Jesus Potter, Harry Christ

“We begin with children by telling them stories (mythoi). They are for the most part false, through there are truths to be found in them. – Plato (Republic)

Is Harry Potter a Christ Figure?

Comparisons between Jesus Christ and Harry Potter
With the publication of the final three books of the Harry Potter series, much of the controversy surrounding Harry Potter has died down. Perhaps the initial heated reactions have cooled off, and conservatives have realized that Harry Potter’s success is just something they’ll have to live with. Or perhaps the depth and detail of the Harry Potter world is now too large to be digested into a simple anti-magic rhetoric. And yet, perhaps the most fascinating similarities between Jesus Christ and Harry Potter continue to be largely ignored – some of which were only revealed in the final book. Although these similarities are explored on many blogs and websites, experts disagree about the related implications.

Birth
Both Jesus and Harry Potter have a miraculous birth story, which includes the survival of an attempt on their lives by an evil power, who tried to kill them because of a prophecy that the child would someday challenge their rule.

Jesus goes into hiding in Egypt with his parents when king Herod orders the massacre of all the young male born children in Bethlehem, because of prophecy he’d heard from the Magi (Matthew 2:16-18). Incidentally, this episode has little historical basis.

The incident is not mentioned by the contemporary Jewish historian Josephus, nor in the other gospels, nor in the early Biblical apocrypha, its first appearance in any source other than Matthew being the 2nd century Protoevangelium of James. Most recent biographers of Herod therefore do not regard the massacre as an actual historical event, but rather, like the other nativity stories, as creative hagiography. (Wikipedia.com, Massacre of Innocents)

Harry Potter’s parents weren’t lucky enough to be warned by an angel, and Lord Voldemort kills them both. However, when he tries to kill Harry, the powerful magical protection put on Harry by his mother’s loving sacrifice makes the killing curse backfire and hit Voldemort. Harry is taken away in secrecy by professors McGonagall and Dumbledore, and left in the house of his only living relative.
Childhood

Of both Jesus and Harry, very little is known until after they are 12 years old. The Harry Potter series reveals a few cases where, before Harry learned how to use magic properly, his powers caused accidents when he was angry. Likewise, although not recorded in the four gospels, there are many apocryphal traditions of Jesus as a child, using his miraculous powers for less than noble reasons. In The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, for example, Jesus killed a playmate for bumping into him, but brought him back to life when his parents complained. He also paralyzed a child for spoiling a puddle of water he’d made.

While the biblical story of Jesus then jumps to his adult years (or year – as the ministry as recorded in The Bible is just one year long), Harry’s main battles are all completed as a teenager.

Magic
It will be controversial to suggest that Jesus, like Harry, is a magician; however it is no secret that the figure of Jesus was endowed with miraculous powers, and many of his feats in The Bible seem little different than party tricks. He changed water into wine (Harry could have learned to do that in ‘transfiguration’ class), walked on water (Harry would have used the spell, ‘wingardium leviosa’), and multiplied fish and loaves of bread (as similar spell was put on the contents of the bank vault that Harry broke into in Book 6). Even in his own time, the miracles of Jesus were not particularly impressive; similar – and greater – feats of supernatural prowess were regularly associated with other mythological figures.

The truth is that there is no miracle performed in the gospels which is in any way more astounding than the many magical feats in Harry Potter’s world. A large part of what has always made the gospel stories exciting to readers, just like the Harry Potter novels, is the element of magic, fantasy and power. The Christian response will be, of course, that Jesus’ miracles were real, and were achieved through faith in God rather than magic; we will deal with both of these claims later on.

Battles with Evil
Jesus battles with demons who are often possessing a person. He ‘calls them out’ or sends them away. Harry Potter’s enemies are likewise often disguised as or have taken over the appearance of somebody else. Jesus’ power comes from the One who sent him, and his enemies are all manifestations or pawns of Satan, the deceiver. Harry Potter’s challenges are often overcome through his faith in Dumbledore, who continuously teaches that Love is the greatest magic, and Potter’s enemies are all precursors and agents of Voldemort.

