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Harry Potter influences and analogues

January 01, 1970

Writer J. K. Rowling cites several writers as influences in her creation of her bestselling Harry Potter series. Writers, journalists and critics have noted that the books also have a number of analogues; a wide range of literature, both classical and modern, which Rowling has not openly cited as influences.

This article is divided into three sections. The first section lists those authors and books which Rowling has suggested as possible influences on Harry Potter. The second section deals with those books which Rowling has cited as favourites without mentioning possible influences. The third section deals with those analogues which Rowling has not cited either as influences or as favourites but which others have claimed bear comparison with Harry Potter.

Acknowledged influences edit

 
Ivan Akimov - Herakles on the crossroads. Greco-Roman mythology was a considerable influence on Harry Potter.

Rowling has never openly credited any single author with inspiration, saying, "I haven't got the faintest idea where my ideas come from, or how my imagination works. I'm just grateful that it does, because it gives me more entertainment than it gives anyone else."[1] However, she has mentioned a number of favourite authors as probable influences in her creation of Harry Potter. The works are listed roughly in order of publication.

British folklore and mythology edit

Rowling has said, "I've taken horrible liberties with folklore and mythology, but I'm quite unashamed about that, because British folklore and British mythology is a totally bastard mythology. You know, we've been invaded by people, we've appropriated their gods, we've taken their mythical creatures, and we've soldered them all together to make, what I would say, is one of the richest folklores in the world, because it's so varied. So I feel no compunction about borrowing from that freely, but adding a few things of my own."[2]

The Iliad edit

When an interviewer said that saving Cedric's body resembled the actions of Hector, Achilles, and Patroclus in the Iliad, Rowling said, "That's where it came from. That really, really, really moved me when I read that when I was 19. The idea of the desecration of a body, a very ancient idea... I was thinking of that when Harry saved Cedric's body."[3]

The Bible edit

A number of commentators have drawn attention to the Biblical themes and references in J. K. Rowling's final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In an August 2007 issue of Newsweek, Lisa Miller commented that Harry dies and then comes back to life to save humankind, like Christ. She points out the title of the chapter in which this occurs—"King's Cross"—a possible allusion to Christ's cross. Also, she outlines the scene in which Harry is temporarily dead, pointing out that it places Harry in a very heaven-like setting where he talks to a father figure "whose supernatural powers are accompanied by a profound message of love."[4] Jeffrey Weiss adds, in the Dallas Morning News, that the biblical quotation "And the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26), featured on the tombstones of Harry's parents, refers to Christ's resurrection.[5]

The quotation on Dumbledore's family tomb, "Where your treasure is, your heart will be also", is from Matthew 6:21, and refers to knowing which things in life are of true value.[6] "They're very British books", Rowling revealed to an Open Book conference in October 2007, "So on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones, [but] I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric's Hollow, they (…) almost epitomize the whole series."[7]

Aeschylus and William Penn edit

Deathly Hallows begins with a pair of epigraphs, one from Quaker leader William Penn's More Fruits of Solitude and one from Aeschylus' The Libation Bearers. "I really enjoyed choosing those two quotations because one is pagan, of course, and one is from a Christian tradition", Rowling said. "I'd known it was going to be those two passages since 'Chamber' was published. I always knew [that] if I could use them at the beginning of book seven then I'd cued up the ending perfectly. If they were relevant, then I went where I needed to go. They just say it all to me, they really do."[7]

The Pardoner's Tale edit

In a July 2007 webchat hosted by her publisher Bloomsbury, Rowling stated that The Pardoner's Tale of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales was an inspiration for a folktale, The Tale of the Three Brothers, retold by Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.[8] In the tale, three brothers outwit Death by magicking a bridge to cross a dangerous river. Death, angry at being cheated, offers to give them three gifts, the Deathly Hallows, as a reward for evading him. The first two die as a result of the gifts granted to them, but the third uses his gift wisely and dies in his bed an old man. In The Pardoner's Tale, three rogues are told that if they look under a tree, they can find a means to defeat Death. Instead they find gold, and, overcome with greed, eventually kill each other to possess it.[9]

Macbeth edit

Rowling has cited William Shakespeare's Macbeth as an influence. In an interview with The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet, when asked, "What if [Voldemort] never heard the prophecy?", she said, "It's the Macbeth idea. I absolutely adore Macbeth. It is possibly my favourite Shakespeare play. And that's the question isn't it? If Macbeth hadn't met the witches, would he have killed Duncan? Would any of it have happened? Is it fated or did he make it happen? I believe he made it happen."[10]

On her website, she referred to Macbeth again in discussing the prophecy: "the prophecy (like the one the witches make to Macbeth, if anyone has read the play of the same name) becomes the catalyst for a situation that would never have occurred if it had not been made."[11]

Emma edit

Rowling cites Jane Austen as her favourite author and a major influence. Rowling has said: "My attitude to Jane Austen is accurately summed up by that wonderful line from Cold Comfort Farm: 'One of the disadvantages of almost universal education was that all kinds of people gained a familiarity with one's favourite books. It gave one a curious feeling; like seeing a drunken stranger wrapped in one's dressing gown.'"[1] The Harry Potter series is known for its twist endings, and Rowling has stated that, "I have never set up a surprise ending in a Harry Potter book without knowing I can never, and will never, do it anywhere near as well as Austen did in Emma."[1]

The Story of the Treasure Seekers edit

Rowling frequently mentions E. Nesbit in interview, citing her "very real" child characters.[12] In 2000, she said, "I think I identify with E Nesbit more than any other writer", and described Nesbit's The Story of the Treasure Seekers as, "Exhibit A for prohibition of all children's literature by anyone who cannot remember exactly how it felt to be a child."[1]

The Wind in the Willows edit

 
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

In a 2007 reading for students in New Orleans, Rowling said that the first book to inspire her was Kenneth Grahame's children's fantasy The Wind in the Willows, read to her when she had measles at the age of 4.[13]

Dorothy L. Sayers edit

Rowling has also cited the work of Christian essayist and mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers as an influence on her work, saying "There's a theory – this applies to detective novels, and then Harry, which is not really a detective novel, but it feels like one sometimes – that you should not have romantic intrigue in a detective book. Dorothy L. Sayers, who is queen of the genre said – and then broke her own rule, but said – that there is no place for romance in a detective story except that it can be useful to camouflage other people's motives. That's true; it is a very useful trick. I've used that on Percy and I've used that to a degree on Tonks in this book, as a red herring. But having said that, I disagree inasmuch as mine are very character-driven books, and it's so important, therefore, that we see these characters fall in love, which is a necessary part of life."[14]

The Chronicles of Narnia edit

Rowling has said she was a fan of the works of C. S. Lewis as a child, and cites the influence of his The Chronicles of Narnia on her work: "I found myself thinking about the wardrobe route to Narnia when Harry is told he has to hurl himself at a barrier in King's Cross station – it dissolves and he's on platform Nine and Three-Quarters, and there's the train for Hogwarts."[15]

She is, however, at pains to stress the differences between Narnia and her world: "Narnia is literally a different world", she says, "whereas in the Harry books you go into a world within a world that you can see if you happen to belong. A lot of the humour comes from collisions between the magic and the everyday world. Generally there isn't much humour in the Narnia books, although I adored them when I was a child. I got so caught up I didn't think CS Lewis was especially preachy. Reading them now I find that his subliminal message isn't very subliminal."[15] New York Times writer Charles McGrath notes the similarity between Dudley Dursley, the obnoxious son of Harry's neglectful guardians, and Eustace Scrubb, the spoiled brat who torments the main characters until converted by Aslan.[16]

The Little White Horse edit

In an interview in The Scotsman in 2002, Rowling described Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse as having, "perhaps more than any other book . . . a direct influence on the Harry Potter books. The author always included details of what her characters were eating and I remember liking that. You may have noticed that I always list the food being eaten at Hogwarts."[17] Rowling said in O that "Goudge was the only [author] whose influence I was conscious of. She always described exactly what the children were eating, and I really liked knowing what they had in their sandwiches."[18]

The Sword in the Stone edit

Rowling also cites the work of T. H. White, a grammar school teacher, and the author of the well-known adult classic saga, The Once and Future King, which tells the story of King Arthur of Britain, from childhood to grave. Perhaps the best-known book from this saga is The Sword in the Stone (the first book, initially intended for children, with White's own illustrations) which was made into an animated movie by Walt Disney. Arthur (called Wart) is a small scruffy-haired orphan, who meets the wizard Merlin (who has an owl, Archimedes, and acts, much like Dumbledore, in the manner of an "absent-minded professor"[19]) who takes him to a castle to educate him.

