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.

[wilwarin538]

Lots of what Rowling uses is just from old mythlogy that she changed to make her own. That isn't a bad thing. Its not like Tolkien came up with everything in his books, he took ideas from other stories and myths and made them his own. Its almost impossible to right a good book and not have something in it thats from another story.

similarity between the Nazgul in LotR and the dementors in HP

The only similarity is that they're hooded black figures. What they do is completely different.

~Wilwa

[Encaitare]

Although Ms. Rowling did nick "Cockroach Clusters" from Monty Python

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

This may be off topic - actually, I don't even know what this thread is about anymore, but I'm going to say this nonetheless.

Originally there was a question if Rowling had stolen the word "Dumbledore" from Tolkien. It was cleared that it's Old English and means a bumblebee. Fine. But I don't think there's need to accuse any writer so eagerly about lending words from others' works (especially with the attitude that Tolkien invented everything first).

I'm not going to repeat all the things about Tolkien getting inspiration from Beowulf and Kalevala. But just as a trivial question: did you know that In the Bible (Old Testament) there's a mountain called Moria and a man whose name is Eleasar? I don't know about you but I have this funny feeling that I've heard those names somewhere else... and I believe that the Bible was there first.

[Kath]

But Tolkien never made any secret of his influences whether they were from the old legends or the Bible.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Nor did Rowling. Many of her references are all but too obvious.

The werewolf named Remus (who, sadly, has no twin Romulus).

The werewolf Fenrir. Does that sound familiar?

Sirius Black who turns into a dog.

Her playful use of words and names is no crime. Did you know that Dumbledore's name was chosen because she imagines him walking down the halls humming? The humming reminded her of bumblebees.

That said, you cannot have a fantasy story without ripping off something that's already done. How many times have we seen the underdog become the hero (don't forget he's got dad issues), learn that he's got some sort of interesting abilities, and go on to attempt to vanquish his greatest enemy? Want me to name some of these heros? Harry Potter. Luke Skywalker. Frodo Baggins. Jesus. Are any of their stories less wonderful, just because you've seen the theme repeated over and over? No. So J.K. Rowling taking a few words or concepts from Tolkien (that he'd taken before) shouldn't bother people the way it does.

[Selmo]

JKR would not have to dig into Middle English or Tolkien's work for Dumbledore=bumblebee.
The word is still in common use in some parts of England.