Faith
A central theme in Christianity is faith. God has a plan, and we should try to listen and heed God’s call and believe in Him even when things don’t seem clear. A similar theme is found in Harry Potter, between Harry and Dumbledore. Throughout the seven novels, it becomes clear that Dumbledore has more information about the truth of things than he is willing to share, and a definite plan in store for Harry, even though he won’t tell him what it is. Although in the beginning, Harry has enough faith and loyalty in Dumbledore to summon Fawkes, the sorting cap and Gryffindor’s sword, as things get more difficult Harry has to continuously struggle to keep his faith in Dumbledore. After Dobby’s death in book 7, Harry’s faith is finally given unconditionally:

He had made his choice while he dug Dobby’s grave; he had decided to continue along the winding, dangerous path indicated for him by Albus Dumbledore, to accept that he had not been told everything that he wanted to know, but simply to trust. He had no desire to doubt him again, he did not want to hear anything that would deflect him from his purpose.” (Deathly hollows, 454)

Love
Another Christian theme is Love. The golden rule, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is recognized as Jesus’ single greatest ethical teaching, and the tautology “God is Love” is sometimes used to sum up the Christian conception of cosmology.

In Harry Potter, we learn that love is the greatest magic; it is more powerful than Voldemort’s strong, but dark, magic. It is the magic that protects Harry from his enemies and guarantees his eventual victory. Dumbledore, the surrogate God-the-father figure in the novels, promoted the idea that love is more powerful than all other magic, something that Voldemort never accepts:
“The old argument,” he said softly. “But nothing I have seen in the world has supported your famous pronouncements that love is more powerful than my kind of magic, Dumbledore.” (Halfblood prince, 444)

In this context, a passage from the book of John concerning love can be used in defense of Harry Potter. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love” (I John 4:7-12). In the series, Harry Potter knows love and it is this power that enables him to defeat Voldemort. Therefore, Harry Potter is “born of God and knows God”.

Sacrificial Death
Here we get into more controversial territory. There is nothing so crucial to Christian theology, nor so sensitive to criticism, as Jesus’ sacrificial death (which broke the chains of sin and saved all of humanity) and his subsequent resurrection (the evidence that Jesus is God’s son, savior, and that believers can likewise expect life after death.) Jesus’ death and resurrection is the epicenter of Christian faith – the one thing that makes him absolutely unique in history.

It is revealing that before the last book of Harry Potter was even published, many critics were already forcasting that Harry would face some sort of sacrificial death. Based on the similarities between Harry Potter and Jesus Christ, many readers guessed (accurately, it turns out) that the 7th novel would have Harry die to save the world:

But perhaps Harry will perform the ultimate sacrifice by defeating Voldemort and dying himself so everyone else will have the chance to live on. We really won’t know until the releases of Half- Blood Prince and Book 7, but it’s still fun to make predictions based on the possible foreshadowing and Biblical symbolism. (Mugglenet.com, 2004)

His death will be a noble one, it is prophesied in the blogs, a death both sacrificial and necessary to save the world from the satanic Lord Voldemort. I agree with this line. I also expect Harry’s death to show that his character’s path is modeled on the Gospel accounts of Jesus, and, more significantly, that the link between him and wizardry-school headmaster Albus Dumbledore is patterned on the most essential relationship in the Christian Bible — that between Jesus the Son and God the Father. (Diamant, 2007)

In fact, the way in which Harry faces his death in Book 7 is more similar to the Passions of Christ than anyone could have guessed. Harry Potter finally realizes that Dumbledore intended him to die at Voldemort’s hand. Such is his love and faith in Dumbledore, that Harry goes willingly to his death; hoping by his sacrifice to stop Voldemort and effectively save the world:

Finally, the truth. Lying with his face pressed into the dusty carpet of the office where he had once thought he was learning the secrets of victory, Harry understood at last that he was not supposed to survive. His job was to walk calmly into Death’s welcoming arms. Along the way, he was to dispose of Voldemort’s remaining links to life, so that when at last he flung himself across Voldemort’s path, and did not raise a wand to defend himself, the end would be clean, and the job that ought to have been done in Godric’s Hollow would be finished: neither would live, neither could survive.” (Deathly Hollows, 554)

