*The following entry discusses the plot of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. If you do not want to be spoiled, this is your last chance to turn back.

First of all, I want to say how delighted I am by the number fans of both Harry Potter and Star Wars. It has become all too common, particularly on the internet, for fans to set up camp, declaring allegiance to one and only one fictional world, resulting in virtual wars between fans that have no reason to exist. Star Wars vs. Star Trek vs. Lord of the Rings vs. Harry Potter, etc. Pointless competition where there should be cooperation. It seems trite to say, but I'm glad so many Star Wars fans seem to like Harry Potter, too, without the need to compare them--negatively compare them, that is.

When I finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last week, I had intended to post a little blog with my thoughts and hopefully create a little discussion. Of course, that was before I noticed the flood of wonderful posts from fans like myself with their own thoughts. Rather than be completely redundant, I have rethought my approach, and since this is a Star Wars blog, I thought I'd give my own interpretations and feelings on Harry Potter in relation to Star Wars. Not a wholly original thought, but these are just my personal feelings.

I think the reason it is so easy to compare the Harry Potter books to Star Wars--and particularly Harry himself to Luke Skywalker--is because they both follow what Joseph Campbell referred to as the Hero's Journey. I won't bore you with the details because most Star Wars fans have at least a passing knowledge of the Hero's Journey, but for more details, you can refer to Campbell's book Hero of a Thousand Faces. Harry Potter, like Luke (and Anakin) Skywalker, is a "chosen one" that must set out on a quest to vanquish evil.

The most clearly cited connection is that Harry and Luke were both orphaned as babies and sent by a kind wizard to be raised by his aunt and uncle, who don't particularly want him to take up the life that destroyed his parents. The clear difference between the Dursleys and the Lars is that Uncle Owen actually seems to care for Luke and doesn't want him to get caught up in any adventures Obi-Wan might lead him on whereas Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia treat Harry quite badly and are actually afraid of him. I would also like to note the so-called "Harry Potter scene" that closes Revenge of the Sith with Obi-Wan riding out to the Lars homestead to deliver the infant Luke. This is almost an exact replica to the scene in the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Philosopher's Stone for those outside the U.S.), also the first scene in the movie in which Dumbledore arrives on Privet Drive to deliver the infant Harry.

One of the more delightful connections, at least for me, is how the Harry-Ron-Hermione relationship reflects the Luke-Han-Leia dynamic. These are the closest of friends with their own gifts and personalities that compliment and contrast each other. Though both Harry and Luke are the heroes, Hermione and Leia are the leaders--the take-charge gal that has no problem showing that she knows more than the boys and can handle herself quite fine, thank you very much. Ron and Hermione even bicker like Han and Leia, and dang it all if they don't end up together, too.

Harry Potter even has its own Jar Jar Binks. I am, of course, talking about Dobby the house-elf. Like Jar Jar, Dobby means well, but he has a penchant for causing trouble and, well, he gets downright annoying at times. Dobby is most present in Chamber of Secrets, where at least his self-inflicted head thumping was due to his servitude, which he is released of in the end, whereas Jar Jar was just plain clumsy. Personally, I have a bit of a soft spot for both Jar Jar (at times) and Dobby (in the books, at least; the movie version was a bit much for me) because, as I said, they do mean well, but even I can only take so much of them.

But never was the connection more prevalent to me than with Half-Blood Prince, not just because of what happens but because of how it made me feel. Again, I'll start with the obvious--Dumbledore's death. Like Obi-Wan and Gandalf before him, a lot of us have known for a long time that Dumbledore had to go. Even King Arthur was deprived of Merlin in the end. It was inevitable. The hero has always had the great teacher and mentor that has advised him and protected him against evil. If the hero is to fulfill his destiny, he must do it without any crutches. The hero must eventually face evil himself, on his own.

Luke lost Obi-Wan to Vader and then he lost Yoda, and he was forced to face the Dark Lords of the Sith on his own. Dumbledore was like Obi-Wan and Yoda combined--a great old wizard that was wise and kind and taught Harry everything he could on how to defeat Voldemort. As long as Dumbledore was alive, somehow Harry would be okay. At some point, Harry had to be deprived of his mentor. It was just a question of when and how.

Oddly enough, I was sure Dumbledore would be dead by the end of the book when he showed up with a blackened, half-dead hand. I was sure that, like Yoda, he would be racing against the clock to train Harry before dying of illness, never getting the opportunity to confront the Dark Lord again himself. I could not have been more wrong.

I never trusted Snape, but I never imagined he would be the one to end Dumbledore's life so suddenly and brutally. Snape was always a shady figure, but Dumbledore trusted him. I wanted to believe there was some redeeming reason he kept Severus around. There may still be, as many still speculate on Snape's real loyalties, but Snape's betrayal was almost like that of Anakin's. Indeed, Snape seems to have assumed the Darth Vader role--the once trusted wizard that turned to the Dark Side and teamed up with the Dark Lord himself.

Perhaps the most pervasive feeling I had in the final pages of Half Blood Prince--as I read of Dumbldore's funeral, the uncertainty of the future of Hogwarts, and Harry's final decision to leave it all behind to accept his destiny and quest to destroy Voldemort--was a feeling of uneasiness that I recognized. This was the same feeling I had at the end of Revenge of the Sith. This was the darkest hour for our heroes. There had been a bitter betrayal, a very public funeral and, with the servants of darkness multiplying, an unsure plan with only a hope of prevailing over evil.

The principle difference, of course, is that I know exactly what happens in the final episodes of Star Wars. I know how Anakin's son becomes a Jedi and redeems him. I know how the Emperor is defeated and peace is restored. With one book still to be written in the Harry Potter series, the future is a bit less certain. Oh, I'm sure it'll all turn out alright in the end. I'm sure Harry will defeat Voldemort just as I'm sure Ron and Hermione will finally admit their feelings for each other. There are still plenty of questions to be answered, but we still have two more years to wait for them. I suppose we've had three years between each Star Wars episode (not counting the 16 years before the prequels), so this wait won't be too bad.

At this rate, I could probably write a book comparing the two worlds, but one can only go so far comparing wands to lightsabers and Quiddich to Podracing. Great stories like this are going to have certain similarities. Some are practically required. We can also celebrate how different they both are, as well, what brilliant characters we've fallen in love with and what wonderful worlds they live in.

And I'm sure it'll all turn out alright in the end.