The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter

by David Colbert

  Legend has it that St. George slew the dragon at what is now Dragon’s Hill in Berkshire, England. It’s said no grass can grow where the dragon’s blood was spilled.

  had been foretold, their ships were decorated to look like dragons. They continued to dominate Britain for hundreds of years.

  Not surprisingly, the saint later adopted as the patron of England, St. George, is famous for slaying a dragon—symbolically defeating the foreigners. In The Faerie Queen, a famous poem written during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, poet Edmund Spenser describes the dragon faced by the “Red-Cross Knight”:

  His body was monstrous, horrible, and vast, Swollen with wrath and poison and with bloody gore;

  And over all with brazen scales was armed, Like plated coat of steel, that nothing might pierce it,

  Nor could his body be harmed with dint of sword, nor push of pointed spear.

  His wings were like two sails in which the hollow wind

  Is gathered full, and work speedy way.

  His huge long tail, wound up in hundred folds,

  Spread across his long back.

  Spotted with scales of red and black,

  It sweeps all the land behind him,

  And at the end two stingers:

  Both deadly sharp—sharper than steel, by far.

  His deep devouring jaws

  Gaped wide, like the grisly mouth of hell, And in either jaw were three rows of iron teeth In which, still trickling blood and raw guts, Recently devoured bodies did appear.

  THE GOOD SIDE OF DRAGONS

  But dragons are not always enemies of humans. Especially in Asia, the dragon is benevolent—though sometimes bossy. Most importantly, it is a symbol of leadership.

  The Asian calendar is divided into twelve-year cycles, with each of those years associated with a particular animal. People born in the Year of the Dragon are said to be the best leaders, combining a strong will with a generous nature.

  WHAT’S INSIDE A DRAGON’S BRAIN?

  Some authorities say a magical gemstone, called draconite, can be found inside a dragon’s head: “There is cut out of the dragon’s brain a stone, but it is not a stone unless it be taken while the dragon is alive. For if the dragon dies first, the hardness vanishes away with his life. Men of excellent courage and audacity search out the holes where the dragons lie. Then watching until they come forth to feed, and passing by them with asIn the last half of the twentieth century, the years of the dragon in the Asian calendar were roughly equivalent to these years on the Western calendar: 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000.

  much speed as they can, they cast them herbs to provoke sleep. So when the dragons are fast asleep, the men cut the stones out of their heads, and getting the booty of their heady enterprise, enjoy the reward of their rashness. The kings of the East wear these although they are so hard that no man can devise to imprint or engrave anything in it. It has a pure natural whiteness.”

  In ancient legend, the blood of dragons was also magical. This fits with a fact noted on Dumbledore’s Famous Witches and Wizards trading card, that one of his achievements was figuring out the twelve uses of dragon’s blood.

  See also: Potter, Harry

  Who Were the First British Wizards?

  WIZARDS EXISTED IN BRITAIN LONG before Hogwarts was founded. Early wizards were known as Druids (as in Druidess Cliodna, who is depicted on a Famous Witches and Wizards trading card). The name comes from the Celtic for “knowing the oak tree.” They were the scholarly class in Britain and Gaul (what is now France).

  Druids acted as local priests, teachers, and judges. They also gathered annually in what is now the French city of Chartres to debate broader questions and settle controversies.

  The Roman ruler Julius Caesar, who conquered Gaul and Britain and recorded what he learned of those lands, said the Druids “discuss and teach to the youth many things respecting the stars and their motion, respecting the extent of the world and of our earth, respecting the nature of things, respecting the power and majesty of the immortal gods.”

  For centuries scholars thought the Druids built Stonehenge, the circular monument on Salisbury Plain, England. But some now believe it is much older than Druid culture.

  See also: Death Eaters Wizards

  Druid training could last as long as twenty years. As Caesar suggests, it included instruction in poetry, astronomy, and philosophy, as well as religion.

  The Druids worshipped several nature gods—they believed in a religious force that pervaded all living things. They also believed in immortality and reincarnation. Their rituals included animal and perhaps even human sacrifice. Caesar claimed they used twigs and branches to build huge frame sculptures in the shape of a man, then filled the inside of the sculptures with living people and set the sculptures ablaze. However, some scholars dispute this assertion, saying Caesar was unfairly biased against the Druids because they vigorously resisted his rule.

  Why Doesn’t Dumbledore Fight Voldemort?

  OFFICIALLY, ALBUS DUMBLEDORE IS SIMPLY the headmaster of Hogwarts. But he is significantly more important in the magical world than such a role would imply. He is the only wizard, other than Harry, whom Voldemort fears—one of the few unafraid to speak of the fallen wizard by name. He had been first choice to lead the Ministry of Magic, but, preferring to remain at Hogwarts, he plays a behind-the-scenes role, advising Minister Cornelius Fudge.

