Did J.K. Rowling STEAL Harry Potter (Rip-off? Plagiarism?!)

Go to TryFum.com/CAELANCONRAD and use code CAELANCONRAD to get a discount off your order today.
Join my Patreon PLZ! 🥺- / caelanconrad // Subscribe to my 2nd channel😤- / respectthedeadpodcast
Twitter: / caelanconrad
Socials and Donation links: linktr.ee/caelanconrad
DERIVATIVE! REDUCTIVE! BORING! Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Mediocrity!
-----------
Written by Neil from ‪@TheLeftistCooks‬ and myself!
Hoots Video "Is Harry Potter Bad?": • Is Harry Potter Bad?
‪@Ember_Green‬ as the voice of Joanne Rowling
-----------
Chapters:
00:00 : Hey Slurs!
02:55 : Evidence
05:27 : FUM
06:49 : The Books of Magic
09:18 : The Wizard of Earthsea
11:12 : The Worst Witch
15:33 : What Makes You Special, Joanne?
27:26 : ME ME ME!
28:02 : Worst Harry Potter Names!
In this video, Caelan Conrad discusses the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter books and movies/films! Did she steal the idea, it it a rip-off? Or was it all original? Let's talk about: The Worst Witch, The Wizard of Earthsea, The Books of Magic, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, The little Broomstick, So You Want to Be a Wizard, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Ursula K. Le Guin. Harry potter theory! jk rowling!
#harrypotter #jkrowling #somerton

[@caelanconrad]

Go to TryFum.com/CAELANCONRAD and use code CAELANCONRAD to get a discount off your order today.

[@VinceWhitacre]

Ok you're the first person I actually trust who has hyped this thing. There's no nicotine, it's just... flava. So like, does it work? I'm down to about 5 a day, but I'd rather be down to 0 so I can save $25 a month in insurance (and *I guess* live a couple more years 🙄) Do these "salted grapefruit" and "alpine cum" and "cum" flavors actually tase good/make you want to suck on that hot, hot cancer stick less? Inquiring minds want to know.

[@AddiRockART]

My dad is trying to quit smoking and I wanted something safe that’s not vape… we were waiting for someone we supported to get the fum to try- this works out perfectly

[@Jasminestealth1]

ok... i went to your patreon ... and no teir says i get to have a one on one conversation with you on the phone.... WTF??? LOL... i was watching another creator who said.. he felt it would be weird to have "real" interaction with a fan.... stupid stalkers ruining things for us!!

[@alananimus9145]

How dare you 😡. Kobolds do not deserve to be disrespected by being associated with Rowling.

[@jarrellfamily1422]

This franchise is better as a theme park than a book or movie

[@SunniestAutumn]

Now, there is a question "What did JKR come up with by herself?" and while it's not in the books, I'm almost sure she is the only one to come up with wizards shitting themselves and vanishing their poops as the norm.

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

Was that before or after the toilets became haunted by the ghost of an adult woman posing as one of the students?

[@Ramsey276one]

O M G XD

[@apocalypsecomicsuk]

I've always been confused by that addition. Isn't it a thing in the second book that Slysterin hid his special room beneath the castle that could be accessed via the plumbing where his big snake lived. So, does that not mean the school came with plumbing already? Did people just shit themselves because they were scared to use the toilets because of the giant snake who lives in the pipes, or did slytherin make huge structural changes after the school was established that no one apparently noticed? It just doesn't make sense. The woman can't even keep her own world straight 😂

[@Ramsey276one]

@@apocalypsecomicsuk She can't even make it gay! XD

[@nina9565]

And the race of beings who love being enslaved? I never heard of anything like that before.

[@FrostyButter]

Can't believe the Nazis had the gall to rip off the villains from Harry Potter 😤

[@Gormathius]

You know, the more I hear of these Nazi fellows, the less I like them.

[@fromeveryting29]

«Seems I just had all this fascist rhetoric in the back of my mind already!» - JKR probably

[@jeffreygao3956]

Nah, The CSA from Timeline-191 did that already.

[@tolvfen]

Big strong force to use to villains

[@achimdemus-holzhaeuser1233]

It's Springtime for Riddle.

[@floridaexile1106]

I also loved that LeGuin called out Rowling for 1) not admitting she was influenced by other authors 2) Her writing tending to be mean spirited

[@robinfinch314]

I LOVE Le Guin and I was so heartbroken when she died. She called out a bunch of people for their nonsense. We lost such a great author and feminist the day she died.

[@carlkligerman1981]

LeGuin was a bone-fide genius.

[@Broeckchen]

Being called out by LeGuin should really shake someone up. She didn't write Omelas for nothing.

[@tubian323]

A British boy with brown hair and round glasses, John Lennon?🤣

[@maggieblair-kraybill4417]

Don’t forget Wizards Hall, where a boy goes to magic school, makes friends, has magical hijinks, and defeats an evil wizard by finally believing in himself, published 1991

[@stephaniewilliams6756]

Was waiting for them to mention it. That book really entertained me as a child

[@Ramsey276one]

Gotta check it out!

[@MellowMaromi]

I still have that in my collection! Definitely my favourite!

[@AxlPatrol]

I remember reading Wizard's Hall when I was a kid (back in 1999) and it was NOTHING like Harry Potter lmao. The fact that he goes to a wizard school and defeats and evil wizard is a very superficial similarity.

[@bootyspoon4675]

I remember that one and then thinking how strange when Harry Potter came out and was forgotten

[@LyraLyraPantsOnFyra]

my favorite Rowling moment was when she told Jessie Gender that she should hate owls to be in tune with "groupthink". Do.. do you think you invented owls Joanne?

[@Lawnie]

Owls did not exist until Jowling Kowling Rowling wrote about them. She caused them to spontaneously generate throughout history. ALL HAIL JOANNE, THE OWL QUEEN. (Joking so much.)

[@akisatsuki8444]

She invented your dog too

[@alisaurus4224]

Not owls themselves, no. She may genuinely believe she invented their association with wizards/magic

[@pattheplanter]

@@alisaurus4224 In which case, Blinky the Owl from John Masefield's The Midnight Folk published in 1927 would like a word. The Owl Service by Alan Garner published in 1967 would like to leave her disturbed for the rest of her life, like it has everyone else who read it.

[@wmdkitty]

@@alisaurus4224 Uh... there are several deities who'd like a word with her about that.

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

I could never be a bestselling author, because if someone asked me "hey, there's this book published years before yours with a very similar idea" I would be like "Oh yeah! How could I forgot?! I loved that book back in the day, I've been thinkering with that idea so much that I totally forgot I stole it from somewhere else! Yeah, everybody should read that book instead of mine" sales would plumber and the publishing house would break my kneecaps

[@caelanconrad]

Honestly that’s what most good authors say and people will still read lol

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

@@caelanconrad is like that guy wrote in the comments of a video about Darren Arronofsky's accusations of plagiarizing Satoshi Kon: "the difference between stealing and homage is that the artist who steal always calims ignorance when asked about the similarities with another piece of art, while the artist who homages its always entusiast at the oportunity to show and explain when and how the other piece of art influence their own"

[@lawrencium2626]

See HBGuy's big long rant about plagiarism. At least by being open, you won't get your soul torn a new hole.

[@asmrtpop2676]

I mean, typically people would appreciate knowing that because fandom people crave more, even if the more is another story entirely! And it gives them things to compare and contrast. And it’s great for fanfic writers.

[@Empress-Sky-of-Brynn]

I love talking about my inspirations because not only do I think they're good and want more people to interact with that media, but I like to show how I took that idea and transformed it my own way so you can see the similarities and differences and how I transformed it with my own experiences.

[@u3u_o3o]

SHE WAS 38 WHEN SHE LEARNED ENOUGH ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST TO RELATE IT TO HER OWN LITERATURE? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO KEEP IT TO HERSELF??????? How did anyone let this woman get away with this?

[@Vohalika]

That sure explains why she currently thinks her death eaters are like the trans rights movement. Sort of. Maybe.

[@zuzannatrzcielinska7875]

Eeeh... I'd like to point out that, while the WW2 themes are there, plain as day, the story doesn't promote or glorify the Holocaust. I mean, isn't the whole point of the book that the characters fight back and win against those opressive blood purists? I don't see why you're getting so worked up over it. Plus, it's JUST a fantasy story. Not a rewritten history book. And what's so wrong with getting inspiration from historical events anyway? If that's so wrong to do, shouldn't Disney be facing a mob for "Pocahontas"?

[@u3u_o3o]

@@zuzannatrzcielinska7875 babe did you like... watch the video?

[@Andrewtr6]

@@zuzannatrzcielinska7875 People just want to paint Rowling and Harry Potter as bad as they can. The worse they make her out to be, the more justified they feel in targeting anyone who refuses to denounce her. Look how hard they tried to cancel Hogwarts Legacies and anyone that played it (even though they failed). The success of that game just show HP is still strong and so is the fanbase. As for Pocahontas, there are plenty of people that hate that movie if you know where to find them.

