Essay: Blood Sport
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
Fluffy due to Draco challenging him to a midnight duel, though Draco obviously
never intended to follow through on that. Dueling is an obvious mock-war and Harry
is alarmed by Ron stepping up to be his “second”, should anything happen to
Harry. Harry showing up to play/fight Draco leads directly to his meeting
Fluffy. The first step to overcoming this obstacle is knowing that it exists, so this is valuable
knowledge for the later battle/game, and mirrors another time when Draco
refuses to play a game that is really a war and Harry reaps the benefits: Draco
does not kill but disarms Dumbledore
in the sixth book and by doing so becomes master of the Elder Wand, a role that
will pass to Harry when he disarms Draco in the seventh book.
On
Christmas, a holiday that usually means toys, games and sweets for children,
Harry receives a mysterious anonymous gift: his father’s Invisibility Cloak. In
the seventh book, we learn that it’s probably a Deathly Hallow. The Cloak can
be used for games, as James did when he was in school, or war, which is how
members of the Order of the Phoenix use their Cloaks. Harry uses his for war
first, in the library’s Restricted Section, to search for information on
Nicolas Flamel, which leads to his discovering the Mirror of Erised. Like many
of Rowling’s mirrors, it is more like a toy than a “normal” mirror, and his
mastering the Mirror Game leads to success in the Philosopher’s Stone Game. Harry
first sees Flamel’s name on Dumbledore’s Chocolate Frog card, something
collected by kids that comes with a sweet.
The
legend on the mirror is simple backwards English: “I show not your face but
your heart’s desire.” This isn’t explained but perhaps Rowling knew that most of
her readers would master this game. Dumbledore confirms that this is how the
mirror works. As with the Resurrection Stone, the second Deathly Hallow Harry
acquires, it’s possible to be so transfixed by the mirror that you can forget
to live. Harry seems to be in danger of this, and by the end of the seventh
book we can guess what Dumbledore saw in the mirror, rather than himself
holding a pair of socks, as he claims: the family he no longer has, like Harry.
Quidditch
is also important in the first book because Harry learns that his father was an
excellent player and by extension of the metaphor, this refers to James’s
prowess in combat. Harry follows in his footsteps as a warrior and receives a
metaphorical weapon—a broom—at a younger age than most wizards, foreshadowing
his need to engage in real combat at an early age, which he’s already done with
Dudley.
When Snape catches
Harry outdoors with Quidditch Through the
Ages and confiscates it, claiming that library books cannot be taken
outside the school, he impedes Harry’s ability to take after James by engaging
in the metaphorical combat in which James excelled. During the first match,
however, Harry is attacked by Quirrell and he’s saved by Snape.
Why
does Quirrell wait until the first match to attack Harry? He could do it at any
time, and Rowling could have used other reasons besides a midnight duel to get
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville acquainted with Fluffy. Quirrell using a Quidditch
match, not another random moment, highlights the combative nature of Quidditch.
It’s properly engaging in a mock war to play this game, and a mock war is,
symbolically, the appropriate setting
for an attack.
Rowling
uses the Snitch, the key piece in the game of Quidditch, as a metaphor for
Harry by having Harry catch the Snitch in his mouth during his first match.
(See QuantumHarry, the Podcast, Episode 1: The Kids’ Table.) When he spits
it out he symbolically gives birth to it; it is of him. Harry and the Snitch are now entangled. After this, when Harry is Seeking the Snitch it can be
seen as Harry pursuing a piece of himself,
as though the Snitch is a Horcrux for him.
Paradoxically, since the Snitch was originally external to him it’s both a
“missing” part and not a missing part
that’s necessary for Harry to be integrated and whole. Harry is inherently
complete, a whole soul, in contrast to Voldemort, but catching the Snitch makes
him more complete, it augments him.
After
this, when others catch the Snitch, especially if Rowling emphasizes it, it’s
as if they’ve caught Harry. Rowling
not only uses games to structure the books and consistently morphs games into
battles, she positions Harry as the equivalent of a “piece” in the books’ most
prominent game and metaphorical war.
Ron
sees himself holding the Quidditch Cup when he looks in the Mirror of Erised.
