The Harry Potter-Boy Wizard Ged connection

A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA by Ursula K. le Guin. Puffin Books.

A young boy with newly discovered wizarding powers. A prophecy about this boy becoming the greatest of wizards. The boy going to study at a school for wizards. The boy connected in some strange way to a Shadow that chases him. Their first confrontation leaving the boy`s face scarred. A quest to seek the Shadow and destroy it, whatever the cost to himself.

Sounds familiar?

But JK Rowling has never openly credited any single author with inspiration, saying, “I haven’t got the faintest idea where my ideas come from, or how my imagination works. “ For those who have been on another planet, Rowling`s Harry Potter books chronicle the saga of a young boy with newly discovered wizarding powers, the boy everyone watches to see if the prophecy about him is true, the boy going to study magic at a school for wizards and witches, the boy finding he is connected in a strange way to a sinister dark power, the boy going on a quest to hunt down that dark power and destroy it.

As for Ursula K. le Guin, she has said she doesn’t feel Rowling ripped her off but that she felt that could have been more gracious about her predecessors. `My incredulity was at the critics who found the first book wonderfully original. She has many virtues, but originality isn’t one of them.`

Ouch.

---

---