Afterthoughts on the Epilogue

Finally! The final post on the final chapter series, finally here at last!

As a writer analyzing the Harry Potter series for other writers, I don't have too much to say about the epilogue. I saw it mostly as a gift from JK Rowling to her readers and a commitment to herself. It was also a place where she could hint, once again, at her view of war and peace.

As a gift to her readers, the epilogue shared Jo's vision with her rabid fans of what happened next. Fans knew for sure who ended up with whom, what paths their lives took after they left Hogwarts, and how the wizarding world had adjusted after Voldemort's reign of terror had ended. We also got to see that our heroes had indeed healed, and that all was well.

Personally for JKR, I believe the epilogue to have started out as a promise to herself. She would finish Harry's story. She would remain true to herself. And she would develop and share her rich inner values with a world full of people actively engaged with her imaginative creations.

By showing Harry as a middle-aged father, she committed firmly to not doing another story with Harry as the hero (though a story set in Harry's world with someone in the next generation as the protagonist is still possible in the future). It would be very hard, after having committed to that epilogue, for JKR to suddenly decide to write a story in which Harry stars as a young man beginning his career as an Auror.

Finally, in the epilogue, JKR showed a world which was at peace. It is not utopia. The world had not changed dramatically. Percy is still a bore. There is still tension between the pure-bloods and Muggle-borns. Ron, Harry, and Draco are not bosom buddies. And Harry's son Albus is worried about being sorted into Slytherin.

But the Thestrals are invisible to James and Albus. And Harry's scar had not pained him for nineteen years.

When choosing to write an epilogue to your story, especially if it's at the end of a series, you must consider how, if at all, you may wish to revisit that world in the future. Is the epilogue truly necessary? And if so, how will you show the highlights of your characters' lives without bogging the reader down in too many soppy details.

JK Rowling has said that she ended up cutting her epilogue down quite a bit. I imagine the original version was long on answering every last detail and maybe a bit too syrupy sweet. But I'm just guessing, as that's a danger I would run.

What she ended up with was short, light, and with just enough details to let the reader imagine the rest.  Exactly like an epilogue, if it exists at all, should be.

And as we're talking about JKR here, her epilogue came with a nice fat bonus -- by providing a peek into her characters' futures, she engaged the reader's imagination for the next generation...and inspired a whole new genre of fanfiction!

Have  you ever written an epilogue to any of your stories? What was your reason for including it? Also I'm really curious as to whether anyone has written an epilogue that they then came to regret when they approached a sequel.

Please be sure to come back later today when I'll have something new for you!

The Flaw in JKR's (Brilliant) Plan

JK Rowling is absolutely brilliant. There is no other way of thinking of her talent in my mind. But as Dumbledore acknowledged, any person of extraordinary intelligence is also prone to some mistakes (though I don't believe JKR's to be rather large).

I will not cover the details of some flaws in JKR's techniques that I did in Labor Pains in the Birth of a Phenomenon -- And Why it Should Give You Hope (adverbs, POV, exclamation points), but rather would like to look at a few grand overview items that one sees more clearly once reaching the end of Deathly Hallows.

First, in a way, I believe that JKR bit off a bit more than she could chew through the middle of the series. Because she has such a honed talent for weaving in subtextual details of clues and mythical references, and her readers developed such a strong instinct for hunting them out, she unfortunately built up some expectations that could not be met. Whether from pressure to get the last book out as soon as possible, or her own inner desire to be done with it, I and many other fans felt that there were a few too many threads left dangling. Nothing of major import, but stuff that had been hinted at and not brought to full fruition.

Perhaps one of the reasons for this sense of loss is due to the abrupt change of venue for the final book. While I completely understand the rationale for having Harry, Ron and Hermione wander in the desert, I mean the forest, for so long, it did get a bit too long and tedious. Plus, it left the reader with the unsatisfied desire to live in Hogwarts again and see the completion for themselves of the other characters' growths. While we're told what has happened to members of Dumbledore's Army and the beloved staff during the final battle, and see them in action for a couple of chapters, it's not the same as living and interacting with them throughout the whole novel.

In the end, I somehow wished that JKR could have imagined another way to have Harry's final journey intersect with the castle more often. And if that had happened, I think some of those dangling loose ends would have been knitted up nicely.

As writers, especially those writing a series, or even those considering that oft-touted "brand," this is a point worth considering in your own work. If you take your next story in an abrupt departure from those that have come before, how will your reader handle it?  Will your readers follow you?  Or will you be charting out new territory alone?

Finally, I will discuss one small detail that nagged at me and didn't seem to have been fully thought out. When Harry discusses with Dumbledore after the great battle what to do with the Elder Wand, he decides to put it back where it came from so that:

"If I die a natural death like Ignotus, its power will be broken."

The problem with this is that Harry just battled Voldemort in a room full of people who saw him use that weapon. And if I'm not mistaken, Harry was not whispering when he explained to the Dark Lord how this most powerful wand now came to owe Harry its allegiance.

Are we to believe that no one in that room would one day decide to seek Harry out and claim that wand for his own?