[@caelanconrad]

She’s just a bad person who says and does bad things. You’re the one that’s reaching lol

[@CinziaDuBois]

Don't forget the wonderful book "The Secret of Platform 13" by Eva Ibbotson, published 1994, where a forgotten door on an abandoned railway platform of King's Cross Station in London is the entrance to a magical kingdom. One of the main characters, Ben, lives in a cupboard. Ben is a boy of magical lineage who lives in an abusive house with a spoilt other child. The names "Hedwig" and "Hermione" were also in two of Eva Ibbotsons books

[@phoenixfire6433]

This is a coincidence but 9 3/4 is exactly 75% of 13.

[@Llortnerof]

@@phoenixfire6433 Or maybe it isn't.

[@notbot2648]

​@@phoenixfire6433It probably isn't a coincidence tbh

[@The_Void8]

frickin hell! What is the legality of this? Did she not get accepted to literary school for magically inclined children. With the others Also, I love your videos! Lady of the library ❤

[@JABurtin]

That would explain why there is no wall between platforms 9 and 10 in the real King's Cross Station. She said she had the wrong train station in mind while writing it. That would make sense if, instead of researching the location herself, she derived the idea from another author's work.

[@madsstokes]

I guess I live in this comment section for the next 21 hours.

[@Borodin410]

The Worlds of Chrestomanci

[@Meggzilla]

Are you ok? Are you hydrated in here?

[@mitcharendt2253]

I will join you. You can share my tent

[@Meggzilla]

@@mitcharendt2253 got room for one more? I have snacks.

[@mitcharendt2253]

​​@Meggzilla room for all! More is more. Also your sn is very cute

[@Christopher_Gibbons]

An aspiring fantasy writer wrote her first book in a coffee shop next to Scotland’s largest comic book shop, and didn’t encounter Neil Gaiman’s work. Sure sounds totally plausible.

[@Crystal_Clout]

Had never read Enid Blyton either, the school novels, the kids adventures, or the fairytales. All of which she managed to rip off.

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

I mean if she doesn’t read much of anything it does

[@Crystal_Clout]

@@SebastianSeanCrow except she talks about her parents being readers and being encouraged to read as child. And Gaiman was published 10 yrs pre Harry Potter.

[@stevenclubb7718]

As someone who worked in a comic shop when BoM came out, I'd expect half of our customers were unaware of it. I remember trying to get normies to give Sandman a shot and it was nigh impossible to get them to even considering to read it, because comics were goofy kids stuff. I remember my older sister, a huge Star Wars fan, very reluctantly reading Dark Empire... and only after it had been referenced in a novel she had read. So, yeah, I can totally believe JK had zero clue about what was going on inside a nearby comic shop. BoM did reasonably well, but it only received a fraction of the attention that Sandman had gotten. And even Gaiman admits the set-up of BoM was pretty familiar when he did it. He's never pretended it was anywhere close to being an original idea. JK deserves a ton of shade, but I'd be surprised if she read comics back then.

[@SebastianSeanCrow]

0:01 something I remember hearing about is how she had gotten so much praise and basked in it but veteran children’s fantasy authors were like “this does nothing says nothing and she’s not the first ever children’s fantasy author”

[@coralink]

" I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the “incredible originality” of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid’s fantasy crossed with a “school novel”, good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited" - Ursula Le Guin absolutely bodying jorkin korkin rorkin

[@akisatsuki8444]

I swear to God these names for J.K. Rowling are killing me 😂

[@tabbitee]

That just proves that more adults should read children's literature. It'd be good for them!

[@Acidfrog475]

@@akisatsuki8444Jee Kee transphobic *REEEEEEEEEEEEE*

[@nathanlabrador7664]

Jowling Kowling Rowling.

[@amw6846]

This is exactly what I came here to say. I read the series. *shrugs* The one thing that seemed different to me was the characters (and the prose) aging in tandem with the characters, but someone else has probably done that too. I first read the book as an adult who was a fantasy-reading kid in the 70s, so was shocked by the claims of originality...and of good writing style.

[@hannafontenay2402]

Well I'm swedish, so Rowling would probably name me something like "Ikea Midsummer" Edit: You guys these names are killing me xD

[@phaIIicaIIyimpaired]

😂 Thanks for the cackle I'd be Hans Bratwurst-Sauerkraut (yes, I'm German, how could you tell?!)

[@IwonaKlich]

I'm Polish Jewish... I'm scared to even think how she can named me. She just having thing with polish names.

[@mariaaguadoball3407]

Since I'm bicultural, I guess I'd be Jolene Paella.

[@MissMoontree]

Dutch; Anne van Clogg-Dyke and her nephew Kaas VanStroopwafel Belgium; Manneken de la Friet

[@etuho]

From Finland here, so propably ”Nokia Polarbearus”( to be clear, we do not have polar bears here)

[@foxxknight8847]

She was getting free coffee from HER BROTHER'S CAFE? She had someone paying her RENT? She was unemployed BY CHOICE?!? Holy fuck, I don't know why I'm even surprised anymore...

[@maxevocal]

I don't remember where I learned this, but those round glasses are like government-provided glasses for those too poor to buy their own in the UK. So, it's not necessarily a copied cute character design, it's just British shorthand for looking poor 😂

[@colonelweird]

It's very odd to realize that if this video had been released 10 years ago, it would have caused riots.

[@XxMusicxKelseyxX]

It still could, but for more unfortunate reasons

[@traps-wg3gt]

@XxMusicxKelseyxX How?

[@VeraTheTabbynx]

@@traps-wg3gt People who want me dead love Rowling and defend her from justified criticism like she's a holy figure

[@chey7691]

@@traps-wg3gt There are still people who worship the ground she walks on? There is no shortage of people willing to defend and suck up to someone who doesn't even know or care you exist. More accurately her legacy and money theirin that some of the scary things that come from greed and sycophants defending her because they think it will help them. Let alone the group of TERFS who put her on their cults pedestal (probably the most unpredictable and unstable).

[@XxMusicxKelseyxX]

@@traps-wg3gt well the TERFy folks will protest anything if they see it as an attack against their own

[@tias78]

Tolkien literally created a language and she doesn't even want to credit him for the giant spiders and magic items that hide your soul

[@AlbertoGarcia-wd7sc]

TBF the thing about objects being used to keep your soul existed before Tolkien.

[@FurTheWorkers]

@@AlbertoGarcia-wd7sc The earliest one that I know of is the Slavic fairy tale of Koshchei the Deathless who hid his soul in an egg, and then that egg in a nesting doll of animals.

[@shan_2933]

Tolkien has done irreparable damage to the fantasy genre that even after 100 years it's still plaguing and corrupting every one's mind.

[@phaIIicaIIyimpaired]

Phylacteries have been part of D&D Canon since the late 70s 😁

[@DJTheTrainmanWalker]

@@shan_2933 Now... That's fighting talk... Tolkien opened up avenues of fantasy in a way previous (modern day)authors had not even approached. The notion of a complete other world with details like languages, maps, etc...

[@kraiZor]

I remember that Harry Potter was being touted as a miracle way to gets kids to read it before I got into it. My parents and the parents of most of the kids around me got their kids the Harry Potter books in response to the idea that it was a book that would get kids to read. I wouldn't say that there is no skill needed to make that kind of book, but the reason that this one did well and became a massive phenomenon was that a lot of kids read it at once. It was a group experience which made it do better than the myriad of other YA books that are comparable to it. Experiencing things with your friends and peers makes them a lot more fun. Harry Potter was fun when I was a kid, but there are a lot of books that could have slotted into its place. Millennials read more than any other generation, I don't think that's just the result of Harry Potter.

[@corkasamaberkowitz1056]

Hey guys, do you remember this book where a suspicious old guy lefts an infant on the doorsteps of extremely neglectful couple and their chubby kid? When main character grows bigger, the suspicious old man comes back to show him weird and dangerous world where his parents lived. It's Revenge of the Kabunari by Helena Bobińska, 1930. And she still had more balls than Jowling Kowling to portrait queer characters. She has openly written that two boys kissed, and while it was socially acceptable in case of very close male friends in this time and place, other circumistances don't leave any doubts. PS: I have no idea what would be my name in Hogwarts, but as Polish woman I've experienced her imagination in person of cleaning lady Lechsinka in one of her non-HP books. PS2: Trains ARE cute.

[@romualdandrzejczak4093]

Though why realistically would Rowling know a Polish book, and from not that famous abroad author?(Bobińska was no Sienkiewicz) But again, "Persona 5 Strikers" plotwise seems to be a conflation of two novels by Remigiusz Mróz(namely "Iluzjonista" and "Ekstremista"), so there's that.

