When one thinks of Harry Potter, at least in the context of modern American culture, it is undeniable that the political left has cited this series of child-fantasy novels on a relatively frequent basis for use as a sort of literary cudgel against their partisan opponents.
One need only look at 2016-era think pieces from relatively large publications to know that this is truism in American politics. (For example, see Time Magazine’s “Harry Potter Readers More Likely to Dislike Donald Trump: Study”; Fortune’s “Guess What Harry Potter Fans Are Calling Donald Trump?”) When cited, proponents of Harry Potter often refer to the series’ themes of “love being the most powerful magic” and “light overcoming darkness.” Fine and dandy motifs, no doubt.
However, given the often ethereal and intangible nature of these themes, combined with the overutilization of Harry Potter fans to cite these novels for political points, the real tangible lessons of the literary series are too often overlooked: the right to keep and bear arms, as well as maintaining a small-L libertarian perspective towards government.
One doesn’t need to dig deep into the lore of Harry Potter to know that these two concepts are not only prevalent throughout the book series, but also are easily transferred to a real-world context. For the uninitiated, Harry Potter is set in a universe wherein everyone and their mums are packing heat in the form of a magic wand. These magical apparatuses serve as a locus to channel a witch or wizard’s magical powers, which allow the user to do everything from simple tasks to straight up murdering people with a whisper of a few words and a flick of their wrist.
Given the obvious dangers present within the Wizarding World, children the age of an elementary school student are not only given these incredibly powerful tools as a matter of course, but are also taught from the get-go to use them against those who would seek to do them harm (the so-called “Defense Against the Dark Arts”). If one doesn’t see an obvious parallel (and potential policy prescriptions) to our robust Second Amendment culture, then may I make the recommendation that a stop at the optometrist may be in order.
In a similar vein, the Harry Potter universe is replete with example after example of abject governmental failures. At the local level, the administrative body running Hogwarts (the school where our protagonists find their instruction) constantly and consistently fail not only to protect their pupils for existential threats, but actually encourage their underaged students to seek out threats that place these pupils is situations where significant bodily harm or death is expected.
In parallel fashion, the government responsible for the entire wizarding community is stocked with career bureaucrats who fill needless roles and accomplish little. The whole fifth novel in the series punches this point home by developing a narrative that demonstrates that even a trusted government is prone to use propaganda, stifle free speech and even put a teenage boy on trial for his “lies” so long as they never have to address a real and persistent threat to their constituents. Familiarities abound.
Without a doubt, Harry Potter stands as one of the most pro-gun pieces of fiction written in the last half a century. That it took over 20 years for someone to point out is the real surprise. Similarly, the series demonstrates to the reader that a healthy skepticism of those in power is not only a nicety, but a necessity.
Guns and libertarianism. These are the true lessons of the Harry Potter franchise.
Henry Rymer
Henry Rymer, a graduate from the University of Minnesota Law School (’19), currently practices law in Utah and often argues that Gandalf is the most powerful wizard in existence.
Under normal circumstances, it would be one of the most memorable moments of those students’ Hogwarts experiences, but alas, they have a basilisk in a wall, secret child army training, a person living on the back of another person’s head, etc.
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If you’re a Percy Pig fan then look no further as MS has all the Easter Percy you could need with the Hunt Gift Bag.
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It has since become one of the world’s most-loved fictional worlds with grown aldults still awaiting their letter from Hogwarts.
Many of us grew up alongside Harry, Ron and Hermione, glued to the books and eagerly awaiting the cinema releases, while younger generations are only just discovering the magical world beyond Platform 9 3/4.
Most of us will have seen every movie multiple times, and we all know someone who thinks they’re a Potter expert.
So, it’s time to test your (or their) knowledge with the ultimate Harry Potter quiz.
There are five different rounds, from spells and potions to Hogwarts and creatures, and questions range from common knowledge to very niche.
Through her Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling created a magical world championing acceptance and inclusivity. But the author’s controversial comments about the transgender community have alienated lifelong fans.
This hour, we explore how fans have moved forward. We hear from Fandom Forward, formerly known as the Harry Potter Alliance. One Fandom Forward volunteer from New Haven focused on the series in her master’s dissertation.
Plus, have you heard of Wizard Rock? Ashley Hamel of Ashley Trix the WZRDs joins us.