This is an important symbol to him, and his winning the Cup in his fifth and
sixth years points to his worthiness as Harry’s comrade, as he is during the
seventh book especially. In their first year, Ron teaches Harry wizard chess, more
metaphorical combat, exercising Harry’s mind rather than his body. Wizard chess
is a mock-war for the humans controlling the chessmen, but a real war for the
pieces on the board. This is still more training for Harry-the-warrior, and
Ron-the-warrior is a force to be reckoned with, having mastered this form of
combat.
In
Harry’s second Quidditch match, Snape is the referee, but neither he nor
Dumbledore tells Harry why Snape is the referee, so Harry is nervous about the
ref being someone he thinks is trying to kill him. Dumbledore also attends the
match, as if he and Snape fear Quirrell will attack, despite his having ample opportunity
to do it at any other time. Quirrell
engages Harry on the field of war very formally
by jinxing him in the first match. Non-game-related scenarios are not even considered by Quirrell, Dumbledore or
Snape as times when Harry may be attacked.
It is confirmed
in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
that Snape being the referee and Dumbledore’s attendance at the match is due to
Dumbledore’s awareness that Quirrell is a threat. Quirrell and Voldemort’s lack
of scruples and Voldemort’s disdain for sweets, toys and games does not
preclude their having a strong sense of the appropriate.
They never attack Harry during anything but a game that is a metaphorical battle or a literal battle
with the overtones of a game.
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
JK Rowling introduces Dementors, who aren’t fought with violence but with happy thoughts. Those recovering from
proximity to Dementors are “treated”, both as a “treat” and as one “treats”
someone who’s ill, with chocolate, many people’s favorite sweet. In the first
book, in addition to bolstering Neville’s spirits by telling him that he’s
worth twelve of Draco, Harry instinctively senses that a Chocolate Frog is as
good as a cheering charm when he offers one to Neville after Draco curses him.
Harry sees Nicolas Flamel and alchemy on Dumbledore’s Famous Wizard
Card in the Chocolate Frog package he gives to Neville and realizes that Fluffy
is guarding the Philosopher’s Stone. Rowling again goes from war (Neville being
cursed) to play (sweets and toys) and back to war (protecting the Philosopher’s
Stone).
After his
second match, Harry sees Snape heading toward the Forest, so he uses his broom
to spy on him. The metaphorical war of the Quidditch match again segues into
real war, since spying is part of war. Unknown to Harry, Snape is his ally, not
his enemy, but he cannot tell this from the conversation with Quirrell.
Ron
mutters in his sleep about Quidditch fouls, thinking about metaphorical combat
even while sleeping, and specifically fouls, when a player breaks the rules. Ron is wrong, however, to say that Neville will
play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down. While he’s playing cards at a pub, Hagrid reveals
to a stranger (Quirrell in disguise) that Fluffy is pacified with music. This
could have happened during a conversation over a pint at the pub, or Quirrell
could have plied this from Hagrid at any
time, but when Hagrid slips up, it is during metaphorical combat: a card
game.
Another
game played throughout the school year is the House Cup competition, which Slytherin
has won seven years in a row. Most of Gryffindor considers Harry to be persona non grata after he and Hermione
are caught out after hours after taking a baby dragon up a tower. Neville is
also caught out, trying to warn them that Draco is sneaking around, hoping to
catch them. Gryffindor is in last place. When Neville tries to prevent Harry,
Ron and Hermione from leaving the common room again, Hermione, apologizing,
puts a full-body bind on him. With the opening battle won, they go off to play
a much deadlier game with higher stakes than the House Cup.
The
obstacles to the Philosopher’s Stone are all game-like or games help Harry, Ron
and Hermione conquer them. Thanks to Hagrid’s loose lips, they know music calms
Fluffy, something considered frivolous by many people but which Dumbledore
calls “...a magic beyond all we do here.” And, of course, the card game Hagrid
was playing with Quirrell when he revealed that music pacifies Fluffy also
helps Harry, Ron and Hermione when Hagrid recounts the game.