[@kraiZor]

You missed Ursula K. Le Guin's response to being asked what she thought of Jake A Rolling's books "I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the "incredible originality" of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a "school novel", good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited."

[@liesbeneathoureyes]

Such a restrained, respectful yet still eviscerating slap down

[@zagreus5773]

And yet she didn't claim that it copied her. So why are you?

[@caelanconrad]

Who did?

[@Lethgar_Smith]

Been a fan of Tolkien for decades. I was intrigued by Harry Potter when it became all the rage but the behavior and words of the book's fans, made me realize the books probably werent worth my time. I can usually judge whether something is for me (books, people, politicians) just by looking at the people who are fans of it.

[@ZimVader-0017]

Terry Pratchett when in an interview, JK Rowling said that Harry Potter wasn't a fantasy novel: "I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks, and spells would have given her a clue?" And when JK Rowling suddenly decided that Dumbledore was gay: "Rincewind would like to announce that he is gay. Since he never gets any, it really doesn't make much difference which any he doesn't get, and at least he might get a brief reputation for social awareness." He also refused to directly comment anything about her (for obvious reasons), but he did seem annoyed at her at times.

[@axbloodtheory7885]

Englih person here: I went to a regular Comprehensive school. My school uniform was a white shirt with a striped tie, and we were split into Houses. It pisses me off when people give JK credit for "World Building" when it's just regular British Schools plus Fantasy Cliches.

[@beckydawolf]

Recently learnt that a lot of Americans think she came up with "Spello-tape", instead of it just being a pun on something very boringly British. I suspect there's a lot of stuff like that that people think are interesting worldbuilding but are just Britishisms.

[@theflyingspaget]

​@@beckydawolfin their defense, britain is one strange land, the worldbuilding isn't exactly something most people get into in depth.

[@JLB0880]

What are the real world houses called?? And which one were you in?

[@scottneil1187]

​@@JLB0880In my school in Scotland they were just named after colours. Nobody wanted to be yellow!.

[@kategoldsworthy737]

@@JLB0880 in my very ordinary state primary school the houses were Mars, Mercury, Neptune and Jupiter. Mars was the best and I was lucky to be a Martian (it was all random who got to be what) our colour was red of course. In my comprehensive school I was in Crispin (red again) I don't know who or what Crispin was but again, the red team seemed really good. The other ones were Ilbert, Duncombe and Ladbroke or something like that. Nobody cared about the houses at all, it was just a useful way to split us schoolkids into teams to play sports etc

[@brookejones4889]

I don't know about a first name, but as a lesbian my last name in the Harry Potter universe would definitely have been either Van Dyke or just Dyke.

[@jamesgravil9162]

And you'd have a brother named Richard, presumably. Dick Van Dyke.

[@emberclaws]

lol probably butch van dyke and shed be really gnc as a teen and then grow out of it to become a 'proper' woman like jk wrote tonks do

[@seresimarta4436]

My pet peeve is that the climax of the last movie, when Ron's mother kills Bellatrix is just a copy of what happens at the end of Aliens, when Ripley defends Newt and says "get away from her you b*". And people love this scene.

[@thdenwheja756]

The moral of the story: the books would have been 50x better if the wizards had cargo mechs.

[@seresimarta4436]

@@thdenwheja756 :-D

[@phoenixfire6433]

It wasn’t even satisfying either. Like, there were several people who had very good reasons to kill Bellatrix (Neville, Hermione, McGonagall, even Kreacher) and then she’s just taken down by Molly? For no discernible reason?

[@johnnymillar9056]

"oh you mean that book series about the powerful wizard named Harry, who has his mother's eyes and carries a lot of pain, and repeatedly witnesses the injustices of the magical world? The Dresden Files?"

[@geo-fry6372]

YES

[@pattheplanter]

Pure coincidence that Dresden was a city famous for its pottery. Butcher is lucky that Rowling does not dare to be compared to a really good (original, consistent, inventive, stylish) writer by Streisand effecting him. He did publish 2 years and 9 months after she did.

[@user-fp7im4bb8k]

Except dresden files came out three years later but good try.

[@johnnymillar9056]

@@user-fp7im4bb8k it was a funny joke

[@fatcat1414]

I'm not sure about Rowling being a plagiarist but the fact HP is predated by the magic school genre as a whole does make it all the more frustrating when HP fans act like their politically regressive fantasy world that actively funds JKR's bigotry is their only means of escapism.

[@bennichol1510]

Owl house exists.

[@CarysCantDance]

@@bennichol1510I love The Owl House!

[@bennichol1510]

@@CarysCantDance same its soo good

[@CarysCantDance]

@@bennichol1510I recently introduced my 12 year old niece to it and she loves it too.

[@bennichol1510]

@CarysCantDance nice you could introduce her to gravity falls and amphibia just because apparently they take place in universes that overlap like there's soke easter eggs here and there

[@rakondite]

You missed ‘The Dark is Rising’ (1973) - the character of Will Stanton is an obvious Harry Potter precursor. Rowling has said that she was an avid reader as a child, and is roughly the same age as me. I was very aware of the series of books by Susan Cooper. They were a staple of children’s literature in the 70s and early 80s. I recommend them to anyone.

[@sarahmajor5945]

Loved those books.

[@Damn1Google]

They're classics. Not my personal favorites, but utterly solid, and you can see the parts Rowling ripped off (poorly)

[@hartthorn]

I wonder if part of what gave HP that attractive factor is just how open the margins were. Like, there was a good bit of basic world building, you got the fairly simplistic archetypal characters with a dash of charm. But there was just SO MUCH left utterly unexplored and uncommented on that it let reader's minds wander into filling it in themselves. It's kind of like the inverse of the common horror concept of keeping the monster hidden until you absolutely have to show it, because your audience will scare themselves more with their own imagination than anything you could make. Because even tho I was never IN the fandom (I was just a couple years too old and in my ornery teenager phase), something I've always noticed about the fans is how much they create and fill the space. It's definitely a community that is primarily supported by it's fanfic. And because the OG material is so loose, it is easily adapted into whatever style you want, from My Immortal to Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality.

[@Crazycatlady7508]

I agree with this. The most popular fan fiction media are not the BEST media, it’s the media that is good enough to spark the imagination but leaves plenty of room for the reader/viewer to insert themselves.

[@startrekrecruit]

YET MY TEACHERS TOLD ME I WAS JUST CYNICAL IN 9TH GRADE WHEN I SAID HARRY POTTER HAS A FAILED HEROES JOURNEY, NO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, AND URSULA LE GUIN DID IT FIRST AND BETTER BECAUSE SHE HAD CHARACTER GROWTH AND ACTUALLY BEAUTIFUL AND INTERESTING DESCRIPTIVE WRITING. FUCKING VINDICATED RN

[@kikibyde]

Can you give me a good Ursula book. I read one and can't get through it 😭😪

[@traps-wg3gt]

@startrekrecruit You should be a writer. Seriously. To discover that at such a young age and have such a high level of critical thinking THAT YOUNG is really commendable.

[@tillyqtillyq3750]

​@@kikibyde"The Word for the World is Forest" is a short one that I really liked! And "A Wizard of Earthsea" is the classic that OP was referrencing (Though the second book in that series is very slow). Another great option would be a book of her short stories called "A Fisherman on the Inland Sea" that has some great ones. The title story is really beautiful and sad and there's a pair of shorts ("The Shobies' Story" and "Dancing to Ganam") about the difference between telling stories/defining reality collaboratively versus one person enforcing their reality/story on others.

[@tillyqtillyq3750]

Def some of her stuff can be slow and opaque, I feel like things like "The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed" are classics because she imagines worlds that were very new in fantasy at the time but moving thru their world building can feel like trudging thru a swamp at times.

[@alpaga4820]

OK but like what kind of teacher is this ? Since when does making valid criticism equal being cynical 💀

[@spantigre3190]

It makes a lot of sense that Rowling has no clue where she gets ideas from.

[@bharl7226]

Fr fr, all the best artists wear their inspirations proudly on their sleeves

[@beckydawolf]

I know the answer to this one! They're from a book called 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'. Pratchett also used it in his work but you can tell he used it as a jumping off point and went and looked into the concepts a bit deeper whereas she just used the 50 word definition.

[@vvitch-mist20]

I was floored when I heard she said that. As a writer myself I can't really say where my ideas come from, but I can absolutely explain how I go about creating stories. Take two concepts I like, subvert them a little, and add in a lot of gay. (I can also you know name things, and people who have inspired my work)

[@milescox1792]

Kind of like how a toddler has no clue who ate all the Oreos?

[@vvitch-mist20]

@@milescox1792 L O L yeah. She literally couldn't say "I decided to just throw all the magic school books from the last 30 years together and sprinkled in some racism, and fascism into it."

[@scottandrewhutchins]

Neil Gaiman said that Rowling was drawing off archetypes from The Once and Future King and not off The Books of Magic.

