Harry Potter and The Stolen Plot...

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by alatar

So at least it's not just me.


Two fingers could have worked even better to fool the MoM of Pettigrew's death, but no, we need to leave nine...

Bet it was his Ring finger.

It's a long time since I read any of the HP books, but according to various internet sources I just checked it, it's his index finger. Which is extremely strange considering he was at liberty to pick any finger to sacrifice.

Anyway, the parallel is hardly unique. One of Lloyd Alexander's Prydein novels has an evil wizard named Morda who cuts off his own finger (the little finger, because he had a tad more common sense than Wormtail) pours his life-force into it to render himself immortal, and dies when it's destroyed.

So working out what's coincidence, what's imitation, and exactly who's copying who isn't that easy.