As writer Phyllis Morris notes, "The parallels between Dumbledore and Merlin do not end with the protection of the hero in danger ... In addition to both characters sporting long, flowing beards (and blue eyes, according to T.H. White), Merlin was King Arthur's mentor and guide, as Dumbledore has been Harry's guide and mentor."[20] Rowling describes Wart as "Harry's spiritual ancestor."[21]

Manxmouse edit

Rowling is also a fan of Paul Gallico, "especially Manxmouse. That's a great book. Gallico manages the fine line between magic and reality so skilfully, to the point where the most fantastic events feel plausible."[15]

Jessica Mitford edit

In the Scotsman interview, Rowling described civil rights activist Jessica Mitford as "my most influential writer", saying, "I love the way she never outgrew some of her adolescent traits, remaining true to her politics – she was a self-taught socialist – throughout her life."[17] In a review of Decca—The letters of Jessica Mitford, she went further saying, "Jessica Mitford has been my heroine since I was 14 years old, when I overheard my formidable great-aunt discussing how Mitford had run away at the age of 19 to fight with the Reds in the Spanish Civil War", and claims what inspired her about Mitford was that she was "incurably and instinctively rebellious, brave, adventurous, funny and irreverent, she liked nothing better than a good fight, preferably against a pompous and hypocritical target."[22]

Other favourites edit

 
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

In 1999, while Rowling was on a tour of the United States, a bookseller handed her a copy of I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, saying she would love it. The book became one of her all time favourites. Rowling says that, "it is the voice of the narrator, in this case 17-year- old Cassandra Mortmain, which makes a masterpiece out of an old plot."[1][23]

Also in 1999, Rowling said in interview that she was a great fan of Grimble by Clement Freud, saying: "Grimble is one of funniest books I've ever read, and Grimble himself, who is a small boy, is a fabulous character. I'd love to see a Grimble film. As far as I know, these last two fine pieces of literature are out of print, so if any publishers ever read this, could you please dust them off and put them back in print so other people can read them?"[24]

On a number of occasions, Rowling has cited her admiration for French novelist Colette.[25]

Rowling said that the death of Sydney Carton in Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, and the novel's final line, "It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known", had a profound impact on her.[26]

In a 2000 interview with BBC Radio 4, Rowling revealed a deep love of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial book Lolita, saying, "There just isn't enough time to discuss how a plot that could have been the most worthless pornography becomes, in Nabokov's hands, a great and tragic love story, and I could exhaust my reservoir of superlatives trying to describe the quality of the writing."[27]

In an interview with O: The Oprah Magazine, Rowling described Irish author Roddy Doyle as her favourite living writer, saying, "I love all his books. I often talk about him and Jane Austen in the same breath. I think people are slightly mystified by that because superficially they're such different writers. But they both have a very unsentimental approach to human nature. They can be profoundly moving without ever becoming mawkish."[28]

Many of Rowling's named favourites decorate the links section of her personal webpage. The section is designed to look like a bookcase, and includes I Capture the Castle, The Little White Horse and Manxmouse, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma, a book of fairy tales by E. Nesbit, The Commitments and The Van by Roddy Doyle, two books by Dorothy L. Sayers and a book by Katherine Mansfield.[29]

In January 2006, Rowling was asked by the Royal Society of Literature to nominate her top ten books every child should read. Included in her list were Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.[30]

Analogues edit

See also: Analogue (literature)

There are a number of fictional works to which Harry Potter has been repeatedly compared in the media. Some of these Rowling has herself mentioned, others have been mentioned by Internet sites, journalists, critics or other authors. The works are listed roughly in order of creation.

The Pilgrim's Progress edit

 
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

John Granger sees Chamber of Secrets as similar to a morality play like John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. He describes the climax, where Harry descends to the Chamber of Secrets to rescue Ginny Weasley as "the clearest Christian allegory of salvation history since Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. … Using only traditional symbols, from the 'Ancient of Days' figure as God the Father to the satanic serpent and Christ-like phoenix ('the Resurrection Bird'), the drama takes us from the fall to eternal life without a hitch."[31]

Wuthering Heights edit

In 2006, Rowling recommended Emily Brontë's Gothic post-Romantic Wuthering Heights as number one of the top ten books every child should read. In her essay, "To Sir With Love" in the book Mapping the World of Harry Potter, Joyce Millman suggests that Severus Snape, Harry Potter's morally ambiguous potions master, is drawn from a tradition of Byronic heroes such as Wuthering Heights' Heathcliff[32] and that chapter two of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is reminiscent of the opening of Wuthering Heights when Heathcliff is coldly introduced and asks his servant Joseph to bring up wine for him and Lockwood. Snape commands the almost identical line to his servant Wormtail, with Snape described similarly to how Emily Brontë described Heathcliff.

Tom Brown's Schooldays edit

The Harry Potter series draws upon a long literary tradition of stories set in boarding schools. This school story genre originated in the Victorian era with Tom Brown's Schooldays, by Thomas Hughes. Tom Brown's Schooldays laid down a basic structure which has been widely imitated, for example in Anthony Buckeridge's 1950s Jennings books.[33]

Both Tom Brown's Schooldays and Harry Potter involve an average eleven-year-old, better at sport than academic study, who is sent to boarding school. Upon arrival, the boy gains a best friend (in Tom's case, East, in Harry's case, Ron Weasley) who helps him adjust to the new environment. They are set upon by an arrogant bully – in Tom Brown's case, Harry Flashman, in Harry's case Draco Malfoy. Stephen Fry, who both narrates the British audio adaptations of the Harry Potter novels and has starred in a screen adaptation of Tom Brown, has commented many times about the similarities between the two books. "Harry Potter – a boy who arrives in this strange school to board for the first time and makes good, solid friends and also enemies who use bullying and unfair tactics", notes Fry, "then is ambiguous about whether or not he is going to be good or bad. His pluck and his endeavour, loyalty, good nature and bravery are the things that carry him through – and that is the story of Tom Brown's Schooldays".[34]

The Lord of the Rings edit

Fans of author J. R. R. Tolkien have drawn attention to the similarities between his novel The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series;[35] specifically Tolkien's Wormtongue and Rowling's Wormtail, Tolkien's Shelob and Rowling's Aragog, Tolkien's Gandalf and Rowling's Dumbledore, Tolkien's Nazgûl and Rowling's Dementors, Old Man Willow and the Whomping Willow and the similarities between both authors' antagonists, Tolkien's Dark Lord Sauron and Rowling's Lord Voldemort (both of whom are sometimes within their respective continuities unnamed due to intense fear surrounding their names; both often referred to as 'The Dark Lord'; and both of whom are, during the time when the main action takes place, seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat).[36]

Several reviews of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows noted that the locket used as a horcrux by Voldemort bore comparison to Tolkien's One Ring, as it negatively affects the personality of the wearer.[37] Rowling maintains that she had not read The Hobbit until after she completed the first Harry Potter novel (though she had read The Lord of the Rings as a teenager) and that any similarities between her books and Tolkien's are "Fairly superficial. Tolkien created a whole new mythology, which I would never claim to have done. On the other hand, I think I have better jokes."[38] Tolkienian scholar Tom Shippey has maintained that "no modern writer of epic fantasy has managed to escape the mark of Tolkien, no matter how hard many of them have tried".[39]

Roald Dahl's stories edit

Many have drawn attention to the similarities between Rowling's works and those of Roald Dahl, particularly in the depiction of the Dursley family, which echoes the nightmarish guardians seen in many of Dahl's books, such as the Wormwoods from Matilda, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker from James and the Giant Peach, and Grandma from George's Marvellous Medicine.[40] Rowling acknowledges that there are similarities, but believes that at a deeper level, her works are different from those of Dahl; in her words, more "moral".[41]

X-Men edit

The Marvel Comics superhero team the X-Men, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963, are similar to Harry Potter in their examination of prejudice and intolerance. Comic book historian Michael Mallory examined the original premise of the comic, in which teenage mutants study under Professor X to learn how to control their abilities, safe from fearful Homo sapiens, and also battle less benign mutants like Magneto. He argued, "Think about [the comic] clad in traditional British university robes and pointy hats, castles and trains, and the image that springs to mind is Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizard[ry], with Dumbledore, Voldemort and the class struggle between wizards and muggles." He acknowledged that while the X-Men was for the longest time "a phenomenon that was largely contained in the realm of comic book readers as opposed to the wider public [such as Rowling]", he argued "nothing exists in a vacuum, least of all popular culture. Just as the creators of X-Men consciously or unconsciously tapped into the creative ether of their time for inspiration, so has the X-Men phenomenon had an effect on the books and films that has since followed."[42]

The Chronicles of Prydain edit

Lloyd Alexander's five-volume Prydain Chronicles, begun in 1964 with The Book of Three and concluding in 1968 with "The High King", features a young protagonist, an assistant pig keeper named Taran, who wishes to be a great hero in a world drawn from Welsh mythology. Entertainment Weekly cited Lloyd Alexander as a possible influence on Rowling when it named her its 2007 Entertainer of the Year.[43] When Alexander died in 2007, his obituary in New York Magazine drew many comparisons between Harry Potter and Prydain and said that "The High King is everything we desperately hope Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be."[44]

The Dark Is Rising edit

Susan Cooper's Dark Is Rising sequence (which commenced with Over Sea, Under Stone in 1965 and now more commonly bound in a single volume) have been compared to the Harry Potter series. The second novel, also called The Dark Is Rising, features a young boy named Will Stanton who discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is in fact imbued with magical power; in Will's case, that he is the last of the Old Ones, beings empowered by the Light to battle the Dark. The books open in much the same way, with Will finding that people are telling him strange things and that animals run from him.[45] John Hodge, who wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation, entitled The Seeker, made substantial changes to the novel's plot and tone to differentiate it from Harry Potter.[46]

A Wizard of Earthsea edit

The basic premise of Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea (Parnassus, 1968), in which a boy with unusual aptitude for magic is recognised, and sent to a special school for wizards, resembles that of Harry Potter.[47] On his first day, Ged encounters two other students, one of whom becomes his best friend, and the other, a haughty aristocratic rival. Ged later receives a scar in his struggle with a demonic shadow which can possess people. At the beginning of his journey, he is overconfident and arrogant, but after a terrible tragedy caused by his pride, is forced to rethink his ways, and later becomes a very respected wizard and headmaster, much like Albus Dumbledore. Le Guin claimed that she did not feel Rowling "ripped her off", but that she felt that Rowling's books were overpraised for supposed originality, and that Rowling "could have been more gracious about her predecessors. My incredulity was at the critics who found the first book wonderfully original. She has many virtues, but originality isn't one of them. That hurt."[48]

