The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter

by David Colbert

  Verne was following a long tradition in making the giant squid out to be a villain. But, turning our expectations about monsters upside down as usual, J. K. Rowling’s giant squid is kind. When Dennis Creevey falls into the lake in Goblet, the squid rescues him, placing him back into the boat.

  Why Are Harry and Cedric Like Knights of the Round Table?

  THE GOBLET OF FIRE IS A “ROUGHLY HEWN wooden cup” that would be “entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames,” writes Rowling in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. By magic, it calls on certain wizards to test their skills in the Triwizard Tournament. That challenge and its mysterious source link the competitors, including Harry and Cedric Diggory, to the legends of King Arthur and the Round Table.

  The Goblet of Fire is more than a little similar to another powerful goblet that has launched tournaments and battles: the Holy Grail. This is the cup from which Jesus Christ drank at the Last Supper. Though sometimes depicted as a shining silver goblet, the Holy Grail, being the cup of a poor carpenter, would probably have been made of wood—like the Goblet of Fire. The Grail is also a magical object. To drink from it is to be miraculously healed. And like the Goblet, it can sense whether or not a person is worthy.

  One of Dumbledore’s middle names, “Percival,” connects him to the Grail. Most of the legends focus on a young peasant named Perceval who proves his virtue and becomes a great Knight of the Round Table.

  See also: Mazes Potter, Harry

  According to legend, King Arthur, praying for a sign from heaven during a barren period in his reign, sees the Grail. (In the earliest stories the Grail was a large platter; over time it became a cup.) He and his knights then undertook quests to either capture it or at least understand its significance.

  In Harry’s world the final task of the Triwizard Tournament is also to literally find a Grail, in this case the Triwizard Cup, and to win it for Hogwarts. And just as the Grail in Arthurian legend is found by Galahad, son of Lancelot, because his soul is completely pure, Harry and Cedric Diggory succeed in reaching the Cup through strength of character as much as wizarding skill.

  Why Are Goblins Such Good Bankers?

  NOT NEARLY AS FRIENDLY AS ELVES, AND more clever than gnomes, the goblins of Harry’s world have rebelled against wizards several times in the past. The truce between the two sides is uneasy, and the wizard world has not yet embraced goblins.

  THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

  The word goblin derives from the Greek kobalos , meaning “rogue.” The same word produced the German kobold or kobolt and the French gobelin. As “rogue” suggests, goblins tend not to haunt a single family or home but rather are given to roam.

  Sometimes goblins are portrayed as more industrious than evil—adept at mining and metalwork, for example. Their cousins, the hobgoblins, also tended to be more pranksters than malefactors. Puck, “that merry wanderer of the night” from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is the best example.

  People used to rid themselves of goblins by spreading flax seeds on their kitchen floor. For some reason, the goblin was compelled to pick up all the seeds—a very boring task. The goblin would soon look for fun elsewhere.

  They have even been known to do good deeds. Long before he wrote A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens wrote “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton,” a Christmas story in which goblins showed a man named Gabriel Grub—“an ill-conditioned, cross-grained, surly fellow; a morose and lonely man, who consorted with nobody but himself ”—the error of his ways:

  Seated on an upright tombstone, close to him, was a strange, unearthly figure, whom Gabriel felt at once was no being of this world. His long, fantastic legs which might have reached the ground, were cocked up, and crossed after a quaint, fantastic fashion; his sinewy arms were bare; and his hands rested on his knees. On his short, round body, he wore a close covering, ornamented with small slashes; a short cloak dangled at his back; the collar was cut into curious peaks, which served the goblin in lieu of ruff or neckerchief; and his shoes curled up at his toes into long points. On his head, he wore a broad-brimmed sugar-loaf hat, garnished with a single feather. The hat was covered with white frost; and the goblin looked as if he had sat on the same tombstone very comfortably, for two or three hundred years. He was sitting perfectly still; his tongue was put out, as if in derision; and he was grinning at Gabriel Grub with such a grin as only a goblin could call up.