Resurrection
The nature of Christ’s resurrection is likewise a hotly contested topic – and has been throughout the history of the Church. A central tenet of Christian faith is that the term “resurrection” means the physical, bodily re-animation of a fully deceased human body. As such, Jesus Christ is the only human in history that actually resurrected. Any other accounts of figures dying and re-appearing differ substantially; because they are only mythological or symbolic. They didn’t really happen. The same criticism will, of course, be used against claims that Harry Potter ‘resurrected’. And perhaps he did not, strictly speaking. However, Book 7 includes all of the right literary requirements to designate Harry Potter as a dying and resurrecting savior of the type that has been celebrated in various traditions for thousands of years. How we interpret the differences between Jesus’ death and Harry’s cannot mask the underlying similarities.
Harry went willingly to his death, gave no resistance, and was hit by a killing curse. It was the intent of his self-sacrifice that sealed his victory over evil. He found himself in a heaven of sorts, where he was able to talk to his deceased friend and guide, Dumbledore:
“But I should have died – I didn’t defend myself! I meant to let him kill me!”
“And that,” said Dumbledore, “Will, I think, have made all the difference.” (Deathly Hollows, 567)

Dumbledore told him, that if he so chose, Harry would ‘go on’ to other things, leaving his body behind.
“I’ve got to go back, haven’t I?”
“That is up to you.”
“I’ve got a choice?”
“Oh yes.” Dumbledore smiled at him. “We are in King’s Cross, you say? I think that if you decided not to go back, you would be able to… let’s say… board a train.”
“And where would that take me?”
“On,” said Dumbledore simply. (Deathly Hollows, 567)

We must assume that if Harry had ‘boarded a train’, then his physical body would never reanimate and he would be truly dead. He chose, instead, to go back and try and defeat Voldemort once and for all – another selfless decision.

Harry was ‘subjected to humiliation’ by his enemies, as Voldemort (believing Harry to be dead) celebrated his triumph by performing the ‘Cruciatus Curse’ on Harry’s body (582). It doesn’t take a linguistic expert to note the link between Jesus’ crucifixion and Voldemort’s “Crucio!” Harry is believed dead by all of his followers and friends, who mourned for him. His body is carried in a procession by Hagrid, and displayed as a symbol of Voldemort’s triumph. Briefly, it seems that evil has won the battle. But then Harry gets up, fights the final battle and defeats Voldemort forever.

More important than the scientific nuances of the word ‘resurrection’ are the literary themes found here: the hero appeared dead and was mourned. His followers are then later surprised that he was not dead, and celebrated his return. Such a literary motif would apply equally to both Harry and Jesus.

Mythological Symbols.
For those familiar with mythology and able to look in the gospels for universal symbols, themes and motifs rather than strictly literal accounts of history, the connections between Harry Potter and Jesus Christ can go even deeper.

Half-bloods
One common motif in mythology is that of the ‘half-divine hero’. Stories and folklore from nearly all cultures explain their heroes’ supernatural strength and powers by giving them a unique parentage; usually a mortal mother and an immortal father. The mother is sometimes referred to as a ‘virgin’ – but this can mean simply that, rather than becoming pregnant through intercourse with a mortal male, the infant is sired through supernatural means. Often these heroes are raised by a human father, who may not even know that his wife secretly bore the child of a god.

These figures are sometimes referred to as half gods or “Demi-gods”. Dionysus, Hercules, Heracles, Gilgamesh, Perseus and many more heroes are on this list, as well as historical figures like Alexander the Great and Helen of Troy. Any sufficiently grand personage could be given a higher status through this mythological motif. The divine parentage manifests in special abilities; or, in other versions, figures are given miraculous gifts and special items later on by their divine parent.

To take a familiar example, Merlin was son of a mortal woman and a spirit of the air, giving him his magical ability. Incidentally, some critics have argued that Rowling’s Harry Potter is indebted mostly to the Merlin myths. Like Jesus and Harry, Merlin was also a victim of a powerful ruler (named Voltigern) as a baby, due to a prophecy by his astrologers. Although Voltigern and Voldemort sound a little alike, the elements of this story are probably too widespread to limited to a single tradition.