Or is that to be the subject of the next series? :-)

There are many readers and critiques who can pick out the details of JKR's worldbuilding, characterization and plotting and show how certain aspects don't make sense in reality. That's the sharper side of the wonderfully detailed worldbuilding sword that JKR wields. She has woven such exquisitely crafted details into the plot and setting of her story that readers were enthralled. But when occasionally a continuity error was discovered, or a build-up did not pan out, critics jumped on it.

As writers this should not discourage us from creating our own works of wondrous detail, but rather to remind us how carefully we should plot and keep track of what we've created.  Notebooks, spreadsheets, folders and files -- whatever method helps you remember all your details, and what plot threads need to be wound back up, just be sure to get yourself organized.  Especially if writing a series.

Perhaps a Remembrall would help.

As I mentioned the the flaws I covered in The Boy Who Lived Comes to Life, noting these mistakes JKR made gives me hope.  It reminds me as a writer that I don't have to be perfect (though that is no excuse for not striving for excellence).  What is absolutely required, however, is to so thrill my reader as JK Rowling did that these imperfections just make the work sparkle more brilliantly.

As always, the keys to improving our craft are to write, read, share with other writers, and write some more. It is in studying a mentor's craft, like we do here with JK Rowling, that we can better improve our own.

What dangling threads or plot holes did you notice at the end of Deathly Hallows?  How have you avoided leaving these in your own work?


This post is part of the Final Chapter series, which is now collected on the Kindle for ease of reading as The Boy Who Lived Comes to Die totals 100 pages!

More Shining Moments from our Awesome Heroes

Two weeks ago, I posted the first half of the character development arcs for the Final Chapter series, analyzing the secondary characters. Here, finally, is the promised second half with the major characters.

Remember that to successfully judge a character arc, we need to look at 1) where that character started, 2) what obstacles they had to overcome, 3) what changes occurred along the way, and 4) where they ended up.

Dumbledore:

Dumbledore began the series as the wise mentor and ended as the same. However, along the way we discovered that he had stumbled in his past, rather largely. By allowing his desire for fame and power to overshadow his responsibility to his family, he caused the death of his sister and the loss of respect of his sole-surviving relative. But it wasn't just this snippet of backstory which JKR used to round Dumbledore out. Throughout the story we saw him holding back from trusting others, playing his cards too close to his chest, and in the end, manipulating those around him.

In a way, Dumbledore's arc was more descending than ascending, at least as it took shape in the reader's mind. However, because Dumbledore had acknowledged his sins and tried to prepare Harry to do better, all the while choosing a position of guidance at Hogwarts rather than of power at the Ministry, he is restored to his chair of benign mentorship by series' end.

Dumbledore's Shining Moment -- foreshadows Harry's a book later. When Dumbledore lays down his life so that Harry may carry on, he shows that he is devoted to the true greater good and can, hopefully, make amends for the life he once lost by the many he is acting to save.

Snape:

Snape is such a complex figure that he deserves his own book. It's on my list of things to do! :0 But for now, to put Snape's character arc as simply as possible…

Snape, like Dumbledore, I believe changed more in the reader's mind than he did in his own. He remained true to himself by remaining loyal to Dumbledore and his lost love. As the stakes and danger increased for him, and Dumbledore pushed him to greater acts of spying and risk, Snape met these challenges bravely, even if irritably, to protect the son of the man he loathed and thereby preserve the memory of the woman he loved.

Ironically, Snape's Shining Moment came when he killed Dumbledore. For to honor Dumbledore's wishes and protect Harry's (and Draco's) life, Snape risked the damage his own soul that this horrific act would bring.


Voldemort:

One could argue that as the embodiment of pure evil, Voldemort had no character growth. What JKR did instead with this antagonist is to let us see glimpses into his past that shaped him into the demon he became. Playing on her main themes of love and choice, Voldemort was born and raised without love and then, on his own, made the wrong choices.

Even when given the opportunity for his own Shining Moment at the end by Harry, he could not bring himself to either understand or grab it. For to a man who has never known love or given love, there is no way for him to grasp any empathy for those lives he has torn apart. And empathy is a necessary component of remorse.


Ron:

When we meet Ron he is a poor, somewhat neglected younger brother, living in his older brothers' shadows...which eventually becomes Harry's. By series' end, he has battled with jealousy and his own fears of being loved less to become a passionate and staunch defender of all those he loves. In the Battle of Hogwarts, he is able to throw off Voldemort's silencing charm before anyone else to defy the Dark Lord.

Ron's Shining Moment -- came with his defeat of his own personal Horcrux. The Slytherin locket had held such power over him because Voldemort had played on Ron's deepest fears and insecurities. By returning to those he'd abandoned and stabbing the locket, Ron conquered his dark side and became a stronger man and a more loyal friend.

Hermione:

In the beginning, Hermione was portrayed almost the exact opposite of Ron. She was the know-it-all witch who no one liked. But her fears concealed her inner insecurities of being in an unfamiliar world and her ability to make friends. Along the way, Hermione learned to break a few rules, stand up for herself, stand up for others, and remain strong, even when once again betrayed by the one she'd come to love.

Hermione's Shining Moments are so many that choosing one is hard to do. But I'd vote for her getting the Trio out safely from the Lovegood home as the Death Eaters approached. It was her quick mind that not only saved herself, Ron, and Harry from capture, but also showed them long enough to the Death Eaters so that Xenophilius would not be blamed and harmed.

