When Harry Potter became one of the world ’s most famous hero sandwich , many people complained that J.K. Rowling had lifted chunk of the Potterverse from other sources . How true is this ? We sort through all the alleged prototypes for Harry Potter .
Image byNubeCybot on Deviant Art .
Before we get started , allow ’s be clear here — we ’re not saying that any of these accusal are honest . If anything , when people point out similarities between two phantasy books , they ’re often simply pointing out that they both belong to the same genre . But with Harry Potter about to rein our worlds yet again thanks to the new flick , it ’s a good bet that the cries of “ unoriginal ” will set about up yet again — so it ’s worth examining them beforehand of prison term to see if they hold any piss .
So here goes :
Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
law of similarity : It ’s hard to imagine a modern fantasy book of account that does n’t owe a expectant deal to this classic . But there are a few parallels that ca n’t be ignored . purpose of rhyming verse to light theme ? Check . gargantuan man eating spiders that must be faced by best friends before they have to fight down the grown badness ? check into . Occasionally disembodied Dark Lord ? Check . An evil clause of jewelry that not only hold in part of the Dark Lord ’s someone , but demand to be destroyed to cease him off ? go over . Creepy sycophant spirit on destroying the skilful guys from the inside ( who has insect in his name ) ? look into . Kindly old wizard with a beard who has powers that are only hint at until reveal explosively ? chequer . Mobile and violent tree ? Check .
Of of course , in the game of who would beat who in a battle , your money should be on the medieval guys with armor and swords . For example , Rowling ’s black - cloaked Dementors are reset the Oprah coevals version of the Nazgul . Dementors do depression and unconsciousness that are dispelled with chocolate . Morgul - vane wielding Nazgul have unconsciousness and utter terror that are dispelled with athelas herbaceous plant . On the other helping hand , Dementors can be vote out with witching happy sentiment while the Witch King of the Nazgul has to be take out by a Hobbit with an enchanted brand and shieldmaiden of Rohan .
Is there a case ? Only in the sensation that all modern fantasy is deeply charm and inspired by Tolkien .
The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy
Similarities : In this precursor to the Potter Quran , a untested girl form a Mugg – uh – non - magical family attend a boarding school for witches . Which is in an ancient castle wall by an enchanted forest . While Mildred Hubble is enrolled at Miss Cackle ’s Academy for Witches , where she look Potions , Broomstick Flying , Chants and Charms classes , she must deal with conflicts with her classmate , a damned heather , and an attempt to overthrow the schoolhouse . Also , Mildred and her friends make an invisibleness potion . Here ’s an older Geocities pagelisting more similarities , include the fact that there ’s a mean teacher who hat the main character , and a popular blond kid who gets off on the wrong foot with the hero on the very first day .
Is there a Case ? The series of Worst Witch Word skews young and tends to the promiscuous side of trick than the Harry Potter record . Many of the similarities are of the trivial , non - copyrightable type , though Murphy got there first .
Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
Similarities : Charmed Life is about two orphans taken to a castle to ascertain magic trick from the greatest conjurer in England .
Is there a shell ? Not really . Charmed Life is an excellent Word that reads like a merriment phantasy risky venture , but it is a dark look at sibling maltreatment and parricide . It ’s also get parallel worlds .
Discworld by Terry Pratchett
Similarities : Unseen University , a schoolhouse for wizards ( housed in a castle , natch ) is the primary similarity . It ’s got chained up wizardly books , creepy corridors and the staff take on the casual battle against ultimate immorality . Like shopping mall . There ’s also Ponder Stibbons , a sullen haired , bespectacled cub who ’s not really the best educatee of trick .
Is there a guinea pig ? Well , Ponder Stubbins in reality spend very little time as a student . And the fact that the magical school for hotshot is in a castle would be a cliché at this head if it was n’t an example of Terry Pratchett making merriment of clichés . Also , Discworld whizz are often the incapable ivory tower donnish type , while the social worker - esque witches keep things running in the real world . Which is very unlike Harry Potter .
Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Similarities : The living chess secret plan .