Jesus, likewise, was born of a mortal woman and the Holy Spirit (a face of the triune God) and announced by an angel. He was raised by his father Joseph, but knew that he also had a divine father.
Rowling’s treatment of this motif is innovative. Rather than having a mortal woman for a mother and a divinity or deity for a father, Harry’s mother (Lily) was a ‘muggle’, who came from a mundane, non-magical family, while his father (James) was a warlock, who came from the magical world. Harry, along with Voldemort and his best friend Hermione, is a ‘mud-blood’, or mixed blood: half muggle and half magical.

Snake = Evil, Lion = Good
Harry Potter is associated with the lion through his placement in Gryffindor, whose symbol is a lion. His enemies are collectively and repeated identified with snakes and serpents: ‘Draco’ Malfoy, placed in ‘Slytherin’ (whose symbol is a snake), and Voldemort with his pet companions – ‘Nagini’, a giant, venomous, hooded snake that Voldemort makes into a Horcrux, and Salazar Slytherin’s Basilisk, which Harry defeats in Book 2.

Jesus is called “The Lion of Judea” and frequently identified as a Lion, and Satan’s symbol has always been a serpent; probably because of the snake’s role in the temptation episode of Genesis. If these symbolic representations of good and evil were unique to Harry Potter and The Bible, we would probably conclude that Rowling had done the borrowing; the symbols are just too specific for them to be accidental attributes. However, the Lion has been a symbol of divinity, righteousness, courage, and the triumph of good over evil for a very long time – at least a thousand years before the Christian era. Likewise, the snake has been identified with evil, sin, or philosophically, with time and the cycle of death and rebirth. The roots of these symbols will be explored later; for now it is enough to recognize that exploring the sources of these shared symbols will unveil the underlying traditions that connect Jesus and Harry.

A girl, a sword, a snake, and a flying hero
A very common motif in mythology, easily recognizable in the second Harry Potter novel and also identifiable, although with more difficulty, in The Bible, is the story of a hero with a powerful sword and a magical means of flight, who saves a princess or maiden from the captivity of a dragon or sea-monster. Manifestations of this story include, most famously, Perseus on Pegasus, the flying horse, saving the chained Andromeda from being sacrificed to the sea beast, or the Christian legend of St. George the dragon slayer. It is essentially a battle scene between good and evil, although it has a much deeper spiritual significance.

In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Ron’s sister Ginny is possessed by Tom Riddle (Voldemort’s teenage self) and taken deep into the belly of the caverns under Hogwarts. Harry descends into the underworld to save her, and his faith and bravery is rewarded by a magical sword, which he uses to slay a basilisk and ‘save the girl’. He uses Fawkes, Dumbledore’s phoenix capable of bearing many times its own weight, to fly himself and Ginny to safety.

The motif can be found in the Book of Revelations, where the battle takes place in the heavens between a snake, a mother fleeing from the snake’s venom, and a mighty, armed, winged protector (Michael.) However there is a more symbolic reading as well. The following exegesis may seem like a fantastic invention, but this is only because the mythological symbolism in the Bible has been overlooked for so long. Jesus Christ, by his death and resurrection, defeated his enemy, Satan (always represented as a serpent, as he was in the garden of Eden). Jesus came to save the Church, the collective body of believers, represented collectively as a feminine entity – “The Holy Mother Church.” Although he may not have wings, he can both walk on water and ascend bodily into heaven. Jesus also had a sword – but it is well hidden in the symbol of the cross. The ‘cross’ and the ‘sword’ are actually identical figures, symbolically (†). It is only the Christian interpretation of that symbol and the emphasis on the death and resurrection, rather than the struggle over the adversary, that makes the distinction seem so clear. Jesus is often thought of as a pacifist, but he makes it clear that he came “not to bring peace, but the sword” (Matthew 10:34). It is perhaps Christianity’s unique inversion of classical symbolism – from the sword of conflict to the cross of non-violence – that is responsible for its peaceful reputation. Perhaps ironically, the symbol that has come to represent ‘peace’ in modern times is an inverted cross with broken arms (☮); although this symbol was actually designed for the Nuclear Disbarment campaign and has no overt religious meaning.

