A very good friend of mine recently pointed out another crucial difference - that of genre. LOTR is true medieval fantasy, it's pretty much an archetype. But HP only masquerades as fantasy; it is, in fact, a mystery series. If you think about it, each book has its own primary and secondary mysteries which the reader solves along with the heroes, with some percolating threads linking up to the Grand Mystery. And everything else is built around solving those mysteries.
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera
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