Is there a slip ? Oh yes . The lively chess pieces in Through the take care Glass and the magicked 1 in Sorcerer ’s Stone are just so much alike . Of naturally it ’s been done many times before Rowling got to it , most notably in Vonnegut ’s little write up , “ All The King ’s sawhorse . ” And the Alice Book are public orbit anyway .
The Sword In The Stone by T.H. White
law of similarity : An undesirable son destined to be the adult male who saves England is admit in by a blue - eyed , long - whiskered wizard who keeps odd birds and habituate radical methods of instruction . Also , there are Dragon .
Is there a compositor’s case ? Rowlinghas admitted as much , articulate Wart from Sword In The Stone is “ Harry ’s ghostly ancestor . ”
Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman et al.
Similarities : Tween British schoolboy with shameful fuzz and glasses discovers he has witching powers and pay off a pet hooter . Says DailySkew :
Tim Hunter is an English - boy who gets take to become the most brawny sorcerer in the universe . His stories were about trick , mythology , icons , talking animals , deal with authority figures who were not supportive to him , and struggling with the responsibleness .
Is there a face ? This one gets kvetch around a spate , mostly by geeks who oppugn anything sci - fi / phantasy that is beloved of the mainstream . Gaimanhas categorically eliminate this , saying they were both ripping off T.H. White .
The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, and Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lily by Nancy Stouffer
Similarities : These books , published in the 1980s , feature a character mention Larry Potter . And the intelligence “ Muggles , ” used to delineate a group of mutants . And the main character , Larry Potter , is an orphan with glasses and sour hairsbreadth , who ’s raised by a duo . When Stouffer started making claims that Rowling stole from her work , Rowling and her publishing firm pre - emptively sued Stouffer , and eventually won $ 50,000 in damages . Read a Washington Post reviewer chat with Stouffer , which get moderately comic as people take her to task , here .
Is there a character ? As one person say Stouffer in the Washington Post chat , “ The topic you
hash out in your books , that you claim are “ copyright infringement ” are not only uncouth concepts , but common conception in lit focus on sorcery and witches , etc . The sorcerer ’s stone is used by Merlin , lakes and moats and such always surround castle . You claim you used the name “ Neville ” . So what ? Its a name . If you used the name “ Mark ” would you say no other script occupy enchantress could use that name henceforth ? ”
Troll
Similiarities : This eighties picture show , advantageously sleep with for leading to the iconic “ near worst moving-picture show ” Troll 2 , features a immature boy named Harry Potter who learn to use magic and wields a shaft . Director John Buechlerfiled a suitagainst Rowling and Warner Brothers for $ 20 million , but it ’s not clear if anything will come of it . Claims producer Charles Band : “ I ’ve take heed that JK Rowling has acknowledged that maybe she saw this lowly - budget pic and perhaps it inspire her . ”
Is there a character ? Take forth the name “ Harry Potter ” and I ’m not indisputable what ’s left .
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
similarity : After Rowling sue the author of the Harry Potter Lexicon , a guidebook to the Potterverse for right of first publication violation , Card wrote that he feel like Rowling slip the plot of his famous novel :
A young kid growing up in an tyrannical household situation suddenly read that he is one of a special class of tyke with exceptional abilities , who are to be educated in a remote training adroitness where pupil living is dominated by an intense game played by squad flying in midair , at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally gifted and a rude leader . He trains other kids in unauthorised extra seance , which enrages his enemies , who assail him with the intention of killing him ; but he is protected by his truehearted , brilliant friends and gains strength from the love of some of his family member . He is give special steering by an older man of legendary acquirement who antecedently kept the foeman at bay . He give-up the ghost on to become the all-important figure in a conflict against an unobserved foeman who imperil the whole human race .
Is there a case ? Even Card seems to be pointing out these law of similarity mostly to make the point that Rowling should n’t go suing other mass , and that nothing is ever completely original . He adds , “ It ’s true that we writers borrow Christian Bible from each other — but we ’re hypothesise to admit it and not pretend we ’re original when we ’re not . ” In any lawsuit , most of the similarities he point out seem to be distinctive of the fantastical “ follow of age ” novel in general .