A lot of things have changed since the Tony Award-winning play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” settled into San Francisco’s Curran Theater for an open-ended run in late 2019.
First the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the show (and theaters in general) in March 2020. And when “Cursed Child” eventually started up again this January, with its official reopening night pushed back to Feb. 24, what had been a five-hour play in two parts has been trimmed down into a single 3½-hour play for its return to San Francisco, Broadway and elsewhere.
Meanwhile a bigger change was going on behind the scenes. During the time that the show was closed, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, has become the public face of the “gender critical” movement in her native United Kingdom, which advocates against legal and societal recognition and accommodation of transgender people.
Far from fading away, the controversy has only intensified as Rowling has continued to issue Twitter posts and essays since the summer of 2020 portraying trans recognition as harmful to women and that “erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives,” though she asserts that she herself is not anti-trans and has trans friends.
“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling has faced backlash over her views on transgender people. (Evan Agostini/Associated Press archives)
Many “Harry Potter” performers such as Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were quick to speak out against Rowling’s comments and affirm their support for the rights of trans people. Added Radcliffe, “I realize that certain press outlets will probably want to paint this as in-fighting between J.K. Rowling and myself, but that is really not what this is about, nor is it what’s important right now.”
Meanwhile, the Potter franchise forges onward, with another “Fantastic Beasts” movie coming out this spring, a reunion special of the movies’ cast that debuted on HBO Max in January (Watson, Grint and Radcliffe all appear in the special, which limits Rowling’s involvement to a previously taped interview), and the return of the revamped “Cursed Child” on stage.
The play wasn’t written by Rowling but by Jack Thorne, based on a story by Rowling, Thorne and director John Tiffany. Still, particularly in a trans- and LGBTQ-friendly market such as San Francisco, the play’s return necessitates some difficult conversations about how much a popular franchise can be separated from the actions of its originator.
“I think everybody has to decide how they’re going to approach the question of separating the author from the work,” says Charlie Jane Anders, an award-winning author, trans woman, cofounder of the blog io9.com and host of the San Francisco reading series Writers with Drinks. “But in the case of a living author, who is currently using her power to attack vulnerable, marginalized people, I would not feel comfortable giving her any financial support right now.”
“If money is going to her from the show, that is hurting trans people, period,” says Chris Steele, a trans nonbinary performance artist, writer and activist who cofounded the San Francisco queer theater collective Poltergeist Theatre Project. “It just feels like we’re continuing to live in the fantasy rather than the real world of the thing, in which the stuff she is saying is contributing to an environment where trans femme people have life expectancies that are decades shorter than anyone else.”
To Bay Area writer, performer, activist and biologist Julia Serano, who is a trans woman, Rowling is a very different case from other celebrities who occasionally make transphobic jokes or comments. “There’s not a political agenda behind it. They have certain attitudes and make comments sometimes. But J.K. Rowling has most demonstrably aligned herself with political positions and movements that are actively trying to mandate trans people out of existence.”
There are no reports of organized protests against “Cursed Child” productions in New York or San Francisco, and it would be difficult to gauge any impact on attendance at a time when the COVID continues to affect theater productions in general.
When asked for comment, the producers of “Cursed Child” issued this statement via email: “San Francisco was chosen as the exclusive West Coast location for ’Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ because of its rich cultural diversity and commitment to the arts. At the heart of our story are lessons of tolerance, acceptance, and understanding — core values that are reflected and embraced in every aspect of the production. Theater is part of the lifeblood of this community, and we are humbled the city has welcomed the show with open arms.”
But while many of Rowling’s critics still cherish aspects of her most famous creation, they still feel the author has crossed a line.
Charlie Jane Anders, an author and trans woman, is ‘grateful’ for all the young readers “Harry Potter” encouraged, but adds “I think there are many ways to love Harry Potter without giving Rowling a penny.” (Sarah Deragon/courtesy of Charlie Jane Anders)
“I think there are many ways to love Harry Potter without giving Rowling a penny,” says Anders. “I’m very grateful to the Potter books for helping to create a whole new generation of readers, and for helping to save bookstores at a crucial time. But there is so much wonderful fantasy being published now, by marginalized authors, with worlds that are both more vibrant and more inclusive than Rowling’s.”
Steele, who says they “devoured the books as a kid,” agrees: “I took things from the books that matter to me, but there are other ways to get those same lessons.”