Harry:

As the hero of the story, Harry, of course, has the most time spent on his character growth. Through making both right choices (Sorting Hat) and mistakes he learned from (Sectumsempra) along the way, Harry overcame every obstacle thrown at him, not only by Voldemort and his band of Death Eaters, but by Harry's own weaknesses. By learning to trust in others and to not seek power for its own sake, Harry has developed himself into a young man capable of willingly and deliberately giving his life so that others may live.

This Shining Moment of Harry's when he gives his life in the dark forest, enables his resurrection in the Great Hall as the man who could strip the power away from Voldemort without damaging his own soul.


While writing in an exotic, fantastic world does give JKR a certain edge in creating eccentric, memorable characters, her basic skills are still ones we can apply to our own writing, no matter the genre. Draw your characters, even your secondaries, in engaging, intriguing, yet realistic detail. Get at their hearts to understand what they are good at...and as with the boggart in the cupboard, what they most fear.

Give each character a goal and a reason to be motivated toward this goal. Make each one face a stumbling block, a hardship or conflict they have to fight against toward attaining this goal. Make your characters conquer real challenges before achieving their triumphs. And through all this, show your characters' choices and development with action, not just with narrative words.

What shining moment have you recently used in finalizing a character arc for one of your characters?

Captain Neville and his Crew of Bodyguards

Bill Weasley worked for Gringotts as a curse-breaker in Egypt. The whole Weasley clan visited Bill in Egypt before the beginning of Prisoner of Azkaban. The referee for the Quidditch World Cup was Egyptian. The tour Dumbledore's old friend Elphias Doge took once leaving Hogwarts included a stop in Egypt to observe the experiments of Egyptian alchemists. And we must not forget that Fawkes the phoenix and the sphinx in the Triwizard maze have their homes in ancient Egypt.

Think these Egyptian references are just casually tossed in for a bit of exotic flavor? Then you don't know JK Rowling.

JKR points the readers' attention to Egypt for a very deliberate purpose. 

Ancient Egypt, as the mythical home of alchemy under Thoth, was a source for many of JKR's subtextual mythical allusions. In Dipping Into the Universal Well, I documented how JKR used the myth of Egypt's holy family, Osiris-Isis-Horus, to enrich and deepen the story of Harry's past and his conflict with Voldemort, who, as the murderer of Harry's parents is likened to Seth as the killer of Osiris and seeking to kill Horus. Indeed, Harry's story comes to conclusion with his defeat of Voldemort, which restores order and peace to his divided land, just as when Horus defeated Seth.

There is a different myth involving Seth which I would like to explore further as it relates more strongly to the ending of Deathly Hallows. Seth (sometimes spelled Set) is a complex figure in ancient Egyptian mythology. In his earlier forms, he was a protector of the great sun god Ra (Re), journeying with him on his daily voyage in his solar bark across the heavens of day and through the dark underworld of the night. Seth's job was to fight off the great and evil serpent Apep, who battled daily to swallow and kill Ra, and thus plunge the world into the darkness of death and despair.

Apep was the most feared mythical creature in all of Egypt. The dead were buried with amulets and spells to use against him as it was believed that Apep traveled in the Underworld seeking with his army of fiends to eat the souls of the dead. (The original Death Eaters). While Apep's followers were known as the "Children of Rebellion," those special gods who protected Ra were sometimes called the "Children of Horus" (Budge).

However, Seth was also the god of storms, the dessert, and chaos, and partly due to political reasons, over time, his religious cult gradually weakened. Seth became a darker god, associated in evil characteristics with Apep rather than as Ra's protector fighting him off. Eventually, Seth and Apep were seen almost as one.

Can you see yet why Voldemort killed Snape via a bite from Nagini rather than Avada Kedavra Snape himself?

While in the earlier Osiris-Isis-Horus myth allusions, Voldemort is likened to Seth as the murderer of Osiris and attempted killer of the baby Horus, in this solar bark myth Seth becomes Snape. Who but Snape does daily battle interceding between the solar god (either Dumbledore or Harry, depending on how you look at it) and the serpent-man, destroyer of lives and souls, Voldemort? Snape even boasts in Order of the Phoenix that it is his job to play the double agent, to battle where no one else dare go.

As Seth is darkened throughout the millennia due to the changing political powers around him, so Snape is viewed darker and more evil as a result of the actions demanded due to his allegiance to Dumbledore. Snape is shown as less a trusted companion of Dumbledore and more as a true Death Eater and murderer.

In the Ra-Seth-Apep myth, the only way the great Apep can possibly hope to get to Ra and finish him off is to kill off his greatest protector first. Thus Nagini, the pure embodiment of Voldemort's Apep-like evil, is the one who deliver's Harry's last protector his final death blow.

But Ra did not travel in his solar ship alone with only Seth for protection. Ra had friends, other gods who traveled along on his daily journeys to assist when confronted by storms and other natural disasters. These "children of Horus" guarded Ra and ensured that he successfully completed his journey.

As Harry approaches his final destination in his quest to eliminate Lord Voldemort and restore order and peace to the wizarding world, he enters Hogwarts in a most unusual way. And you can guarantee, when JKR writes something that seems slightly off, she's up to something tricky.