[@hannahlarge5738]

Walked past a local bookshop today and saw a great window display: Pretty much every book mentioned in this video, arranged around a broomstick and a cauldron, on a pride flag, with no Harry Potter, and no further explanation. sometimes the world makes me really happy.

[@shadylittlefox]

"Maybe she's not creative, you're just American" is an iconic line

[@theguilloriousmind5832]

It hurt but it was tough love

[@emilyrln]

Frfr

[@andthatsshannii]

As an English teacher, I think it’s really important to note: there’s nothing wrong with taking ideas from other places. In fact, if you think you’ve had an original thought, 99.99% of the time, it’s just that you haven’t come across the other creators that have already thought of it. Literature is a process of drawing on images we already know and understand to create something new. The important thing is to read enough literature to be conscious of where your ideas might come from or what they might allude to without you even knowing. The line between intertextuality and plagiarism is intentionality (and, of course, honesty - *cough* James Somerton).

[@LisaBeta-42]

There is this nice skit in "Murder She Wrote" where two authors fight among each other who stole the plot of their latest novel from whom, and Jessica Fletcher tells them off by stating nonchalantly: "a nice little fight, but pointless AS WE ALL KNOW, Leo Tolstoi came up with the same story in..." giving a title, none of the fighting authors ever had heard of😛 Shakespeare did collect his ideas (if HE even wrote all the texts that got attributed to him) from various sources. That schoolboy snailing to his early morning lessons could certainly not have sprung from a home-schooled lord😋

[@Lilitha11]

I think it is definitely possible to have original ideas, though you do need to make an effort. It is pretty obvious if you are writing about wizards and witches, having them fly on a broom isn't an original idea. Had she decided to include modern technology at the school, it would of instantly been more original. Even if that isn't original in itself, he thoughts of how mages would interact with technology would likely differ from other people and so there would likely be original takes included in there. Just going for the easy thing though, results in less originality.

[@RictusHolloweye]

If being derivative had been banned we would not have Star Wars.

[@bloodcottoncandy1514]

Yes, so much of literature is just people writing fanfiction of things they like

[@Lilitha11]

@@RictusHolloweye Well starwars at least mixed things up a little. It was derivative but no one really thinks it is plagiarized. I don't think Harry Potter was plagiarized either but is a lot more closer to the other work, which is why some think it.

[@System-Madox]

The author of Howl's Moving Castle; Diana Wynne Jones said "I think Ms Rowling did get quite a few of her ideas from my books - though I have never met her, so I have never been able to ask her." A Powerful Wizard who if killed will not die, because he has multiple lives. He also will be summoned if you say his name so the children call him "You-Know-Who"... I'm speaking of Chrestomanci of course! As someone who grew up on Harry Potter Diana Wynne Jones' books have been not only an amazing replacement for a magical series but a much nicer and well written. It also showed me just how much J.K. stole from this series right down to The Battle of Hogwarts.

[@MAOofDC]

Anyone who has played D&D knew where J.K. got the idea for the Horcruxes. Voldemort is a Lich. In fact as I was reading JK's description of what the Hircruxes were and did, I instantly knew she "borrowed" from D&D. While the word lich is older than D&D the type of magical undead that uses objects to hide part of their souls to live beyond death is entirely the creation of Gygax and Kuntz.

[@hollyingraham3980]

Um, no. Almost nothing in original D&D is not borrowed. The wizard who makes himself immortal or unkillable by hiding his heart outside his body is a very old and widespread motif in folk and fairy tales. This can then multiply in later tales, so the hero has to find the three places or things with parts of the sorceror.

[@nocturneofeclipse]

The phylactery of the liches in DND have their basis in real-world phylacteries! The word itself stretches back to the 1300's and can refer to a number of religious, spiritual, and magical artifacts, but in this case refers specifically to amulets that were thought to confer onto the wearer good luck or protection of some sorts, including safeguarding the soul in some cultures. The oldest known of those amulets apparently date back all the way to 5000-4000 BCE or thereabouts. 👍 The way liches use them in DND is definitely creative! But Gygax and Kuntz didn't originate the idea.

[@Seal0626]

I just discovered, via his lamentably not auto- biography, that Terry Pratchett was persuaded to rename a character because the name he picked had already been used by Rowling and leaving it the same would have been "asking for trouble". Moist von Lipwig was originally Moist von Hedwig, and that was intended as a reference to _Hedwig and the Angry Inch_ which as we all know is a landmark piece of queer theatre and cinema. So in 2006, years before she came out as a transphobe, Rowling indirectly caused the erasure of a bit of queer representation. I just found that fitting, as well as irritating.

[@bevishhh]

Suuuuuper interesting, in a really infuriating sort of way

[@JovanDacic]

I didn't know I could love and respect Sir Terry any more than I did before. Gods, I love Moist von Lipwig and this tidbit of queer trivia. Thanks for sharing this; the Moist books are by far my favorites among the Discworld series and this warms my cold little heart.

[@ajrollo1437]

She sold the IP to Warner Bros, so blame the faceless corporate lawyers.

[@Seal0626]

@@ajrollo1437 eh?

[@snorpenbass4196]

@@ajrollo1437 No, she still owns it. It's why she keeps being rich in spite of herself.

[@blairfujin]

isn't it weird how she claims to be such a feminist when she basically genderswapped a story with predominantly female characters? yes, hp is just a poor man's worst witch genderswap au

[@Lawnie]

Following on from your sarcastic comment about Joanne being so feminist, I've noticed something else about her books. Harry Potter main series? Male protagonist. Cursed Child? Two protagonists, both male. Fantastic Beasts movie? Protagonists are male. The Ickabog? Two protagonists, apparently, one male and one female. The Christmas Pig? Male protagonist. The Cormoran Strike books? Two protagonists, arguably, one male and one female, male pen name. The Casual Vacancy? I have no idea, it has like 34 characters and I don't know who counts as protagonists, but there are a mix of male and female. Every single book Joanne has ever written with a female protagonist has also had at least one male protagonist. But sure, she's a suuuuuper feminist, right?

[@emanuelborges4458]

I wrote a whole comment about it! If she really were that feminist, she would've make Hermione the protagonist. The story would be so much better. All the stories that took inspiration in HP have female protagonists and feminist themes, but apparentely JK gives the credit to herself for being feminist.

[@animeotaku307]

Not to mention how she treats many of the female characters in the books. The example that stood out to me most; how unsympathetic the narrative is to Cho in book 5. Poor girl lost her boyfriend in a traumatic way and is still grieving nearly a year after, but she’s treated like an annoyance.

[@miakirilova7255]

Yes, but also, I think that's part of what made her so succefull. Making the protagonist a young boy, makes boys wanna read it.

[@bl3343]

I don't want to sound like I'm defending Rowling, but women writing male protagonists and males writing female protagonists seems to be pretty common in fantasy literature.

[@theythemgae9025]

Worst Witch getting a shout out, my fave scruffy haired protagonist who made friends with a nerdy, conflict avoidant, book smart girl after she got herself into some shenanigans. She's also bullied by the gothy, sarcastic potions teacher who only saw potential in the the full blooded, blonde show offy kid who's obsessed with impressing her parents and also bullies and attempts to undermine the main character. While there's definitely not constant identical events & themes and stuff like their boarding school is a castle on a hill and being sorted into houses with corresponding colours are more like classic tropes of English boarding schools in general, there are a few similar or basically identical moments eg. her broomstick being bewitched and trying to buck her off, graduating HS in the wizarding world is 17 (I mean that one is weirdly specific and I've not seen that in other magic stuff) and lastly getting involved in the tri-wizard I mean three school competition.

[@kc-fr3qp]

I just love Neil Gaiman. There's a great saying good artist copy, great artists steal. When Neil said "I thought we were both just stealing from T.H. White" I found that funny because the character from Books of Magic is literally named Timothy Hunter meaning Neil stole a few things lmao. He's well read, loves fantasy, and will pay homage to those authors who fostered his creativity vs Rowling who just says she came up with it all in her head. I've also noticed she kinda doesn't shout out other artists and authors like Neil which is kinda telling.

[@AnimeLuver0604]

If I recall correctly, Neil also got started writing fanfiction and fully endorses people writing stories based on his works.

[@celia1888]

the irony of this coming up right after Neil Gaiman answered on tumblr that he never got into Harry Potter because he went to School in the UK and didn't want to read about it in a romanticized version of it

[@avenwildsmith2]

Interestingly, one of the reasons for Harry Potter's original rejections was that it was set in a boarding school, and the late nineties in the UK was a time when boarding schools were becoming increasingly unpopular and criticized, and there she was romanticizing the idea.

[@Andrewtr6]

That's honestly one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. Literally all of fantasy is romanticized unless it's dark fantasy (but even then a little) that's just part of the genre. I don't understand the complaint. Tbh, it sounds more like Gaiman is just salty that Harry Potter succussed where Gaiman's The Books of Magic didn't. I grew up with Harry Potter, but I didn't hear about The Books of Magic until just a few years ago.