  “I am afraid my friends want you, Gabriel,” said the goblin, thrusting his tongue farther into his cheek than ever—and a most astonishing tongue it was—“I’m afraid my friends want you, Gabriel,” said the goblin.

  Like the ghosts in A Christmas Carol who show Scrooge the meaning of Christmas, the goblins show Gabriel that the world isn’t as bad as it seems.

  However, goblins are most often portrayed like those of Christina Rossetti’s poem “Goblin Market”:

  We must not look at goblin men,

  We must not buy their fruits:

  Who knows upon what soil they fed

  Their hungry thirsty roots? . . .

  Their offers should not charm us,

  Their evil gifts would harm us.

  Magical creature expert Carol Rose says some goblins are known to be nice to children even if they don’t like adults.

  See also: Boggarts Cornish Pixies Trolls Veela

  J. R. R. Tolkien introduced bad goblins in The Hobbit and then made them truly wicked in The Lord of the Rings, for which he changed their name to “Orcs.” In his invented history of Middle-earth the Orcs were bred from tortured Elves, the creatures Tolkein loved, and became the Elves’ opposites. As Tolkien scholar Robert Foster says, “They hated all things of beauty, and loved to kill and destroy.” The Orcs become the army of Tolkien’s Dark Lord.

  J. K. Rowling’s goblins seem to be somewhere between good and evil. That balance makes them perfect guardians for Gringotts Bank, a task that requires they be both trustworthy and ruthless.

  Which of Draco’s Sidekicks Is Also Named for a Dragon?

  JUST AS DRACO’S NAME COMES FROM THE Latin word for dragon, “Gregory Goyle” echoes “gargoyle,” the monster seen near the roofs of some buildings. Less well-known is the source of that creature’s name: the Gargouille, a serpent-like dragon from France.

  The Gargouille lived in the Seine River. It spouted water with great force, overturning fishing boats and flooding the countryside. St. Romain, the Archbishop of Rouen, used a convict as bait to lure the monster from the river, then made the sign of the cross to subdue the beast. He walked it to the city, where the residents slaughtered it.

  See also: Malfoy Names

  Eventually, craftsmen carved images of the creature on the waterspouts they built to direct rainwater away from the walls of buildings.

  Which Creature Is Master of Both Earth and Sky?

  HARRY’S HOGWARTS HOUSE, GRYFFINDOR, literally means “golden griffin” in French. (Or is French for “gold.”) It’s an appropriate name for a house characterized by courage and virtue.

  Griffins (sometimes spelled “gryphons”) are magical creatures, part lion, part eagle. They originated in India, where they guarded huge treasures of gold. In the third century AD a historian named Aelian wrote:

  I have heard that the Indian animal the Gryphon is a quadruped like a lion; that it has claws of enormous strength and that they resemble those of a lion. Men commonly report that it is winged and that the feathers along its back are black, and those on its front are red, while the actual wings are neither but are white.

  Griffin, from the seal of an Austrian town, about 1315.

  In Alice in Wonderland, Alice meets the Gryphon, who is anything but fierce. He and the Mock Turtle tell Alice about their old school days and teach her an unusual dance, the Lobster Quadrille.

  And Ctesias [an ancient Greek historian] records that its neck is variegated with feathers of a dark blue; that it has a beak like an eagle’s, and a head too, just as
artists portray it in pictures and sculpture. Its eyes, he says, are like fire.

  It builds its lair among the mountains. Although it is not possible to capture the full-grown animal, hunters do take the young ones. Gryphons engage too with other beasts and overcome them without difficulty, but they will not face the lion or the elephant.

  THE MEANING OF GRIFFINS

  Griffins have been part of litterature and Griffins have been part of literature and mythology for dozens of centuries. In that time, their symbolic meaning has changed greatly. Scholar Hans Biedermann explains:

  A fabulous animal, symbolically significant for its domination of both the earth and the sky because of its lion’s body and eagle’s head and wings. In Greece the griffin was a symbol of vigilant strength; Apollo rode one, and griffins guarded the gold of Hyperborea [a mythical land of perpetual sunshine and happiness “beyond the north wind”]. The griffin was also an embodiment of Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, and turned her wheel of fortune. In legend the creature was a symbol of superbia (arrogant pride), because Alexander the Great was said to have tried to fly on the backs of griffins to the edge of the sky.

