Stolen Dumbledore

Originally Posted by Sindafalathiel

In all honesty, I am both a fan of HP and LotR. I have to admit, however, That Rowling did, it seems, gather many ideas from Tolkien. a point no-one has addressed yet, is Dobby, of the second book. He reminds me a lot of Gollum, in his nice stages. I must also defend her, because the word dumbledore is old english for bumblebee, And she said in some interview, I believe, that he reminds her of one. so, in truth, I think Tolkien did the same thing, he used old english. Although I do believe Rowling took the idea of humans that can change into animals from Tolkien. Beorn, Animagi...

Consulting my Magic for Muggles book here it says:

The ability to transform into an animal is as old as legend. In Celtic mythology, transformation into stags, boars,sawans, eagles, and ravens is common. Shamans in Native American cultures often transform into animals, usually birds.

The chpater goes on to say that animagi have been mentioned in the legend of King Arthur as well as other ancient myths.