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pawelk1986
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21 Jun 2013, 3:59 pm

I don't read book but i watch the movies.

I think the plot of Harry Potter is very similar to Star Wars.

Harry Potter = Luke Skywalker
Ron Weasley = Han Solo
Princess Lea = Hermiona

And of course Lord Voldemort = Dearth Vader/Dearth Sidious aka the Emperor



maia
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21 Jun 2013, 5:14 pm

Prefer the world of Harry Potter. Grew up reading the books. Like star wars too though but love Harry Potter.



pcgoblin
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21 Jun 2013, 6:32 pm

I think they do. I'm not an expert on Joseph Campbell, so I won't touch that, but it is sort of eerie the parallels you made. Right down to the fact that Hermione ends up with Ron, and Lea ends up with Hans.

I really like both worlds, but that's probably because I like the light vs dark, good vs evil themes, especially when done on a grand scale. I like the redemption themes. I'm thinking out loud now so these are not developed thoughts. Darth, after spending his adult life in darkness is redeemed through love the love of his children. Narcissa Malfoy, and Draco are redeemed by not betraying Harry. For Narcissa it was for the love of her son. For some reason I really love that scene where she does not give Harry up in the dark woods. Maybe the Malfoys are more like Darth Vader then Vader is to Voldemort?

You know, I did not feel sorry when the Emperor dies, but I did feel sorry for Voldemort. There is a point at the very end where I think he realizes the thing he feared the most, death, was there to take him, and spiritually he was totally lost in the sense that he had shredded his soul. He had to die, and he did horrible things, but I did feel sorry for him.

I think Anakin's story is similar to Voldemorts in that he chooses the dark side and lives much of his life there. I think it is because Anakin knew love as a child and with Padme, that he was redeemable.

Sorry, I've babbled on a bit.



DarkRain
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21 Jun 2013, 8:08 pm

I much prefer "Harry Potter" over "Star Wars".



Aprilviolets
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21 Jun 2013, 9:56 pm

I prefer Harry Potter I only saw star wars once and that was enough for me.



Epsilon
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21 Jun 2013, 10:27 pm

Some of the prequels don't do Star Wars justice. Though I like Snape and Hermione I like Star Wars more, though if I had to pick certain aspects I liked they would be interchangeable with Harry POtter. (Force- Magic, Wands -Lightsabers)



sixstring
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22 Jun 2013, 12:18 pm

pawelk1986 wrote:
I don't read book but i watch the movies.

I think the plot of Harry Potter is very similar to Star Wars.

Harry Potter = Luke Skywalker
Ron Weasley = Han Solo
Princess Lea = Hermiona

And of course Lord Voldemort = Dearth Vader/Dearth Sidious aka the Emperor
Well to be fair, Star Wars is based on the Hidden Fortress.
According to some scholar, there are about 7 different core stories, that see endless of variations and crossovers.



Jory
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22 Jun 2013, 12:30 pm

I thought it was funny back when people were criticizing Eragon for ripping off Star Wars, since Star Wars ripped off Flash Gordon and The Hidden Fortress. I guess plagiarism is okay if the rip-off is good. Star Wars, Nosferatu, A Fistful of Dollars, Reservoir Dogs... all good, so nobody cares about their plagiarism. But Eragon sucks, so its plagiarism is focused on instead of its more serious problems.



SpeakerToAnimals
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22 Jun 2013, 12:39 pm

There's a lot of Lord of the Rings in both - and Tolkien drew on King Arthur and Grendel.

Dumbledore = Obi Wan = Gandalf = Merlin.



trollcatman
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22 Jun 2013, 1:31 pm

Almost all stories are copies of other stories. There are only so many narratives that are possible and interesting.
Stars Wars and Harry Potter: young person has to leave home --> becomes Jedi/wizard/superhero guided by old farts --> saves the universe.


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The_Walrus
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22 Jun 2013, 3:17 pm

I don't think there are particular similarities between Star Wars and Harry Potter beyond a handful of shared tropes. I mean, there are the similarities trollcatman points out, but those are pretty much the only similarities between Luke and Harry. I don't think Ron and Hans have much in common, likewise Hermione and Lea. If I may use LOTR characters to draw parallels (though weak ones), I think Hans has more in common with Aragorn, he's a handsome action hero, whereas Ron is the gawky friend of the main character who is extremely unsure of himself and spends six years essentially in Harry's shadow. If he were a LOTR character, he'd probably be Gimli.

Lea is a princess. Whilst she has her head screwed on, she doesn't have Hermione's smarts. Hermione is from a minority, and her role in the story is essentially challenging prejudice- she's a Muggle-born and a female, yet a far better wizard than Ron, Neville or even Harry and definitely Malfoy. She also stands up for the rights of werewolves, half-breeds like Hagrid, and non-humans like the elves and the centaurs.

Jory wrote:
I thought it was funny back when people were criticizing Eragon for ripping off Star Wars, since Star Wars ripped off Flash Gordon and The Hidden Fortress. I guess plagiarism is okay if the rip-off is good. Star Wars, Nosferatu, A Fistful of Dollars, Reservoir Dogs... all good, so nobody cares about their plagiarism. But Eragon sucks, so its plagiarism is focused on instead of its more serious problems.

Inheritance is more of a LOTR ripoff than Star Wars IMO, it may as well be set in Middle Earth. The Ra'zac and the Urgals are both cool, as are Paolini's dragons, but Paolini's Elves and Dwarves are both heavily derivative of Tolkien's. Not that that's particularly bad.



pawelk1986
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22 Jun 2013, 4:21 pm

trollcatman wrote:
Almost all stories are copies of other stories. There are only so many narratives that are possible and interesting.
Stars Wars and Harry Potter: young person has to leave home --> becomes Jedi/wizard/superhero guided by old farts --> saves the universe.


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Nice picture Star Wars quote with Picard face :D



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23 Jun 2013, 7:45 am

Anything featuring 'dwarves' has been influenced by Tolkien.

The plural of 'dwarf' is 'dwarfs': Tolkien changed the spelling.



Jono
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24 Jun 2013, 9:37 am

I like Star Wars better than Harry Potter to be honest. Although, I've seen most of the Harry Potter films and do like them as well.



Robdemanc
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24 Jun 2013, 2:39 pm

Star Wars and Harry Potter, follow the typical "hero's journey" storyline. Luke and Harry are the heroes and their story moves in a similar direction, making similar twists, meeting similar foes, and the central theme is good vs evil.

There are websites that will dissect these stories for you and show how they follow the "hero's journey" path.



naturalplastic
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25 Jun 2013, 8:12 am

Both fall into the same ancient mythic archetypical groove- young person on a quest to prove themselves.

George Lucas was a student of Joseph Campbell and purposely sought to create a story distilled from ancient mythic archetypes laid out by Campbell. JK.Rowlings may have unconsciously re-invented the wheel. But as many have said above-there are only so many story lines in the world, and they get reused constantly. So its hard for an author to avoid reinventing the wheel.