A portal opens up behind the painting of Ariana revealing "smooth stone steps on the other side: it looked as though the passageway had been there for years. Brass lamps hung from the walls and the earthy floor was worn and smooth; as they walked, their shadows rippled, fan-like, across the wall." (p. 461, Bloomsbury)

Once they arrive inside the Room of Requirement, Harry couldn't recognize the room. It now looked like an enormous interior of "a particularly sumptuous tree hours, or perhaps a gigantic ship's cabin. Multicoloured hammocks were strung from the ceiling and from a balcony that ran around the dark wood-panelled and windowless walls." (p. 464, Bloomsbury).

The portal between Aberforth's Hog's Head and Neville's newly commissioned Room of Requirement appears of stones washed smooth from centuries of water, with watery ripple-like shadows fanning the walls. Once inside the room, it as if Harry and friends have boarded a ship, with hammocks rather than beds and even a railing-like balcony that seems completely unnecessary in a room that does not open to the outdoors or even have windows. Even those brass lamps along the way hint at the brass fittings of a ship.

And Harry, Ron, and Hermione are escorted on board by the captain himself. "Neville's the man" Longbottom.

Longbottom. I'd long wondered why JKR had chosen such an odd surname for one of her lead characters. But, then, JKR is known for her odd names. Odd names that almost always carry a hint of deeper meaning.

While others have speculated that Longbottom is a nod to Tolkien's longbottom leaf tobacco, or perhaps drawn from an old English word that means powerful, a long bottom is also a type of boat. And the boats of ancient Egypt, which used many oarsmen, required long bottoms to navigate.

Stretching it, you think? Maybe. But the fact remains that JKR used ship imagery to describe the Room of Requirement and the boarding of not only of the Trio but all the family and friends who entered through this gangplank to fight the Battle of Hogwarts as well. Thus placing Neville, our captain, and the one man who truly "gets" the Room of Requirement, and also Harry's prophetic twin, as the man to slay the great serpent Apep now that Seth was gone.

According to the ancient Egyptian priests, who ritually mocked and killed an effigy of Apep to purge the land of evil, this great serpent could be killed by a process which involved "fettering" Apep, setting fire to him, or smiting him with a lance. Hermione tried to set fire to Nagini by use of the confringo spell in Bathilda Bagshot's house in Godric's Hollow, which caused so much heat it seared the back of Harry's hand. Voldemort himself fettered his pet in a protective magical cage. But it was Neville Longbottom who gave the great serpent her final blow by smiting her with Gryffindor's sword.

Through the efforts of this crew of friends, the children of Horus, Harry is able to face Voldemort in the Great Hall and as the red-gold sun arises over the horizon, put an end to the man who has plunged their world into darkness and chaos. The Sun god Ra has defeated the dark serpent and his solar bark can continue along its natural course.

JKR uses classical myths to help deepen her story and to provide a rich subtext of clues to guide her readers to uncover the mysteries of the series. You'll notice that aside from some names of creatures or characters (Minerva as the goddess of education and war) JKR rarely refers to the myths overtly. Instead, she uses key points of description, such as the Room of Requirement looking like a cabin of a ship, and paralleling of action and story, such as aligning Voldemort with the great serpent Apep, intent on killing Ra and plunging the world into death and destruction. Such subtle maneuvering created a layered read filled with modern and classic allusions which the reader delighted in exploring the depths of through many subsequent re-reads.

How would a writer go about doing this herself? For me, the process would have to start with the story you seek to tell. Not all stories will be suited to multiple layers of subtext and allusion. But if you think yours is and this technique appeals to you, then take a moment to observe the forest of your story rather than the trees.

Get an overview. What's your story about, its meaning, its theme?

One you've got a succinct understanding of your purpose, then compare your overview with other classical stories or myths you've heard before. Is yours the story of a heroine getting sucked into the underworld of despair and having to learn to fight her way out? Then you might want to look at Persephone. If you've got a romantic couple battling each other for trust, then consider Eros and Psyche. Or, if you're writing horror and you have a crazed, bloodthirsty woman on the loose, you might take a peek at Sekhmet.

Then, once you've got your connection, consider the similarities of your story, the points you can make in comparison. Can you weave a similar description in here or there? Can you have a plot point match its ancient cousin? Above all, can you do so without drawing obvious attention to what you're doing? The object of this type of subtext is not to say "lookee, see how brilliant I am," but rather to enrich your story's meaning and your reader's enjoyment.

Have you ever worked mythical allusions into writing your story?  If so, what points did you make in comparison?

This post is part of the Final Chapter series, which is now collected on the Kindle for ease of reading as The Boy Who Lived Comes to Life totals 100 pages!

Sources:
The gods of the Egyptians: or, Studies in Egyptian mythology, Volume 1, by Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge
The Egyptian Heaven and Hell: by Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge

Harry's Ultimate Ordeal

Let me give you a hint regarding Harry's final ordeal…it's not defeating Voldemort.

Like everything else she did, JK Rowling wrote the ending steps of Harry's hero's journey with a definite twist. As Harry approaches his ultimate confrontation with the Dark Lord, the stakes could not have been higher. Not only does Harry's life hang in the balance, but the fate of the whole wizarding world.