  Quite tall and thin, his hair and beard fall below his waist. He has a prominent, hawk-like nose, on which rest glasses with half-moon lenses. In Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone his Chocolate Frog trading card says he is “considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times,” and he has the titles to prove it: Order of Merlin (First Class), GrandAlbus means “white” in Latin. That befits a wizard with well-earned gray hair. It also makes him the perfect opponent of the “Dark” Lord.

  “Dumbledore” is an Old English word for bumblebee. J. K. Rowling says she liked the idea that this music-lover might hum to himself absentmindedly.

  Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards.

  A CLASSIC WIZARD

  Dumbledore certainly is a wizard in the legendary mold. In appearance and dress, one might easily mistake him for Merlin of the Arthurian legends or Obi-Wan Kenobi of Star Wars. Gandalf, the wizard of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books, could be a twin brother, down to the fiery eyes that make one recall the scene in Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when Dumbledore realizes Barty Crouch Jr. has been fooling him: “There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat.”

  WHY NOT SEARCH FOR VOLDEMORT?

  Dumbledore, his trading card tells us, “is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945” (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling). Since that was the same year that Britain and its allies defeated Hitler and other enemies of democracy in the Second World War, we can take it as a hint that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had quite a struggle. So Dumbledore must be an accomplished fighter.

  Why then would he let Harry face Voldemort? Surely he is powerful enough to find the Dark Lord and finish him once and for all?

  A CHILD’S EYES

  If only it were that easy. Dumbledore, for all his accomplishments and wisdom, is only human.

  We usually see him as Harry would: all-knowing and all-powerful. He is the perfect parent—especially important to Harry, whose own parents are dead. To Harry, who knows only the version written in history books, Dumbledore’s achievements seem too impressive to ever be matched. Meanwhile, Harry is full of doubts about his own abilities.

  But, of course, Dumbledore is only human. What could one expect of a person who likes chamber music, tenpin bowling, and lemon drops? He must have had all the same doubts as Harry when he was young—maybe more. History books record only part of the story. (Trading cards even less.) We know he
makes mistakes, like hiring Gilderoy Lockhart to teach Defense Against the DarkJ. R. R. Tolkien, a noted scholar of Old English, named giant insects in The Hobbit “Dumbledors.”

  See also: Goblet of Fire Hogwarts Potter, Harry Voldemort

  Arts. Had Dumbledore been all-knowing, he would have seen through Lockhart. And of course in Phoenix he made the much greater mistake of not explaining to Harry exactly what was happening. But no one can be expected to know everything.

  In Phoenix Harry learned a crucial lesson on the road to becoming a mature wizard: He understands that Dumbledore, though great in many ways, is imperfect, like everyone else. Now Harry can begin to see his own character and accomplishments as equally admirable. The confidence Harry gains from that knowledge is a powerful weapon against wizards like Voldemort.

  Why Would Durmstrang Students Travel by Ship?

  DURMSTRANG IS ONE OF TWO WIZARDING schools in continental Europe. Its exact location is a well-kept secret, but it is probably somewhere in northeastern Europe, judging from what J. K. Rowling tells us in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire : on top of robes of “deep blood-red,” the students wear coats of “shaggy, matted fur”; and the Headmaster is named Igor Karkaroff.

  “STORM AND STRESS”

  The school’s name is a play on the German phrase Sturm und Drang (“storm and stress”). That term describes a type of literature devoted to grandeur, spectacle, and rebellion. It was an important trend in German literature in the nineteenth century. The foremost writer of that movement was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whose most famous work, Faust,Durmstrang is probably located close to the Brocken, a mountain in the Harz range in Germany where witches were said to run wild. (See Death Eaters)

  details a man’s pact with the Devil—like the pact Karkaroff, a former Death Eater, made with Voldemort.

  Another artist of the movement, composer Richard Wagner, wrote many dark operas, one of them based on the famous story of a ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman. That ship was doomed to roam the oceans endlessly because its captain had angrily denounced God during a storm. Rowling turned that ghost ship into a school bus.

  Sturm und Drang composer Richard Wagner also wrote a series of operas about a wizard named Alberic, who, like Harry, had an invisibility cloak. (See Wizards—Alberic Grunnion)

  PUREBRED EVIL

  Durmstrang’s name is more than a pun. It is a clue to the essential differences between it and Hogwarts. While Hogwarts students are taught only Defense Against the Dark Arts, students at Durmstrang are taught the Dark Arts themselves. (This is the influence of headmaster Karkaroff, a former Death Eater.) As well, Durmstrang “does not admit Mudbloods,” according to Draco Malfoy, whose father admires the Durmstrang doctrines and considered sending Draco there. This devotion to a nasty and highly questionable notion of purity befits the school’s name. The artists of the Sturm und Drang movement, and Wagner in particular, were favorites of the Nazi government in Germany just before and during the Second World War. The Nazis were obsessed with killing anyone who did not fit their definition of a pure-blooded German.

  EAST VERSUS WEST?

