Harry Potter? Well, I pretty much think that Lucius Malfoy has more class than those mutant, upgraded orcs. However, as we get nearer to the major characters, that is where the similarities do get closer.

Harry is Frodo. They are both on a journey, chosen to take the task, and with one goal to defeat the Dark Lord. They both have old wizards who served as mentors and died in their journey. Uh-oh, I’m giving spoilers in here. Gandalf fell in the dark pits of Khazadum with a Balrog of Morgoth (a creature of fire), while Dumbledore burst into fire like a phoenix in his funeral. Harry has his Ron and Frodo has his Sam; both loyal friends willing to die for the heroes. Where does Hermione figure in? She’s a compendium of many characters: the Aragorn, the Arwen, the Galadriel, the Theoden, the Eomer, and Eowyn. The character in the Harry Potter books that will move mountains just so Harry could meet his final goal.

So the question now is: will Harry leave and die as an old and withered wizard? Do you think Harry would survive and live past seventeen? I do believe that Harry will vanquish the Dark Lord, just as Frodo was able to defeat Sauron by throwing the ring in the fiery heat on Mt. Doom (okay, Gollum did it). And just like Frodo, when all has come to past, Harry would never be the same. Frodo went to the Grey Havens at such a young age (sixty, perhaps I haven’t touched my LOTR notes for quite sometime now). Harry will die young and be with his parents and Sirius.