So, it seems fairly straight-cut and obvious -- what happens at the end of Deathly Hallows is a simple hero's journey of the hero defeating evil and restoring order, right?

Not quite.

In looking at how JKR twisted the Hero's Journey in her final chapter of Deathly Hallows, we must first step back and get a quick overview. I'm not covering the whole hero's journey in this post, just the last half, the part that usually takes up the final action-packed minutes of a feature film. For Deathly Hallows Part 2, that was elongated by splitting up the book into 2 movies. But for the book itself, it starts with chapter 34, "The Forest Again," and spans the last three chapters of this 36 chapter book.

Also, I'd like to note that while JKR plotted each book of the 7-book series with its own complete hero's journey, as I diagrammed out in a table in A Writer's Guide to Harry Potter, she also had an overarching hero's quest that spanned the course of Harry's journey from Godric's Hollow to the Battle of Hogwarts. What I am presenting here serves as the final steps to both Deathly Hallows and the series as a whole.

Drawn from Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey, the steps I am covering include:

7) Approach to the Inmost Cave: where the hero approaches the goal of the quest that he's been preparing for all along. Usually presented with underground, underworld, belly of the beast imagery.

8) The Supreme Ordeal: where the hero faces the ultimate antagonist guarding the object of his quest and his greatest fear, usually includes a symbolic death

9) Seizing the Reward: defeating this antagonist and his fear, and having faced death and survived, the hero is able to claim the prize

10) The Road Back: the hero must return the object of his quest to his ordinary world, where his path along the way is often fraught with new complications from remaining antagonists or the main one who was not completely vanquished

11) The Resurrection: The hero is tested once more. May replay the ordeal of facing death from step 8. Triumphing again, the emphasis here is that the hero is purified and reborn into a newer, stronger person.

12) Return with the Elixir: Returning home, the hero shares the result of his quest with his people as something that benefits the group as a whole. Ultimately, the hero brings new life to his tribe to ensure its continuity.

Approach to the Inmost Cave:
Harry approaches his last, and deepest inmost cave as he walks from the castle to the Dark Forest, heading deliberately to his own death, to sacrifice himself for all those he loves who have willingly put themselves on the line to not only protect him, but to keep evil at bay.

He approaches the Dark Forest of Death with those he has loved who have gone before by his side.

The Supreme Ordeal:
To better analyze JKR's twist in this last and overarching supreme ordeal, let's see how she has treated the Supreme Ordeal in prior books:

1. In PS/SS, Harry's ordeal was in facing Quirrel/Voldemort in a room far under Hogwarts, and holding them off from the Philosopher's Stone.
2. In CoS, Harry's ordeal was again under Hogwarts in the Chamber of Secrets, where he faced and slew the basilisk, stopped the Riddle memory/Horcrux, and saved Ginny's life.
3. In PoA, Harry's ordeal came by the side of the dark lake, where he forced off his Dementors and saved Sirius' life.
4. In GoF, his ordeal was in the graveyard, where he once again faced Voldemort in full form and dueled without cowardice or loss. Although he did not save Cedric, he rescued his body to bring home to Cedric's family.
5. In OotP, the ordeal came in the bowels of the Ministry of Magic, when Harry battled Death Eaters to save his friends. When Voldy invaded his body, Harry forced him out through the power of his love for Sirius.
6. And in HBP, the ordeal was in the Inferi Cave, where Harry faced Death in the form of the Inferi and saved his mentor's life.

Notice how in each of these supreme ordeals, Harry enters an underground, underworld place, faces some form or force of Voldemort, triumphs over this antagonist, and saves someone's life. In each of these ordeals Harry stops or defeats a dark antagonist. That is the normal way it is with the Ordeal.

However, in her last greatest plot twist, JKR gives the Supreme Ordeal of her overarching Hero's Journey a very unique twist. Harry's final ordeal is not when he defeats his arch-rival, but rather when he allows that villain to defeat him. The dark antagonist Harry defeats here…is Harry.

Harry's final ordeal is not the scene in the Great Hall where he duels with Voldemort and wins, but rather the scene in the Forbidden Forest where he walks in willingly, without weapon in hand, and lays down his own life as a sacrifice for many. He faces Death with the comfort of those he has loved and gone before him by his side. Harry's final battle, as Dumbledore so wisely hints at, was not in killing Voldemort, but in vanquishing his own fear of death.

While death is usually experienced in the Supreme Ordeal, it is not often the object of the hero going in, but rather a consequence. For JKR, death was not an unfortunate outcome of a successful fight nor a result of her hero's inability to battle the Dark Lord and win. Death was both Harry's goal and his ultimate antagonist. Voldemort was just a tool to deliver it to him.

Seizing the Reward:
Harry's reward for having accepted his own death and willingly laid down his life for others comes in three forms. First, as a reward not only for Harry, but for the reader as well, Dumbledore finally explains ALL. He talks with Harry as an equal, in fact, as someone he looks up to in reverence.

Harry's second reward is the gift of ultimate choice -- whether to live or to "go on." And it truly is a choice he has to make. The lure of eternal peace and unity with those he has loved and lost beckons Harry onto that final train. However, the responsibility of knowing that others depend on him to see the final battle through makes him stand and return. He takes with him understanding and knowledge that Voldemort has not.

