Which Movie am I Watching?

Maybe it was the fact that it was in Spanish. Maybe it's just been so long (5 years?) since I've seen an installment of either series that shaped my childhood. Maybe I was just tired. But a few times during Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part One, I had to remind myself which movie I was watching - whether it wasn't a remix of The Lord of the Rings.

I'm not saying that the Harry Potter books copy Lord of the Rings. I think that would be rediculous and silly - just because both play on certain archetypes, and one might be able to find a few cursory coincidences, the stories are fundamentally and radically different. (Do we find out Gandalf was involved in the death of his little sister in a gay affair? Where is Hermione in Lord of the Rings? etc etc etc etc) But the film brought out certain similarities that weren't as obvious in the books... maybe because the writing style of the books is so different, while a movie at some level is a movie.


When it struck me:

The scene where Harry leaves the Burrow in the middle of the night, with a backpack, and Ron goes after him: Where to begin? This was exactly like Frodo taking off from the Shire with Sam. I realized for the first time that Harry and Frodo, and Ron and Sam, look a bit similar (dark hair, red hair). They're walking through a cereal field in both movies, and Ron/Sam is giving a speech about not letting Frodo/Harry go off on his own.

Weasley twin scenes: Fred and George reminded me a bit of Merry and Pippin - always having a sense of humour, although they too are subject to danger. Just as Merry, Pippin, and Sam are Frodo's hobbit companions (although Merry and Pippin are not as important characters), Fred, George, and Ron are all Weasleys and sort of fall into a group as such.

Harry's flashback of Dumbledore falling: I almost expected Frodo to wake up yelling 'Gandalf'... the scene at the beginning of The Two Towers is just too similar.

Dumbledore's Will: This reminded me a bit of the Galadriel gift giving scene in the Lord of the Rings, most notably when Ron recieved the Illuminator. I don't remember the exact words in Spanish, but it sounded eerily similar to a translation for "May it be a light for you when all other lights go out," which is what Galadriel says when giving Frodo the Phial of Galadriel.

Voldemort when flying around: This one is more subtle, but something about the way that Voldemort races around as a black cloud, and the way he will suddenly whip around when sensing something, as well as certain accompanying sound effects, remind me of the Great Eye and the Ringwraiths.

The Locket: This is the most obvious one by far - an evil object containing part of the dark lord's soul that the characters keep hanging around their neck, where it messes with their thoughts and tries to corrupt them/prevent them from destroying it? Does that sound like a certain integral part of The Lord of the Rings to you?

Harry's Scar: This is also like the ring in the sense that it connects Harry to Voldemort and leads him to have odd moments of freaking out because Voldemort is angry, etc... just as it makes Frodo freak out when Sauron is close to seeing him.