[Gayalondiel]

I'm not going to do the lists again, but i'd like to add one thing to Daniel and Brinniel's points:<P>JK Rowling intentionally utilises mythical items/monsters in her stories. The philosopher's Stone, Phoenixes, Basilisks, Giant Squid (never sighted although some suggestive evidence has been found), typical fairy-tale elves (house-elves), Broomsticks and capes... I could go on. You can't escape folklore when you write about wizards, and it shows a great deal of thought on her part to make use of varied myths and monsters.<BR>JRRT was also influenced by myth and tradition, (not sure which specifically but i'm pretty sure he was). Does that mean that he too copied myth authors? You wouldn't say Gandalf was a plagarism of Merlin. Although beautifully adapted and set in place in a new mythology, Tolkien did not create complete original ideas every time he created a character. to my mind, that makes a story far more believable; it ties it in with our own reality. That's pretty much what Rowling has done, the difference being that her books are aimed at a different audience/level of thought. It doesn't make her a bad author.<P>Sorry, didn't realise i'd gone on so long. Just one more thing; people on this site use 'plagarise' a lot. that's not accurate unless one had actually transposed a character or plot very specifically without credit to the original. To a writer, that's a very serious accusation, and its just not justified here.