The final reward becomes the elixir as well -- Harry's sacrifice has given the blood protection to all those fighting against the Death Eaters at Hogwarts. Just as Lily's sacrifice offered Harry protection against Voldemort all those years ago, now none of Voldemort's spells stick against those Harry has died to save.


The Road Back:
Harry's road back is both in leaving the peace of King's Cross and his unity with Dumbledore to return to the pain that awaits him in the battle, but also the rocky and branchy path from the Forbidden Forest to the castle, cradled in Hagrid's trembling arms. In this perilous journey, Harry must weigh carefully when to reveal his revived self to be best able to finish off Voldemort before Harry can be truly killed himself.


Resurrection:

It is at this step where Harry, because he no longer fears death, is able in his moment of resurrection, to defeat he who has always fled from death. Because of his choices, Harry has faced something Voldemort never could and gained the power and knowledge he needed in order to defeat the man who has always fled death.

Harry's resurrection takes place in the Great Hall, under that wonderfully bewitched ceiling, which shows the dawning of the "red-gold glow" of a new day. Not only does this red-gold sun in the great hall hint at Harry's attaining of his own personal Philosopher's Stone, as outlined in The Great Hall as the Great Work, but it also hints at Harry's role in this last story as the sun god Re/Ra in his ultimate defeat of the serpent of death, Apep, as will be detailed in an upcoming post. And, of course, there is the Christian imagery of Christ's resurrection from the tomb, which was discussed in St. George's Holey Ear.

Return with the Elixir:
Like the first book, Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, the elixir is granted in the Great Hall. However, unlike the first book, instead of Gryffindor winning the house cup, all the houses, indeed the whole wizarding world, share in this cup of new life. For Harry's actions have not only brought about the end of Voldemort's reign of terror, but also united all four houses.

   McGonagall had replaced the house tables, but nobody was sitting according to house any more: all were jumbled together, teachers and pupils, ghosts and parents, centaurs and house-elves…
   Along the aisle between the tables he walked, and he spotted the three Malfoys, huddled together as though unsure whether or not they were supposed to be there, but nobody was paying them any attention. Everywhere he looked he saw families reunited…"

That the reuniting of the Malfoy family is included in a place where before they would have shunned and been shunned, shows the power of this elixir Harry has wrought. Families have been reunited, unity (even if temporary) in Hogwarts has been attained. And families who have love for each other, even if under prior taint of misguided beliefs, have found a place of sanctuary as well.

Harry did, indeed, fulfill his role as a hero and deserves the round of applause that awaits him when having his final talk with his greatest mentor in the Headmaster's Office.

As always, we analyze these steps in JK Rowling's writing to help us understand how to complete them in our own. The hero quest is a wonderful mode of plotting because it is so innate. We've heard these stories from childhood as they've been preserved since antiquity. The frame is malleable enough to be wrapped around most any genre. JK Rowling has give us seven great examples of how she plotted her hero's journey that help us look at our own ideas and see which are the strongest and in which order they should flow.

If you haven't yet studied the Hero's Journey, a quick trip to the oracle of Google will give you a general understanding of either Christopher Vogler's or Joseph Campell's basic steps. With these in hand, you can plot out your work in process to see what steps you have used and in what order. Then you can analyze, have you saved your most meaningful confrontation for your hero for his Supreme Ordeal? Have you given him a reward worthy of the sacrifices he has made to achieve that victory? And has he returned to his people with an elixir that will enable them to live anew?

Share with me one of your favorite ordeals from either your work or another's!

Twisting and Deepening the Final Battle

The final plot for the ultimate book of the Potter series was a closely guarded secret. How would this beloved epic end? Millions of readers' fervent expectations, and the financial well-being of the vast Potter empire, all rested on JK Rowling's nimble fingers.

For readers, they were concerned that their beloved friends survive the impending war and that the proper soul-mates hook up together. Many were also hopeful that their pet theories--of who was to die and who was to survive and who was loyal to whom--come to fruition.

For writers, who are more knowledgeably trained in the craft, we knew certain beats of storytelling must be met. What most fascinated us was on speculating HOW Jo would interpret this particular hero's journey.

Evil must be defeated. Harry must triumph, even if he died in the process. And order must be restored. JKR had not dutifully followed the hero's journey to end it short of the ultimate elixir.

The biggest question, for me at least, was how could this amazing mistress-of-surprise delight her readers one final time when expectations and speculations had risen so high? Was it possible that she could pull off one final twist? A twist, that of course, must have been well-laid throughout the vastly scoured pages of these most beloved tomes.

In this final chapter analysis, what I hope to cover are 1) the surprising plotting tricks JKR still had up her magical sleeves, and 2) her unique interpretation of the hero's journey. We'll cover plot twists in this post, but to keep the length sane, the hero's journey will follow another day.

With JKR, a plot twist is never just a craft technique alone. It must carry a deeper meaning to the whole series.  Therefore, this plot analysis is closely linked to the one I did a couple of days ago on themes in the final battle.

First up, that master of disguise, Snape:

JKR's ultimate plot twist, of course, was Snape. And while many of you will say that you knew Snape was loyal from Book 1, many readers had serious doubts up until the final shared memory. I can clearly remember discussing with a relative of mine, after finishing Half-Blood Prince together in July 2005, whether Snape was good or evil. My relative is extremely intelligent, well read, and a prolific writer. And he was convinced Snape was guilty. I was sure he wasn't.

