Lord of the rings vs harry potter.

Regrettably, my opponent has forfeited his opening round. I will uphold the resolution that Harry Potter (HP) is the better series, in the hope that we can continue this debate. I will be referring to both Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit as LOTR. My Case 1. The Harry Potter series has made more money than LOTR. It is interesting to note that my opponent posted what each Harry Potter book sold separately, and yet compares them to LOTR as a whole. Since LOTR was published as three volumes and he used the total sales, I think it is only fair to compare the total number of sales of LOTR to the total for all HP books. Additionally, the first Harry Potter book was published in 1997, and the Hobbit was published in 1937. Despite being 60 years late to the party, HP still boasts sales of 7.7 billion [http://www.statisticbrain.com...] 2. The characters in the Harry Potter series are more dynamic and have more depth. Throughout the Harry Potter series, the reader is taken through an engaging character arc for multiple characters. The Hero Harry is a hero with a dark side, and can be compared to numerous “villains” in the series, including Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, and Voldemort himself. You see Harry as he matures from an 11-year-old boy who lives under a cupboard to a stubborn, angry teenager, to a man who gives up his life in order to save everyone. Here, JK Rowling highlights: “One of the ways in which I tried to show that Harry has done a lot of growing up – in Phoenix, remember when Cho comes into the compartment, and he thinks, "I wish I could have been discovered sitting with better people," basically? He's with Luna and Neville. So literally the identical thing happens in Prince, and he's with Luna and Neville again, but this time, he has grown up, and as far as he's concerned he is with two of the coolest people on the train. They may not look that cool. Harry has really grown.” [http://www.mugglenet.com...] Throughout the series, Harry is both lauded and hated for his celebrity, and as the reader grows, Harry grows. The Harry Potter of Book 1 is not the same as the Harry Potter of Book 7. The same cannot be said of Frodo. The Best Friend While Sam is the quintessential best friend, Ron has layers that make for a better story. While Sam accepts his position of lesser importance, Ron resents it. What Ron sees in the Mirror of Erised, his greatest desire, is to stand out among his family members and famous best friend. Ron remains a “Sam-like” character for the first three books, but then you first see him desert Harry in the fourth book, when Harry’s name comes out of the Goblet of Fire. Harry and Ron’s relationship involves feelings of resentment, anger, betrayal, and envy. In the seventh book, Ron deserts Harry completely, and his feelings of jealousy over Hermione become apparent. Ron is a whole character with his own arc, while Sam is just a one-dimensional plot device to help Frodo along his way. The Ron Weasley of the Book 1 is not the same Ron Weasley of Book 7. The same cannot be said of Sam. The Sage Advice Dumbledore begins like Gandalf, simply being the person to go to for answers. In Book 6 Harry and Dumbledore’s relationship becomes slightly more egalitarian, as he requires Harry’s help and they seek out information together. After his death, the reader is taken to another level with Dumbledore and made to question his character, his actions, and everything we knew about him. While Gandalf loses depth as a character by becoming more stoic after his death, Dumbledore’s character continues to surprise and engage the reader until the very end. The Villain The villains in HP are perhaps the most intricate characters created in both JK’s world and JRR Tolkien’s world. Since the stories are told from Harry’s perspective, who we think is the friend or the foe is often turned on its head. In HP, the line between good and evil is blurred and the reader is made to question judgements made based on first impressions. In Book 1, we think Snape is evil because Harry thinks so. Throughout the series, the reader thinks Slytherins are evil due to Harry’s prejudice. And yet you find evil people in other houses (eg. Peter Pettigrew); and Slytherins who would risk everything for their families (the Malfoys); Slytherins who refuse to join Voldemort (Slughorn); and Slytherins who would risk everything for the memory of the woman they love (Snape). The reader is given insight into Voldemort’s childhood and his development as a person, as opposed to the one-dimensional evil of Sauron (does he even say anything in the movies?). In the movies, Ralph Fiennes portrays Voldemort as theatrical, charming, even funny. Support Characters The development of support characters in LOTR is essentially nonexistent. There are many examples in HP, but let's take Neville Longbottom. He began as a very minor character, and could have remained the chubby, forgetful, inadequate boy of Book 1. However, at the end of that book he stands up to Harry, Ron and Hermione, showing a different side of him. Not only do we see Neville become a determined, defiant, noble young man as the series progresses, but we are given insight into how close he came to being the Chosen One and his tragic story that parallels Harry’s. [http://www.mugglenet.com..., FAQ Poll #3] 3. The themes in the Harry Potter series are more thought-provoking. The themes in LOTR are limited and weak. HP includes (but is not limited to) themes of good vs. evil, bravery, friendship and loyalty, misleading appearances, love and its powerful magic; of trust, sacrifice, bigotry; and of good and evil not being purely black and white,. The practice of the Sorting Hat makes you question how different we really are. Harry’s change of heart for Kreacher makes you question how the way you treat others affects the way they treat you. The Tale of the Three Brothers makes you question the importance of immortality, and Voldemort’s desire to seek it—and despite “Vol de mort’s” flight of death, Harry was The Boy Who Lived. [Note: In French, vol de la mort means flight of death] Additionally, despite being intended for children, the HP movies are darker and more mature than LOTR. 4. The plot is more intricate and interesting. Each and every HP book is filled with information and foreshadowing to further the plot. Each book/movie can stand alone as its own story, with a well-defined story arc, and contributes to the larger whole. The LOTR and the Hobbit were separated into 3 movies each, despite each movie being unable to stand on its own. A few things happen here and there, but all they do is walk and walk. In each Harry Potter movie, things are actually happening! The LOTR movies are unnecessarily long. The first time I watched the Fellowship of the Ring, I fell asleep, woke up, and they had just formed the fellowship. This Cracked article sums up the first Hobbit movie quite nicely. Just CTRL+F the word “walk”, it's hilarious. [http://www.cracked.com...] Conclusion While reading and watching HP the audiences is taken through a myriad of emotions along with its complex title character. You cry for Dumbledore’s death, for Hedwig’s, for Fred’s—but did you cry for Boromir or Gandalf the Gray? [http://www.debate.org... Posts # 3 & 4] While both Rowling and Tolkien have created elaborate fantasy worlds, LOTR focuses too much on the details of the world within the story, and not enough on character development, plot development or themes. Rowling has the details, but she doesn’t bore her readers with them by drowning her books in them—instead, she leaves it for during her interviews. The Harry Potter series uses this elaborate wizarding world as a backdrop to the bigger, more interesting picture—its various characters, themes, and plot developments—and this is why HP is better than LOTR.