Says Serano, “I’ve seen people say things like, ‘Well, for me, Harry Potter was this queer or trans metaphor of what it’s like to be a kid living in a world where nobody understands why you’re special and they treat you bad, but then you go to a magical place where people understand that you’re special and appreciate you for that.’ And yeah, I guess you could read that as a queer or a trans metaphor. I’ve also seen people who said, ‘I was looking forward to sharing the Harry Potter books with my kids when they grew up, but there’s no way I’m doing that now.’”
To Serano, what’s most important is not to shy away from really examining the problematic side of beloved cultural artifacts and the people behind them. “Maybe this can become a teachable moment,” Serano says. “If it can generate conversations, then maybe there is some good that comes out of it.”
Contact Sam Hurwitt at shurwitt@gmail.com, and follow him at Twitter.com/shurwitt.
By Jack Thorne, based on an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne, presented by The Curran
When: Now in previews; main run is Feb. 24-Sept. 4
Where: The Curran, 445 Geary St., San Francisco
Health safety: Attendees 12 and over must have proof of vaccination and booster, those under 12 must have proof of negative COVID test, ticketholders are asked to wear masks inside the theater
FORT WAYNE, Ind., Dec. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vera Bradley, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRA; “Vera Bradley” or the “Company”), a leading American bag and luggage company and iconic lifestyle brand, today debuted the Harry Potter™ + Vera Bradley Luna’s Medallion collection, a new limited-edition capsule collection in collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products.
Fan favorite Luna Lovegood™, her distinct flair for fashion, and the dreamy, kaleidoscopic view seen through her signature Spectrespecs inspired the magical Luna’s Medallion collection. Look for surprises hidden within the pattern, such as Luna’s radish earrings and rabbit Patronus!
“We’re celebrating the joy and excitement of the holiday season by once again collaborating with Warner Bros. Consumer Products to create another very special Harry Potter™ + Vera Bradley collection,” noted Daren Hull, Vera Bradley Brand President. “Fans of the Wizarding World™ and Vera Bradley alike are sure to delight in the limited-edition Luna’s Medallion collection, inspired by the one-of-a-kind, lovable Luna Lovegood™.”
The Harry Potter™ + Vera Bradley Luna’s Medallion collection, offered in the brand’s newest Recycled Cotton fabrication, is available exclusively on www.verabradley.com and at Harry Potter New York, the official Harry Potter™ flagship store in New York City. The collection offers 16 styles, ranging in price from $19.99 to $135, including best-selling silhouettes like the Plush Throw Blanket, Large Travel Duffel and RFID All in One Crossbody. To learn more, visit www.verabradley.com/harrypotter and follow @verabradley and @harrypotter.
About Vera Bradley, Inc. Vera Bradley, Inc. operates two unique lifestyle brands – Vera Bradley and Pura Vida. Vera Bradley and Pura Vida are complementary businesses, both with devoted, emotionally-connected, and multi-generational female customer bases; alignment as casual, comfortable, affordable, and fun brands; positioning as “gifting” and socially-connected brands; strong, entrepreneurial cultures; a keen focus on community, charity, and social consciousness; multi-channel distribution strategies; and talented leadership teams aligned and committed to the long-term success of their brands.
Vera Bradley, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is a leading designer of women’s handbags, luggage and other travel items, fashion and home accessories, and unique gifts. Founded in 1982 by friends Barbara Bradley Baekgaard and Patricia R. Miller, the brand is known for its innovative designs, iconic patterns, and brilliant colors that inspire and connect women unlike any other brand in the global marketplace.
In July 2019, Vera Bradley, Inc. acquired a 75% interest in Creative Genius, Inc., which also operates under the name Pura Vida Bracelets (“Pura Vida”). Pura Vida, based in La Jolla, California, is a rapidly growing, digitally native, and highly engaging lifestyle brand founded in 2010 by friends Paul Goodman and Griffin Thall. Pura Vida has a differentiated and expanding offering of bracelets, jewelry, and other lifestyle accessories.
About Warner Bros. Consumer Products Warner Bros. Consumer Products, part of Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences, extends the Studio’s powerful portfolio of entertainment brands and franchises into the lives of fans around the world. WBCP partners with best-in-class licensees globally on an award-winning range of toys, fashion, home décor, and publishing inspired by franchises and properties such as DC, Wizarding World, Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, HBO, Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. The division’s successful global themed entertainment business includes groundbreaking experiences such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi. With innovative global licensing and merchandising programs, retail initiatives, promotional partnerships and themed experiences, WBCP is one of the leading licensing and retail merchandising organizations in the world.