  At first also portrayed as a satanic figure entrapping human souls, the creature later became a symbol of the dual nature (divine and human) of Jesus Christ, precisely because of its mastery of earth and sky. The solar associations of both the lionIn Paradise Lost, John Milton refers to the griffin’s continuous struggle against a tribe of thieves: “As when a gryphon, through the wilderness . . . Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth Had from his wakeful custody purloined The guarded gold.” (Book II, lines 943-46)

  and the eagle favoured this positive reading. The griffin thus also became the adversary of serpents and basilisks, both of which were seen as embodiments of satanic demons.

  For the last thousand years, the griffin has been a favorite on family crests. An expert in heraldry says, “The griffin is very popular, for it has numerous virtues and apparently no vices. Notable among the former are vigilance, courage, and strength.” These are the very qualities embodied in the founder of Hogwarts whose name comes from this creature, Godric Gryffindor, and of the members of Gryffindor House.

  See also: Beasts Hippogriffs

  Why Do Parents Worry About Grindylows?

  GRINDYLOWS ARE WATER DEMONS FROM the legends of Yorkshire. J. K. Rowling introduces them in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: “A sickly green creature with sharp little horns had its face pressed against the glass, pulling faces and flexing its long, spindly fingers.”

  These dangerous creatures have a fondness for ponds and lakes, where unsuspecting children who get too close to the water’s edge can be caught and dragged under the surface. In Lancashire, the same demon is known as Jenny Greenteeth. In other parts of England it is known as Nellie Long-Arms. A relative of the grindylow, Peg o’ the Well, haunts wells.

  Carol Rose, an expert on demons and spirits, calls grindylows “nursery bogies, described with vigor by watchful nursemaids and anxious parents in order to prevent theEvery culture and every era has its water bogeys. This is from a medieval woodcut.

  See also: Giant Squid Kappas Merpeople

  untimely death of children in such fearful places.” But when Harry dives into the Hogwarts lake to rescue Ron during the second task of the Triwizard Tournament, the grindylows who grab his leg and robes feel very real to him.

  Where Do the Nastiest Mandrakes Grow?

  STRANGE BUT TRUE: IN EARLY VERSIONS OF the Cinderella fairy tale, the heroine was helped by a hazel tree rather than a fairy god-mother. Once upon a time that would have been common. No doubt it goes back to the first stories ever told. Nature spirits and tree gods appear in mythology and every ancient religion, and in fact trees were still the focus of some sacred rituals in Europe a thousand years after Christianity began.

  In botany as in the rest of her wizarding world, J. K. Rowling brings together past and present.

  A ROSE BY ANOTHER NAME ...

  Because plants have always been given strange names it can be difficult to guess which plants in the stories are taken from real life and which are imaginary. Any plant dictionary willPlants are also the inspiration for the names of many of Rowling’s characters, including Harry’s mother, Lily, and his Aunt Petunia. (See Names)

  Medieval witches gave plants the names of animals, making recipes seem more disgusting than they were. Some strange ones: Baboon’s Hair: Dill Seed Baboon Tears: Dill Juice Bat’s Wing: Holly Leaf Bear’s Foot: Lady’s Mantle Bloody Fingers: Foxglove Brains: Cherry tree sap Cat’s Foot: Ground Ivy Dog’s Mouth: Snapdragon

  have names worthy of Rowling’s wordplay: Viper’s Bugloss, Stinking Gladwin, Hercules’ All-Heal, Rupture-Wort, Mugwort, Saracen’s Confound, Flea-Wort, Serpent’s Tongue, Alehoof, Colewort, Bishop’s-Weed, Butter-Bur, Mouse-Ear, Coralwort, Throat-Wort, Stinking Arrach, Loosestrife, Ramping Fumitory, Miltwaste, Hare’s Ear Treacle. Yes, all of those are real plants. Some are commonplace. The names come from a famous book that Rowling has acknowledged as a source, The Complete Herbal by Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654). “I used to collect names of plants that sounded witchy,” she told an interviewer, “and then I found this and it was the answer to my every prayer.”

