Harry Potter influences and analoguesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

[edit]Influences

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.

[edit]British folklore and mythology

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]

[edit]The Iliad

When an interviewer said that saving Cedric's body resembled the Iliad and the actions of Hector, Achilles,

and Patroclus, 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]

[edit]The Bible

A number of commentators have drawn attention to the Biblical themes and references in her 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", (I 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 epitomise the whole series."[7]

[edit]The Pardoner's Tale

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 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]

[edit]Macbeth

Rowling has cited 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]

[edit]Emma

Rowling cites Jane Austen as her favourite author and a major influence. "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]

[edit]The Story of the Treasure Seekers

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]

[edit]The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows byKenneth 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 the measles at age 4.[13]

[edit]Dorothy L. Sayers

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]

[edit]The Chronicles of Narnia

Rowling has said she was a fan of the works of C. S. Lewis as a child, and cites the influence of

his Narnia chronicles 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 Kings 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 worlds. 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 betweenDudley 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]

[edit]The Little White Horse

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]

[edit]The Sword in the Stone

Rowling also cites the work of T. H. White, a grammar school teacher, and the author of the well-known

children's 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)

which was made into an animated movie by Disney Studios. 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]

[edit]Manxmouse

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]

[edit]Jessica Mitford

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]

[edit]Other favourites

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 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 favorites 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 wereWuthering 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]

[edit]Analogues

There are a number of authors to which Rowling has been repeatedly compared in the media. Some of these

she has herself mentioned, others have been mentioned by Internet sites, journalists, critics or other authors.

The works are listed roughly in order of publication.

[edit]The Pilgrim's Progress

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]

[edit]Wuthering Heights

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.

[edit]Tom Brown's Schooldays

The Harry Potter series draws upon a long tradition of boarding school-set children's literature in English.

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 inAnthony

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, 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]

[edit]The Lord of the Rings

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; specifically Tolkien's Wormtongue and Rowling's Wormtail,

Tolkien's Shelob and Rowling's Aragog, 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).[35] Several reviews ofHarry 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.[36] Rowling maintains that she hadn't 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."[37] Tolkienian scholar Tom Shippeyhas

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".[38]

[edit]Roald Dahl

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.[39] 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".[40]

[edit]X-Men

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-Menconsciously 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."[41]

[edit]The Chronicles of Prydain

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.[42] 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."[43]

[edit]The Dark Is Rising

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.[44] John Hodge, who wrote the screenplay for the

film adaptation of The Dark Is Rising, made substantial changes to the novel's plot and tone to differentiate it

from Harry Potter.[45]

[edit]A Wizard of Earthsea

The basic premise of Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea (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.[46] Le Guin has

claimed that she doesn't 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."[47]

[edit]The Worst Witch

Many critics have noted that Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch series (first published in 1974), is set in a school for

girls, "Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches", remarkably reminiscent of Hogwarts.[48][49]The story concerns an

awkward pupil at a boarding school for witches, who faces a scheming rival student. Her professors include a

kindly and elderly headmistress and a bullying, raven-haired potions teacher.[50] 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 the Hogwarts school of witchcraft

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 J

K Rowling's books". The implications are really quite insulting!"[51]

[edit]Charmed Life

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. 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."[52]

[edit]Discworld

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 commonfantasy

literature conventions. Pratchett is 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

claims that yes he did steal them, though "I of course used a time machine."[53] The BBC and other British news

agencies have emphasised a supposed rivalry between Pratchett and Rowling,[54] but Pratchett has said on

record that, while he doesn't put Rowling on a pedestal, he doesn't consider her a bad writer, nor does he envy

her success.[55] 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".[56] 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.[57]

[edit]Ender's Game

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."[58]

[edit]Young Sherlock Holmes

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."[59] Scenes from Young Sherlock Holmes were

subsequently used to cast the first Harry Potter film.[60] 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".[61]

[edit]Troll

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."[62] 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.

[63] 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.[64] 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.[65]

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."[66]

[edit]Groosham Grange

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 young 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 French word for "wolf" (Lupin/Leloup), and passage to the school via railway train.

[67] Horowitz, however, while acknowledging the similarities, just thanked Rowling for her contribution to the

development of the young adult fiction in the UK.[68]

[edit]The Books of Magic

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 on his twelfth birthday 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."[69] 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.[70]

[edit]Spellcasting series

The text adventure game Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls (1990) is the first installment 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.[71]

[edit]Wizard's Hall

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.[72] At the school "he must fulfill an ancient prophecy and help overthrow a powerful,

evil wizard."[73] Yolen has been very critical of Rowling's work, and has stated publicly that she believes Rowling

stole her ideas. 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 cheque, I would cash it."[74]

[edit]The Secret of Platform 13

Eva Ibbotson's The Secret of Platform 13 (first published in 1994) features a gateway to a magical world

located on an underground railway platform. The protagonist belongs to the magical world but is raised in our

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.'"[75]