About Wizarding World In the years since Harry Potter was whisked from King’s Cross Station onto Platform nine and three quarters, his incredible adventures have left a unique and lasting mark on popular culture. Eight BlockbusterHarry Potter films based on the original stories by J.K. Rowling have brought the magical stories to life and today, the Wizarding World is recognised as one of the world’s best-loved brands.
Representing a vast interconnected universe, it also includes two epic Fantastic Beasts films, (the third releasing in 2022), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – the multi-award-winning stage-play, state-of-the-art video and mobile games from Portkey Games, innovative consumer products, thrilling live entertainment (including four theme park lands) and insightful exhibitions.
This expanding portfolio of Warner Bros. owned Wizarding World experiences also includes Harry Potter New York – a brand new flagship store, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo, and the Platform 9 3⁄4 retail shops.
The Wizarding World continues to evolve to provide Harry Potter fans with fresh and exciting ways to engage. For the worldwide fan community, and for generations to come, it welcomes everyone in to explore and discover the magic for themselves.
Tom Felton, best known for portraying Draco Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” film series, is “on the mend” after he collapsed Thursday at a celebrity golf tournament.
Ryder Cup celebrity showcase competitors including the actor, who was representing Europe, had just finished posing for photos on the 18th green at the conclusion of their match when the actor, who turned 34 on a day earlier, seized and fell to the ground. Panicked calls for medical assistance ensued.
Felton was tended to while on the ground for some time before a golf cart arrived. He was helped to his feet, placed on a stretcher and driven away. Ryder Cup organizers said only that Felton experienced “a medical incident” at Whistling Straits and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Original report:‘Harry Potter’ actor Tom Felton carted off after collapse at celebrity golf event
The actor provided an upbeat update to fans Saturday on Instagram, where he shared – with a guitar in hand – that he was “on the road to recovery” and “feeling better by the day” while expressing gratitude for all the well-wishes he received.
“Yeah, a bit of a scary episode, really,” he said with a laugh. “But people have been taking really good care of me. … I am on the mend, officially.”
He concluded with a short musical summary: “Don’t you worry, girl, Tom will be doing fine,” he sang.
Felton, born in Surrey, England, is best known for portraying Harry Potter’s school nemesis. His other screen credits include TV’s “The Flash” and the 2011 film “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.”
Earlier this month, Felton joined the Wizarding World, the official digital hub for “Harry Potter” fans, to kick off celebrations for the upcoming 20th film anniversary of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” which premiered in November 2021.
“The set of The Great Hall was fantastic,” Felton recalled of his most memorable moment on the set. “All of the cast’s reactions were genuine in that moment. We hadn’t seen it before, so it was a complete surprise.”
Contributing: JR Radcliffe and Jim Owczarski, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and The Associated Press
The first Harry Potter film came out almost 20 years ago: And Tom Felton kicked off celebrations
Previously:‘Harry Potter’ co-star Tom Felton praises pal Emma Watson, says he too is ‘self-partnered’
In the first book (and film) of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – Sorcerer’s Stone in the US – Harry eats his first chocolate frog on the train to Hogwarts and discovers a ‘Famous Witch and Wizard’ card, which describes a man called Nicolas Flamel. In the books, Flamel is a friend to Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and the man responsible for creating the titular Philosopher’s Stone.
Flamel is not Rowling’s invention, however – he really existed. Born in Pontoise, France, in around 1330, he was a successful scribe and bookseller. After his death in 1418, rumours began circulating that he had learned alchemical secrets on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, in north-western Spain.
Alchemy was considered to be one of the highest arts in the medieval and Renaissance periods, and many people did study it. It is a kind of medieval chemistry, concerned with the transformation of matter (for example, turning base metals into gold).
Alchemists believed that nature had secrets to reveal, which could be discovered through careful experimentation. The practice taps into humanity’s desire to seek more knowledge, and is now considered to be part of the history of science.
But despite the rumours, there is no real evidence that the real Nicolas Flamel had anything to do with alchemy.