The Worst Witch edit

Many critics have noted that Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch series (first published in 1974 by Allison & Busby), is set in a school for girls, "Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches", reminiscent of Hogwarts.[49][50] The story concerns Mildred Hubble, an awkward pupil at a boarding-school for witches, who faces a scheming, blonde and snobbish high-born rival student, and she is best friends with a know-it-all witch and a prankster witch. Her professors include a kindly and elderly headmistress and a bullying, raven-haired potions teacher.[51] Murphy has commented on her frustration at constant comparisons between her work and Harry Potter: "It's irritating … everyone asks the same question and I even get children writing to ask me whether I mind about Hogwarts and pointing out similarities. Even worse are reviewers who come across my books, or see the TV series, and, without taking the trouble to find out that it's now over quarter of a century since I wrote my first book, make pointed remarks about 'clever timing' – or say things like 'the Worst Witch stories are not a million miles from JK Rowling's books'. The implications are really quite insulting!"[52]

Magic in the Mist edit

The character of Harry Potter is similar to Margaret Mary Kimmel's character Tom in Magic in the Mist (1975)[53]—a boy who tries to learn magic, befriends a dragon, and has a snake, badger, and raven as his friends. The illustrations in the book bear a close resemblance to those that would be drawn for Harry Potter.[54][unreliable source?]

Star Wars edit

The Harry Potter series shares many similarities with George Lucas's Star Wars with respect to main characters, especially heroes and villains, as well as story plotlines.[55][56] Scholar Deborah Cartmell states that Harry Potter's story is based as much on Star Wars as it is on any other text.[57] The life of Harry Potter, the main hero of the series, parallels that of Luke Skywalker, who is the main hero of the Original Star Wars trilogy with both characters living dull and ordinary lives until a later age when they are recruited by an older mentor. Harry Potter trains to become a wizard at his late childhood and mentored by Albus Dumbledore in facing his destiny and enemy Lord Voldemort; whereas Luke Skywalker trains to become a Jedi at his early adulthood and is mentored by Obi-Wan Kenobi in facing his destiny and enemy Darth Vader (also known as Lord Vader).[58] Both characters were also brought at infancy to their foster families directly by their future mentors.

The main villains of both the franchises also share many similarities. Tom Riddle was once also a student of the hero's mentor, Dumbledore at Hogwarts, also studying to be a wizard before he turned evil and transformed into Voldemort. Likewise, Anakin Skywalker was also a student of the hero's mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi with the Jedi Order training to be a Jedi Knight before he turned to the dark side and transformed into Darth Vader.[59]

The mentors of the main heroes also share many parallels. Both also mentored the main villain of their stories before they turned bad and betrayed their respective mentor. Both mentors were also eventually killed when fighting their former students. Albus Dumbledore was betrayed by Tom Riddle before being eventually killed off by him as Lord Voldemort (through Draco Malfoy and Snape). Obi-Wan was betrayed by Anakin Skywalker before eventually being killed off by him as Darth Vader.[60] Both also voluntarily allowed themselves to be killed and advised the hero from beyond the grave.

Both stories have a "Dark Side" the followers of which are the villains of the story as well as their own followers/apprentices.[61][62][63]

Both stories also have a prophesied "Chosen One" who will destroy evil.[64][65] In the Harry Potter series, it is Harry Potter who is the chosen one who would defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort. In Star Wars, it is presumed and appears to be Luke Skywalker, but actually revealed to be Anakin Skywalker as proclaimed in the Jedi prophecy who would destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force. He does this after being redeemed by his son, Luke Skywalker.[66] More recent theories contrast this and argue that Luke is indeed the chosen one who will bring balance to The Force.[67]

Chrestomanci series edit

In Diana Wynne Jones' Charmed Life (1977), two orphaned children receive magical education while living in a castle. The setting is a world resembling early 1900s Britain, where magic is commonplace.[68] "Wynne Jones has been publishing for more than 30 years, and young readers have noted parallels between her books and Rowling's creations. The 1982 book Witch Week, part of Wynne Jones' celebrated Chrestomanci series, features an owlish young hero at a boarding school for children who have suffered from society's persecution of witches".[69] Diana Wynne Jones has stated in answer to a question on her webpage: "I think Ms Rowling did get quite a few of her ideas from my books – though I have never met her, so I have never been able to ask her. My books were written many years before the Harry Potter books (Charmed Life was first published in 1977), so any similarities probably come from what she herself read as a child. Once a book is published, out in the world, it is sort of common property, for people to take ideas from and use, and I think this is what happened to my books."[68]

Discworld edit

Before the arrival of J. K. Rowling, Britain's bestselling author was comic fantasy writer Terry Pratchett. His Discworld books, beginning with The Colour of Magic in 1983, satirise and parody common fantasy literature conventions. Pratchett was repeatedly asked if he "got" his idea for his magic college, the Unseen University, from Harry Potter's Hogwarts, or if the young wizard Ponder Stibbons, who has dark hair and glasses, was inspired by Harry Potter. Both in fact predate Rowling's work by several years; Pratchett jokingly claimed that he did steal them, though "I of course used a time machine."[70]

The BBC and other British news agencies emphasised a supposed rivalry between Pratchett and Rowling,[71] but Pratchett said on record that, while he did not put Rowling on a pedestal, he did not consider her a bad writer, nor did he envy her success.[72] Claims of rivalry were due to a letter he wrote to The Sunday Times, about an article published declaring that fantasy "looks backward to an idealised, romanticised, pseudofeudal world, where knights and ladies morris-dance to Greensleeves".[73] Actually, he was protesting the ineptitude of journalists in that genre, many of whom did not research their work and, in this case, contradicted themselves in the same article.[74]

Ender's Game edit

Science fiction author Orson Scott Card, in a fierce editorial in response to Rowling's copyright lawsuit against the Harry Potter Lexicon, claimed that her assertion that she had had her "words stolen" was rendered moot by the fact that he could draw numerous comparisons between her books and his own 1985 novel Ender's Game; in his words,

A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by teams flying in midair, at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally talented and a natural leader. He trains other kids in unauthorised extra sessions, which enrages his enemies, who attack him with the intention of killing him; but he is protected by his loyal, brilliant friends and gains strength from the love of some of his family members. He is given special guidance by an older man of legendary accomplishments who previously kept the enemy at bay. He goes on to become the crucial figure in a struggle against an unseen enemy who threatens the whole world.[75]

Young Sherlock Holmes edit

Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Harry Potter film adaptations, has cited the 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes, which he wrote, as an influence in his direction for those films. "That was sort of a predecessor to this movie, in a sense", he told the BBC in 2001, "It was about two young boys and a girl in a British boarding school who had to fight a supernatural force."[76] Scenes from Young Sherlock Holmes were subsequently used to cast the first Harry Potter film.[77] On 3 January 2010, Irish journalist Declan Lynch (writing in The Sunday Independent) stated that "there's more than a hint of young Sherlock evident in Harry".[78]

Troll edit

The 1986 Charles Band-produced low-budget horror/fantasy film Troll, directed by John Carl Buechler and starring Noah Hathaway, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Sonny Bono, features a character named "Harry Potter Jr." In an interview with M. J. Simpson, Band claimed: "I've heard that J. K. Rowling has acknowledged that maybe she saw this low-budget movie and perhaps it inspired her."[79] However, a spokesman for Rowling, responding to the rumors of a planned remake of the film, has denied that Rowling ever saw it before writing her book.[80]

Rowling has said on record multiple times that the name "Harry Potter" was derived in part from a childhood friend, Ian Potter, and in part from her favourite male name, Harry.[81] On 13 April 2008, The Mail on Sunday wrote a news article claiming that Warner Bros. had begun a legal action against Buechler; however, the story was denied and lawyers for Rowling demanded the article be removed.[82]

On 14 April 2008, John Buechler's partner in the Troll remake, Peter Davy, said about Harry Potter, "In John's opinion, he created the first Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling says the idea just came to her. John doesn't think so. There are a lot of similarities between the theme of her books and the original Troll. John was shocked when she came out with Harry Potter."[83]

Groosham Grange edit

Groosham Grange (first published in 1988), a novel by best-selling British author Anthony Horowitz, has been cited for its similarities with Harry Potter; the plot revolves around David Eliot, a teenager mistreated by his parents who receive an unexpected call from an isolated boarding school, Groosham Grange, which reveals itself as a school for wizards and witches. Both books feature a teacher who is a ghost, a werewolf character named after the Latin word for "wolf" (Lupin/Leloup[note 1]), and passage to the school via railway train.[84] Horowitz, however, while acknowledging the similarities, just thanked Rowling for her contribution to the development of the young adult fiction in the UK.[85]

The Books of Magic edit

Fans of the comic book series The Books of Magic, by Neil Gaiman (first published in 1990 by DC Comics) have cited similarities to the Harry Potter story. These include a dark-haired English boy with glasses, named Timothy Hunter, who discovers his potential as the most powerful wizard of the age upon being approached by magic-wielding individuals, the first of whom makes him a gift of a pet owl. Similarities led the British tabloid paper the Daily Mirror to claim Gaiman had made accusations of plagiarism against Rowling, which he went on the record denying, saying the similarities were either coincidence, or drawn from the same fantasy archetypes. "I thought we were both just stealing from T.H. White", he said in an interview, "very straightforward." Harry Potter and Platform 9¾ even appeared in the final issues of DC's long-running Books of Magic spinoff comic.[86] Dylan Horrocks, writer of the Books of Magic spin-off Hunter: The Age of Magic, has said they should be considered as similar works in the same genre and that both have parallels with earlier schoolboy wizards, like the 2000 AD character Luke Kirby.[87]

