Quantum Harry, the Podcast

What links Ron’s sacrifice in the first book to the Quidditch World Cup and Ginny’s first match as a Seeker? How are the three Champions who aren’t Harry linked to Neville, Ginny, and Luna? And why is Harry a bishop in McGonagall’s life-sized chess game?  Episode 19: Not Playing to Win Watch the Episode 19 Video on YouTube Related Essay: The Anti-Player EPISODE GUIDE

Many readers have (rightly) seen traces of famous myths in Chamber of Secrets , such as Persephone and Hades, in addition to the abundant sexual symbolism in the book. In an earlier blog post (see Quantum Harry, the Podcast, Episode 3: Iron Maiden ), I compared Ginny Weasley to Persephone because they both embody the archetype of the Maiden and Persephone’s return from Hades each spring was similar to Ginny’s return from the Chamber, which brings her world back to life the way that Persephone’s return each spring also reawakens the world. However, “Little Red Riding Hood” is the story that really pervades the book, and this positions the second Harry Potter book at a very important place in a Young Adult series: after this Harry is spiritually mature and no longer needs rescuing. As rewritten from numerous folk-sources by Wilhelm Grimm, “Little Red Riding Hood” is a Pentecostal tale. Pentecost is the Christian holiday that comes fifty days after Easter; many people consider it ...

Early in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , Harry visits the Weasley house for the first time. Ron’s room is covered in paraphernalia from his favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons, a name that includes a weapon. Ron is marked as a future warrior because of his proficiency at chess, but his insecurity is also showing due to his allegiance to the Cannons. This team is ninth in a league of thirteen teams, and their motto is, “Let’s all just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.” Quidditch and games are frequently key to this book and, as in the first book, games again segue into battles. However, the most prominent “game” this time is that the plot is shaped by one of the most famous fairy tales of all time: “Little Red Riding Hood”, which I’ll cover extensively in the next blog post. (See Quantum Harry, the Podcast, Episode 13: Deus ex Machina .) There is also a fairy tale in Deathly Hallows called “The Three Brothers”, by the wizard writer Beedle the Bard...

When Harry first enters the wizarding world, where someone stands on Quidditch is a metaphor for how well they fit into that world. That Harry takes to flying immediately clearly delineates him as a soldier, a warrior. It also contributes to the animus between him and Draco Malfoy, who first mentions the word “Quidditch” to Harry. For Harry to join the Gryffindor house team as a first year and actually be good at it cements the separation between them. In addition to there being an archetype aligning with each book in the series (see QuantumHarry, the Podcast, Episode 2: This Old Man ), JK Rowling has also engaged in a clever bit of self-referential recursion. Each of the seven obstacles to the Philosopher’s Stone also aligns with one of the seven books in the series, and links to a significant theme in each book. The first obstacle to the Stone is “Fluffy”, the three-headed dog Hagrid loans Dumbledore to guard the trapdoor leading to the Stone. Harry initially sees Fluf...