The Philosopher’s Stone
Not only was it believed that the real Nicolas Flamel was an alchemist, it was also believed that he had discovered the legendary Philosopher’s Stone. It is ruby red stone, so the first Harry Potter story has it, that can turn metal into gold and can also produce the elixir of life, and it is something that scientists really did quest to discover in the Middle Ages and beyond.
In the 13th century, a vast number of Arabic works reached England and were translated into Latin, including treatises on alchemy, which told of an unrecognisable substance they called the Philosopher’s Stone. The search continued well into the 17th century – we now know that Isaac Newton secretly dabbled in alchemy – and although the Philosopher’s Stone was never discovered, the science did lead to other significant discoveries. Distillation, laudanum, oil paints and inks were all discovered thanks to alchemy.
Broomsticks
Harry Potter, we discover in The Philosopher’s Stone, is a natural when it comes to flying on a broom – and that broom-flying is an essential skill in the game of Quidditch, the wizarding world’s preeminent team sport.
The image of a witch flying on a humble broomstick has become an archetypal one, dating back to the 15th century, when it was believed that witches summoned demons that could enchant their broomsticks into flight. The records of French magistrate Claude Tholasan, who was involved in a series of witch trials spanning some 20 years in the early 1400s, are particularly illuminating. They reveal that the witches on trial claimed (under torture) that they went out at night in the company of devils and strangled children. They would then smear their broomsticks with the fat of their victims and fly to a banquet with the devil.
In the Harry Potter canon, the fact that witches and wizards fly on broomsticks is their worst kept secret, popular as magical transport because they are portable, cheap and require no explanation to muggles – non-magic folk – as to why they were in possession of a broom.
Familiars
Early on in The Philosopher’s Stone, Harry is taken to Diagon Alley – the wizarding equivalent of Oxford Street – where among other things he acquires his own owl, Hedwig. Elsewhere we see students with cats, rats and, in the case of another character called Neville Longbottom, a toad.
But these are not akin to familiars as our medieval forbears would have understood them. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a familiar as “a spirit, often taking the form of an animal, which obeys and assists a witch”. Alongside their broomsticks and pointed hats, witches and wizards have been associated with familiars from at least the 16th century; the earliest recorded usage comes from one of French reformer John Calvin’s sermons in 1583.
It was believed that these animals were actually demons who sucked blood from the witches in return for service, and it was common practice to search accused witches for teats as a sign of their guilt. In the Salem witch trials, one accuser claimed to have seen a woman sitting on the beams of the church, suckling a yellow bird, and the accused girl Dorothy/Dorcas Good confessed to having and suckling a little snake.
Whilst familiars of this kind don’t appear in the world of Harry Potter, there are plenty of animals, from Crookshanks to Mrs Norris, who share an affinity with their owners and seem to have their own innate powers and abilities.
Basilisk versus phoenix – a medieval legend made flesh
By the 12th century, bestiaries – a type of medieval encyclopaedia – were the ‘bestsellers’ of the medieval world. In these works, cats, pigs and rabbits rub shoulders with fantastical, mythological creatures such as the phoenix, the unicorn and the basilisk.
The manuscripts are a mix of fact and fiction that blend religious writings and folklore with hyperbolic accounts from returned travellers – at a time when far less was known about the world. As well as describing these animals, authors would use them as a form of moral instruction – warning against the hypocritical tears of a crocodile, for example, or encouraging readers to imitate the industrious bee.
Read more about the (tall?) tales of medieval traveller Sir John Mandeville
A number of animals found in medieval bestiaries can also be found in the Potterverse – including centaurs, giants, werewolves and the three-headed guard dog, Cerberus. In the second instalment in the series, The Chamber of Secrets, two of these fantastical creatures go head-to-head: the basilisk sealed inside Hogwarts by Salazar Slytherin and Dumbledore’s pet phoenix, Fawkes.
According to medieval legend, the basilisk – also known as king of the serpents – is a cockerel with a snake’s tail. It can kill birds with the fire from its mouth, and any human who locks eyes with the creature will drop dead. The phoenix, in bestiaries, is a purplish-red bird that is sometimes described as being the size of an eagle. The bird is immortal – every 500 years, it will build a pyre for itself and set itself on fire using the sun. Nine days later, it will rise again from the dead.
Although both animals will be familiar to Harry Potter fans, Rowling’s creations are slightly different to their medieval counterparts. Her basilisk can also kill with a glance, but it is more like a giant snake than a snake-cockerel hybrid. According to medieval bestiaries, only a weasel can defeat a basilisk, but inHarry Potter andthe Chamber of Secrets, Fawkes helps Harry to destroy the creature by pecking out its eyes.
