Stories such as The Odyssey, The Iliad, The Lord of The Rings and Beowulf all fall into the epic category. ... Just like Beowulf fought the dragon, Harry defeated the troll that was terrifying his school. ... Of course, the universal "good vs. evil" theme is a major attribute of making Harry Potter an epic. ... Another universal theme of Harry Potter is life and death. ...
Campbell's enormously influential book defines the Universal Myth as a structure, which underlies stories told all over the world since the beginning of recorded history. ... Tolkien also was an expert on epic legend as often gave lectures on Beowulf. ... It seems likely that what he had learned from writing The Hobbit and from reading Beowulf through the lenses of Middle-earth, Tolkien gave us The Lord of the Rings." ... The Lord of the Rings books, Star Wars trilogy, Harry Potter series and the Matrix all deal with the same themes. ...