  Among the real plants Rowling uses in the novels are belladonna, wolfsbane, knotgrass, wormwood, hellebore, and daisies. Those are used in Snape’s Potions class, so they are described in detail in the chapter on Potions that follows. It’s enough to say here that, as you have come to expect, Rowling makes sure her wizards use them as herbalists have done for centuries.

  Gillyweed, which Harry uses during the Triwizard Tournament, is a joke on a real plant nickname, “gillyflower,” given to both the carnation and a wallflower. The name comes from a mispronunciation of an old French word; but Rowling’s invention fulfills the name’s promise. It actually gives a person gills.

  Dittany, another real plant, is mentioned in Stone. Although Harry is distracted before he learns about it, one type of dittany from the island of Crete has been long thought to have magical powers. It was even mentioned in Virgil’s epic The Aeneid. In that story the goddess Venus, looking on a battlefield, is

  ... mov’d with grief,

  And pierc’d with pity, hastens her relief.

  A branch of healing dittany she brought,

  Which in the Cretan fields with care she

  sought . . .

  This Venus brings, in clouds involv’d, and

  brews

  Th’ extracted liquor with ambrosian dews,

  And odorous panacee [panacea, or cure-all].

  (Bk. XII, 608-617)

  HUSH, LITTLE BABY

  The Mandrake, or mandragora, which Professor Sprout introduces in the second year, seems far too strange to be connected to legend. It’s hard to imagine it could be anything but a Rowling invention. How could anyone really believe a plant was a small,Dragon Blood: Calamus Dragon Scales: Bistort Five Fingers: Cinquefoil Hawk’s Heart: Wormwood seed Lamb’s Ears: Betony Lion’s Hair: Turnip leaves Nose Bleed: Yarrow Pig’s Tail: Leopard’s Bane Skin of Man: Fern Swine’s Snout: Dandelion leaves Wolf Foot: Bugle Weed

  An accurate drawing of a mandrake root and a medieval woodcut illustrating the fanciful version.

  screaming human? But that’s exactly what many people thought. Because the root of the plant is shaped vaguely like a human, the plant was thought to contain a human spirit, to feel pain, and to bleed and scream when pulled from the ground. Uprooting it, or hearing the scream, could kill a person. However, once in hand, the plant could be worn as a powerful amulet.

  Each plant supposedly could be identified as either male or female, so in time the mandrake became associated with love and fertility. It was often used in medicine to ease pain, and scientists now know it contains a strong narcotic that can work well in low doses or be fatal if too much is taken. Lazy men were said to have “eaten mandrake.” In Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra demands, “Give me to drink
mandragora . . . that I might sleep out this great gap of time my Antony is away” (Act I, scene v). As a love potion too it was important to avoid drinking too much. A little bit might work, but a lot would make the lover act like a fool. Yet it must have been effective: Venus, known as the goddess of love, was sometimes called Mandragoritis.

  Because mandrakes were said to contain spirits, they were sometimes asked questions as if they were fortune-tellers. The roots supposedly nodded or shook their heads in reply. The human shape also led to mandrakes being used like voodoo dolls: a spell or curse might be placed on the root in order to have an effect on a real person. This sort of magic was eventually outlawed and the mandrake came to be considered evil. In some places it was said that mandrakes grew from the blood that dripped from hanged criminals.

  In Chamber, Hermione explains to the class that the mandrake can restore people who have been somehow changed from their usual selves. That also fits with legend. One of the most famous transformations in legend involved mandrakes. In Homer’s epic The Odyssey, mandrakes helped the sorcerer Circe change Odysseus’s men into pigs and then back into humans again.

  Had Harry finished studying about dittany instead of being distracted by Hagrid’s sudden interest in baby dragons in Stone, he might also have discovered another kind of real dittany that, although less useful, is spectacular enough to impress the Weasley twins. It is covered in a resin that gives off a vapor that bursts into flame when lit. (The plant itself is left unhurt.)