  The differences between Hogwarts and Durmstrang also reflect long-standing animosity between countries of Western and Eastern Europe. Hogwarts, under Dumbledore’s leadership, is a good example of the democratic traditions of the West. Durmstrang is a more severe place, breeding wizards who can’t be trusted—just as Eastern Europe has long been viewed by outsiders. Significantly, by the end of Goblet, both sides recognize that their enmity must be put aside to fight their common foe.

  See also: Death Eaters

  Where Does Magic Come From?

  WHEN RON WEASLEY’S FAMILY MAKES A trip to Egypt in Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione admits, “I’m really jealous. The ancient Egyptian wizards were fascinating.” Then in Phoenix she happily studies hieroglyphs, the pictures that Egyptians once used for a written language. She would probably agree with the many scholars who consider Egypt to be the origin of magical knowledge.

  EGYPTIAN RELIGION AND MAGIC

  Hieroglyphs record that Egyptian magic and religion were closely linked. The Egyptian gods, unlike those in other cultures, entrusted humans with magical wisdom. (By comparison, according to Greek mythology the hero Prometheus—whose name means “to think ahead”—had to trick the gods into giving up fire, which represents life and knowledge.)

  According to Egyptian religion, magic was created in the form of the god Heka soon after the creation of the world. Heka’s name actually became the word that meant “magic.” After that word was passed into Greek, where it was given a local spelling and pronunciation, it became the word mageia, which gives us the English word we use today.

  Another Egyptian god, Thoth, was even more closely associated with magic. He ruled the healing arts—always linked with wizardry in ancient cultures—as well as astronomy and mathematics. He was often pictured carrying a pen, and was said to have written secret books

  that revealed the mysteries of alchemy and science. One of these books was supposedly sealed within a golden box that was kept within a hidden temple.

  The Egyptian god Thoth recorded his magical knowledge in books.

  EGYPTIAN SPELLS

  Egyptians relied heavily on charms and spells. Speaking of an action was said to make it so. Sometimes those words were spoken over a wax or clay figurine that represented the person or thing to which the magic was directed. These spells were commonly used for healing, but less benevolent uses were known. One wizard, Weba-aner, was said to have transfigured a small figurine of a crocodile into a live animal at court. The deadly beast killed the lover of the adulterous queen, then was returned to its original form by the wizard. Another wizard-priest became a ruler by using this technique to “rule all kings by his magical power.” He sank figures of his enemies’ fleets, causing the actual ships to sink.

  However, Egyptian magic was less concerned with earthly riches than with holiness. According to one text, “He who is a priest of the living . . . performs right actions without seeking a reward for them. Such a teacher lives a life of true piety.”

  The Egyptian god Osiris judged the dead.

  SCARABS

  Egypt is also the origin of the scarab, a beetle that Hogwarts students know from Potions class.

  Scarabs are called dung beetles because they gather and roll balls of dung in which

  they lay their eggs. In ancient Egypt this ball-rolling was seen to symbolize the movement of the sun. The scarab god Khepera was said to push the sun across the sky.

  An Egyptian drawing of a scarab pushing the sun, with extended wings that signify the sun’s rays.

  See also: Black, Sirius Fawkes

  Eventually scarabs also came to symbolize immortality. Carved scarab amulets were placed on the hearts of mummies to prepare them for their journey into the afterlife. Scarabs are still a common motif for jewelry.

  Which Character Can’t Die?

  WHEN HARRY’S ADVENTURES BEGIN IN the first book, the oldest characters are Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel, who are both more than 600 years old. But they lose their immortality when the Philosopher’s Stone is lost. However, another important character may be truly immortal: Fawkes, Dumbledore’s pet phoenix.

  The phoenix is a magical, eternal bird. It lives for centuries—some people say 500 years. The Latin poet Ovid said:

  There is a bird which renews itself again and again.

  The Assyrians gave this bird his name—the Phoenix.

  He does not live either on grain or herbs, but only on small drops of frankincense and juices of cardamom. When this bird Because of its association with fire, the phoenix came to be a symbol of alchemists. That led to its appearance on the signs of chemists’ shops.

  “When the bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix, Her ashes new create another heir, As great in admiration as herself . . .” William Shakespeare, Henry VIII (Act V, scene v)

  completes a full five centuries
of life, with his talons and with shining beak he builds a nest high among the palm branches. He places in this new nest the cassia bark and ears of sweet spikenard and some bruised cinnamon with yellow myrrh. Then he lies among those dreamful scents, and dies. And the Assyrians say that from the body of the dying bird is reproduced a little Phoenix which is destined to live just as many years.

  This sacred creature, almost always described as red and gold, was known as benu in ancient Egypt, where it originated. “Phoenix” is actually a Greek word. It means both “purple” and “date palm tree,” which leads scholars to guess that either the name came from a purple bird or from the idea that the phoenix built its nest at the top of a palm.