Spellcasting series edit

The text adventure game Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls (1990) is the first instalment of the Spellcasting series created by Steve Meretzky during his time at Legend Entertainment. All the three games in the series tell the story of young Ernie Eaglebeak, a bespectacled student at the prestigious Sorcerer University, as he progresses through his studies, learning the arcanes of magic, taking part in student life, occasionally saving the world as he knows it. Each separate game takes place during consecutive school years as well, much like the Harry Potter books.[88]

Wizard's Hall edit

In 1991, the author Jane Yolen released a book called Wizard's Hall, to which the Harry Potter series bears a resemblance. The main protagonist, Henry (also called Thornmallow), is a young boy who joins a magical school for young wizards.[89] At the school "he must fulfill an ancient prophecy and help overthrow a powerful, evil wizard."[90] However, Yolen has stated that "I'm pretty sure she never read my book," attributing similarities to commonly-used fantasy tropes.[91] In an interview with the magazine Newsweek, Yolen said, "I always tell people that if Ms. Rowling would like to cut me a very large check, I would cash it."[92] Yolen stopped reading Harry Potter after the third book, and has expressed dislike for the writing style of Harry Potter, calling it "fantasy fast food".[92][93]

The Secret of Platform 13 edit

Eva Ibbotson's The Secret of Platform 13 (first published in 1994) features a gateway to a magical world located in King's Cross station in London. The protagonist belongs to the magical world but is raised in the normal world by a rich family who neglect him and treat him as a servant, while their fat and unpleasant biological son is pampered and spoiled.

Amanda Craig is a journalist who has written about the similarities: "Ibbotson would seem to have at least as good a case for claiming plagiarism as the American author currently suing J. K. Rowling [i.e. Nancy Stouffer], but unlike her, Ibbotson says she would 'like to shake her by the hand. I think we all borrow from each other as writers.'"[94]

Doris Crockford and the Flying Scotsman edit

In the first book, Harry meets a witch named Doris Crockford, who shares a name with real-life author of a book about the famous train The Flying Scotsman, published in 1937. In Crockford's book, the train departs from Platform 10, King's Cross Station, and goes on a magical adventure. It is believed that J. K. Rowling was inspired by Doris Crockford in using a character of the same name.[95]

See also edit

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  1. ^ "Le loup" is French for "the wolf", while "lupine" means wolf-like, both deriving from "lupus", the Latin word for wolf