Bezoar stones really were regarded cure-all, but not just for poison
Bezoar stones act as an antidote for a wide range of poisons in the wizarding world. Professor Snape writes “just shove a bezoar down their throats” across a list of antidotes in his copy of Advanced Potion Making, and Harry finds this advice to hold true when he saves Ron’s life with a bezoar stone in the sixth instalment,Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Rowling takes her inspiration for this antidote directly from history. Bezoar stones were one of the most desirable objects for European collectors in the 16th and 17th centuries, due to their reputation as an effective medicine, believed to help treat range of illnesses from melancholia to the plague.
According to the 16th-century natural historian Nicholas Monardes, the stones were formed from the tears of goats, shed after eating poisonous snakes. Although by the 18th century they were largely disregarded, in 2007 the auction house Christie’s sold a bezoar stone for a whopping €33,600, suggesting that they still hold some power over our imaginations.
Runes
The study of ancient runes at Hogwarts introduces students to a subject that has long been associated with magic.
Evidence of runes inscribed on ordinary objects as charms to protect the wearer has been discovered all over Europe, and the ancient Goths used the word haliurunnae (Hell-runer) to refer to a sorceress.
The Germanic word rune translates as ‘mystery’ or ‘secret’, and the origins of this ancient written communication are similarly mysterious. Whilst many believe they were inspired by ancient Greek and Roman alphabets, Norse mythology tells a more compelling story, in which the god Odin sacrifices himself in return for the knowledge of the runes: he injures himself with a spear and then hangs on a ‘windy tree’ for nine days and nights without food in return for their secrets.
Whilst divination teacher Sybill Trelawney claims that divination is “the most difficult of all magical arts”, her students are less impressed by the subject. Hermione calls the art of foreseeing the future “woolly”, whilst Harry and Ron make up outlandish prophecies, tinged with tragedy, to pass their exam. The fact that their fictional prophecies turn out to accurately predict the trials Harry will face in the Triwizard Tournament during the fourth instalment The Goblet of Fire may well be Rowling’s comment on how dismissive we can be of a practice that is thousands of years old.
In the 2017 Harry Potter exhibition at the British Library, the oldest items on display were Chinese oracle bones, also known as dragon bones, more than 3,000 years old. Questions about topics as various as the weather to the outcome of major battles were engraved on the bones and then heat was applied with metal sticks. The bones cracked under the heat and ‘diviners’ could then interpret the patterns for answers and predict the future.
Seers and sibyls
The aforementioned Trelawney, descended from the famous (in the wizarding world) seer Cassandra Trelawney, is the professor of divination at Hogwarts. Despite this, she only makes two true predictions that readers ever know of.
Yet her name is a historical nod to that latent talent, as is that of her grandmother. Cassandra was a Trojan priestess of Apollo, the Greek god of truth and prophecy, who would grant the gift of prophecy to women as a sign of his favour, but then punish them if they refused his sexual advances. For Cassandra, that punishment was that she was cursed never to be believed, even when she predicted the destruction of Troy during the Trojan War.
Sibyll is another allusion. In Greek legend and literature, sibyls were prophets, strong female seers who had great influence over their communities and rulers. They too were usually associated with Apollo.
The denouement of The Philosopher’s Stone – in which Voldemort is revealed to be living on the back of Professor Quirinus Quirrell’s head – is perhaps predictable if you have a strong grasp of Roman deities.
His very name references the Roman god of doorways, transitions, and new beginnings: Janus Quirinus. Janus is famously depicted as having two faces, one looking into the past and one looking into the future, much like Quirrell when he reveals Voldemort’s face from under his turban. We also have Janus to thank for the month of January, the entryway into the new year.
Cedric Diggory, best friend of Achilles
Quirrell is not the only character with a direct analogue in mythology – the same could be said of Cedric Diggory, who is killed towards the end of The Goblet of Fire.
Rowling has revealed that the moment in which Harry retrieves Cedric’s body is inspired by a series of events in Homer’s famous epic The Iliad. In this account of the Trojan war, Patroclus – the best friend and, many believe, lover of Achilles – is killed by Hector.
