HP & LOR

For the ardent fans of literature, especially fiction (including me), J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter has proved to be a literary treat. A tour de force into the magical world which transports us to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with all its intriguing features, Harry Potter is a book that truly transcends all boundaries of time and age. With crores of readers all over the world and money more than the queen of England, J.K. has spawned a whole new generation of Harry Potter fans, whose following borders on reverence of their favorite character, Harry. 

Next to Harry the most mesmerizing character of the books is the Dark Lord, Voldemort himself. Dark Lord, does the name ring a bell? It is said that, “The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and those who are going to read them”. Those belonging to the former category will know that Dark Lord is the Sauron of LOR and that the similarities between The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series are undeniable.

Harry & Frodo: Frodo Baggins, the protagonist of LOR and Harry, have more in common than their fates that predict their roles in the ultimate destruction of evil. Both have been raised without parents by their near relatives. Harry is raised by his mother’s sister Petunia and her husband Vernon Dursley, muggles (or non-magic people) to the core. Frodo, though the book does not say why and never mentions his parents, has been raised by his beloved uncle Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is like a father figure to Frodo as is Sirius Black to Harry. Sirius is Harry’s father James’ best friend and Harry’s godfather.

Both Frodo and Harry live comparatively uneventful lives till they come to know the fate that awaits them. For Frodo the moment of epiphany comes when he discovers the true identity of the Ring, which he inherited from Bilbo and for Harry, the turning point of his life comes when he is told that he is a wizard.

Voldemort & Suaron: The next most prominent characters of both the books are Lord Voldemort of HP and the Dark Lord, Sauron of LOR who are splitting images of each other. In fact both Lord Voldemort, ‘You know who’ or ‘He who must not be named’ as most of the wizarding community calls him, is referred to as the Dark Lord by his fellow Death Eaters. Both are consumed in their own evil, torturing innocents, murdering their opponents, creating an equally evil band of followers in their bid to become all-powerful and dominate all life forms.

Sauron is vanquished after being separated from the One Ring, when Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron’s hand, and Sauron’s spirit fled. He did not die but was out there bidding his time and hoping to be re-united with the One. The One has the power to control all the other rings of power which themselves ruled the fates of their respective races. Three of the rings of power belonged to the elves, nine to men and seven to the dwarf lords, all of whom were deceived as unknown to all of them, Sauron forged another master ring in the fires of Mount Doom, the One Ring to rule them all. Indeed without the destruction of the One, Sauron could never have been destroyed entirely. The Dark Lord and his One Ring are one in spirit, for he poured much of his malice and power into it when he secretly forged it.

The same fate befalls Voldemort, when he tries to kill baby Harry and the killing curse rebounded on him because of the shield provided by Harry’s mother who herself died protecting Harry from Voldemort. But as he himself proclaims, he has gone further along the path to immortality then anyone else, does not die, but is only reduced to something barely alive. The reason being, that his soul is divided into at least six known parts in the form of Horcruxes. Much like Sauron’s One Ring, Voldemort put parts of his soul in Horcruxes and was on his way to making the seventh one when he tried to kill Harry. Horcrux is an object or sometimes even a living being (as in case of Voldemort) in which a person conceals a part of his soul. This splitting of the soul is made possible by a supreme act of evil, by committing murder. Note the fact that both Sauron and Voldemort have their souls cleverly concealed within objects outside their bodies without whose annihilation their own death is impossible. Just the way Sauron is indestructible without the One being undone, Voldemort is an immortal while his Horcruxes remained intact.

Frodo on wearing the One Ring gets transported to the world of darkness, the living dead wherein Sauron can see him and he can also see the Great Eye of Sauron, and his Ringwraiths in their true form. Harry too is connected to Lord Voldemort by the means of the lightning scar on his forehead which is a relic of Voldemort’s attack on him. As it is proved in Book Five, Harry and Voldemort have access to each other’s thoughts and emotions, an access undeniably made feasible because of the scar. Harry’s scar gives him excruciating pain when Voldemort is close to him or is particularly enraged. In essence, just the way Frodo and Sauron get connected after wearing the Ring, Harry and Voldemort are connected through Harry’s scar.

Dementors & Nazguls: Amongst the allies or rather servants of Voldemort, besides the Death Eaters, are Dementors. They are vicious creatures who suck the happiness and joy out of people, literally feeding on the happy thoughts and memories of a person, leaving him feeling miserable, reliving the worst memories of his life. They are capable of sucking a person’s soul by administering what is referred to as the dementor’s kiss. They instantly remind one of Sauron’s most evil and trusted servants, the nine Ringwraiths or the Nazgul, who were once upon a time great kings of men. Falling prey to their own avaricious natures, they accepted the rings of power from Sauron and one by one they started fading and in the end became permanently invisible. They fell under Sauron’s dark shadow as the One controlled them all and became Ringwraiths, neither living nor dead, his most terrible servants, endowed with powers to spread fear, discord and misery just like the Dementors in HP.

Dumbledore & Gandalf: Frodo’s mentor throughout the story, indeed the one who first set Frodo on the perilous trail of destroying the One, though at that time it was merely a quest to bring the ring to safely to Rivendell, the land of the Elves, was a very wise and shrewd wizard, Gandalf Greyback.Gandalf’s role in the story is the same as that of Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, in HP. Right since Voldemort’s attack and Harry’s parent’s death, Harry has been under the watchful eye of Dumbledore and his loyal allies. The way Gandalf reveals the only way to destroy Sauron to Frodo, so does Dumbledore unearth the secret of Voldemort’s destruction to Harry, and the means to achieve it.

Gandalf falls in an abyss fighting an ancient fiery creature called Balrog in the mines of Moria and is believed to be dead before his miraculous return as the White rider. Dumbledore also meets his end when Severus Snape kills him as a part of a well-staged ploy.

Fawkes & Gwahir: Dumbledore’s pet bird Fawkes, a phoenix who is very powerful in his own right, has saved Dumbledore as well as Harry’s life more than once. He saved Harry’s life when he punctured the eyes of the Basilisk that Voldemort set on Harry. A basilisk’s stare is fatal to anyone who sees it and Fawkes’ timely help literally saves the day. Fawkes is also known to have saved Dumbledore’s life once during his encounter with Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic in Book Five. When Voldemort uses the Avada Kedavra curse on Dumbledore, Fawkes swoops down in front of Dumbledore, opens his beak wide and swallows the jet of green light whole, bursting into flames. Fawkes is reminiscent of Gwahir, the Wind Lord, swiftest of the Great Eagles, who rescued Gandalf from the clutches of Saruman, when Gandalf is imprisoned on the top of Saruman’s tower, Orthanc, staffless and helpless. Even after Frodo and Sam finally destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, the whole land starts filling with volcanoes, fire and darkness. Just when it looks like the end for Frodo and Sam, Gwahir and his fellow eagles Landroval and Meneldor bear them away from Mount Doom to safety.

Some more: In the days of Voldemort’s rise to power and terror, the good folks fighting against him had formed an organization called ‘The Order of the Phoenix’ to rally against Voldemort. Vis-a-vis in LOR, the group of people who volunteered to help Frodo on his quest to destroy the One are known as ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’.

Samwise Gamgee’s place as Frodo’s gardener and friend who accompanies him right till the end of his journey is taken by Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger in HP. Without the help of these trusted friends, neither Frodo nor Harry would have been able to fulfill their quests.

With the ‘Harry is a Horcrux’ theory being proved true in the seventh book, Harry could be called the soul-bearer akin to Frodo who’s the ring-bearer in LOR. Makes us wonder if the web of magic spun by J.K. Rowling has been inspired by JRR Tolkien’s LOR. My guess is as good as yours.