Bibliography edit

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January 01, 1970
harry, potter, influences, analogues, writer, rowling, cites, several, writers, influences, creation, bestselling, harry, potter, series, writers, journalists, critics, have, noted, that, books, also, have, number, analogues, wide, range, literature, both, cla. Writer J K Rowling cites several writers as influences in her creation of her bestselling Harry Potter series Writers journalists and critics have noted that the books also have a number of analogues a wide range of literature both classical and modern which Rowling has not openly cited as influences This article is divided into three sections The first section lists those authors and books which Rowling has suggested as possible influences on Harry Potter The second section deals with those books which Rowling has cited as favourites without mentioning possible influences The third section deals with those analogues which Rowling has not cited either as influences or as favourites but which others have claimed bear comparison with Harry Potter Contents 1 Acknowledged influences 1 1 British folklore and mythology 1 2 The Iliad 1 3 The Bible 1 4 Aeschylus and William Penn 1 5 The Pardoner s Tale 1 6 Macbeth 1 7 Emma 1 8 The Story of the Treasure Seekers 1 9 The Wind in the Willows 1 10 Dorothy L Sayers 1 11 The Chronicles of Narnia 1 12 The Little White Horse 1 13 The Sword in the Stone 1 14 Manxmouse 1 15 Jessica Mitford 2 Other favourites 3 Analogues 3 1 The Pilgrim s Progress 3 2 Wuthering Heights 3 3 Tom Brown s Schooldays 3 4 The Lord of the Rings 3 5 Roald Dahl s stories 3 6 X Men 3 7 The Chronicles of Prydain 3 8 The Dark Is Rising 3 9 A Wizard of Earthsea 3 10 The Worst Witch 3 11 Magic in the Mist 3 12 Star Wars 3 13 Chrestomanci series 3 14 Discworld 3 15 Ender s Game 3 16 Young Sherlock Holmes 3 17 Troll 3 18 Groosham Grange 3 19 The Books of Magic 3 20 Spellcasting series 3 21 Wizard s Hall 3 22 The Secret of Platform 13 3 23 Doris Crockford and the Flying Scotsman 4 See also 5 References 6 BibliographyAcknowledged influences edit nbsp Ivan Akimov Herakles on the crossroads Greco Roman mythology was a considerable influence on Harry Potter Rowling has never openly credited any single author with inspiration saying I haven t got the faintest idea where my ideas come from or how my imagination works I m just grateful that it does because it gives me more entertainment than it gives anyone else 1 However she has mentioned a number of favourite authors as probable influences in her creation of Harry Potter The works are listed roughly in order of publication British folklore and mythology edit Rowling has said I ve taken horrible liberties with folklore and mythology but I m quite unashamed about that because British folklore and British mythology is a totally bastard mythology You know we ve been invaded by people we ve appropriated their gods we ve taken their mythical creatures and we ve soldered them all together to make what I would say is one of the richest folklores in the world because it s so varied So I feel no compunction about borrowing from that freely but adding a few things of my own 2 The Iliad edit When an interviewer said that saving Cedric s body resembled the actions of Hector Achilles and Patroclus in the Iliad Rowling said That s where it came from That really really really moved me when I read that when I was 19 The idea of the desecration of a body a very ancient idea I was thinking of that when Harry saved Cedric s body 3 The Bible edit A number of commentators have drawn attention to the Biblical themes and references in J K Rowling s final Harry Potter novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows In an August 2007 issue of Newsweek Lisa Miller commented that Harry dies and then comes back to life to save humankind like Christ She points out the title of the chapter in which this occurs King s Cross a possible allusion to Christ s cross Also she outlines the scene in which Harry is temporarily dead pointing out that it places Harry in a very heaven like setting where he talks to a father figure whose supernatural powers are accompanied by a profound message of love 4 Jeffrey Weiss adds in the Dallas Morning News that the biblical quotation And the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death 1 Corinthians 15 26 featured on the tombstones of Harry s parents refers to Christ s resurrection 5 The quotation on Dumbledore s family tomb Where your treasure is your heart will be also is from Matthew 6 21 and refers to knowing which things in life are of true value 6 They re very British books Rowling revealed to an Open Book conference in October 2007 So on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones but I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric s Hollow they almost epitomize the whole series 7 Aeschylus and William Penn edit Deathly Hallows begins with a pair of epigraphs one from Quaker leader William Penn s More Fruits of Solitude and one from Aeschylus The Libation Bearers I really enjoyed choosing those two quotations because one is pagan of course and one is from a Christian tradition Rowling said I d known it was going to be those two passages since Chamber was published I always knew that if I could use them at the beginning of book seven then I d cued up the ending perfectly If they were relevant then I went where I needed to go They just say it all to me they really do 7 The Pardoner s Tale edit In a July 2007 webchat hosted by her publisher Bloomsbury Rowling stated that The Pardoner s Tale of Geoffrey Chaucer s Canterbury Tales was an inspiration for a folktale The Tale of the Three Brothers retold by Xenophilius Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 8 In the tale three brothers outwit Death by magicking a bridge to cross a dangerous river Death angry at being cheated offers to give them three gifts the Deathly Hallows as a reward for evading him The first two die as a result of the gifts granted to them but the third uses his gift wisely and dies in his bed an old man In The Pardoner s Tale three rogues are told that if they look under a tree they can find a means to defeat Death Instead they find gold and overcome with greed eventually kill each other to possess it 9 Macbeth edit Rowling has cited William Shakespeare s Macbeth as an influence In an interview with The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet when asked What if Voldemort never heard the prophecy she said It s the Macbeth idea I absolutely adore Macbeth It is possibly my favourite Shakespeare play And that s the question isn t it If Macbeth hadn t met the witches would he have killed Duncan Would any of it have happened Is it fated or did he make it happen I believe he made it happen 10 On her website she referred to Macbeth again in discussing the prophecy the prophecy like the one the witches make to Macbeth if anyone has read the play of the same name becomes the catalyst for a situation that would never have occurred if it had not been made 11 Emma edit Rowling cites Jane Austen as her favourite author and a major influence Rowling has said My attitude to Jane Austen is accurately summed up by that wonderful line from Cold Comfort Farm One of the disadvantages of almost universal education was that all kinds of people gained a familiarity with one s favourite books It gave one a curious feeling like seeing a drunken stranger wrapped in one s dressing gown 1 The Harry Potter series is known for its twist endings and Rowling has stated that I have never set up a surprise ending in a Harry Potter book without knowing I can never and will never do it anywhere near as well as Austen did in Emma 1 The Story of the Treasure Seekers edit Rowling frequently mentions E Nesbit in interview citing her very real child characters 12 In 2000 she said I think I identify with E Nesbit more than any other writer and described Nesbit s The Story of the Treasure Seekers as Exhibit A for prohibition of all children s literature by anyone who cannot remember exactly how it felt to be a child 1 The Wind in the Willows edit nbsp The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame In a 2007 reading for students in New Orleans Rowling said that the first book to inspire her was Kenneth Grahame s children s fantasy The Wind in the Willows read to her when she had measles at the age of 4 13 Dorothy L Sayers edit Rowling has also cited the work of Christian essayist and mystery writer Dorothy L Sayers as an influence on her work saying There s a theory this applies to detective novels and then Harry which is not really a detective novel but it feels like one sometimes that you should not have romantic intrigue in a detective book Dorothy L Sayers who is queen of the genre said and then broke her own rule but said that there is no place for romance in a detective story except that it can be useful to camouflage other people s motives That s true it is a very useful trick I ve used that on Percy and I ve used that to a degree on Tonks in this book as a red herring But having said that I disagree inasmuch as mine are very character driven books and it s so important therefore that we see these characters fall in love which is a necessary part of life 14 The Chronicles of Narnia edit Rowling has said she was a fan of the works of C S Lewis as a child and cites the influence of his The Chronicles of Narnia on her work I found myself thinking about the wardrobe route to Narnia when Harry is told he has to hurl himself at a barrier in King s Cross station it dissolves and he s on platform Nine and Three Quarters and there s the train for Hogwarts 15 She is however at pains to stress the differences between Narnia and her world Narnia is literally a different world she says whereas in the Harry books you go into a world within a world that you can see if you happen to belong A lot of the humour comes from collisions between the magic and the everyday world Generally there isn t much humour in the Narnia books although I adored them when I was a child I got so caught up I didn t think CS Lewis was especially preachy Reading them now I find that his subliminal message isn t very subliminal 15 New York Times writer Charles McGrath notes the similarity between Dudley Dursley the obnoxious son of Harry s neglectful guardians and Eustace Scrubb the spoiled brat who torments the main characters until converted by Aslan 16 The Little White Horse edit In an interview in The Scotsman in 2002 Rowling described Elizabeth Goudge s The Little White Horse as having perhaps more than any other book a direct influence on the Harry Potter books The author always included details of what her characters were eating and I remember liking that You may have noticed that I always list the food being eaten at Hogwarts 17 Rowling said in O that Goudge was the only author whose influence I was conscious of She always described exactly what the children were eating and I really liked knowing what they had in their sandwiches 18 The Sword in the Stone edit Rowling also cites the work of T H White a grammar school teacher and the author of the well known adult classic saga The Once and Future King which tells the story of King Arthur of Britain from childhood to grave Perhaps the best known book from this saga is The Sword in the Stone the first book initially intended for children with White s own illustrations which was made into an animated movie by Walt Disney Arthur called Wart is a small scruffy haired orphan who meets the wizard Merlin who has an owl Archimedes and acts much like Dumbledore in the manner of an absent minded professor 19 who takes him to a castle to educate him As writer Phyllis Morris notes The parallels between Dumbledore and Merlin do not end with the protection of the hero in danger In addition to both characters sporting long flowing beards and blue eyes according to T H White Merlin was King Arthur s mentor and guide as Dumbledore has been Harry s guide and mentor 20 Rowling describes Wart as Harry s spiritual ancestor 21 Manxmouse edit Rowling is also a fan of Paul Gallico especially Manxmouse That s a great book Gallico manages the fine line between magic and reality so skilfully to the point where the most fantastic events feel plausible 15 Jessica Mitford edit In the Scotsman interview Rowling described civil rights activist Jessica Mitford as my most influential writer saying I love the way she never outgrew some of her adolescent traits remaining true to her politics she was a self taught socialist throughout her life 17 In a review of Decca The letters of Jessica Mitford she went further saying Jessica Mitford has been my heroine since I was 14 years old when I overheard my formidable great aunt discussing how Mitford had run away at the age of 19 to fight with the Reds in the Spanish Civil War and