Fluffy
clearly owes a debt to Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the entry to the
underworld in Greek myth, so getting past Fluffy is symbolically the same as
entering the underworld to get a boon that prolongs life, a common quest in
myth and folklore. In other words, despite the properties of the Philosopher’s
Stone, you cannot completely escape death by using it to create the Elixir of
Life, since accessing it means, in this story, having to metaphorically die.
The
next obstacle is the deadly Devil’s Snare plant. Each Herbology lesson is also
a game in which Professor Sprout lays down the rules for play and students must
follow them or suffer dire consequences, so her lessons/games are also
miniature wars. This plant is pacified through relaxing your body after it
wraps around you, or by exposing it to sunlight. Rather than fretting about
having no wood for a fire, Ron prompts Hermione to use magic to conjure the portable
flames she used earlier to set Snape’s robes on fire.
Next
is Flitwick’s contribution: the flying keys. The relationship to games here is
obvious—they’re a flock of Snitches, and Harry, the youngest Seeker in a
century, makes short work of catching the right key to move on.
It’s
Ron’s turn. We finally get what the wizard chess games were leading up to: live
combat. Harry is too inexperienced to excel at this so he’s lucky Ron can serve
as his strategist. They quickly learn that the game is played exactly like wizard chess; captured
pieces are attacked and violently subdued.
During
the chess game Harry is in the role of a bishop,
a position of spiritual rather than secular or military authority, like the
king or the knight. This and Harry’s ability to speak to snakes points to his
being an axis mundi, a link between
worlds, a Liminal Being. (See Quantum Harry, the Podcast, Episode 8: Have You Tried Not Being Liminal?) Through Harry being a bishop, it’s easier to see
why it is his job to join divided entities and share power that has been abused
or hoarded: this is the role of a high priest, a holy man. This role is
revealed not though his magical education but in a metaphorical war that is
also a real war.
Metaphorical
war segueing into real war is an important aspect of the books, but Harry’s
role as a unifier and power-sharer puts him at
odds with both gamers and warriors and suggests strongly that he will be
victorious through refusing to fight,
rather than vanquishing his enemy with the magical equivalent of brute force—and
this is exactly what happens in Deathly
Hallows.
Contrary
to Quirrell’s assertion that those who do not seek power are weak, it is clear
that refraining from grasping power
requires more strength of character. Harry’s weapons are consistently
non-traditional, healing, and uniting. Rowling has created a staunchly
non-traditional warrior in Harry, an anti-soldier who is successful not despite
this, but because of this. We see
this again in the Triwizard Tournament, foreshadowed by this chess game.
After
Ron sacrifices himself, Harry and Hermione would be at a disadvantage in
subduing a troll, the next obstacle, if Quirrell had not already done it.
They’ve previously played The Troll Game, which needs Ron—it needs all three of them—but it would be redundant for
them to play this game again and they would likely fail without Ron.
Next
is another game that’s a battle, one at which Hermione excels: the potion bottles,
which is pure logic. There is a rhyme to accompany the game, which we also saw
when Harry entered Gringotts and when he played the Sorting Hat Game. Ron was worried
that being Sorted involved having to fight
a troll. The Potions Game is as dangerous as the others. If Hermione is
wrong, she and Harry could be poisoned at worst and unable to protect the Stone
at best. However, Hermione succeeds, so Harry drinks the potion that lets him
go on.
Harry
plays another game with the Mirror of Erised and Professor Quirrell: Keep Away.
Dumbledore designs the game specifically with Harry in mind, it seems, since
Harry’s impulse to protect the Philosopher’s
Stone, rather than use it, allows him to acquire it from the mirror. The Stone
is small, like a Snitch, the most prominent game-piece in Quidditch. The
Philosopher’s Stone also turns base metal into gold, though it’s not
gold-colored itself. This ties it to the Golden Snitches that Harry is an
expert at catching.
Voldemort
tells Quirrell to use Harry to get the Philosopher’s Stone and Harry lies about
what he sees in the mirror, referring to a game: he says that he sees Dumbledore
shaking his hand because he’s won the House Cup for Gryffindor. He pictures
himself winning contests many times in the books, and Ron sees himself winning
the House Cup and Quidditch Cup in the Mirror of Erised. Voldemort knows that
he’s lying, probably through Legilimency, but it’s significant that, when faced
with his mortal enemy, Harry refers to a
game. He could have said almost anything, but he chooses this.
