In this entry I wish to talk about the comparison of two fiction-industry powerhouses ... that of Star Wars and Harry Potter. I may be a little late to the game of Potter, but to tell the truth, I only just finished The Deathly Hallows this past week, after about 6 months of on and off reading of that saga. Not only were many of the books extremely long, I just had to find the time to sit and read through the entire story in a span of 6 months. Though, I couldn't bring myself to put book #7 down for the life of me, once I really got going with it. Be warned there are Harry Potter spoilers below, if you haven't read through the whole series yet.

Now I will say that SW will always be number one with me, and the story in which I will always be most fond of, but I will also say that I became most enthralled with Harry Potter and very much enjoyed that adventure. It took me a while to want to get into the story and it was only at the tail-end of last year that I finally did. And I sure am glad I did. J.K Rowling has put together a story that is full and rich in detail and very much captures the fundamental ideal of good vs. evil and the story of a boy who comes of age in both his personal life and that of the world at large. She brings the reader into the story as an engaged on-looker, craving more with each adventure and truly brings to life the idea that the choices we make in life can and will affect the future for ourselves and those around us. Harry goes through his life with reckless abandon, always searching for an adventure and a little mischief, but when it comes down to the end, he is required to make a choice that will forever affect his life and the world in general.

Now I won't go into detail all the books (or the current movies) in the series as this would end up being an immensely large blog, but I did want to touch upon some of the similarities in the overall theme or characters to our beloved SW saga.

Harry, to me, is most similar to Luke. They are both characters who crave adventure and long for a life outside of their own, before they realize who they really are. Both have parent issues in that Luke doesn't know who his parents are early on, and neither does Harry. They each discover who their real parents are and are greatly affected by that ... Luke in discovering that Vader is his father and Harry in that his parents were well-known students in Hogwarts and his mother cast a spell over Harry when she was killed to protect him from the curse of Voldemort.

They both also come of age in the final story. Luke embraced his destiny as a Jedi and faced his father and the Emperor in a battle that would see good triumph over evil and be witness to a choice made that would change the galaxy forever ... a choice made by both Luke and Anakin. And Harry made a choice in the final book to embrace his destiny as the only one who could defeat Voldemort by sacrificing himself and not giving into his fear to run and hide but rather be the reason that good could triumph over evil. And both Luke and Harry came out on top as victors through their self-sacrifice ... both lived to see another day and were rewarded for their heroic behaviour.

And Voldemort was of course similar to Vader in some ways. They both grew up with "father issues" ... neither really knew his father. They both had troubled childhoods (Anakin's being separated from his mother and Voldemort's being orphaned). They both changed their names along the way and both accepted a Dark path that would forever dominate their lives. Both even had the title of Dark Lord to accompany their names.
The difference in the end, between them, is that Vader chose the path of redemption to save his soul ... he, like Luke, sacrificed himself for the greater good of saving another. Voldemort, however, chose to be evil right up to the end and even his last act was to cast a killing curse towards Harry which was deflected by Harry as a result of the Elder Wand (if you've read the book). He didn't take the path of redemption as Vader did. But regardless, in their prime both Dark Lords sought the power to achieve immortality (Vader through saving the ones he loved, and probably himself too) and ruled over their worlds with an iron fist and a penchant for ruthlessness.

And Dumbledore I kind of likened to Yoda. Both were very wise and both were very powerful and both died before the hero, in order to help the hero succeed. Dumbledore had a plan all along for his death and how it would help Harry defeat Voldemort, and Yoda's death helped Luke grow very quickly into the Jedi he would become. He was now the last Jedi and would have to carry on Yoda's teachings, and it brought him to Jedi maturity. Harry only understood Dumbledore's true plan at the end, but it helped him to see how wise and caring and powerful Dumbledore really was. I found the chapter in which Dumbledore explained everything to Harry in the "netherworld" after Harry's self-sacrifice rather poignant and really showed how smart Dumbledore really was. He was a guide a person could always depend on, and always trust in.

And, of course, the notion of magic and the Force almost go hand in hand. Wizards and witches can cast a multitude of powerful spells that can achieve many great things. And Jedi or Sith can use the Force to also achieve many great things. Where this power comes from, no one can really say, but it is a wonderful power at the tips of the fingers of many an experienced Jedi or wizard. And there are others in both the wizarding world and the GFFA who cannot harness this power ... non Force-users in SW and Muggles in HP. It's a balance of sorts, in a world or galaxy that could be ripped apart with so much power.

So, in the end, after hours of reading (and I've seen all five Potter movies out so far), I came to very much enjoy the Harry Potter series. It's a story of lessons learned, of good vs. evil, of the value of family and friends, and of making the right choices at the right times. It's filled with wonderful and enchanting imagery and adventures and is a story that will endure through the ages. Very much like the wonderful world of Star Wars.