claims what inspired her about Mitford was that she was incurably and instinctively rebellious brave adventurous funny and irreverent she liked nothing better than a good fight preferably against a pompous and hypocritical target 22 Other favourites edit nbsp A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens In 1999 while Rowling was on a tour of the United States a bookseller handed her a copy of I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith saying she would love it The book became one of her all time favourites Rowling says that it is the voice of the narrator in this case 17 year old Cassandra Mortmain which makes a masterpiece out of an old plot 1 23 Also in 1999 Rowling said in interview that she was a great fan of Grimble by Clement Freud saying Grimble is one of funniest books I ve ever read and Grimble himself who is a small boy is a fabulous character I d love to see a Grimble film As far as I know these last two fine pieces of literature are out of print so if any publishers ever read this could you please dust them off and put them back in print so other people can read them 24 On a number of occasions Rowling has cited her admiration for French novelist Colette 25 Rowling said that the death of Sydney Carton in Charles Dickens s A Tale of Two Cities and the novel s final line It is a far far better thing that I do than I have ever done it is a far far better rest that I go to than I have ever known had a profound impact on her 26 In a 2000 interview with BBC Radio 4 Rowling revealed a deep love of Vladimir Nabokov s controversial book Lolita saying There just isn t enough time to discuss how a plot that could have been the most worthless pornography becomes in Nabokov s hands a great and tragic love story and I could exhaust my reservoir of superlatives trying to describe the quality of the writing 27 In an interview with O The Oprah Magazine Rowling described Irish author Roddy Doyle as her favourite living writer saying I love all his books I often talk about him and Jane Austen in the same breath I think people are slightly mystified by that because superficially they re such different writers But they both have a very unsentimental approach to human nature They can be profoundly moving without ever becoming mawkish 28 Many of Rowling s named favourites decorate the links section of her personal webpage The section is designed to look like a bookcase and includes I Capture the Castle The Little White Horse and Manxmouse Jane Austen s Pride and Prejudice Sense and Sensibility and Emma a book of fairy tales by E Nesbit The Commitments and The Van by Roddy Doyle two books by Dorothy L Sayers and a book by Katherine Mansfield 29 In January 2006 Rowling was asked by the Royal Society of Literature to nominate her top ten books every child should read Included in her list were Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Hamlet by William Shakespeare To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Animal Farm by George Orwell The Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger and Catch 22 by Joseph Heller 30 Analogues editSee also Analogue literature There are a number of fictional works to which Harry Potter has been repeatedly compared in the media Some of these Rowling has herself mentioned others have been mentioned by Internet sites journalists critics or other authors The works are listed roughly in order of creation The Pilgrim s Progress edit nbsp The Pilgrim s Progress by John Bunyan John Granger sees Chamber of Secrets as similar to a morality play like John Bunyan s The Pilgrim s Progress He describes the climax where Harry descends to the Chamber of Secrets to rescue Ginny Weasley as the clearest Christian allegory of salvation history since Lewis s The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe Using only traditional symbols from the Ancient of Days figure as God the Father to the satanic serpent and Christ like phoenix the Resurrection Bird the drama takes us from the fall to eternal life without a hitch 31 Wuthering Heights edit In 2006 Rowling recommended Emily Bronte s Gothic post Romantic Wuthering Heights as number one of the top ten books every child should read In her essay To Sir With Love in the book Mapping the World of Harry Potter Joyce Millman suggests that Severus Snape Harry Potter s morally ambiguous potions master is drawn from a tradition of Byronic heroes such as Wuthering Heights Heathcliff 32 and that chapter two of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is reminiscent of the opening of Wuthering Heights when Heathcliff is coldly introduced and asks his servant Joseph to bring up wine for him and Lockwood Snape commands the almost identical line to his servant Wormtail with Snape described similarly to how Emily Bronte described Heathcliff Tom Brown s Schooldays edit The Harry Potter series draws upon a long literary tradition of stories set in boarding schools This school story genre originated in the Victorian era with Tom Brown s Schooldays by Thomas Hughes Tom Brown s Schooldays laid down a basic structure which has been widely imitated for example in Anthony Buckeridge s 1950s Jennings books 33 Both Tom Brown s Schooldays and Harry Potter involve an average eleven year old better at sport than academic study who is sent to boarding school Upon arrival the boy gains a best friend in Tom s case East in Harry s case Ron Weasley who helps him adjust to the new environment They are set upon by an arrogant bully in Tom Brown s case Harry Flashman in Harry s case Draco Malfoy Stephen Fry who both narrates the British audio adaptations of the Harry Potter novels and has starred in a screen adaptation of Tom Brown has commented many times about the similarities between the two books Harry Potter a boy who arrives in this strange school to board for the first time and makes good solid friends and also enemies who use bullying and unfair tactics notes Fry then is ambiguous about whether or not he is going to be good or bad His pluck and his endeavour loyalty good nature and bravery are the things that carry him through and that is the story of Tom Brown s Schooldays 34 The Lord of the Rings edit Fans of author J R R Tolkien have drawn attention to the similarities between his novel The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series 35 specifically Tolkien s Wormtongue and Rowling s Wormtail Tolkien s Shelob and Rowling s Aragog Tolkien s Gandalf and Rowling s Dumbledore Tolkien s Nazgul and Rowling s Dementors Old Man Willow and the Whomping Willow and the similarities between both authors antagonists Tolkien s Dark Lord Sauron and Rowling s Lord Voldemort both of whom are sometimes within their respective continuities unnamed due to intense fear surrounding their names both often referred to as The Dark Lord and both of whom are during the time when the main action takes place seeking to recover their lost power after having been considered dead or at least no longer a threat 36 Several reviews of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows noted that the locket used as a horcrux by Voldemort bore comparison to Tolkien s One Ring as it negatively affects the personality of the wearer 37 Rowling maintains that she had not read The Hobbit until after she completed the first Harry Potter novel though she had read The Lord of the Rings as a teenager and that any similarities between her books and Tolkien s are Fairly superficial Tolkien created a whole new mythology which I would never claim to have done On the other hand I think I have better jokes 38 Tolkienian scholar Tom Shippey has maintained that no modern writer of epic fantasy has managed to escape the mark of Tolkien no matter how hard many of them have tried 39 Roald Dahl s stories edit Many have drawn attention to the similarities between Rowling s works and those of Roald Dahl particularly in the depiction of the Dursley family which echoes the nightmarish guardians seen in many of Dahl s books such as the Wormwoods from Matilda Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker from James and the Giant Peach and Grandma from George s Marvellous Medicine 40 Rowling acknowledges that there are similarities but believes that at a deeper level her works are different from those of Dahl in her words more moral 41 X Men edit The Marvel Comics superhero team the X Men created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963 are similar to Harry Potter in their examination of prejudice and intolerance Comic book historian Michael Mallory examined the original premise of the comic in which teenage mutants study under Professor X to learn how to control their abilities safe from fearful Homo sapiens and also battle less benign mutants like Magneto He argued Think about the comic clad in traditional British university robes and pointy hats castles and trains and the image that springs to mind is Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizard ry with Dumbledore Voldemort and the class struggle between wizards and muggles He acknowledged that while the X Men was for the longest time a phenomenon that was largely contained in the realm of comic book readers as opposed to the wider public such as Rowling he argued nothing exists in a vacuum least of all popular culture Just as the creators of X Men consciously or unconsciously tapped into the creative ether of their time for inspiration so has the X Men phenomenon had an effect on the books and films that has since followed 42 The Chronicles of Prydain edit Lloyd Alexander s five volume Prydain Chronicles begun in 1964 with The Book of Three and concluding in 1968 with The High King features a young protagonist an assistant pig keeper named Taran who wishes to be a great hero in a world drawn from Welsh mythology Entertainment Weekly cited Lloyd Alexander as a possible influence on Rowling when it named her its 2007 Entertainer of the Year 43 When Alexander died in 2007 his obituary in New York Magazine drew many comparisons between Harry Potter and Prydain and said that The High King is everything we desperately hope Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be 44 The Dark Is Rising edit Susan Cooper s Dark Is Rising sequence which commenced with Over Sea Under Stone in 1965 and now more commonly bound in a single volume have been compared to the Harry Potter series The second novel also called The Dark Is Rising features a young boy named Will Stanton who discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is in fact imbued with magical power in Will s case that he is the last of the Old Ones beings empowered by the Light to battle the Dark The books open in much the same way with Will finding that people are telling him strange things and that animals run from him 45 John Hodge who wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation entitled The Seeker made substantial changes to the novel s plot and tone to differentiate it from Harry Potter 46 A Wizard of Earthsea edit The basic premise of Ursula K Le Guin s A Wizard of Earthsea Parnassus 1968 in which a boy with unusual aptitude for magic is recognised and sent to a special school for wizards resembles that of Harry Potter 47 On his first day Ged encounters two other students one of whom becomes his best friend and the other a haughty aristocratic rival Ged later receives a scar in his struggle with a demonic shadow which can possess people At the beginning of his journey he is overconfident and arrogant but after a terrible tragedy caused by his pride is forced to rethink his ways and later becomes a very respected wizard and headmaster much like Albus Dumbledore Le Guin claimed that she did not feel Rowling ripped her off but that she felt that Rowling s books were overpraised for supposed originality and that Rowling could have been more gracious about her predecessors My incredulity was at the critics who found the first book wonderfully original She has many virtues but originality isn t one of them That hurt 48 The Worst Witch edit Many critics have noted that Jill Murphy s The Worst Witch series first published in 1974 by Allison amp Busby is set in a school for girls Miss Cackle s Academy for Witches reminiscent of Hogwarts 49 50 The story concerns Mildred Hubble an awkward pupil at a boarding school for witches who faces a scheming blonde and snobbish high born rival student and she is best friends with a know it all witch and a prankster witch Her professors include a kindly and elderly headmistress and a bullying raven haired potions teacher 51 Murphy has commented on her frustration at constant comparisons between her work and Harry Potter It s irritating everyone asks the same question and I even get children writing to ask me whether I mind about Hogwarts and pointing out similarities Even worse are reviewers who come across my books or see the TV series and without taking the