The
first obstacle, Fluffy, is aligned with the first book in the series. The
significance of Fluffy to Harry Potter
and the Philosopher’s Stone is that Fluffy is a threshold guardian provided
by Hagrid, and Hagrid is involved in every threshold Harry crosses in this
book. The clue to Hagrid being a threshold guardian himself
is that one of his titles is “Keeper of the Keys,” a title held by St. Peter,
who is supposed to hold the keys to heaven. Hagrid is not just the herald of
Harry’s adventure when he brings him his letter in the hut on the rock, he is himself a symbolic key, a talisman that
helps Harry cross many thresholds throughout the first book, as well as later
in the series. He also carries what he thinks is Harry’s dead body in the
seventh book—though in that case, he is carrying Harry back into the world of
the living, away from heaven. It is fitting that Hagrid does this, in addition
to its being a pietà moment reminiscent of many representations in art of the
Virgin Mary holding the crucified Christ.
There are seven threshold crossings for Harry and
Hagrid in the first book alone, and these are yet another set of recursive
links to the seven books, in addition to the seven obstacles to the
Philosopher’s Stone each aligning with one of the books and each book having a
ruling archetype. The links between these threshold-crossings and each book are
entwined with the ruling archetype
for each book, and the last threshold is the first obstacle to the Stone.
Threshold #1: Hagrid the
archetypal Mother delivers baby Harry to Dumbledore, the best embodiment of the
first book’s ruling archetype: the Wise Old Man. Hagrid flies over water to do
so, which is a symbolic rebirth. (See Quantum Harry, the Podcast, Episode 4:Mother, May I?)
The links between the other threshold crossings and
the remaining six books will be described in future essays, but in brief, here
are the other thresholds:
Threshold #2: Hagrid delivers
Harry’s Hogwarts letter, crossing water again to reach Harry in the hut on the
rock, after which he takes Harry over that body of water to go shopping for his
school things.
Threshold #3: Hagrid takes Harry
through the wall at the Leaky Cauldron to reach Diagon Alley.
Threshold #4: Hagrid takes Hagrid
to an underground vault at Gringotts,
a symbolic underworld.
Threshold #5: Hagrid is with
the first years on the lake, the threshold-crossing ritual all Hogwarts
students go through.
Threshold #6: Hagrid takes
Harry, Neville, Hermione and Draco into the Forbidden Forest, another symbolic
underworld, for a detention.
Threshold #7: Through Hagrid’s
slip of the tongue, Harry learns how to pacify Fluffy so he, Ron and Hermione
can enter another symbolic underworld, crossing the seventh and most dangerous
threshold so far.
While he’s
surrounded by the sweets other
students have brought to the hospital wing for Harry, his reward for
successfully playing the Philosopher’s Stone Game, Ron tells him that
Gryffindor were “steamrollered” by Ravenclaw without him, further evidence that
Harry is integral to both literal and metaphorical battle. Without Harry, the
great unifier, or a surrogate chosen by
him, reuniting with the missing-and-yet-not-missing fragment of himself, the
Snitch, there is no victory. Harry was busy catching a metaphorical Snitch: the
Philosopher’s Stone. In that match, he is the victor.
The final metaphorical war of the book is the
competition for the House Cup, in which the “real” war, protecting the
Philosopher’s Stone, now contributes to success in a game. Through their acts
of bravery, skill and ingenuity, Harry, Ron and Hermione amass nearly enough
points for Gryffindor to win the Cup. It’s Neville, however, who puts them over
the top with his final ten points, awarded because he stood up to his friends,
which Dumbledore esteems as much as standing up to enemies. We don’t learn why
he feels this way until the last book—and even then, we don’t truly learn the
reason until JK Rowling opens a certain closet door and lets Albus Dumbledore
out into the open at last.
Adapted from the script for Quantum Harry, the Podcast, Episode 11: Wargames, Copyright 2017-2018 by Quantum
Harry Productions and B.L. Purdom. See other posts on this blog for direct
links to all episodes of Quantum Harry.
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