Achilles retrieves Patroclus’s body from the Trojans and takes it back to his tent, where he delays the funeral for as long as possible because he is too grief stricken to let go of his friend’s body – something nodded to in the film when we see Harry clinging to Cedric’s body until he is forcibly removed.
Mandrake was considered a cure, but not for ‘petrification’
Herbology is one of the many classes taught at Hogwarts, in which students learn about the properties of both mundane and magical plants, and how to care for them and use them properly.
One of these plants, which appears in almost every book, is the mandrake. The plant has a root that looks like a human and, when it matures, its cry can be fatal to anyone that hears it.
Mandrakes pop up first in classical literature and are then documented in medieval herbals, in illustrations which depict a man-shaped root. Medieval herbals are a certain type of manuscript, which collect together the medicinal, culinary, aromatic and magical properties of different plants and, like bestiaries, they are a mix of fact, fiction, and folklore.
In one herbal from the 12th century, now housed in the British Library, readers are instructed on how to collect real mandrakes, which are allegedly very useful in medicine, without damaging their hearing or losing their lives.
In the wizarding world, mandrakes are used as a restorative draught for those who have been ‘petrified’ (stunned into a comatose state by a creature such as a basilisk). In medieval herbals, however, they are recommended for pre-operative patients, to make them soporific and minimise their pain.
Magic was used as medicine (in a fashion)
A number of healing practices used in the medieval period sound suspiciously like ‘magic’ to us, and were even described as such at the time.
For example, sympathetic magic, a type of ‘natural magic’, was used in the medieval period to cure various ailments. For eye problems, a doctor might prescribe the eye of a vulture, wrapped in the skin of a wolf, to be worn around the patient’s neck. Plant-based poultices, meanwhile, would be coupled with a charm, or spell, to increase the chances of success. Although some of these practices were labelled as ‘superstitious’ in the later Middle Ages, they weren’t associated with demonic magic until the dawning of the witch hunts in the 15th century.
Similarly, many of the plants that Hogwarts students learn about in their Herbology lessons are used for medicine as well as in potions and spells. Rowling’s exploration of plant-based healing, and the blurring of magic and medicine, therefore has a direct relation to medieval ‘natural magic’, which was considered at the time to be a branch of science.
Horcruxes may not be real, but people believed in magical objects
Much of the adventure and intrigue in the Potterverse revolves around magical objects. Examples include the Goblet of Fire, an innocuous looking cup which acts as an impartial judge; the Mirror of Erised, which offers the gazer a glimpse of their heart’s deepest desire; and, of course, the horcruxes in which Voldemort conceals parts of his soul.
In medieval legend, objects are equally central and often have magical or miraculous properties. One of the most famous Arthurian legends is the quest for the Holy Grail, a cup that Christ drank from at the Last Supper, and which could give its owner eternal life.
In medieval Christianity, too, objects are often imbued with special powers. Relics of saints in particular were often believed to have the power to heal illness or help fertility. Many people – including the fictional pilgrims of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – went on pilgrimage to the shrine of St Thomas Becket, who before his death had been Archbishop of Canterbury, where they would buy a vial of his watered-down ‘healing blood’ as a souvenir. The milk of the Virgin Mary and the tears and blood of Christ were also advertised and available for sale at various sites of pilgrimage.
Abracadabra, the killing curse, and a cure for malaria
Avada Kedavra, the killing curse, is supposed to inflict instant, unavoidable death – which is what makes Harry Potter so famous. ‘The Boy Who Lived’ is the only person known to have survived it.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2004, Rowling revealed that the curse is inspired “by an ancient spell in Aramaic […] which means ‘let the thing be destroyed’”. However, the Aramaic spell she refers to is one of healing and protection rather than one of destruction.
It is also one of the possible sources for the magical phrase abracadabra – although the phrase could also be derived from the Hebrew ab, ben, and ruach hakodesh (father, son, and holy spirit) or even from the magical word abraxas whose letters, in Greek numerology, add up to 365, the number of days in a year.
The first recorded use of abracadabra can be found in a 13th-century manuscript copy of Quintus Serenus’s Liber medicinalis (Book of Medicine), where it is written out five times as a charm to cure malaria. It is still used in the present day to invoke a sense of magic.
LISTEN: Archaeologist and author Chris Gosden explores delves into the history of magical beliefs and practices from ancient times until the present day on the HistoryExtra podcast. Listen here:
