2020 – Knock Your Socks Off !
With a leap into 2020, I crossed off a huge to-do on my bucket-list. I finished reading the entire Harry Potter series. Yup⦠all 7 books!
I blogged my thoughts last year on books 5, βHarry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenixβ and 6, βHarry Potter and The Half Blood Princeβ, because they were simply too exciting to hold in my headβ¦ brain went into overdrive and all that!
For those of you who read Harry Potter in real time as the books popped out, you might be thinking a storm of people kept up with the series and got to THE END. So whatβs the big deal?
And rightly so.
However, when youβre working on your own series and juggling to balance meals, laundry, the never-ending cascade of housework and growing lists of to-dos, finding time to keep up with a seriesβno matter how addictiveβcan be hard! And thatβs not all. I watched the corresponding Harry Potter movies after reading each book to relive the experiences and join Harry, Hermione and Ron in their journeys. That doesnβt even count Netflix episodes of DARK, THE CROWN and LOST IN SPACE that Iβve failed to keep up with! (That’s another story for another day).
So when I reached THE END of book 7 I marveled at how author, J K Rowling held my attention over the span of 7 books. Clearly, thatβs no easy feat. Now, you could attribute the success of Rowlingβs story where magic, sorcery, spells, charms, witches, wizards and flying brooms rule the roost to the fantasy world she created. But look closer and youβll see that the world of story only sets the stage for the characters to βplay onβ. The characters, chief players, that hold together the fabric of a tale, change within and in turn change the course of the story.
As the characters grew and took on specific roles, the main plot diverged into many subplots and Rowling tied up each and every story thread from main plots to secondary and tertiary plotsβincluding the backstories of key playersβfabulously. But thatβs not all. The locations, homes, residences and the roles of those worlds changed along the way.
Hogwarts, an educational institution turned into the final battle ground. Privet Drive began as a prison for Harry (who initially lived under the staircase) and as the series progressed Harry moved into a room of his own and gained more access to other rooms in the house and more freedom from the Dursleys. The Weasleysβ home, Harryβs abode of comfort, burned in a fire and left the Weasleys and Harry homeless for a while. Hogwarts, Harryβs boarding school, where he transitioned from boy to teenager and discovered his potential, transitioned from the place that protected Harry to the fort that Harry had to protect.
The backstories of characters that hadnβt been explored beforeβlike Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snapeβcame to light through the pensieve but only after their deaths. Rowling shone a light through another facet of the same prism so that Albus, a positive figure who can do-no-wrong and perpetually wore a halo, now swam in dark waters because of what heβd done to his younger sister, Ariana. Snape, who we loathed from book 1 because of his dark demeanor and apparent hatred towards Harry and who served Voldemort, turned out to be Harryβs guardian angel.
James Potter, Harryβs late father, who seemed like an angel-in-the-mist at the beginning, bullied Severus in the pastβnot so far off from how Draco Malfoy bullies Harry. Jamesβ trusted gang of Lupin, Sirius and others reflect Crabbe and Goyle, Dracoβs side-kicks, in present time. Neville Longbottom who suffers his own backstory of parents killed by Voldemort, yearns to emulate Harry, and almost reads like another version of Harry. In book 7, Neville takes on the mammoth task to kill Nagini the snake, Voldemortβs right hand, and takes center-stage, second to Harry.
Then we have Voldemort who like Harry was an orphan but chose to delve in the Dark Arts and trample over others in the race to glory.
Harryβs struggle to grapple charms and magic blossomed into a finale of spells but the spells faded in comparison to the fact that Voldemort had obliviously dug his own grave by having stolen a wand that he would never master. James and Lily, parents who sacrificed their lives for Harry, opened a door for Harry to sacrifice himself for others.
Harryβs scar not only beat like the heart of the story throughout every book but connected Harry to Voldemort. In the search for horcruxes, when Harry identified himself as a horcrux the inevitability of Harryβs death loomed and his self-sacrifice morphed to save mankind.
How utterly clever! I could go on about the centaurs, Buckbeak, Elves like Dobby and the Whomping Willow but I think I should stop here.
Rowling skillfully planted seeds that either blossomed and exploded by the end of the series or grew and reversed. The continued uncertainty of key playersβ motives, sudden changes in behavior patterns and closure of domains within the story world and launch of new worlds led each book in the series to grow stronger than preceding ones.
My journey with book 1, Harry Potter and The Sorcererβs Stone rooted in sympathy for Harry. After book 7, The Deathly Hallows, my heart raced out to Severus Snape who lost everything in life: Lilyβs unrequited love, possible friendships, was bullied by James Potter and his own life to protect Harry.
If all those contradictions, reversals, twists and turns donβt make for one helluva fabulous series and knock your socks off, then Dobby might just do the trick!