[@celia1888]

@@Andrewtr6 the book of magic is a side comics to explain the magic system of DC. I don't think he cares. Like a lot of people don't care to read fantasy stories set in a system they had to deal with. One of the reason it works so well outside of the UK is because most people don't deal with the system of houses in their own schools.

[@veganheathen7981]

Boarding schools are not magical, fun places for children to be. They are essentially country clubs for paed0philes and child abusers. Virtually all adults who survived those places decry the institution of boarding school education, Gaiman being one of them. It's essentially like writing a children's fairytale based on Epstein Island.

[@3komma141592]

So Joanne K Rowling is basically the human version of ChatGPT?

[@lillientruong6350]

Bruh This comment got me choked on my water XD

[@valley_robot]

200% on this, everything is stolen from other works

[@deedubu1602]

And every celebrity is built up... to be torn down. As above So below

[@jestes6814]

As a trans woman, I’m almost certain my JKR character’s name would be Amanda Manning; she really missed an opportunity with that one.

[@TigerPrawn_]

Reminds me of a friend whose surname was man twice: Herrman 😂

[@queenieevergreen]

Just one correction: The students of Hogwarts don’t have a uniform in the books. They each have unique clothing and are only required to wear a cape of any kind and they make their own school supportive gear, like their own scarfs (which is why Ron’s mom always does).

[@ohemgeeorgia]

One thing about us brits, we’re gonna be on trains

[@coololi07]

you can afford the train? lucky

[@IT_217]

Not in today's economy, with the prices of privatised rail!

[@Terrestriellie]

Getting the train to go to school in the UK? It's more likely than you think! (My maintenance loan is being eaten by train ticket prices)

[@akizeta]

@@Terrestriellie We had a tourist steam railway going right past our grammar school, with a station built about about a century before the school just a hedge away from being on the school grounds, which had a side-hustle of taking the kids from a local town to school and back during term-time. Not my town, though, I had to catch the bus.

[@jamesgravil9162]

And wait in queues. In the rain, while grumbling.

[@thelordofthelosers2867]

The wizard names at the end were the best thing I’ve ever heard. “Autis Tyke” 😭😭😂

[@ragdollrose2687]

Waaaait, brb writing this down for my next D&D character 😂

[@mungosiffphryyt3123]

@@ragdollrose2687 Wait! brb writing this down for my 'Riddle' potter spinoff

[@zakai-kaz]

Wait✋: BRB writing this down for my most gratuitous erotica😩

[@heroboof8595]

better yet, one of them is *almost* a discworld character name- "rob everyone" is awfully close to "rob anybody", one of the Nac Mac Feegles from the tiffany aching series!

[@hughcaldwell1034]

I can't decide whether I'm Asparagus Sindromeda or Deceptius Downunderbender.

[@bunnybreaker]

Since I'm a biracial (English/Jamaican) trans woman, my Hogwarts name would be 'Kingston Crumpet' or 'Patty Greyblood'.

[@SnakeMan448]

I look at these video essays eviscerating the Harry Potter series, and I think, "turns out, Rowling, that people are a lot more lenient about writing flaws when you're not an openly horrible person."

[@alananimus9145]

Reminder Harry Potter is a slave owner.

[@violet7773]

Noooooo but you don't understand they can't free Kreacher (yes, his slave is literally called Creature. Dehumanisation, who's she?) because he knows all of the secrets of the Order of the Phoenix and if they freed him he'd tattle so they have to keep him enslaved and treat him horribly, he deserves it because he's mean and uglyyyyy (sarcasm in case it didn't come across)

[@jeffreygao3956]

Billy Yank: Oh, you're a monster!

[@violettbellerose1173]

But he is a ✨kind✨ slave owner /s

[@juliaboskamp9666]

Is slavery really that bad if the slave consents to being a slave -JK Rolling

[@tolvfen]

He didn't use the slave as a slave

[@whoviating]

"When you steal from one source, that's plagiarism. When you steal from many, that's research."

[@tolvfen]

If you don't take the parts completely

[@Firegen1]

That is an old joke about something called James

[@whoviating]

@@Firegen1 That's why it was in quotes.

[@aliasfakename3159]

Me in college.

[@MezMcG]

Ahh, but you still have to cite.

[@hanzdarm7849]

Something that i so far found in HP: Not just the world is mean and egotistical, but the protagonist as well. And both don't get better with time, they get worse. And it's presented as being good the way it is. It's a grand tale of how being a complicit egotist makes you (somehow) the hero.

[@Wyrd__cat]

I think ‘The Simpsons’ may have predicted this in the episode ‘Book Job’. Her counterpart H.J. Darling was revealed to be an actress while the actual work was done by a room of overworked ghost writers. It’d explain why there isn’t really that much character development: it’d keep the chapters easier to write for different people. I’d believe she wrote the first 2, but after that it would logically be too financially valuable to leave to a single person.

[@bentosmile]

I too remember reading that classic story about a young boy whose parents died when he was a baby, and he was forced to live with his abusive aunt who forced him to sleep under the stairs, until he had a sudden magical escape... James and the Giant Peach! XD But genuinely, I have been fuming about HP being derivative since the early 2000s o_o; (and the Dahl inspiration explains some of the fat phobia too tbh)

[@genericname2747]

In Dalhls defense, he also said that kindness is what makes you look beautiful.

[@phoenixfire6433]

@@genericname2747True, it’s a bit on the nose but the message is clear. I think the quote is “You may have buck teeth and a long nose and a pointy chin, but as long as you think good thoughts they will shine through your face like sunshine and you will always look lovely”

[@TheSapphireLeo]

Same.

[@Vohalika]

Oh, a young child discovers magical powers to cope with bullying from family? Hey, look, it's Mathilda!

[@Damn1Google]

@@genericname2747 Dahl's problematic, but he was, well... trying? There's also more originality in a single minor Dahl novel than in all of Rowling -- Dahl is just WEIRD (in a good way)

[@luciakaminski779]

My theory is that JKR got big because of the fandom, and the fandom got big because when people started sharing more of their fanfics, fanart, etc. online and Anne Rice started sending legal threats to fanfic writers, JKR said people were free to do whatever with her books (I think she only had 1 or 2 out). So with years between new books, and shakey worldbuilding and plot holes galore (which make for the best fanfics), people kept creating art, fics, comunities and friends, so by the time the books were finished people were already nostalgic about the books, forgeting to check if the plot-holes and bad worldbuilding ever got fixed.

[@OdinsSage]

For sure JKRs fame was absolutely luck of timing. Her books being published alongside the rise of the internet and fanfic culture played a huge part in her becoming anything

[@lindsaymitchell6760]

Also, the story and setting were extremely merchandise friendly. And I think WB was desperate for a family friendly film series to cover some very expensive film projects and the fact they were struggling to get a Superman film off the ground. I've had a theory for a couple years now that Harry Potter's success would have looked different if there was a "Superman Returns" or a reboot in the late 90s.

[@asarishepard8171]

I found the writing style changed between books. Not from a oh they got better over time way. Completely different writing styles, from book 3 on

[@TheRogueCommand]

I think she owes a big chunk of her success to Warner Bros putting together a competent film team. How many better books have a much smaller following because the film adaptation bombed?

[@asarishepard8171]

@@TheRogueCommand also for not being tricked into signing the ip rights to the film people. She knew she had a winner and stuck to her guns, props for that.

[@rubyxaruby]

I read Harry Potter as a child. Every christmas I got the newest Harry Potter and spent christmas day reading it. It was an escape from a tumulous home environment, it made me dream of something more magical. It was also one of the only times I got the permission to just sit and read for a whole day, because my big sister was also a fan and stood up for my right to enjoy christmas. Untill like ~2016 I read them every winter because it reminded me of being a child and feeling safe for a little while. And she stole that from me. She became such a monster that those childhood memories are ruined now, and I can never read the books again without feeling a lump in my throat for my trans partner and all my trans friends.

[@painhammerrocketfist]

CALLING HER A WEDDING DJ IS SO SO SO SO SO SO REAL

[@Kris_not_Chris]

My theory is that Rowling Read Worst Witch and the Works of Roald Dahl, forgot about it, and lacked the understanding or skill that actually made those works charming and vomited out the remixed half remembered vague details

[@robokill387]

Obviously not considering kids loved them and they're still popular to this day.

[@slenders1ckn3ss]

She literally thought she came up with a racist blood percentage system. Either she's lying or she's stupid. Or both.

[@stephennootens916]

It is shocking how close Harry Potter is to Worst Witch. I had a vague memory of the Tim Curry movie and than the show popped up on Netflix so I watched a episode and it all came back.

[@scottneil1187]

Harry Potter is a blatant copy of Luke Kirby too. From 2000ad.

[@Kikkarlin]

Yeah even the vibes of the characters are almost exactly the same 😭

[@molly8071]

I am always a bit skeptical to call any parallels (even a lot of parallels) in genre fiction plagiarism, but what really gets me about Rowling is how she has insisted over and over again that she had no idea about other prolific wizard/fantasy books and how she, like, totally came up with all this on her own. On the milder end of the spectrum that's an inexcusable ignorance of her own career, and on the extreme end it's anything from dishonesty to contempt for her fellow authors.

[@pattheplanter]

Boris Johnson frequently claimed to be completely ignorant about everything to do with his job as Prime Minister. Same energy.

[@KookiesNolly]

I’d say that’s a typical response from the plagiarist mindset. Hbomberguy explained it beautifully in his video about plagiarism. They are profoundly uncreative people but are also very full of themselves (hence their refusal to do better), so they assume everyone is a grifter just like them. They can’t admit that they are just lazier than others. No it must be that everyone is secretly just as lazy, everyone is stealing and the goal is to simply not get caught. That’s why they never talk about being inspired by their peers, as being uncreative makes them incapable of telling the difference between inspiration and theft. They know theft is wrong, and are just trying to get away with it, they just assume everyone does this. It also reeks of contempt for creators and the creative process to act this way.

[@Aarenby]

Even though we know she read Tolkien in uni

[@ZimVader-0017]

Terry Pratchett when, in an interview, JK Rowling said that Harry Potter wasn't a fantasy novel (and that she "didn't like fantasy novels"): "I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks, and spells would have given her a clue?" And when JK Rowling suddenly decided that Dumbledore was gay: "Rincewind would like to announce that he is gay. Since he never gets any, it really doesn't make much difference which any he doesn't get, and at least he might get a brief reputation for social awareness." He also refused to directly comment anything about her (for obvious reasons), but he did seem annoyed at her at times.

[@Macallion]

School houses are frequently used in non-boarding schools in the UK as well, and though most just have one tie for everyone, I know the uniforms of other local schools, as well as the schools I've worked in, and even having a house-coloured tie is fairly common. Weird currency is based on old UK currency, all the creatures are from folklore, the castle was based on a building she lived close to. She even named Harry after someone she knew as a kid and stole a load of other names from tombstones. I've been to that graveyard, I've seen them.

[@ChesuMori]

I remember hearing about Harry Potter for the first time... on Halloween, a kid showed up wearing the outfit Harry wears on the cover of the first book, and excitedly explained who he was. I was really confused, because just a few days earlier I had watched Troll during a tv marathon of spooky-hut-not-quite-horror movies 😂

[@zoushaomenohu]

And let us not forget _Which Witch?_ by Eva Ibbotson, featuring a young British orphan lad with dark hair and glasses raised by an abusive caregiver who discovers a magical society running parallel to his own and that he's destined to become a powerful wizard, Terence Mugg. Or Ibbotson's other book, _The Secret of Platform 13_ , which features a portal in King's Cross Station to another world where there are magical creatures and wizards...and a family where a nice, good-natured orphan boy is abused by his adoptive parents whilst they relentlessly spoil their own son, who of course is fat. Unfortunately it seems even some of Rowling's worst ideas are a bit derivative...

[@halloweenallyearround4889]

Damn, that's full on plagiarism. Thanks!

[@ApacheMagic]

Both have been raised and addressed, both failed as cases of plagiarism.

[@zoushaomenohu]

@@halloweenallyearround4889 Ibbotson herself did not think so, for reasons similar to Gaiman's. While she did say she'd want to shake Rowling's hand at the time, I don't know if she'd still want to if she were still alive and witnessing Rowling's current downward spiral.

[@ladyowl8732]

I have been looking for that book title, " Which Whitch," for a while, thanks. Parts of it popped into my head while reading Harry Potter more than once.

[@alstaniforth]

I think this is why JKR doesn’t understand the morality of her own books. She wrote a paint-by-numbers children’s series and those all have the morality of ‘just be kind to each other’ but she doesn’t believe or understand it - she just put it in because that’s the morality children’s books are supposed to have.

[@lordfreerealestate8302]

It actually encourages bigotry, tribalism, bullying, and cruelty ... when its directed at the right people. Harry Straight-up encourages his son to bully Malfoy's son at the end of Deathly Hallows ... despite that fact you shouldn't assume someone is as bad as their parent, bullying is always unacceptable, and he's literally WEAPONIZING A CHILD against someone he doesn't like. Hermione disfigures someone permanently as revenge and abuses her abilities regularly. And we're supposed to side with them.

[@ryanparker4996]

Just say you're team Rapist

[@scream_kinh614]

@lordfreerealestate8302 No, you're exactly right. If you look back at her books in adulthood, you realize that SO MUCH of her novels directly have a very anti integration subtext to them. Like. The fact that slytherin even exists without any in-world criticism tells you all you need to know. Like, the entire idea of houses being decided upon at the age of 12 with no ability to change it as you age...very reductionist and anti-critical thinking or any form of rebellion.

[@ryanparker4996]

@@scream_kinh614 have you ever attended an English school? She didnt invent these things. Thats tradition. Most English schools have a house system. You must be American

[@scream_kinh614]

@ryanparker4996 Obviously, I know most English schools have a house system. But English schools usually don't base their house system on a child's morality. That's not how a usual school works lmao. My problem is with the whole house system hinging on the morality of a 12 year old and how it never gets better or worse. I don't appreciate being spoken to like I'm an 'idiot american' when I clearly never said anything about having a problem with a house system in itself. Plus, even if I didn't have knowledge of the British school system, that wouldn't automatically equal american??? Check your biases, my friend.

[@Lakeside80]

26:48 Totally agree. I was too busy reading Animorphs and Guardians of Ga' Hoole, series with brutality and depth then baby's first wizard school series. There's ideas in Harry Potter that are fun, but then you read something that makes you feel wrong. Then everything ends in the same broken system is started as.

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

Clearly, JKR was "inspired" by Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum, where the main character is a young wizard who lives in a room under the stairs, struggles with making friends ar first but soon makes lots of them, one of which is a smart girl with curly hair and a red-haired boy, whose magical uncle with peculiar facial hair is an inspiration for him, and the antagonist for the story is a bald heartless guy.

[@yellowbutterfly6796]

by the end of this i plan to amass a trove of fictional content to escape into the magic of without jkr's creepiness attached tbh

[@marocat4749]

The thing is you can add a lot withj adding the creepiness and darkness, afte rall a lot good family and ya, are hella dark, you just have to be aware and responsible that its about being able to face it, not, endorse it .

[@nanibgalthelinguophile]

Same plan? Same plan!

[@HotDogTimeMachine385]

I recommend the game Ikenfell, it's really cute and wholesome

[@ShidoMedia]

@@HotDogTimeMachine385 one of my favorite games and i will try to make everyone play it!

[@Arosukir6]

Anything by Dianna Wynne Jones or Terry Pratchett is phenomenal!

[@rdzu834]

She never gave credit to John Nettleship either. Or at least, never truly acknowledged him. John was her chemistry teacher. He was known to be stern, grouchy but highly intelligent and darkly sarcastic. He had long black hair and liked wearing a black cloak with a high collar… Even one eve of the Summer Holiday he brought out his guitar and sang a song about a dark wizard who lived in a tower. And a lot of his eccentric, grumpy behaviours could be explained that he and his wife reckoned he was actually Autistic, coupled with dealing with both a divorce and insomnia as well as the stress of teaching disinterested teenagers. Apart from that, he actually seemed like a lovely and deeply intelligent person. He was a close friend of Rowling’s mum and helped her get a job as his assistant as she was dealing with Multiple Sclerosis. There’s an article written by a close friend of John’s called “A True Original” which also goes into detail explaining Towling’s hometown had an old castle atop a hill which could be viewed in a park with a large, bizarrely shaped tree… Not to mention the cheery gardening teacher with her flower hat and the large hairy janitor of the school…

[@picahudsoniaunflocked5426]

She has no original thoughts, fr, that's astonishing. How much heavy lifting did lifelong socialist Alan Rickman do to give that character complexity in the films?

[@rdzu834]

@@picahudsoniaunflocked5426 I’m absolutely gutted someone didn’t find out, arrange for John to be invited on set and meet Alan. That would’ve been amazing. They were also both Labour Party supporters so they’d have gone on really well I think.

[@GeneralNuisance00]

I am French-Canadian so my offensive JKR name is prolly "Effie Elleque" or "Celine Dioff" or something. I also had a spinal tumor as an infant so "Terra Toma" may also be in play but I think that one's too c*nty (editing to dodge yt censors)

[@hineraable]

I never understood why no one almost ever addressed the parallels between The Worst Witch and Harry Potter. The stories are different so I wouldn't called it plagiarism, but they do have similiarities so to act like Rowling is this incredible creative genius when a lot of the stuff you find on HP are things that were already part of the "magical school genre" since way before Rowling was around was always weird to me.