We discussed the evidence. In the end, my kin had doubts about Snape's guilt, just as he'd introduced the faintest niggle in my mind as to where Snape's loyalty lay.

That's how well planted a trail of clues and red herrings JKR left for her readers. The evidence pointed in both directions, but only one side would emerge victorious.

Snape's act of mentor mercy killing, his role as double agent, was pivotal in bringing about Voldemort's demise. It was his reason for doing it, however, that had left most Snape supporters divided. Many were on the Snape/Lily ship well before the last book's release. Others believed Snape to be acting with goals of his own personal power. This last surprise of motivation was carefully concealed until the final book to keep the readers guessing and intrigued.

On that, JKR succeeded brilliantly.

The complete story of how JKR wrought the mystery of Snape is fit for a book, not a (relatively short) blog post. However, I will say that although Snape had exited the scene before the very final chapter, his actions still affected Harry's ultimate outcome. It was Snape's loyalty to Dumbledore, which Harry threw in Voldemort's face, that most unsettled the Dark Lord. Because it was in learning that Snape had not conquered Dumbledore, as Voldemort had believed, that left Voldemort holding a useless wand. Without Snape's actions, Harry would not have been triumphant.

And without Snape, JKR could not have shown off the depth and complexity of two of her crucial themes -- the power of love and the importance of choice. Because Snape had loved, he was able to make a better choice than Voldemort, who knew not love. Even to have loved once and lost is better than to not have loved at all.  For love is that ultimate elixir that protects the soul from ultimate destruction...always.


A come-from-behind mother, Narcissa:

For me, the surprise twist that caught me the most off guard was the role of the Malfoys, especially Narcissa, in the final battle. Who would ever have thought that the mother of Harrry's school nemesis and the wife of the Dark Lord's second lieutenant would be Harry's final savior? That one, JKR completely snuck by me.

And yet, she prepared the reader well for Narcissa's surprisingly soft hands absorbing Harry's very alive heartbeat as she touched his chest to verify his death for Voldemort. Yet, it was her Dark Lord Narcissa betrayed, not Harry. And the betrayal was due to her mother's love, a theme JKR had developed from the very beginning, not only through Lily's sacrifice, but the love of mothers such as Molly Weasley and Alice Longbottom. Even Petunia loved Dudley dearly, though her short-sighted love sometimes caused more harm than good. And we must not forget those loving packages from home that Draco's owls constantly brought him. Indeed, the crucial criteria separating Narcissa from her deranged sister Bellatrix is that Narcissa bore a mother's love.

So, in JKR's wonderfully circular way of writing, a mother's love stopped Voldemort in Godric's Hollow as a mother's love stopped him in the Dark Forest. In essence, Narcissa prepared Harry's body for his final resurrection in the Great Hall. (There may even have been a hint of Mary Magdalene in Narcissa's hair touching Harry's body).


Harry, a simple hero with a standard spell:

The final, greatest mystery yet to be unveiled was in what manner would Harry defeat Voldemort. Defeat him, we knew he must. But how?

For an author who had based so much on her theme of love and the maiming of one's soul through killing, how would Harry kill and yet perfect his hero's journey at the same time? Surely, love would play a part. But how could love truly bring down a tyrant?

Of course, there could be a magical explanation for whatever devise she used, but with a writer of JKR's caliber, every magical and fantastical element in her created world must have a realistic counterpart in our everyday one.

In other words, to uncover the true ticking of JKR's final plot, we must understand what all that wand lore symbolizes in our real world.

In JKR's adept fingers, Harry defeated Voldemort not because he became a killer, but because he sacrificed himself for others. Harry defeated Voldemort not because he murdered, but because he refused to harm anyone any more. Harry won the wand off Draco not through killing a school bully, but in yanking it out of Draco's hand in his bid to protect his mates. Harry's triumph was a culmination of always seeking to protect others, to put an end to tyranny, and to remain true to his core beliefs.

In the end it must be noted that of all the Horcruxes destroyed, Harry killed only one. Harry had learned to join forces with others, to trust in the wisdom of his mentors, to lay down his life to save many, and to always seek to disarm rather than to harm.

All these lessons are just as real in our world as in Harry's.

And so, what of that ultimate fantasy weapon, the wand? How could a hero in ours truly stop a tyrant by disarming his wand? In our world, we do not have wands. But we have power. And we have tyrants who wield their power over others like Voldemort does with his wand.

When a ruler uses his power to harm his people, it can be stripped away if those oppressed rise in unified protest. Tunisia and Egypt are two recent examples. People rose up. People fought. Yes, people were killed, but the dictators' wands were ultimately disarmed.

As writers, I believe that we must plot the significance of our climax as carefully as we plot the actions which lead up to it. It's not only important to tie up most loose ends and to deliver that final, stunning twist. It's also crucial that the story have import.

Through leaving revelations of character motivation and action to the final chapter, coupled with a well-prepared trail of clues, JKR satisfied her reader with final surprises. Above all, JKR twisted every significant action and surprise with even deeper meaning into the themes of life she explored.  Because she wove her story throughout with meaningful subtext relevant in today's world, she ensured her readers would not soon forget Harry.