trouble to find out that it s now over quarter of a century since I wrote my first book make pointed remarks about clever timing or say things like the Worst Witch stories are not a million miles from JK Rowling s books The implications are really quite insulting 52 Magic in the Mist edit The character of Harry Potter is similar to Margaret Mary Kimmel s character Tom in Magic in the Mist 1975 53 a boy who tries to learn magic befriends a dragon and has a snake badger and raven as his friends The illustrations in the book bear a close resemblance to those that would be drawn for Harry Potter 54 unreliable source Star Wars edit The Harry Potter series shares many similarities with George Lucas s Star Wars with respect to main characters especially heroes and villains as well as story plotlines 55 56 Scholar Deborah Cartmell states that Harry Potter s story is based as much on Star Wars as it is on any other text 57 The life of Harry Potter the main hero of the series parallels that of Luke Skywalker who is the main hero of the Original Star Wars trilogy with both characters living dull and ordinary lives until a later age when they are recruited by an older mentor Harry Potter trains to become a wizard at his late childhood and mentored by Albus Dumbledore in facing his destiny and enemy Lord Voldemort whereas Luke Skywalker trains to become a Jedi at his early adulthood and is mentored by Obi Wan Kenobi in facing his destiny and enemy Darth Vader also known as Lord Vader 58 Both characters were also brought at infancy to their foster families directly by their future mentors The main villains of both the franchises also share many similarities Tom Riddle was once also a student of the hero s mentor Dumbledore at Hogwarts also studying to be a wizard before he turned evil and transformed into Voldemort Likewise Anakin Skywalker was also a student of the hero s mentor Obi Wan Kenobi with the Jedi Order training to be a Jedi Knight before he turned to the dark side and transformed into Darth Vader 59 The mentors of the main heroes also share many parallels Both also mentored the main villain of their stories before they turned bad and betrayed their respective mentor Both mentors were also eventually killed when fighting their former students Albus Dumbledore was betrayed by Tom Riddle before being eventually killed off by him as Lord Voldemort through Draco Malfoy and Snape Obi Wan was betrayed by Anakin Skywalker before eventually being killed off by him as Darth Vader 60 Both also voluntarily allowed themselves to be killed and advised the hero from beyond the grave Both stories have a Dark Side the followers of which are the villains of the story as well as their own followers apprentices 61 62 63 Both stories also have a prophesied Chosen One who will destroy evil 64 65 In the Harry Potter series it is Harry Potter who is the chosen one who would defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort In Star Wars it is presumed and appears to be Luke Skywalker but actually revealed to be Anakin Skywalker as proclaimed in the Jedi prophecy who would destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force He does this after being redeemed by his son Luke Skywalker 66 More recent theories contrast this and argue that Luke is indeed the chosen one who will bring balance to The Force 67 Chrestomanci series edit In Diana Wynne Jones Charmed Life 1977 two orphaned children receive magical education while living in a castle The setting is a world resembling early 1900s Britain where magic is commonplace 68 Wynne Jones has been publishing for more than 30 years and young readers have noted parallels between her books and Rowling s creations The 1982 book Witch Week part of Wynne Jones celebrated Chrestomanci series features an owlish young hero at a boarding school for children who have suffered from society s persecution of witches 69 Diana Wynne Jones has stated in answer to a question on her webpage I think Ms Rowling did get quite a few of her ideas from my books though I have never met her so I have never been able to ask her My books were written many years before the Harry Potter books Charmed Life was first published in 1977 so any similarities probably come from what she herself read as a child Once a book is published out in the world it is sort of common property for people to take ideas from and use and I think this is what happened to my books 68 Discworld edit Before the arrival of J K Rowling Britain s bestselling author was comic fantasy writer Terry Pratchett His Discworld books beginning with The Colour of Magic in 1983 satirise and parody common fantasy literature conventions Pratchett was repeatedly asked if he got his idea for his magic college the Unseen University from Harry Potter s Hogwarts or if the young wizard Ponder Stibbons who has dark hair and glasses was inspired by Harry Potter Both in fact predate Rowling s work by several years Pratchett jokingly claimed that he did steal them though I of course used a time machine 70 The BBC and other British news agencies emphasised a supposed rivalry between Pratchett and Rowling 71 but Pratchett said on record that while he did not put Rowling on a pedestal he did not consider her a bad writer nor did he envy her success 72 Claims of rivalry were due to a letter he wrote to The Sunday Times about an article published declaring that fantasy looks backward to an idealised romanticised pseudofeudal world where knights and ladies morris dance to Greensleeves 73 Actually he was protesting the ineptitude of journalists in that genre many of whom did not research their work and in this case contradicted themselves in the same article 74 Ender s Game edit Science fiction author Orson Scott Card in a fierce editorial in response to Rowling s copyright lawsuit against the Harry Potter Lexicon claimed that her assertion that she had had her words stolen was rendered moot by the fact that he could draw numerous comparisons between her books and his own 1985 novel Ender s Game in his words A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities who are to be educated in a remote training facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by teams flying in midair at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally talented and a natural leader He trains other kids in unauthorised extra sessions which enrages his enemies who attack him with the intention of killing him but he is protected by his loyal brilliant friends and gains strength from the love of some of his family members He is given special guidance by an older man of legendary accomplishments who previously kept the enemy at bay He goes on to become the crucial figure in a struggle against an unseen enemy who threatens the whole world 75 Young Sherlock Holmes edit Chris Columbus who directed the first two Harry Potter film adaptations has cited the 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes which he wrote as an influence in his direction for those films That was sort of a predecessor to this movie in a sense he told the BBC in 2001 It was about two young boys and a girl in a British boarding school who had to fight a supernatural force 76 Scenes from Young Sherlock Holmes were subsequently used to cast the first Harry Potter film 77 On 3 January 2010 Irish journalist Declan Lynch writing in The Sunday Independent stated that there s more than a hint of young Sherlock evident in Harry 78 Troll edit The 1986 Charles Band produced low budget horror fantasy film Troll directed by John Carl Buechler and starring Noah Hathaway Julia Louis Dreyfus and Sonny Bono features a character named Harry Potter Jr In an interview with M J Simpson Band claimed I ve heard that J K Rowling has acknowledged that maybe she saw this low budget movie and perhaps it inspired her 79 However a spokesman for Rowling responding to the rumors of a planned remake of the film has denied that Rowling ever saw it before writing her book 80 Rowling has said on record multiple times that the name Harry Potter was derived in part from a childhood friend Ian Potter and in part from her favourite male name Harry 81 On 13 April 2008 The Mail on Sunday wrote a news article claiming that Warner Bros had begun a legal action against Buechler however the story was denied and lawyers for Rowling demanded the article be removed 82 On 14 April 2008 John Buechler s partner in the Troll remake Peter Davy said about Harry Potter In John s opinion he created the first Harry Potter J K Rowling says the idea just came to her John doesn t think so There are a lot of similarities between the theme of her books and the original Troll John was shocked when she came out with Harry Potter 83 Groosham Grange edit Groosham Grange first published in 1988 a novel by best selling British author Anthony Horowitz has been cited for its similarities with Harry Potter the plot revolves around David Eliot a teenager mistreated by his parents who receive an unexpected call from an isolated boarding school Groosham Grange which reveals itself as a school for wizards and witches Both books feature a teacher who is a ghost a werewolf character named after the Latin word for wolf Lupin Leloup note 1 and passage to the school via railway train 84 Horowitz however while acknowledging the similarities just thanked Rowling for her contribution to the development of the young adult fiction in the UK 85 The Books of Magic edit Fans of the comic book series The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman first published in 1990 by DC Comics have cited similarities to the Harry Potter story These include a dark haired English boy with glasses named Timothy Hunter who discovers his potential as the most powerful wizard of the age upon being approached by magic wielding individuals the first of whom makes him a gift of a pet owl Similarities led the British tabloid paper the Daily Mirror to claim Gaiman had made accusations of plagiarism against Rowling which he went on the record denying saying the similarities were either coincidence or drawn from the same fantasy archetypes I thought we were both just stealing from T H White he said in an interview very straightforward Harry Potter and Platform 9 even appeared in the final issues of DC s long running Books of Magic spinoff comic 86 Dylan Horrocks writer of the Books of Magic spin off Hunter The Age of Magic has said they should be considered as similar works in the same genre and that both have parallels with earlier schoolboy wizards like the 2000 AD character Luke Kirby 87 Spellcasting series edit The text adventure game Spellcasting 101 Sorcerers Get All The Girls 1990 is the first instalment of the Spellcasting series created by Steve Meretzky during his time at Legend Entertainment All the three games in the series tell the story of young Ernie Eaglebeak a bespectacled student at the prestigious Sorcerer University as he progresses through his studies learning the arcanes of magic taking part in student life occasionally saving the world as he knows it Each separate game takes place during consecutive school years as well much like the Harry Potter books 88 Wizard s Hall edit In 1991 the author Jane Yolen released a book called Wizard s Hall to which the Harry Potter series bears a resemblance The main protagonist Henry also called Thornmallow is a young boy who joins a magical school for young wizards 89 At the school he must fulfill an ancient prophecy and help overthrow a powerful evil wizard 90 However Yolen has stated that I m pretty sure she never read my book attributing similarities to commonly used fantasy tropes 91 In an interview with the magazine Newsweek Yolen said I always tell people that if Ms Rowling would like to cut me a very large check I would cash it 92 Yolen stopped reading Harry Potter after the third book and has expressed dislike for the writing style of Harry Potter calling it fantasy fast food 92 93 The Secret of Platform 13 edit Eva Ibbotson s The Secret of Platform 13 first published in 1994 features a gateway to a magical world located in King s Cross station in London The protagonist belongs to the magical world but is raised in the normal world by a rich family who neglect him and treat him as a servant while their fat and unpleasant biological son is pampered and spoiled Amanda Craig is a journalist who has written about the similarities Ibbotson would seem to have at least as good a case for claiming plagiarism as the American author currently suing J K Rowling i e Nancy Stouffer but unlike her Ibbotson says she would like to shake her by the hand I think we all borrow from each other as writers 94 Doris Crockford and the Flying Scotsman edit In the first book Harry meets a witch named Doris Crockford who shares a name with real life author of a book about the famous train The Flying Scotsman published in 1937 In Crockford s book the train