Edward Cullen. Harry Potter. Jacob Black. Cedric Diggory. I can hear the sighs even as I type this. Any girl who has read the Twilight Saga or the Harry Potter series is sure to be swooning in their seats. This is my attempt to find out the truth. Which series is better, which character will go down in history with the likes of Heathcliff and Mr. Rochester: Cullen, the vampire heart-throb of Stephenie Meyer’s series or Potter, the boy who lived? Three points will be used in the evaluation of these books. One: their appeal to teens today, two: the ability of the readers to relate to the characters, and three: their story lines.
First, a short summary of the Twilight series and the Harry Potter series. The Twilight series follows the life of Bella Swan, a seemingly normal teen girl who moves to Forks, Washington to live with her father. She falls head over heels for Edward Cullen, a classmate, who turns out to be a vampire, and her best friend ends up being a werewolf. The books follow Bella’s relationship and the problems that ensue from trying to keep the secret from all the humans and Bella’s continuing dilemma of whether or not to become immortal.
The Harry Potter series follows the school years of the boy wizard Harry Potter as he struggles to fit into magical society and also tries to defeat his nemesis, Lord Voldemort.
Both books have great appeal to the teens of today. I mean, none of us are dealing with new-found magical powers like Potter, but we all have talents or quirks that make us different. Coming to terms with these differences is something we all have to do, just like Potter needs to deal with his fame as the boy who lives and his various unusual magical skills.
The Twilight series tends to appeal mostly to teen girls, though millions of them all over the world. I mean, what boy wants to read about the ups and downs of a relationship, even if it is interspersed with intense fight scenes? Also, girls are almost always able to find some part of themselves in Bella.
For example, one of Bella’s biggest attributes is that she is incredibly clumsy. Well, welcome to my world. I routinely fall down the stairs, trip over my feet, and fall over cracks in the sidewalk. Only, I don’t have a hot vampire to save me from my mishaps as Bella does. In this category, Rowling’s series wins out. Both boys and girls can be found reading a Harry Potter novel, whereas most boys would not be caught dead, no pun intended, reading a Twilight novel.
There are some books that one reads and forgets about, and there are others that one returns to again and again. Both of these series are ones that I would return to and that is because of how relatable their characters are.
In Harry Potter, if one is not quite the hero that Potter represents, he or she is sure to relate to one of the other major players: the smart, responsible one, Hermione, or the slightly accident-prone Neville, or the loyal friend who always seems to be in the shadow, Ron. Each character has their own issues to deal with and they are all solved by the end of the final installment.
In the Twilight series the characters are also really relatable. As mentioned earlier, most teen girls will find some part of Bella that reminds them of themselves. The plight of her best friend, being a guy, and falling for her is also an issue many of us face. Who can’t say they’ve had a little bit of a crush on that best guy or girl friend. When the reader gets to see Jacob’s point of view, it is easy to understand.
As far as character relatability goes, the Twilight saga wins out. The magical issues in Harry Potter come across a little too unbelievable, and after all I am a teen girl. I am more likely to relate to the female main character, than the male one, and Bella’s conundrums tend to be a bit like my own, if not quite so supernatural.
Finally, the plot of these novels needs to be addressed. The Harry Potter series is the longer of the two spanning seven books and just as many years. It follows Potter’s years at Hogwarts, the school for young witches and wizards, as he learns more about his powers and how to defeat Voldemort.
Each book follows a pretty predictable path, however. By the final novel, one almost gets sick of reading about how Potter should not go fight Voldemort but does not listen to his superiors, goes to fight his enemy and then is subsequently rescued by one or another of the said superiors.
The plot does allow for a total escape into a world like our own only inhabited by witches and wizards and other magical folk. I admit that whenever I am at a loss as what to read, I tend to go back to Rowling’s books and reread.
The Twilight series encompasses a total of four books and tells the story of Bella’s last years in high school. These, too, become slightly predictable by the final installment. Bella decides to remain with Edward, but then feels a pull towards Jacob, and then scary evil vampires come and try to kill her and either Edward or Jacob or both fight the bad vampires and save Bella. Then it starts all over again.
As far as plot goes, both of these series are pretty equal. I guess it depends on what genre is of interest at the moment. Harry Potter is definitely fantasy, while the Twilight series is a romance that dips into the realm of fantasy.
For me, it is too hard to pick one over the other. At the moment I am leaning towards the Twilight series, but take a look at why. They are brand new to me, and are all the buzz at the moment. If I did choose them over Harry Potter, I would feel disloyal to my first favorite series. Maybe the answer is to make room on my list of favorite books to have a tie at number one.