7 Seals, 7 Horcruxes
In the Book of Revelations, the plot revolves around the destruction of the seven seals which bind a scroll. The seven seals must be broken to open the scroll, undoing the work of God’s creation and ending the world. Only the Lamb is worthy to open the scroll, because he made the sacrifice that saved many people (Rev. 5-6). Similarly, Harry’s quest in books 6 and 7 is the destruction of 7 magical objects that hold a piece of Voldemort’s soul, called ‘Horcruxes’. All of the Horcruxes must be found and destroyed before Voldemort can be killed.

The symbolism of the number seven, however, predates Christianity and comes from classical cosmology and philosophical traditions like Platonism. The system of Pythagoras, for example, was very detailed: there were seven known visible planets, and each planet had a certain vibration or sound – which gave rise to the seven notes in an octave (the eighth note being a repetition of the first on a higher scale). Nearly every Greco-Roman religion and spiritual system believed that to get from this place (earth) to heaven (the source), you had to backtrack through the seven planets or heavens. These beliefs, in fact, most likely originated in Egypt and go back several thousand years before Christianity.

The similarities in this case are most likely due to Rowling’s interest in Alchemy (which has preserved classical symbolism, cosmology and thought more accurately than The Bible) rather than any Christian-based inspiration. In a 1998 interview, Rowling stated:
I’ve never wanted to be a witch, but an alchemist, now that’s a different matter. To invent this wizard world, I’ve learned a ridiculous amount about alchemy. Perhaps much of it I’ll never use in the books, but I have to know in detail what magic can and cannot do in order to set the parameters and establish the stories’ internal logic. (Andrea)

Is Harry a Christ-Figure?
Due to the above similarities between Jesus Christ and Harry Potter, several sources have raised the opinion that Harry is a so called “Christ-Figure”. A Christ-figure is simply a fictional character that seems to symbolize Christ in a significant way, such as through a sacrificial death, or a (perceived) rebirth or resurrection. Many literary figures have been called Christ-figures by various researches; including Ahab of Moby Dick, Gandalf or Frodo Baggins of the Lord of the Rings, Galahad in the Grail Quest, and McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex has even been called a Christ-figure, athough his story was written in 717 BC!
John Killinger gives this brief overview on a Beliefnet.com discussion of Harry Potter:
A Christ figure is a literary device, a particular way of shaping an important character in a novel. He (or she) may not conform in every instance to the biblical image of Jesus, but bears enough of the traits or characteristics to suggest the relationship and send us looking for important messages in the text. (Beliefnet)
Mark D. Stucky, in an article published in the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, offers the following list of credible criteria for potential Christ-figures:

• Comes from an extraordinary origin
• Possesses a “secret identity” and dual nature
• Displays a distinctive appearance
• Exhibits extraordinary powers
• Generates awe and wonder
• Gathers and leads disciples
• Saves others
• Suffers a sacrificial death
• Descends into “hell”
• Rises from the dead

Harry Potter certainly meets most, if not all of these factors. His ‘descent into hell’ occurs during Book One. To get into the Chamber of Secrets, Harry first had to pass the three headed dog that guards the door. In classical mythology, Cerberus, the three headed dog, guards the gates of Hell. Defeating this monster was one of the 12 feats of Heracles. As we mentioned earlier, ‘rising from the dead’ is open to interpretation.

Given the similarities between Jesus Christ and Harry Potter, it is no surprise that Harry Potter is identified as a Christ-figure by some writers:
Beginning with Harry’s miraculous survival as a baby (which is more like the survival of the infant Jesus than is usually noticed) and proceeding to discussions of the conflict between good and evil and the ethical considerations entailed by such a struggle, we shall in this book reflect at length on the possibility that Harry Potter, like Dostoevsky’s Prince Myshkin, Francois Mauriac’s Xavier Dartigelongue, and John Irving’s Owen Meany, is a witting or unwitting Christ figure who actually battles the forces of darkness for the souls of the faithful and wins a place in readers’ hearts because he so admirably conforms to our expectations of such a redemptive figure.” (Killinger, 14)

However, there are other readers who are strongly opposed to this identification. The following are a few of the arguments, from both sides of the debate, taken from Beliefnet.com’s online discussion, Harry Potter, Christ Figure?

