A Conversation with Harry

As "Deathly Hallows, Part 2" hits the theaters and the Harry Potter film series draws to a close, we're privileged to have Harry drop by the counseling office for an informal chat...

   

ST: Harry, it's been a real pleasure. You've heard this before I'm sure, but I feel like my children have grown up with you!

HP: Sweet - yes, I think I may know your children! Weren't they desperate to enroll in Hogwarts?

ST: Absolutely! I still have vivid memories of them, curled up beside their mom while reading your adventures aloud; chomping at the bit for the next movie - not to mention wearing your robes and glasses at Halloween ... that's good times for a kid.

HP: Ahh - to be a Halloween character for millions of kids. One never imagines such a thing! Unless you're Voldemort, I suppose (laughs).

ST: The "one who must not be named?" Glad you mentioned him! He and this whole wizardry thing - they've sort of been like the "big elephant in the room" for some Christians, haven't they? They just can't think of anything else.

HP: Isn't that a bloody shame? They certainly don't understand the power of fairy tales the way C.S. Lewis did - or J.K. Rowling. Lewis really believed that fairy tales could reveal the magical wonder of the natural world. Ordinary woods can become enchanted ... because they are. So fairy tales actually serve to remind us, as G.K. Chesterton said, that "our own world is just as much a fantastic creation as any that the most imaginative fantasy writer can devise."

ST: Amazing. And the last time I checked, the Bible itself contains stories of giants, and dragons, and vivid depictions of great battles against evil...(see Rev. 12)

HP: Spot on. Yes, the richness of the Potter stories is that they're essentially epic tales of good fighting against evil - all in a fantastical imaginary school-setting where stair-cases move, pictures on the walls are alive, and magic happens at the wave of a wand. What child wouldn't want to do school that way?!

ST: Right, and what kid hasn't pretended they could do things like ride on the back of a dragon, play with giants, and most especially, fly? Then throw in a wise, grey-bearded headmaster by the name of Dumbledore, a lovable giant-protector in Hagrid, and the sweetness of 2 close friends, Ron and Hermione (who along with you, face real struggles as they grow), and it's a great combination.

HP: Ahh, all my dear friends. Nothing like a friend to love us when we're down, huh?

ST: Indeed...you've been blessed. So tell us what you've come to understand about yourself. You did have a bit of an identity crisis growing up, didn't you?

HP: Yes, thanks to J.K. Rowling, I'm your classic "wounded hero" who is born right in the middle of a struggle against evil. Lord Voldemort, like Lucifer, is a defector from the ranks and "a murderer from the beginning" -  killing my parents when I was a baby - and then coming after me. 

ST: Sort of like how the Evil One tried to snuff out the promised Messiah through king Herod. Nasty stuff.

HP: Exactly - but then I also grow up to save mankind in the end! If you stop and look at all I've endured, I'm really a classic literary Christ-figure -

ST: ...he said modestly...

HP: (laughs) of course....growing up in humble circumstances,  making friends - but also dealing with the rejection of community - and later, willing to die to save the world. Come to think of it, I even retain my "scars" as proof (laughs).

ST: Excellent! Wow, you've really tuned in to this character. But are we stretching it to say that J.K. Rowling, your creator, was influenced by these Christian themes?

HP: Well, I'm not saying that J.K. set out to write a specifically "Christian" allegory, any more than Tolkien did when he wrote The Lord of the Rings - but as Tolkien said, the themes just made their way into his writing - themes of sacrifice, the perennial struggle to resist power, and enduring love.

ST: And you think that may be the same with J.K.?

HP: It's interesting, but in the Potter series I think there's even one place where she "tips her hand," so to speak. It comes in the "Deathly Hallows," Chapter 16: Godric's Hollow, when she has me visit my parent's graves. On their tombstone I read the quote,

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

And on another tombstone (belonging to Dumbledore's mother, and his sister) Hermione sees this:

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

ST: Fascinating, I love those verses. So Scripture even exists in Harry Potter's world.

HP: It seems so.

ST: So tell me, what else can we learn about life from these stories?

HP: Well, one thing I would say is the sheer power of imagination. (Do Christians have this in their experience anymore?) If you'll permit me a long quote, I love what Thomas Williams writes:

"Our problem is that – in Harry Potter terms – we have become “muggles” – mundane creatures unappreciative of and denying the power of anything we cannot see, hear, feel, taste, or touch…we reject the magical, romantic view of reality as head-in-the-clouds fantasy. We smile indulgently at teen crushes that send young people swooning and dreaming of that one face that entrances all the senses. We warn about-to-be-marrieds not to expect the euphoria of palpitating romance to last. Romance is an illusion caused by stars in the eyes. We tell couples to expect the romance to fade and warn them to steel themselves for the long haul, every-day chore of making a marriage work. Work is the key, not romance. Not joy…

Not so. In the play as God originally wrote it, the euphoria and tingling romance were intended to last. Wonder and delight are essential ingredients of reality, deeply embedded beneath the canker and rust that has marred the world since creation. Beneath the crust of decay, immense glory resides latent in every created thing. That beauty is still visible to any eyes that can be opened to see it." (Williams, The Heart of the Chronicles of Narnia)

ST: That's awesome. You memorized the whole thing...

HP: I'm a wizard...

ST: Of course. Your quote also reminds me of Chesterton saying that joy is the "gigantic secret" of the Christian. When you come to understand that even the "trees of the field" are called on to clap their hands at Christ's victory, you begin to see real enchantment. It's like the beginnings of a universal explosion of joy:  

"Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel." Isaiah 44:23

...Doesn't that fire the imagination? And one day, when the thorn tree has been replaced by the pine (Isaiah 55:13), the trees will rise to a standing ovation, when the King returns.

HP: No more Whomping Willow? That sounds good! And I was just reading your author - what's his name - Eugene Peterson, I think, talking about the cultivation of wonder. He says we had it when we were kids, but we lose it when we attempt to gain mastery over our lives, our workplaces, etc. Without wonder, he says, we turn life into a self-help project. (See Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places)

ST: Man, you are deep.

HP: (Smiles) You flatter me. Oh, and I must also mention one more thing about the climax of our story. Keep an eye on Neville Longbottom - he's really a key to the whole thing. Like Frodo Baggins in that other story, he exemplifies that true heroes are not really the strong and powerful who seem to triumph in their pride...

ST: You mean it's something like "God uses the weak things of this world to shame the strong?" (I Cor.1:27)

HP: Yep, something like that...

ST: Beautiful. Well, Harry, it's been so much fun. Thanks for coming in for counseling...and for counseling us!

HP: Anything for my "recovering muggle" friends (smiles). Keep reading, and enjoy!