[@kyokunskitty]

Pleeeeasse let this be about how much she stole from the Worst Witch. I've been bitter about this for ages now.

[@aviendha1154]

It looks like it! I’ve also been waiting for a video about this ever since I saw the worst witch show and then read the source material and realised that she just removed all the feminism from the worst witch, blended up some characters, separated others (Harry and Ron are Mildred) and boom Harry Potter

[@lolnopleaseno]

I was just thinking the same thing when I saw the title! I remember watching the Netflix worst witch when it came out w younger relatives and there are a loooot of similarities to HP there 👀 it ended up like a game of how many we could find

[@Seal0626]

My pedantic loyalty to _The Worst Witch_ is literally the reason why I never got into _Harry Potter_ despite being its exact target audience at the time.

[@yellowbutterfly6796]

i haven't heard of the worst witch before, now ive got a new thing to get into, thank you

[@karakurie]

Same. All the wonderful cozy witch vibes I remembered from Harry Potter are done much better in that one. Although the lighting is better in Harry Potter. I prefer the message of: Keep persevering no matter who you are (like not supposed to be able to do magic) Vs Love is the most powerful magic that can never be undone (not only is this not true, I don't want some people's forms of love, rewatching Harry Potter made me very uncomfortable) To anyone wanting cozy nostalgic witch stories with wholesome storylines that remind you to not give up on humanity: The Worst Witch Harry Potter just reminds me that some people don't understand what kindnesd is and thinks that those people need 300 points to Griffindor when kindness itself is rewarding.

[@nicoledorman8484]

As a writer myself, we're always told there are no original ideas anymore. There's only the way we tell them. The difference here is, Joanne didn't understand how to tell the story differently with a character we wanted to support. Honestly, being a child when they came out and the world started burning down, it was a very easy read to fall into.

[@kaelhate1791]

Voldemort and his Deatheaters are a copy of Iuchiban and his Bloodspeakers. Legend of the 5 rings wrote the bad guy story decades before. Its not that she takes the ideas of those past, its that she thinks that all of this is hers and hers alone.

[@poppie267]

Make sense consider how big her ego is.

[@casaroli]

Neil Gaiman’s response is much more insulting than insinuating that she did copy his work.

[@damianpinnington5477]

My favourite part is the house elves, It seems Jk invented slavery too. In the end the slaves/house elves were happier serving and didn't want to be free, and why did that woke Hermione have to mess about with a system that worked perfectly for everyone.

[@sleepysadghost]

I’m nonbinary, autistic, and mixed race so I think my JKR name would be “Confusda Dumbmutt”

[@asarishepard8171]

I'm Irish American so pretty sure she's call me little orphan Annie or something

[@melcobelc]

I'm bicultural, so I'd be Dacia Oktoberfest

[@phoenixfire6433]

I’m Australian so she’d probably call me something like “Bondi Binchicken”

[@aaronsarchive82]

I'm a second generation of German immigrants. Jo would probably call me "Hans Libenschnitzel" or "Kristoff Fuhrermeister."

[@zenithsabyss]

For anyone else who wants to add these to your reading lists: Neil Gaiman - The Books of Magic (1990) Ursula K. Le Guin - A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) Jill Murphy - The Worst Witch (series 1974-2018) Diane Duane - So You Want to Be a Wizard (1983) Mary Stewart - The Little Broomstick (1971) Terry Pratchett - Equal Rights (1987) Liz Truss - Ten Years to Save the West (2024) :)

[@LoonyLuna798]

The "What Makes it So Special" can be summarized in three words: the plot twists. When Harry Potter was still coming out, the characters and world got mentioned, yes, but what everybody was recommending it for was the plot twists. It's been so long now that reveals like "Scabbers is really Peter Pettigrew" have lost their impact, but the mix of mystery and a hard magic system is what made the book memorable among a host of peers. People read and reread HP not because they cared that much about Ron and Hermione bickering, the functions of owl mail, or Quidditch maneuvers, but to pick up all the little foreshadowing clues of the book's big "GOTCHA!" moment. The laundry list of children's fantasy books before HP didn't have the same level of mystery, and the laundry list of children's detective books were limited to real-life psychics. Combining the genres of fantasy and boarding school mystery allowed for a less straightforward plot in the former and a larger realm of possibility in the latter, hence how HP caught on like wildfire even among adults. What frustrates me is, back when I actually used to watch interviews of JKR, she had zero self-awareness that this is the reason her books exploded in popularity. She'd usually say something like that people really like the world, or that the characters feel like they're the fan's friends, which is true but is absolutely not unique to HP. JKR's writing advice is incredibly vague and gives the impression that she doesn't understand why HP got so popular, which explains why she's never been able to replicate its success no matter how many other books or screenplays she sets her pen to.

[@PaKalsha]

Like Gaiman, I'm not bothered by Joanne's use of concepts, themes, and tropes that other people invented - creativity is inherently collaborative - but it's the arrogance (hers) and ignorance (her fans) that result in insisting that she invented them that galls and necessitated videos like this one. (That and the racism and general meanness of the series. The fatphobia is, unfortunately, a hallmark of 90s Britlit - even Sir Pterry didn't escape it, though *he* got better)

[@bootedbuilds]

Mentioned in the comments so far, logged for future reference - The Worst Witch, Jill Murphy - Has stated it'd be nice if Rowling thanked her (for the ideas/inspiration) but that you 'have to be graceful' (about not receiving said thanks). - Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin - Has stated Rowling did not steal but was wrongly credited for 'originality'. - The Worlds of Chrestomanci - The Books of Magic, Neil Gaiman - Has stated Rowling did not steal. - Girl On A Broomstick (Personally, I think Ursula got it right. Nothing wrong with taking ideas done to death and writing a story along the same lines. But then you've got to be honest about your inspirations.)

[@Junosensei]

This is the right attitude, if you ask me. I can no longer love Harry Potter like I used to, and I cannot support Rowling, even if it means giving up Harry Potter forever, but that's an entirely different question from whether she "stole" ideas about her fiction. So much of fiction is give and take. Little Witch Academia, a Japanese anime, is itself inspired heavily by Harry Potter (though the creators can't say it because Japan doesn't have fair use laws, so talking about their inspirations can be a risky move). The Owl House cartoon also has a lot of similarities and likely inspiration from Harry Potter (also from the manga, Witch Hat Atelier, but both creators follow each other on Twitter, so they're both aware of the other's inspirations), and it's more queer friendly. I'm not going to shame either series for taking inspiration and not giving a lick of credit to Rowling. We can still easily criticize Rowling for her transphobia and maybe some of the weird things in her books that didn't age well.

[@marocat4749]

She also was write roasting it as simplistic black and white morality in the same statement, but yep, its her right to do so, its just disapointin that better series deserved that spotlight, but harry potter i guess is too capitalism friendly. The worst witch series is pretty good BTW also the tv series. Lol i remembered it without remembering it s title, also it was in german so it wasnt the same title, lol, but pretty memorable good

[@TheDanSandoval]

@@Junosensei The creator of Little Witch Academia acknowledged The Worst Witch as a source of inspiration though.

[@Junosensei]

@@TheDanSandoval - Yoh Yoshinari? Did he? Considering I own a ton of production notes on the series, as well as half a dozen magazines with interviews from the OVA and TV show releases, and I haven't heard it, I would like an actual source for that before I believe it. You can't link sources on youtube, but tell me the magazine, brochure, TV special, or origin of this info and I'll double check and return with my findings.

[@amberhancock2039]

Don’t forget Eva Ibbotson! She wrote such fun books including The Secret Of Platform 13 and Isle of the Aunts.

[@account01289]

The simple fact is that there really isn't a truely original work of anything anymore. We all draw inspiration from somewhere else subconsciously or not. Its how you put those pieces together that makes it different

[@memelesardi9497]

Well, It's crystal clear to me that Severus Snape is the male version of Miss Hardbroom from The Worst Witch... And Draco Malfoy is also the male version of Ethel Hallow... 😁😁😁

[@yesterdaysrose5446]

I always thought Rowling was a weaksauce worldbuilder. She just took random ✨whimsical✨ magic stuff from existing works. When the big money rolled in, she screamed "Original setting! Do not steal!" and absconded with the money chests. Like a cackling hag of folklore o'er here.

[@caelanconrad]

Yep

[@lonesavior]

The fact that she opened up a plothole because when wizards adopted plumbing was so important, despite the school established as having an ancient secret passage built into a bathroom, but STILL she hasn't bothered to even name all the world's major wizard schools paints a very clear picture of her world building skills.

[@anonymoussaga8723]

There are loads of highly derivative and half baked worlds out there, but I think the thing that made Rowling different was that she somehow wrote it in a way that engages the reader’s imagination and gets the reader to mentally fill out her flimsy world and make it their own without realising that they’re doing it. She basically created a playground/theme park in book form.

