Current Events > 20 years later: LOTR vs Harry Potter

(+) Yeah! (+)

Two epic theatrical movie series. Which did you like better?

"For Frodo!"

"Yer a wizard, Harry."

as someone who didn't read either of the source material, I ended up enjoying the Harry Potter movies more than I did the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

tbh, I didn't care for the latter, but maybe I should give it another chance one of these days.

As someone that read both of the source material, easily Harry Potter. All due respect to Tolkien for being the grandfather of modern fantasy, but a good deal of the LotR novels is just being bored to tears by Hobbits singing and Elvish poetry. It's the only time I read a novel where I was actually skipping pages.

EDIT: Well, I really need to learn to properly read OPs before typing up a response.

in both books and movies LotR wins by a landslide

LotR will win the poll because of Harry Potter's association with JK Rowling. With that said, I only watched the movies and while I think Harry Potter movies are consistent in quality, Return of th King is just a goddamn masterpiece of a movie. The first 2 LotR were great, but didn't blow me away like the third one.

TheSavageDragon posted...

As someone that read both of the source material, easily Harry Potter. All due respect to Tolkien for being the grandfather of modern fantasy, but a good deal of the LotR novels is just being bored to tears by Hobbits singing and Elvish poetry. It's the only time I read a novel where I was actually skipping pages.

That's the immersion of the novels. It's not for everyone, just as the Harry Potter novels will turn off many due to their overly simplistic character archetypes, and irrational actors who do what they do or exist to move the plot forward like literal animated plot devices.

LoTR was a one time watch for me only

Ill watch Harry Potter many many times

For movies, LotR.

HP could be a contender if the movie series had the quality the first three films did. But they did not.

ngl, I'd forgotten about JK Rowling when entering the topic.

also, I saw a video earlier today about how much of a stand-up guy Tolkien was.

if I was going to also put into account the creators of the franchises, I'd lean towards LotR

I'd say overall LOTR is better. I think the HP books on a base level are more enjoyable bc they are quick enjoyable reads, while LOTR is very dense and often loses the plot to talk lore and maps and songs and stuff.

But the LOTR movies are obviously superior and Tolkien's development of his world is unparalleled

The LotR movies are a 10/10, the HP movies were like a 7 or 8

I didn't watch all of Harry Potter because I'm a book nerd and getting things wrong irritates me.

Loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies though

I'm not even an HP fan, and I did like the LotR trilogy, but HP for sure. Certainly the franchise is more enduring (as far as remaining consistently mainstream) and has a broader appeal

LotR. Easily.

Harry Potter sucks ass.

the one with girls

Harry Potter for books, LotR for movies.

The one that didn't completely bastardize a main character in the adaptation.

Grew up on Harry Potter. I even knew people/classmates who were casted in the earlier movies whilst I was still in school. Got into LotR much later and didn't appreciate it as much.

I'm pretty sure nowadays if I went through LotR again I'd appreciate it more, but for now it goes to Harry Potter.

TheSavageDragon posted...

As someone that read both of the source material, easily Harry Potter. All due respect to Tolkien for being the grandfather of modern fantasy, but a good deal of the LotR novels is just being bored to tears by Hobbits singing and Elvish poetry. It's the only time I read a novel where I was actually skipping pages.

Holy smokes I feel second hand embarrassment right now

Harry Potter (particularly the first 2 books) are some of the worst written novels I've ever read. Just terrible terrible writing

Billyionaire posted...

Holy smokes I feel second hand embarrassment right now

Please do enlighten me on what exactly I'm supposed to get out of multiple pages of poetry in a made-up language that I , and the vast majority of those who've read/watched it, wouldn't ever be bothered to learn. I'm a nerd and a geek, but I draw the fucking line at learning shit like Klingon and Elvish.

I don't know. HP was just ok, but at least watchable.
LotR on the other hand....... I always referred to Fellowship as a surefire cure for insomnia.

Harry Potter can be fun adventure flicks/comfort novels, but LotR is genuinely good fantasy.

The wizarding world is mostly a vehicle for Rowling's incredibly shallow neoliberal world view, Middle Earth is an actually fleshed out world.

I only watched the first four Harry Potter movies but they all felt like they were the exact same god damn thing

Haven't read or seen either series. I might go and watch them at some point, but I don't really watch that many movies nowadays.

TheSavageDragon posted...

Please do enlighten me on what exactly I'm supposed to get out of multiple pages of poetry in a made-up language

Are you sure you read the book, because it's starting to not seem that way.

Jk rowlings writing is shit. She got lucky with coming up with the wizard school. She should have stuck with the children theme in the first few books.

Rings. It's not even close.

Billyionaire posted...

Are you sure you read the book, because it's starting to not seem that way.

Maybe you're just incapable of grasping the fact that it's a highly popular book with multiple versions published over the decades in a multitude of languages. The one I read, was published after the movie trilogy, in Dutch and had multiple pages scattered throughout the book written in Elvish. Have you read that one?

I can well up tears by thinking of LotR movie moments, can't remember HP movies ever being emotional.

I worked at a movie theater during most of those, and i've still never seen more them like 5 minutes of any of them.

I read the full Harry Potter series growing up, and couldn't get through Lord of the Rings

LotR is the better film series by far and it's not even close

TheSavageDragon posted...

Maybe you're just incapable of grasping the fact that it's a highly popular book with multiple versions published over the decades in a multitude of languages. The one I read, was published after the movie trilogy, in Dutch and had multiple pages scattered throughout the book written in Elvish. Have you read that one?

So you read a version of the book that contains passages you couldn't read and you're saying it "bored you to tears" as an indictment against the quality of the writing. Everything I'm hearing from you just confirms that the problem isn't with the book...

Billyionaire posted...

So you read a version of the book that contains passages you couldn't read and you're saying it "bored you to tears" as an indictment against the quality of the writing. Everything I'm hearing from you just confirms that the problem isn't with the book...

"No, I haven't read that version"

Okay, now that's done with, kindly fuck off.

Potter for books

LotR for movies

LotR is almost objectively the better movie series. I dont see how you could say otherwise.

I did enjoy the HP books a lot more than LotR. That might change on a reread, since I read The Silmarillion last year and thought it was a 10/10.

TheSavageDragon posted...

"No, I haven't read that version"

Okay, now that's done with, kindly fuck off.

Sure thing, pal. But a kind reminder for the future: remember to read the books that are written in languages you can read!

Billyionaire posted...

Sure thing, pal. But a kind reminder for the future: remember to read the books that are written in languages you can read!

...Wait, are you assuming that because you can't read Dutch, neither can TSD?

Wheres the neither option

TMOG posted...

...Wait, are you assuming that because you can't read Dutch, neither can TSD?

We were talking about Sindarin/Quenya, not Dutch.

I swear I think you guys are allergic to reading before posting.

I'm going to rewatch all 3 LotR movies - the extended cuts!

For films, its definitely LotR.

For books, I would go with Potter but I feel both are incredibly overrated.

Game of Thrones

It's a crime that there isn't some directors cut of the HP series where each movie is like 4-5 hours long to be more accurate to the books.

I only read the first couple so most of my experience with it was from the movies, recently listened to them on audio and the books are so much better. Cliched position I know.

Anyways, LotR wins.

I'm more into Harry Potter, but the Lord of the Rings movies are amazingly well done.

LotR by a very large margin, in both movies and books. Tolkien's influence on fantasy as we know it today is impossible to overstate

ZaruenKosai posted...

Game of Thrones

Lmao no