The analogies of Harry Potter & Lord of the rings

- By Eddie Walker

For years, die-hard fans have been debating whether the stories of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings exist in the same universe. Some say that they don’t, while others insist that they do. We’re here to tell you that it may be a possibility, let’s take a look at the similarities.

Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are both fantasy novels with a quest for the protagonist to defeat evil forces, but there’s more to these stories than just war and magic. Let’s take a look at a few obvious similarities between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

Both Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins parents are deceased and live with their relatives—harry his aunt and uncle— and Frodo his second cousin who is Bilbo Baggins. So both Harry and Frodo are orphans, that go from zero to hero.

In both realms, there’s an evil force seeking to gain supreme power and control: Voldemort is threatening to take over the Wizarding World; Sauron is threatening to take over Middle Earth. Both of these dark villains even have the same nickname “The Dark Lord.” They also had horcruxes that they place part of themselves into so they may always live on forever. For Voldemort he had seven! As for Sauron his was the dark tower and the ring.

In both realms we can find wise old mentors— Gandalf and Dumbledore who interestingly enough look similar in appearance with the long grey hair and beards, which are characteristics associated with wisdom. These two figures also have a genuine connection with the protagonists and aim to assist them in achieving their quest to defeat the dark forces.

Both protagonists are young men who meet friends that become like family. The camaraderie is crucial to their triumph over obstacles on their way to defeating these evil forces. And also to their advantage Harry and Frodo have a special sword that helps them along the way (Harry’s is called “the sword of Gryffindor,” while Frodo’s is called “Sting”).

In addition, the Harry and Frodo had power of invisibility, Harry had the cloak and Frodo had the ring. However, for Frodo to use the ring’s invisibility came with dangerous consequences, unlike Harry's cloak.

Dobby and Gollum were very similar in ways yet so different. For example, they both spoke in third person, but these two had more differences than similarities. While Dobby represented loyalty and service for others, Gollum represented greed and deceit. Nonetheless, both characters were pivotal to the plot of their respective stories.

Whilst, there are vast amounts of similarities between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings it does appear that the two timelines are in separate universes and realms. However, it is likely that J.R.R. Tolkien was a prime influence on J.K. Rowling, observing all the commonalities between the two fantasy worlds.

Sword Of Gryffidor