Kvothe and Harry : Teen Boys in Magic School

Harry Potter is one of the best fantasy series in the history of the fantasy world. The first book came out in 1997 and quickly became popular. The series ended with The deathly hallows in 2007.

But in the same year, another masterpiece work by Patrick Rothfuss came out as The name of the wind - the first book of kingkiller chronicle series. This was the first book ever by Patrick Rothfuss and he wrote an amazing work of fiction with his protagonist as Kvothe-The Kingkiller I have found many similarities between these two fantasy series. There are always similarities in fantasy series. 


1. Harry vs Kvothe

Image source - blog.patrickrothfuss.com 

Harry and Kvothe are the main characters of harry potter series and kingkiller chronicle series respectively. At a very young age, both's parents were murdered. In the case of Harry, it was very early in fact. James and Lily were murdered by Voldemort. Whereas Kvothe's parents were alive until Kvothe was 14 or 15. Then one day his entire family was killed by Chandrian.  Also, both Voldemort and Chandrian are the villains in both these books.

 Harry wants to kill Voldemort to take revenge for his parents' death. Similarly, Kvothe tries to find everything about Chandrian at the university in the archives. Although he didn't find much of it in the archives. He did have some success when he heard stories about them from Skarpi and then from his journey of finding bandits.

So, Chandrian killed Kvothe's family and Voldemort killed Harry's, setting them up for a story-long conflict against an unbeatable evil.

Harry was having a tough time when he was living with Vernon and Petunia before he got into Hogwarts. Kvothe, on the other hand, was living comfortably with his troupe before Chandrian killed them. It was only after they were murdered Kvothe finds it really difficult to make a living. He had no one around to look after him. He went to Tarbean and lived in a slum area hiding from people, hardly managing a nice meal with all those memories of his family still fresh in his mind.

In short, both had a troubled childhood. But, before getting into the university Kvothe learned so much from Abenthy about binding whereas Harry didn't know a word about magic. So, Kvothe was fortunate here to have a company of Abenthy in his teenage years.


2. Draco and Ambrose

Both Draco Malfoy and Ambrose serve as a foil to the hero. Both have very similar characteristics. Ambrose is the firstborn son of a powerful and wealthy nobleman from Vintas. He plays the part of a major antagonist and rival of Kvothe throughout his time at the university. 

Similarly, Draco is the prototypical spoiled, rich brat; he believes that his family's wealth and social position gives him the right to bully those poorer than himself, such as Ron Weasley. Both Harry and Kvothe hated Draco and Ambrose. But the rivalry between Kvothe and Ambrose was more fierce as Ambrose even hired killers to kill Kvothe. Draco never tried to kill Harry. It was because of Ambrose that Kvothe was dismissed from the archives. Then he broke his lute. Frequently tried to kill Kvothe, but Kvothe was safe because of his gram. But eventually, it was because of these two characters that the books were fun to read.


Also, read - Kvothe and Felurian 
                 Seven words to make a woman love you


3. Hemme and Snape

In Kvothe's own words - " Master Hemme was a King - high bastard of the lot. He took delight in the student's discomfort and did everything he could to badger and unsettle them."

After completing the entire harry potter series it will be very unfair to compare Snape with Hemme. We knew the truth about Snape in the last book. Snape is generally depicted as being cold, calculating, precise, sarcastic, and bitter. He strongly dislikes Harry and often insults him by insulting his father James. Similarly, Master Hemme is notable for being the teacher who is the most antagonistic towards Kvothe from the time he arrives at the university. And he does not get along with other Masters. So, for the better part of the series, we hated both Snape and Hemme because of their hatred towards Harry and Kvothe.

4. Elodin and Dumbledore

Dumbledore was the headmaster of Hogwarts and the most powerful wizard of the Harry Potter series. Although Elodin wasn't the headmaster of the University, he was one of the nine masters. He was Master namer and then Chancellor for a short time. He is one of the interesting and unique characters of kingkiller chronicle. I find him a very mystic person. I think he is hiding something, and there is a lot more to know from him for Kvothe. Elodin also demonstrates a conspicuous resentment for Hemme like Kvothe. We will learn more about him in the next book.

But coming to the point, both Elodin and Dumbledore in some ways guided the heroes in their time at the school. Not much of Elodin, but especially Dumbledore. I hope Elodin helps Kvothe in his quest to find Chandrian.
 
5. Friends at Magic school

In the Harry Potter series, we have a trio - Harry, Hermonie, and Ron. In Kingkiller Chronicles we have Kvothe, Simmon, and Wilem. Both Harry and Kvothe have amazing friends at school who always keeps helping our heroes.  Besides, Harry has other friends like  Fred, George, Neville, Cho, Ginny, Dean, Luna etc. Kvothe has Mola, Auri, Fela, Devi. But Harry's friends are all from Hogwarts.
 Kvothe has friends outside University as well. He frequently visits Eolian, went to Severen. Knows Maer, Dedan, Manet, Deoch, Tempi and few others. Kvothe is quite popular here. His quest to find bandits got rewarded with much more. He went to fae and spent a night with felurian. Then he went to Adem and trained himself. Made friends with Vashet and Penthy and even Shewyn.


So the world is quite large for Kvothe. But we liked the mischievous things Kvothe and Harry did at the University and Hogwarts respectively. Like sneaking in the night using the Invisibility cloak, chasing Malfoy, going to the room of requirement, and many more. Kvothe is even more interesting. He doesn't spare Ambrose whenever he gets a chance. He took back Denna's ring from his apartment, destroys Pike's belongings in Tarbean, or writing a song about Ambrose and perform it at Eolian.

Both Kvothe and Harry had an amazing time at school with their best friends.

So, these were some of the similarities I found. There might be some more that have escaped my attention. If you know any write it in the comment box. But I would like to say, that both the series are fantastic in their own way. I like Kingkiller Chronicle more personally. I don't think the comparisons are a bad thing either. It's not like Rothfuss stole it, it just happens to fall into a very specific new genre: Teen Boys In Magic School. You might hear some Potterhead say if you're into potter you'd probably like these." Not that they're similar stories or themes but just overall they're great series about fantastical worlds. It just a way of recommending the book to people. Most people don't read fantasy. Most of my friends don't. But everyone's read, Harry Potter. So if you find someone who loved Harry Potter, you already know they will read something with a wizard in it.

Books by Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind - https://amzn.to/2QJ9jJb

The Wise Man's Fear - https://amzn.to/3wq2g7k

The Slow Regard of Silent Things - https://amzn.to/3fcUEzq

10th Anniversary Edition - https://amzn.to/3fdSC1Q

The Doors of the Stones -  Not published yet.