I guess JKR was inspired by JRR Tolkien, but i still think she was cutting it a bit close with the dementors/nazgul...

_________________

i don't belive she stole from tolkien really, its probably just cocidence that there are so many similarities between the books. as people have already said there are limits to an authors imagination so they will draw ideas from others.
so rowling has "borrowed" ideas as it were and truely made them her own. (though there are times when the similarities annoy me)

_________________
http://www.freewebs.com/princessidril/

and voldermort/sauron, shelob/aragog etc.

_________________
http://www.freewebs.com/princessidril/

most fantsay books are inspired by either tolkien or robert e howard.if not all of them.i read two of the rowling books.she very much has her own style.

_________________
proud to be a pipe smoker like JJRT

Yes, I'd say there are some interesting parallels...

Dementors - Suck Souls...Nazgul - Black Breath.
Horocruxes - Holds part of Voldemort soul - Thr Ring - Sauron poured most of power, malice...in effect part of his soul.

Obviously there is some similarities, bbut that's true of most genre. If you read murder misteries, and one victim is done in with a butcher knife, aand another story it's a hunting knife, you can hardly accuse one or the other of borrowing material. Any subject will be similar to others in that format, no matter how original.

_________________


"I am Anduril, who was Narsil, let the thralls of Mordor fear me".
Translation of the blade.

I also think in this day and age 'originality' and 'individuality' are extremely important. The ancients with their mythologies and such did not so much care about an original plot, as much as being able to re-tell something creatively and expertly.

This mentality still existed in the days of Shakespeare. If you think about it, Shakespeare's plot weren't entirely original either! They were 'borrowed' and were older stories retold with a twist.

When I write papers for school, I try not to outdo everyone and come up with some weird idea (most of the time, those weird ideas are off the mark anyway), I choose a topic already written about, and add my own style and little ideas to it--takes the stress of trying to 'out-create' everybody

I once had a literature professor say, "There are only two plots ever used in literature: someone leaves on a journey, and a stranger arrives in town." A lot of stories are both of these, which makes it even cooler. I think this is just the way story-telling evolved. There are certain expectations we bring to a story. If a story is too 'original' we may be uncomfortable with it because it attacks our expectations.

Of course, a lot of modernist and 20th century writers do this kind of thing--such as killing off the hero and incorporating antihero etc., but I'm talking about traditional story plots, such as we encounter in ancient mythology. The Lord of the Rings is more a traditional story, as are the Harry Potter books.

Well, I feel as if I've spoken a bit too much here.

No, You have not spoken too much, you've hit the nail right on the head. It's all about plot twists stemming from an old idea.

Well said!

_________________


"I am Anduril, who was Narsil, let the thralls of Mordor fear me".
Translation of the blade.

I think that it is very hard to write "original fiction" nowadays as almost all the stuff has been donealready. I do think that rowling has used some ideas from Tolkien like Gandalf-dumdledore, harry-frodo, Fawkes-Thorondor etc but i thinks its a compliment to Tolkiens incredible literary imagination.

_________________
"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck? "

this might be a little off topic but i thought Eragon was a lot like Lord of the Rings too. Especitally the first chapter. Its like whoa. And harry potter. Yeah, to me it seems that Jkrowling has a lot of LotR elements but its moving on now. theres more new and interesting stuff.

Lol....I don't know about JK Rowling (I've only seen the first two movies, and I haven't read any of the books), but Eragon definately takes after LotR, but I think even moreso after Star Wars. 'Course, most things take after LotR....it's just such a great book.

_________________

i know that there are certain conventions in literature and so there will alwyas be accidental similarities between books, especially those of the same genre, but the similarities between lotr and harry potter are too close and too many to be coincidence, especially as she used ideas from lotr that aren't part of literary convention.

the truth is she stole from some of the finest literature ever written and still managed to produce six books of pure rubbish. that's some skill!

_________________
<center>

**MY BOOK**

~ proud to be a shieldmaiden for christ ~</center>

_________________

As i said before, Tolkien wrote so extensively that one he had to use Archetypes soemwhere to save him time poss and to help the audience understand the character, as they often share the same perceptions of character as the archetypes.
Second, since tolkien wrote so extensively andf literally carved out a genre for himself, doubtless there will be copying from other authors who write in the same genre. It is all down to degrees of how much has or is percieved as having been copied.

_________________
"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck? "

i wasn't bashing rowling for borrowing stuff or using archetypes (that doesn't bother me in the slightest cuz it's only natural), i was bashing her for writing tripe - tolkien may have borrowed, but he at least did it with style and purpose, and often improved on the borrowed material. rowling on the other hand simply reproduces second-rate versions of other people's ideas with no absolutely style and no obvious purpose other than to sell books and cover her own lack of originality.

plus, her books have led to an increase in the number of people joining covens and expressing interest in witchcraft, and that is seriously worrying.

as my friend once said about jane austen, rowling's books are only fit bonfires and covering the table with when you paint.

_________________
<center>

**MY BOOK**

~ proud to be a shieldmaiden for christ ~</center>

_________________

Some of the ideas were half decent, given a good writer but she did manage to screw it up. Heaven knows how...
I agree wholeheartedly with what u say Eowyn of ithilien. Has there been an increase in membership of covens and stuff because of this?

_________________
"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck? "