YES
Professor Thomas L. Martin, Florida Atlantic University:
Leaving aside Harry’s “Christlikeness” for the moment, Harry Potter does conform to what (mythologist Joseph) Campbell would call the pattern of the mythic hero. Potter is marked at birth for something special, prophecies foretell the high destiny he faces, the various mentors and rivals he encounters along the way, and then, of course, the ultimate showdown with evil. These characteristics not only link him to Christ–in Campbell’s system–but also Cinderella, Odysseus, Buddha, and other heroes of other times and places.” (Beliefnet)

Professor Andrew Blake, King Alfred’s College, Winchester (UK):
As a lifelong reader of Lewis and Tolkien, one of the interpretive grids through which I read everything is that of the Christianity-modeled redeemer. My first responses to Harry Potter were that he is being written (and remember, he hasn’t yet been fully written) as a redeemer. So far, so Christ-like. But there are of course caveats. (Beliefnet)

NO
Richard Abanes, author of Fantasy and Your Family:
Harry is no Christ figure. Jesus of Nazareth sacrificed himself for his enemies. Christ died for the ungodly. He died for us while we were yet sinners. This is agape love–self-less, self-giving, god-like. Harry seems only willing and able to sacrifice for his friends. This is more akin to phileo love, or brotherly love. The parallel, therefore, does not exist….. In novels there is often a messiah-like deliverer. As C.S. Lewis observed, the Christ story is the world’s true myth come to life. At best, Rowling’s novels are terribly derivative of age-old myths, legends, and stories. In fact, she habitually borrows from older (and better told, I might add) tales to flesh out her stories. Rowling’s work is really nothing but a long string of mini-derivations dressed up in 21st century garb. (Beliefnet)

Patrick Rothfuss, a Beliefnet blogger:
Of all the irritating literary games people play, Find-the-Jesus is one of the most wearying to me. Not every book has Christ symbolism. Let it go. People use stairs. People suffer. People have fathers. People make noble sacrifices. And, in fantastic stories, people come back from the dead. Odin did it. Osirus did it. Sherlock Holmes did it. Buffy did it. Spock did it. Hell… Voldemort died and came back. It takes more than that to make a Christ figure. You want good Jesus symbolism in a fantasy story? Go to Aslan in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. There’s a Christ figure for you. Harry is, at best, just following a standard sacrificial hero archetype. It’s a storyline that was old before Jesus was born. (Rothfuss)

Two arguments, Same Evidence
You may have noticed that both sides of the above argument rely on the same evidence to support their claims. Those who don’t see Harry as a Christ figure, argue that any apparent similarities are in fact common in mythology and literature, and J.K. Rowling was simply throwing together a lot of ancient mythological symbols that have nothing to do with Jesus – because the story was ‘old before Jesus was born’. Those who do see Harry as a Christ figure, like Martin, also see Harry as a mythological composite, but in their view, this connects him to Jesus Christ, who is also in some way related to the mythological tradition.

In other words, everybody agrees that Harry Potter and Jesus Christ have a lot in common, but disagree about how important these similarities are, or where they came from. In fact the determining factor has very little to do with Harry Potter, and everything to do with the reader’s understanding of Jesus Christ. Is Jesus absolutely unique in history, divorced from common universal mythological traditions; all apparent similarities therefore unbinding or irrelevant? Or is he related to those mythologies, either as founder, or product?

The real question we need to ask is not whether Harry Potter is a ‘Christ Figure’ (similar to a historical religious savior), but rather whether Jesus Christ is a ‘Potter Figure’ (a composition of redemptive mythological symbols and philosophies). Similarities between Jesus, Harry Potter, and countless other figures do exist; however Jesus Christ is the only figure whose followers have faith that his life and acts have a historical basis. If it can be shown that the similarities between Harry Potter and Jesus Christ result from Christianity’s inclusion of mythological motifs, rather than Harry Potter’s inclusion of biblical ones, then the conclusions of our study will be significantly altered.

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