10 Incredible Similarities Between Harry Potter And The Lord Of The Rings

9. Jewellery

Obviously a huge comparison between the two stories is the quest with which both protagonists are set; though Harry doesn't realise until he's some way through the story, that his quest is to destroy horcruxes, that often take the form of jewellery. On topic for this article, the very first horcrux that Tom Riddle makes is a ring. This is the ring that mortally wounds Dumbledore as he tries to destroy it, though it also contains the Resurrection Stone in it, a stone that allows you to communicate with the dead. Rather like Frodo being drawn to the power of the One Ring, J. K. Rowling ensures that the powerful ring in Harry Potter is a ring that's also brilliantly desirable to the protagonist; did I mention that both rings are totally impervious to damage, too? The One Ring in Lord of the Rings is a ring that shifts the wearer into another dimension, and into a spiritual realm, which certainly resonates with the power of the resurrection stone. But though Tom Riddle's ring doesn't make its wearer invisible, Harry, like Frodo, often wields invisibility; though he does so via the invisibility cloak, one of the three Deathly Hallows. These are bedrocks of both films; the One Ring and the Deathly Hallows are what gives both protagonists their quests, and both Tolkien and Rowling give these items mystical and horrible qualities to ensure that these journeys won't be easy rides. You can't make a three-hour film destroying any old ring, you know.