departs from Platform 10 King s Cross Station and goes on a magical adventure It is believed that J K Rowling was inspired by Doris Crockford in using a character of the same name 95 See also edit nbsp Children s literature portal Legal disputes over the Harry Potter seriesReferences edit a b c d e J K Rowling 2000 From Mr Darcy to Harry Potter by way of Lolita Sunday Herald Retrieved 10 July 2007 Fry Stephen Living with Harry Potter Archived 2 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine BBC Radio4 10 December 2005 Jeff Jensen 7 September 2000 Harry Up Entertainment Weekly Retrieved 20 September 2007 Miller Lisa Christ like Newsweek 2007 08 06 Vol 150 Iss 6 p 12 ISSN 0028 9604 Jeffrey Weiss 2007 Christian Themes Abound in the Harry Potter books The Dallas Morning News Archived from the original on 26 August 2007 Retrieved 18 August 2007 Nancy Carpentier Brown 2007 The Last Chapter PDF Our Sunday Visitor Archived from the original PDF on 13 October 2007 Retrieved 28 April 2009 Kept at OSV com Archived 8 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine a b Shawn Adler 2007 Harry Potter Author J K Rowling Opens Up About Books Christian Imagery MTV Retrieved 18 October 2007 J K Rowling Web Chat Transcript The Leaky Cauldron 2007 Retrieved 25 August 2007 Larry D Benson ed 1987 The Riverside Chaucer Oxford University Press The Leaky Cauldron and MN Interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling The Leaky Cauldron 28 July 2007 Retrieved 8 February 2022 What is the significance of Neville being the other boy to whom the prophecy might have referred J K Rowling Official Site Archived from the original on 5 February 2012 Retrieved 26 June 2007 J K Rowling J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival Archived from the original on 20 August 2006 Retrieved 10 October 2006 Susan Larson 2007 New Orleans students give Rowling a rousing welcome Times Picayune Retrieved 17 May 2008 Peg Duthie Placetne J K Rowling PDF Retrieved 28 August 2007 a b c Renton Jennie The story behind the Potter legend JK Rowling talks about how she created the Harry Potter books and the magic of Harry Potter s world The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved 10 October 2006 Charles McGrath 13 November 2005 The Narnia Skirmishes The New York Times Retrieved 29 May 2008 a b Fraser Lindsay November 2002 Harry Potter Harry and me The Scotsman Archived from the original on 5 February 2012 J K Rowling s bookshelf oprah com 2001 Retrieved 18 August 2007 Real Wizards The Search for Harry s Ancestors archived copy Channel 4 2001 Archived from the original on 3 December 2008 Retrieved 1 June 2007 Phyllis D Morris Elements of the Arthurian Tradition in Harry Potter PDF Archived from the original PDF on 9 October 2011 Retrieved 25 September 2009 JK JOANNE KATHLEEN ROWLING 1966 The Guardian London Retrieved 8 October 2007 J K Rowling 26 November 2006 The first It Girl The Telegraph London Archived from the original on 13 July 2007 Retrieved 27 June 2007 Lindsey Fraser 2004 J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival Sunday 15 August 2004 Retrieved 10 May 2007 Magic Mystery and Mayhem An Interview with J K Rowling Amazon com 199 Retrieved 17 May 2008 Jennie Renton 2001 Wild About Harry Candis Magazine Retrieved 17 May 2008 Stephen Mcginty 2003 The J K Rowling Story The Scotsman Retrieved 17 May 2008 Sarah Kate Templeton 2000 How Lolita inspired Harry Potter The Sunday Herald Retrieved 17 May 2008 JK Rowling Favourite living author O Magazine 2001 Retrieved 19 August 2007 J K Rowling s Official Site Archived from the original on 10 June 2007 Retrieved 10 June 2007 Higgins Charlotte 31 January 2006 From Beatrix Potter to Ulysses what the top writers say every child should read The Guardian London Retrieved 17 August 2007 Reconstructing Harry Sydneyanglicans net 2003 Archived from the original on 26 August 2007 Retrieved 5 September 2007 Mercedes Lackey ed 2006 Mapping the World of Harry Potter BenBella Books Inc pp 39 52 ISBN 978 1 932100 59 4 Retrieved 30 July 2008 Dr Jules Smith 2003 J K Rowling contemporarywriters com Archived from the original on 1 October 2007 Retrieved 20 September 2007 Nicholas Tucker 1991 Happiest Days The Public Schools in English Fiction by Jeffrey Richards English Children and Their Magazines 1751 1945 by Kirsten Drotner History of Education Quarterly JSTOR 368810 Ian Wylie Stephen Fry s Schooldays Manchester Evening News Retrieved 10 October 2006 Wetherill Louise 2015 Ampthill Literary Festival Yearbook 2015 Ampthill pp 85 92 ISBN 978 1 5175506 8 4 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Monroe Caroline How Much Was Rowling Inspired by Tolkien GreenBooks TheOneRing net Retrieved 21 May 2006 Elizabeth Hand 2007 Harry s Final Fantasy Last Time s the Charm Powell s Books Archived from the original on 4 January 2013 Retrieved 4 September 2007 Gina Carbone 2007 Book review Deathly Hallows Seacoastonline Retrieved 4 September 2007 Laura Miller 2007 Goodbye Harry Potter Salon com Archived from the original on 7 April 2008 Retrieved 4 September 2007 John Granger 2008 Tolkien and Rowling A Case for Text Only Retrieved 25 September 2009 Thomas Shippey 2000 J R R Tolkien Author of the Century Harper Collins Sally Blakeney 1998 The Golden Fairytale The Australian Retrieved 15 May 2007 John Shirley 2001 Review Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone LocusOnline Retrieved 15 May 2007 Feldman Roxanne The Truth About Harry School Library Journal Retrieved 25 September 2009 subscription required Michael Mallory 2006 X Men The Characters and Their Universe Hugh Lauter Levin Associates Inc p 133 ISBN 0 88363 120 2 Mark Harris 2007 2007 Entertainer of the Year J K Rowling Entertainment Weekly Retrieved 30 July 2008 Author Lloyd Alexander Dies at 83 New York 2007 Retrieved 26 November 2007 Anne Pelrine The Christian Guide to Fantasy The Dark Is Rising Archived from the original on 4 June 2007 Retrieved 17 May 2007 The Ottery Rereading The Dark Is Rising Archived from the original on 28 September 2007 Retrieved 17 May 2007 Margot Adler 2007 Author Uncertain About Dark Leap to Big Screen NPR Retrieved 11 October 2007 Ben Patrick Johnson 2001 Rowling s Magic Spell Two Parts Fantasy One Part Familiar CultureKiosque Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 Retrieved 16 May 2007 Maya Jaggi 17 December 2005 The magician The Guardian London Retrieved 10 October 2006 Polly Shulman 1999 The Harry Potter series Slate Archived from the original on 8 December 2008 Retrieved 10 May 2007 David Aaronovitch 22 June 2003 We ve Been Muggled The Observer London Retrieved 10 May 2007 The Worst Witch Minneapolis Star Tribune 11 January 2002 Retrieved 6 December 2009 Joanna Carey 2002 Jill Murphy interview Books For Keeps Archived from the original on 16 November 2007 Retrieved 13 October 2007 Kimmel Margaret Mary 1975 Magic in the Mist Atheneum ISBN 9780689500268 Emily Hurts Is there any proof that the wizarding world is real Retrieved 11 January 2021 Harry Potter Vs Star Wars Similarities Or Coincidence Carbonated TV Archived from the original on 11 November 2017 Retrieved 2 July 2015 Douglas Brode Leah Deyneka 2 July 2012 Sex Politics and Religion in Star Wars An Anthology Scarecrow Press p 77 ISBN 978 0 8108 8515 8 Cartmell D Whelehan I 2005 Harry Potter and the Fidelity Debate In Aragay M ed Books in Motion Adaptation Intertextuality Rodopi p 44 ISBN 9042019573 Eric 27 November 2013 Similarities between Harry Potter and Luke Skywalker MuggleNet Christina Flotmann March 2014 Ambiguity in Star Wars and Harry Potter A Post Structuralist Reading of Two Popular Myths transcript Verlag ISBN 978 3 8394 2148 2 Deborah Cartmell Imelda Whelehan 23 June 2010 Screen Adaptation Impure Cinema Palgrave Macmillan p 78 ISBN 978 1 137 24296 9 Harry Potter and Star Wars Scott Chitwood theforce net Nancy Carpentier Brown 2007 The Mystery of Harry Potter A Catholic Family Guide Our Sunday Visitor 2007 ISBN 978 1592763986 Tere Stouffer 2007 The Complete Idiot s Guide to the World of Harry Potter Alpha Books p 6 ISBN 978 1 59257 599 2 Connie W Neal 2007 Wizards Wardrobes and Wookiees Navigating Good versus Evil in Harry Potter Narnia and Star Wars InterVarsity Press p 24 ISBN 978 0 8308 3366 5 Pond Julia 2010 Project MUSE A Story of the Exceptional Fate and Free Will in the Harry Potter Series Children s Literature 38 1 181 206 doi 10 1353 chl 2010 a380767 S2CID 142721106 The Chosen One 2005 Documentary Star Wars 8 Luke destroying the Jedi as DARTH PLAGUEIS planned makes him the Chosen One Stefan Kyriazis Express News 18 April 2017 a b Wynn Jones Diana DIANA S ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS Diana Wynne Jones Official Site Archived from the original on 4 November 2005 Retrieved 10 October 2006 Allsobrook Marian 18 June 2003 Potter s place in the literary canon BBC News Retrieved 27 October 2020 The Last Hero The Annotated Pratchett File Retrieved 30 June 2007 Karen McVeigh and Lesley Walker 13 July 2002 Pratchett casts a bitter spell on rivals The Scotsman Edinburgh Retrieved 16 May 2007 Pratchett wins first major award BBC News 12 July 2002 Retrieved 15 May 2007 Pratchett takes swipe at Rowling BBC News 31 July 2005 Retrieved 16 October 2006 Mystery lord of the Discworld The Age Melbourne 6 November 2004 Retrieved 10 October 2006 Grossman Lev 17 July 2005 Rowling Hogwarts And All Time Archived from the original on 20 July 2005 Retrieved 30 June 2007 Terry Pratchett clarifies J K Rowling remarks Wizard News Retrieved 30 June 2007 Orson Scott Card 2008 Rowling Lexicon and Oz Uncle Orson Reviews Everything Retrieved 9 September 2008 Potter director s Brit passion BBC News 13 November 2001 Retrieved 1 June 2007 Brian Linder 11 July 2000 Trouble Brewing with Potter Casting Filmforce Retrieved 11 October 2006 Declan Lynch 3 January 2010 Curious case of Holmes versus Potter The Sunday Independent Retrieved 18 January 2011 M J Simpson Charles Band Part 2 Archived from the original on 10 May 2008 Retrieved 6 May 2007 Vanessa Thorpe 2007 Second coming for first Harry Potter The Observer Archived from the original on 20 July 2011 Retrieved 25 September 2009 Danielle Demetriou Harry Potter and the source of inspiration Retrieved 6 May 2007 J K Rowling J K Rowling Autobiography Archived from the original on 17 December 2008 Retrieved 6 May 2007 J K Rowling Discusses the Surprising Success of Harry Potter Larry King Live 2000 Retrieved 11 May 2007 JK Rowling threatens to sue Political Gateway permanent dead link The Political Gateway 2008 Harry Potter at center of legal battle Retrieved 25 April 2008 permanent dead link Legal battle over who first thought of Harry Potter The Hindu Chennai India 13 April 2008 Archived from the original on 14 April 2008 Retrieved 25 September 2009 Lana A Whited 2002 The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter perspectives on a literary phenomenon University of Missouri ISBN 9780826215499 Retrieved 27 December 2010 Espinosa Michael October 2006 Anthony Horowitz sur la Yozone Retrieved 27 December 2010 Linda Richards Interview Neil Gaiman January Magazine Retrieved 22 December 2006 Singh Arune 6 August 2002 Wizard of Hicksville Horrocks talks Hunter Age of Magic Comic Book Resources Retrieved 23 October 2009 Huw Collingbourne 2005 Huw Collingbourne s Rants and Raves June 2005 Retrieved 6 August 2007 Stephen Richmond 2005 Before there was Harry Potter there was Thornmallow Retrieved 27 October 2006 Wizard s Hall Jane Yolen 9780152020859 Amazon com Books Amazon Author Jane Yolen Talks Book Banning and Harry Potter Wired 23 January 2013 Retrieved 10 April 2014 a b Springen Karen 12 August 2005 Children s author Jane Yolen has published nearly 300 books but she s got plenty more stories to tell Newsweek Archived from the original on 11 February 2007 Retrieved 10 April 2014 Schweitzer Darrell August 2004 Speaking of the Fantastic II Wildside Press LLC pp 163 164 ISBN 978 0 8095 1072 6 Amanda Craig Eva Ibbotson Archived from the original on 9 August 2007 Retrieved 11 October 2006 Why Harry Potter went loco for Flying Scotsman The Scotsman 7 February 2016 Retrieved 9 March 2021 Le loup is French for the wolf while lupine means wolf like both deriving from lupus the Latin word for wolfBibliography editPat Pincent The Education of a Wizard Harry Potter and His Predecessors in The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter Perspectives in a Literary Phenomenon Edited with an Introduction by Lana A Whited Columbia University of Missouri Press 2002 Amanda Craig Harry Potter and the art of lifting ideas The Sunday Times 17 July 2005 Heath Paul Helmer says he invented Harry Potter The Hollywood News 14 April 2008 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Harry Potter influences and analogues amp oldid 1215185994, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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