Is this debate seriously still going on? This morning I have spent most of my time blog-hopping, and I stumbled across a blog post that implied JRR Tolkien invented wizards.

I’m completely baffled as to why this is still a topic of discussion at all, unless we’ve finally gotten to the point where we are comparing the literary resources and thematic points of each book, rather than just saying that “swords are better than wands and Harry is clearly an idiot.”

As one who prefers Lord of the Rings, I have to say this at least: The similarities are indeed bountiful, but Tolkien did not have entirely original ideas. In many cases, there’s no such thing as an entirely unique idea; everything is influenced by the past, and Tolkien especially found a lot of inspiration in folklore. That people continue to say that JK Rowling stole all her ideas from Tolkien is silly. In that case, it wouldn’t be a matter of “Lord of the Rings vs. Harry Potter;” it should be “Harry Potter vs. all of fantasy writing and folkloric tradition,” that is, if you’re going to look at it in the way that most “LotR vs. HP” arguments are presented.

I suppose I was trained in at least trying to present an intellectual argument with supporting points and references, so perhaps that is my main “tiff” with the idea that people are still going on about Lord of the Rings being better simply because Arwen is much more graceful and beautiful than Dobby. (Apparently Rowling got it all wrong when she copied elves from Tolkien, who also invented those.)