Star Wars
The similarities : address of come - of - eld stories that share certain broad elements … There wasan image float around a while backwhich showed the plot of Star Wars with some clobber crossed out and supersede by stuff from Harry Potter . ( Although the author seemed to opine Hagrid was a wizard . )
Is there a case ? It only works if you churn it down to abstraction , like “ Young boy divulge his vast great power under the tutelage of a bewhiskered blue - eyed man and battles an malevolent lord , while the girl falls for his best friend . ” If you get more specific , it falls apart .
Willy The Wizard by Adrian Jacobs
law of similarity : The demesne of the previous Adrian Jacobshas litigate Rowling and her publishersfor right of first publication infringement , and they claim that Rowling had approach to Willy The Wizard while write Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire . They also lay claim that literary agent Christopher Little represented both authors at one head . The Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law blog summarizes the similarities :
In orderliness to illustrate the “ substantial similarities ” between the stories , the complaint points out that each book tells the story of a yr - long wizard competition in which both protagonists work clues and “ saving hostages remand by a community of half - human , half - animal creature ” to become the master . Among the legion similarity listed in the complaint is the fact that in Willy the Wizard , Willy rescues the hostages from creatures with “ torsos like humans and legs like kangaroo , ” while in Goblet of Fire , Harry deliver his friends from creatures with “ torsos like humans and are otherwise like fish . ” In both Christian Bible , Willy and Harry “ swear on elves and others who get central pieces of data by eavesdropping , ” and discover life-sustaining entropy on how to complete this undertaking “ us[ing ] a tool uncommitted in a special lavatory . ”
Is there a case ? The idea of a wizarding competition , in itself , does n’t appear to be that unique . Nor are half - human , half - animate being creatures , or the idea of take on hostages to add suspense and danger to the contest . On the other script , at least there ’s a wind that Rowling could have take care at Jacobs ’ 36 - page booklet when writing the spawling Goblet .
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
Similarities : This fantasy series about the conflict between illumination and dark and wages across five books and let in elements of everything from Saxon folklore to Arthurian caption . You look it ’s similar to HP . There are magical objects to find , including an ancient magical brand ( which glows blue when near evil , in a nod to Tolkein ) . There ’s an eleven - year - onetime son who discovers on his natal day that he is in fact a wielder of hefty magic . There ’s poetry about the plot of land . And also plenty of wickedness to defeat !
Is there a case ? The Dark Is Rising borrows heavily from the same stories and mythologies as Rowling , but that ’s about it .
So You Want to Be a Wizard? By Diane Duane
similarity : browbeat small fry turn to deception to sort out their problem , inadvertently causing more . There ’s a wizarding council and object that come to life . And it ’s got a Koran called , “ The Book Which Is Not name . ”
Also , flying dragon .
Is there a slip ? No . Not everything with ace is the same .
The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
Similarities : A immature son takes on an undead evil with a magical steel .
Is there a cause ? Not so much . Prydain comes from the Welsh tradition , including the great Welsh epic the Mabignogi . While the Mabignogi give us Merlin , wizardly cauldrons and some of the earliest mentions of King Arthur , it ’s really not the same custom . Modern Arthur tales are more likely to be taken from French versions of the stories including Chrétien de Troyes ’ retellings . And Potter is decidedly from the Gallic offshoot of the Arthur stories .
Wizard’s Hall by Jane Yolen
law of similarity : Eleven - year - old boy off at wizarding boarding schooling overcome a bad guy out to destroy the school . portrayal move and roof full of stars sparkle , and the wedge ’s best friend include a ruddy - headed male child and a brilliant girl .
Is there a case ? Yolen seems to recollect so , sound out , “ I always tell the great unwashed that if Ms. Rowling would like to cut me a very large check , I would cash it . ” ( So , by the way , would we . ) But the fact of the matter is , the combination of those two staples if kid lit , the school tarradiddle and the magical bildungsroman , ca n’t be copyright . ( Yolenalso told an audience at WorldConthat lot of other book of account are derivative , too , but many of them are better indite than the Potter novel in her view . )
Sources : TVTropes , thisextinct Geocities pageboy , Wikipedia , and various other pages as yoke .
Harry PotterNeil Gaiman
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , skill , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future , give up to your present .
You May Also Like
