Fight to The Death is an ongoing feature where staffers and readers get to vote and explain why one film is better than the other OR whether one fictional character would be able to kill another. This week’s featured rumble – The Harry Potter franchise versus The Lord of The Rings/Hobbit franchise. UPDATED – WE HAVE A WINNER.

Important: The Harry Potter franchise also includes Fantastic Beasts and The LOTR franchise also includes The Hobbit trilogy.

Twitter voted Harry Potter

Facebook voted Lord of The Rings

Keven voted Lord of The Rings

I recently finished the entire Harry Potter film franchise for the first time. I had not watched any of the Potter movies and I never had the interest at the time they came out. I was more of a Lord of The Rings fan from the getgo and always considered those to be the “cooler” or more adult and superior fantasy films. It was the silly, young idiot Keven who didn’t understand the importance of family films that still carried a lot of weight and importance. Harry Potter is not just for the kids — and not just because the later films get darker, but the performances, exhilarating plot twists and incredibly cool fantasy creatures and magical spells are what makes those movies such a fun time for grown-ups too.

But alas – I still prefer the Lord of The Rings movies. I think I might even like the Hobbit trilogy more than the Potter universe and I’m definitely in the minority with that opinion. The two films prior to The Deathly Hallows Part 2 were downright boring and didn’t feature anything exciting until the final 20 minutes with complete sadness to follow. Lord of The Rings although the much shorter franchise, felt more complete and better paced, with more action, and an abundance of memorable set pieces. Harry Potter had incredible action sequences of it’s own, including the giant snake or the big ass spiders – riveting stuff that still sticks with me. There just wasn’t as much of it and the pace near the end delaying the final battle, was so dull that it pained me.

My two favourite Potter franchise flicks are The Goblet of Fire and The Chamber of Secrets. My two favourite films in the Lord of The Rings franchise are The Fellowship of The Ring and Return of The King. All four of those movies had a lot of adventure in them.. Different fun and unique locales, with a wealth of strange fantastical creatures. I really appreciate that stuff in my fantasy movies and those four are powerhouses, some of the best in the genre of all time – easily. I’m not going to put the actual characters to war with one another in here but it would be fun to see who would win – Gandalf or Harry Potter himself going toe to toe would be pretty damn cool. My preferred pick would be Gandalf, but in reality I think Potter would kill the old bastard. He did destroy a dark demonic lord and seemed to have immortality… or something.

Lord of The Rings wins but I do love both franchises. I grew up with LOTR and as an adult I had a lot of fun with the Hobbit trilogy too. It may not have been the same experience in many ways, and sure there didn’t have to be THREE movies to tell the story (two would have done it), I just love giant, epic battles between monsters and heroes so that when the stakes are so high, loved characters perish in a glorious death that always makes me feel like less a man. Those damn heroic sons of bitches – I’M LOOKING AT YOU SEAN BEAN.

Winner: Lord of The Rings (2-1)

For the rules of FIGHT TO THE DEATH click HERE