[@hughcaldwell1034]

Honestly, the thing that always bugged me (even as a child super-fan... I'll admit it) was how so much of the "whimsy" was just things being vaguely disgusting or inconvenient. The beans flavoured like bodily secretions, the magic bus driven so erratically no one can sleep and the hot drinks get spilled everywhere, the food and books that try to hurt you... it's like magic makes their lives so easy they have to f*ck around on purpose to have any sense of challenge.

[@carolinemcgovern4488]

@@hughcaldwell1034 You were right to be bugged by that IMO.

[@goyoelburro]

Capitalism does not reward creativity, but rather chooses the most marketable products (for better or worse, but usually for the worse) This is why I'm an Anarchist...

[@rickshaw1971]

The formula's so old it has moss on it. Occasionally I'll devour 1920's school stories like potato chips, and they're exactly the same story.

[@jeffdonoho2448]

There's an episode of an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon called Shazzan, which included the golden snitch and Fluffy. The episode is called "City of Brass."

[@BradsPitts.]

I mean, she is British. Stealing things and passing them off as her own is in her nature

[@transopticon13]

it is the English way

[@wmdkitty]

Ooooh!

[@a.c.1839]

Which is perfectly in line with how she managed to write a genocidal fascist cult without so much as a smidge of historical literacy It's in her british bones

[@chey7691]

Smacking teeth more crooked generationally with that one. I could almost hear it from here across the pond.

[@eldee9842]

shut up racist

[@Terrestriellie]

I remember seeing a stage production of the worst witch where the girls were put into their houses, mildred got a little overexcited and they made a joke saying "no dear this isnt special this is just like every school in the country, though we did do it first *wink*". It was a production for kids but it was sweet and heartwarming. If you're looking for a series for your children to read i sincerely recommend it.

[@BliffleSplick]

Last I looked, the TV show episodes of The Worst Witch are also on here (youtube)

[@TigerPrawn_]

Looking back, I think the worst witch may have been a queer awakening for me

[@TheNightBadger]

One name I kept saying when the HP phenomena was kicking off, was 'Diana Wynne Jones' - nobody seemed to care. JK never mentioned her either. To me she was the greatest living (at the time - RIP) British children's author. One person who always name dropped her, because he was best friends with her and cites her as a direct influence on him becoming a writer, was Neil Gaiman.

[@GandalfTheTsaagan]

So basically I should read most if not all of these other books **adds them to the read later list**

[@DavidJBradley]

I'll never quite get past people calling J.K. Rowling the most successful author (other than God...) Her total sales are estimated at about 600 million units. Agatha Christie is at 4 BILLION

[@xilj4002]

It's simple. Agatha Christie doesn't exist, she's a lie, we know because JK is the first female author ever in the history of literature

[@imaginarylivingbody7154]

@@xilj4002 Given that Agatha Christie may or may not have disappeared herself at one point, I think she wants us to think that.

[@nikogarcia201]

The funny thing is, the very first novel in recorded history, the tale of Genji, was written by a Japanese noblewoman from the Heian era. So yes Joanne, your not the first female author by a very, very long shot.

[@phoenixfire6433]

The Harry Potter series isn’t even the top-selling fiction series any more, One Piece passed it a while back.

[@jamesgravil9162]

Agatha Christie has a few decades' headstart on J.K. Rowling, to be fair.

[@hannahlarge5738]

Tim and The hidden people, Sheila K McCullagh: A boy called Tim, who lives with his aunt, discovers a magical subculture in the UK where broomsticks are a popular form of transport. In book A7, during an incident involving a cake, one of Tim's magical friends tries to float his aunt's friend out of the window. The books start out simple, aimed at age 4-7, but each story becomes a little more involved, with the final books aimed at age 12-15. The books have been out of print for over 35 years due to a publishers dispute, but were very popular in the 80s and 90s as part of a school reading program. Mallory Towers, Enid Blyton: A group of children in a boarding school solve mysteries over the course of each school year from age 11-17. The school is a castle with four towers each of which serves as dormitories and common rooms for the four houses of the school. a large part of the books revolves around inter-house sports and the care of animals. Not one of her best series, and vastly more problematic than Harry Potter, but a great horse girl series, with a surprising amount of gal-pal romance plots for a straight author in the 50s. I have no problem with her stealing ideas from other writers, that's how art works. Hogwarts just looks a lot less fun since i find out a lot of my friends aren't welcome.

[@marocat4749]

Enyd blithon seems to be problematic, but not all over social media harassing people so, i guess less problematic. So good that she is still beloved thanks to not being all over i guess. And not as straight abusive as marlon zimmer bradley.

[@NataliePine]

Enid Blyton is very problematic but I do find it interesting that one of her most famous series involves an AFAB character who hates being addressed as a girl, loves being addressed as a boy, dresses in a masculine way, and takes a traditionally male name. Accidentally woke?

[@jaybee4118]

@@marocat4749problematic, but so much more likely to be having been born in 1897 lol I’m very proud that my father’s family have been super woke, for their time, since at least the mid 1800. They were non-religious pacifists who had friends from all kinds of backgrounds, countries and religions, did a lot of charity work, volunteered in hospitals, suffragettes, I even had a relative who was a drag king in 1930s london and who might have been trans as the name they used was Bill and they were AFAB, and they were completely accepted by the family. I know I had an openly gay great, great uncle who was accepted by the family at the same time Oscar Wild was prosecuted (I wish he’d met my uncle, he was gorgeous and my family wouldn’t have sued him). I still guarantee they’d have said some stuff that would make my skin crawl now. Rowling was born at the tail end of the civil rights movement. She doesn’t realise there’s another one now and she’s on the wrong side.

[@Lawnie]

@@NataliePine Technically two! George of The Famous Five is the most obvious one, but Malory Towers gave us Wilhelmina, who prefers being called Bill because she thinks Wilhelmina is "too girly", and who develops a very "gal pal" relationship with another horse girl, if you catch my drift. (My head-canons are that Bill is a baby butch, and that she and Clarissa start their riding school together, never marry men and have a delightful and long lesbian life as a couple.)

[@pattheplanter]

@@jaybee4118 E Nesbit was a Fabian socialist and progressive born in 1858. I can recommend all of her books as delights of the "magical world suddenly revealed to a group of children, hilarity ensues" genre. I loved John Masefield's The Midnight Folk published in 1927, which was a bit scarier. I don't know how well that would hold up to my modern eyes.

[@coltekr]

You know, now that I think about it, Gryffindor winning the House Cup every single time, makes more sense now. It's because J.K. Rowling didn't have the mind to come up with a complex, mature narrative to let the other houses win.

[@DavidJackRabbit]

The cherry on top is that while watching this video the ad was for Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery.😂

[@akaErma]

the Somerton bit killed me, thank you for that lol

[@funde19]

I had to pause it I was laughing so hard

[@AverageSparrow]

"Animorphs level of quality" As an eternal fan of the series, I appreciate the shout-out. And a further shout out to K.A. Applegate, who loves her trans daughter and is a trans ally. When people told her (and her husband) that they saw Tobias's story as a trans allegory, she was outright flattered. Love that lady.

[@OdinsSage]

Applegate is queen, Applegate is life.

[@mitcharendt2253]

Truth

[@genericname2747]

I REALLY hate how she ended the series, and I disagree with her stance on why she ended it that way. But unlike Jowling Kowling Rowling, she's a decent human being who isn't desperately trying to remain relevant.

[@caelanconrad]

I think the way she ended it was the only way it could have ended and done justice to what the kids went through. But it hurts. I have part of Rachel’s last words tattooed on my hand. “Was I worth it?”

[@LyndsayW1194]

Im so happy to find out K.A. Applegate is a good person. Loved the books, loved her characters.

[@ultratog1028]

I'm at the beginning of the video but I am going to say no, JKR didn't steal Harry Potter. She doesnt seem like the kind of person who actually reads books.

[@brglbrmft]

damn dude. had me in the first half, not gonna lie.

[@dalellll]

those Neil Gaiman quotes feel like he just casually put a gun on the table and left the room whistling innocently

[@NeighborhoodOfBlue]

"J.K. Rowling is a wedding DJ for fantasy fiction, playing all the hits. And there's nothing worse than a DJ." ~Caelan Conrad I had to hit pause to thoroughly enjoy that burn. Goodness Caelan, you're brilliant.

[@M_M_ODonnell]

I've been saying "not plagiarized, just unoriginal" for years...it's even more of an indictment, in a way, since plagiarism is a moral failing while unoriginality (when it's due to lack of ideas rather than selling out) is a simultaneous failure of talent, craft, and awareness of the writer's own medium. Plagiarists at least _could have_ done better.

[@m.scottmcgahan9900]

I thought Harry Potter was a rip-off of Books of Magic from the get go!