Emilia Clarke Chooses ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Over ‘Harry Potter,’ and Fans Are Losing It

Though The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are distinct fantasy franchises with few similarities, their simultaneous rise to popularity sparked a longstanding debate among fans over which series is superior. While the argument isn’t as intense as it was a decade ago, it remains a significant topic among enthusiasts.

Various celebrities have weighed in on the debate, and in a past interview, Game of Thrones and Star Wars star Emilia Clarke made her stance clear, aligning herself with one side of the discussion.

Unsurprisingly, her comments reignited the debate online, with fans on Reddit discussing her views and the broader impact of both franchises. We’ve decided to dive into this topic and share more details on the story for you.

Though this Reddit thread is quite old, the debate remains fascinating, which is why we’ve decided to explore it further. Here’s a look at how it all began:

She’s one of us
byu/patthepatriot2020 inlotrmemes

The source of this debate comes from an old interview Emilia Clarke gave during Collider Ladies Night while promoting her Terminator film. The interview, which was released eight years ago, sparked a lot of discussion, and here’s the full story:

We’re particularly interested in how fans reacted to Clarke’s response. Here are some of the comments from the original Reddit thread:

Don’t get me wrong. I fucking hated Harry Potter because I saw it as bitch-ass Lord of the Rings. Those books started coming out right when I was full-on surly teenager. It was poser shit. Words like “Hufflepuff” and “Dumbledore” were not helping.

Now that I’m older, I respect it for its quaintness. I’ve never met someone super into Harry Potter who turned out to be a dickweed.

On a recent interview she said that she just read the Harry Potter books recently and she became really obsessed with them too. So it’s safe to say she now loves both of them. Khaleesi has taste!

As many others have said, HP doesn’t even come close to LOTR in world-building. It’s just not a conversation. This obviously doesn’t mean HP has an uninteresting world, it’s just that LOTR is on another level entirely. Though I will say that I think HP isn’t special because of it’s world-building or lore, I think it’s primary strength is the way it implemented its seven separate books into one story. I think Rowling did a fantastic job of writing a new book that both captured the HP feel while having it’s own vibe and story, and turning it into a children’s epic that had a satisfying conclusion.

Everyone has their favorites, and some have books they don’t like, but I think there’s a reason that HP doesn’t have a book in the series that is notoriously “bad” (like many other book/movie series do)… that’s not touching on the films. Rowling crafted a very good and satisfying story made up of seven books that are great on their own. That’s not saying that Tolkien didn’t pull of a similar feat, or that he didn’t do it better even. I think LOTR is of higher objective quality easily, but HP is definitely a noteworthy series for many reasons, one that will rightfully become more and more of a classic as the years pass.

LOTR FTW FOREVER THO

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