‘Lord of The Rings’ Ripped Off ‘Harry Potter’ According to IMDB Poster
The IMDB messages boards usually host pretty decent discussions, as anonymous message boards go. However a recent entry on the page of the upcoming Peter Jackson movie 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' suggests IMDB isn't immune to what is either some pretty slick "trolling" or some unprecedented stupidity.
User Brian__007's rant, in which he slams J.R.R. Tolkien and 'Lord of Rings' for ripping off J.K. Rowling and 'Harry Potter,' has so many things ridiculously wrong with it that it needs to be read in its entirety.
Overall, I like Lord of the Rings. However, I do feel that Tolkien kind of rips off Harry Potter in many ways. There are several parallels, such as elves, dwarfs, wizards, goblins, trolls, magic (especially invisibility), etc. Sauron is referred to as “Dark Lord” just like Voldemort is. There is also the elder white-haired bearded wizard who serves as a mentor, Gandalf, who is reminiscent of Dumbledore. Some of the character names are similar, such as Wormtongue as opposed to Wormtail, too. There is even a gigantic spider (Shelob) at the end of 'The Two Towers' that reminds one of Aragog from 'Chamber of Secrets.' I even noticed that the plots of both series begin with the protagonists’ birthday. Now I see that Tolkien, this unoriginal bastard, is coming out with The Hobbit in December. This would be fine, but why didn’t he just write this book first to begin with? I still like Lord of the Rings, though–don’t get me wrong–but I wonder if Tolkien has ever said in interviews whether he borrowed elements from Harry Potter. I’ll be watching the extended DVDs later this week and I think he’s featured on the commentary track, so I look forward to that.
The post, which elicited over 100 incredulous responses, has been pulled. However, the bait/stupidity lives in perpetuity thanks to screen shots.
Do you think Brian_007 is being genuine in his confusion? We're of the opinion that anyone who can write in complete sentences and knows how to use the internet would be aware that 'Lord of The Rings' way predates 'Potter', making this is a deliberate (and fairly clever) troll move. But one should never underestimate the potential inanity of message board posters.