Tolkien v Rowling

Hi,

Just wanting to open up a thread about the similarities between the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series.

Both have Wizards
Both have 'little people' - hobbits, children as the main protagonists
Both show the value of friendship (it's ups and downs) despite many and varied hardships
Both tell a tale of good v immeasurable evil
Both have 'elves' - although what is Elvish and what is 'elfish' differs significantly
Both have incredible history and language. (perhaps moreso with Tolkien though)
Both have trolls.

What other similarities and differences have you noticed?

Sorry, but I can not agree with most of your similarities:
1. Both have wizzards: Nearly every Fantasy-touched story I have heard about has wizzards. In Lord of the Rings there are two (or three if you count Sauron). In Harry Potter is nearly everything about wizzards.
2. Both have 'little people': I think Tolkien never meant the hobbits as children, even though he has created their character in a way that reminds you on innocent children in some ways.
3. Both show the value of friendship (it's ups and downs) despite many and varied hardships: The value of friendship is one of the largest themes through literature of all kind.
4. Both tell a tale of good v immeasurable evil: That is for sure true, but also a very common theme in literature.
5. Both have 'elves' - although what is Elvish and what is 'elfish' differs significantly: As far as I remember, Tolkien has created the whole story of Lord of the Rings just to have something around the artificial language for Elfes he has created. So, as you say yourself, "differs significantly"
6. Both have incredible history and language. (perhaps moreso with Tolkien though): OK, they will for sure both las for a very long time, as many others do through literature history.
7. Both have trolls: see comments on elves and others.

The idea of Horcruxes seems to definitely have roots in Lord of the Rings:
-Sauron, the Dark Lord, cannot be truly vanquished when the Ring survives
-When Sauron is defeated, he returns , but is bodiless
-Sauron is said to have put some of himself into the Ring, as he forged it.
-The Ring is not destructible by normal means (although, of course, Sauron was somewhat cleverer in this aspect than Voldemort)
-Wearing the Ring/Horcrux, and becoming emotionally attached to it, causes the Ring/Horcrux to exert a negative influence over the wearer.

Mithandir and Dumbledore play extremely similar roles, from looks as the wise and whitebearded wizard, to their guidance of those meant to truly defeat the evil (Frodo, Harry), to their own substantial power, and their leadership of the opposition against the Evil.

Thank you Teddy for that much deeper look inside. I can fully agree with that.
I think on this level there is really a connection between both stories, and on this level I think it is OK too.
Because JKR has created her own story, and these things are not much more than an "echo" of another great story. (I liked that word "echo" she used in an interview)

Ah, no trouble at all, what is the use of the Slytherin brilliance but for this?

Simply put, JKR drew inspiration from Tolkien and LOTR which is the reason we see many parallels between the two.
"Worm"tongue, for instance. The characters context is changed, but the overall idea, of the traitor who had been trusted, remains.
There are many, many, more, and I will post them at such time my mind does not feel addled.

That will be very interesting for me, especially because I never read the LOR in original (english) so I think some parallels are invisible for me, as I know just the translation.

Hm... that might be possible, its' an intresting thought.

Random possible similarities:
Merry and Pippin always reminded me very strongly of the Weasley twins. The penchance for trouble and mischeif, certainly, is the same.
Gandalf and Saruman, and Dumbledore and Grindelwald, who were both contemporaries of each other at some point- and later enemies. Both Saruman and Grindelwald were defeated by Gandalf (admittedly in a less direct way) and Dumbledore, but not killed until later on, neither times by someone who was on the winning side.
Giant spiders- Shelob in LOTR, and Aragog (well, his family, at least) in HP.
The Forests, Old and Forbidden, navigatable by Bombadil and Hagrid. Obviously, the difference being that the trees themselves are the threat in the Old Forest, while the creatures that inhabit the Forbidden are dangerous. However, Bombadil and Hagrid both have some measure of control over these dangers.
Dementors find their forerunners either in the Nazgul, or in the Barrow-wrights. In that case, the Nazgul are representative of Voldemort's Inner Circle, summoned at their's master's will.

Well yes and no. I think most of these things are some kind of archetypes.
The spider in both storys for example. There are a lot of storys who work with the fear of spiders (giant or not).
Also dark forests, with wathever unknown and scary in there you can find often enough even in very old fairy tails.

Between Dementors and Nazgul I can not see that they have anything in common.
Also between the Nazgul and the Inner Circle.
I mean every "big evil" has something like that in any way.
Also Satan is usually surrounded by whatever.
Or Dracula, or anyone else on this side of the Bad and the Good.
And they are always creatures without theire own will or thoughts. Because usually when they start to think on their own (again) they change the side (Snape, Regulus) or they are killed.

The Horcrux thing and the ring is a very good comparison. I've been falliing asleep with Tolkien each night this week thinking about Sauron -- where has he been all this time?

My brain is muddled because I'm so tired, but it's the same kind of thing as where Voldemort was between his destruction with Harry and reappearance with QQ. The time period was just longer.

Well, the Horcrux-Ring correlation is the biggest and possibly most important one.

I still find that Giant, Man-Eating Spiders to be a bit more than coincidence, especially since both are actually named characters.
The others are a bit more of a stretch, however the Dementors and the Nazgul have quite a lot in common. Black robed, bodiless wraiths, that instill freezing fear with their very presence, that exude a force that sucks the life and strength of people, be it happiness or courage, drains hope, and are rather difficult to defeat or resist without iron will.