Above all, your reader will remember your characters' final triumph. If it's weak, or not well grounded in reality, your story will soon be forgotten. But if you plot your story well, both the above ground action and below the surface meaning, then you should leave your reader with the thrill of a satisfying read that warms their heart and is not soon forgotten. And that they then tell their friends about.

What plot twists have you saved for the ending of your manuscript?  How is that particular surprise relevant to your story's main themes?


(Update: I'm away from home using a slower computer and am noticing that sometimes the comments below don't load. There IS a comment trail. If you are not seeing it, try reloading. Your connection may be too slow).

Circling Home to Theme

“Well then, I think the answer is that a circle has no beginning.”

---   Luna Lovegood, Deathly Hallows

One of JK Rowling's thematic images that I believe to have been most powerfully conveyed in the movie Prisoner of Azkaban was that of the spiral. Remember Trelawney's crystal globe thumping down the spiral staircase of the Astronomy Tower? Or what about the spiral of the fossilized snail on the rock that Hermione threw at Harry's head in the time-turner sequence?

Alfonso Cuaron's film was one of the most artistic of the series, and he knew how to hit home (and heads!) with certain themes. The spiral is a beautiful metaphor for how Jo dealt with themes throughout the Potter series

How JKR begins her story is how she ends it, but not in a simple circle where nothing is gained or loss, but as a spiral, ever progressing.

I'd like to look at five of the main themes that JKR developed throughout the series which carried through to the climax of the final chapter. We'll examine how she introduced each theme, how they spiraled through the story, and what she finally had to say about each one at the conclusion.

Loyalty:

"It was here," [Ron] touched a point close to his heart, "I could feel it, it was hot. And once it was inside me I knew what I was supposed to do, I knew it would take me where I needed to go."
----  Ron Weasley, Deathly Hallows

It could be argued that the action which sets this whole Potter saga in motion is when Peter Pettigrew betrays his best friend James. His act of disloyalty in order to save his own rat hide leads the whole wizarding world into a downward spiral of darkness and war, with deaths suffered by the many touched from the Death Eater's and Voldemort's wands.

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One of the aspects of the series fans will often mention as their favorite is the loyalty shared between the trio of friends Harry, Ron, and Hermione. And yet, each has a fall-out with the others through the course of the seven books. Ron's jealousy with Harry causes them not to talk for weeks during Goblet of Fire. Harry won't forgive Hermione for reporting his Firebolt to McGonagall in Prisoner of Azkaban. And of course, Ron's fight with Hermione over Crookshanks killing Scabbers not only pointed to a major theme, but a crucial plot device as well.

But perhaps the greatest show of tested loyalty came in Deathly Hallows when, suffering form the effects of wearing Voldy's Horcrux, Ron left his best friends. It was his love and loyalty for them, as well as Dumbledore prescience in gifting Ron the Deluminator, which enabled his return. For what is a Deluminator exactly? For JK Rowling, a Deluminator takes light from one source and sheds it upon what is most important to that person. For Ron, his love of Hermione, and his loyalty to his friends, is the guiding light that brings him back into the heart of the trio.

While Bellatrix shows extreme loyalty to Voldemort, hers is an example of a perverted twist of loyalty that is not returned and only results in the harm of others. Voldemort is loyal to none as he AK's or tortures anyone who trips him up, no matter how loyal they have been in the past.

Finally, it is the loyalty of the three friends, the loyalty of the students toward Hogwarts, including Slytherin, and the loyalty of Snape to his childhood love, that conquers the lonely Voldemort and his band of demented souls whose only true loyalty is to themselves and their own desire for eternal power.

Even though as hero, Harry must in each ending take the final step, he never would have made it to the point of facing his worst fears without his friends by his side. As Sirius says, keep your friends close. Because what is life without friends?


Death:

"To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."
------  Dumbledore in Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone

According to Dumbeldore, as the mouthpiece for JK Rowling, sometimes the things we most want as humans are the last things that will truly make us happy. Voldemort pursues eternal life with a rapier-sharp passion unrivaled by other wizards. And yet, is Voldemort ever truly happy?

Death looms over the series from the beginning through to the end. From the deaths of Harry's parents, which brings him into the home, if not the bosom, of the Dursley family, to the deaths of Cedric, Sirius, Albus, Remus and Tonks, Fred, Collin, and many others, the fear and often untimely ending of everything human is explored from various perspectives.

The taking of life is the most evil spell a wizard can cast, which leaves a permanent blight upon his own soul. Whereas the acceptance of one's own death is perhaps presented as the noblest, even if the most shocking -- Dumbledore's fore-planned sacrifice. (For the rest of us Muggles, it's called a Living Will).


A Rainbow of Gray:

"The world isn't divided into Good People and Death Eaters."
------ Sirius Black in Order of the Phoenix

People are not divided into black and white, but most of us exist in some shade of beautiful gray.

While the series started off somewhat simplistically, with Harry's world fairly well defined between the good and the bad, it did not remain that way. Over the years, Harry not only had to face the mistakes and disappointments made by the adults and friends around him, but had to also come to grips with the dark side of his own character.

For me, the most exemplary moment in which Harry explored the darkness of his own soul was when he cast the sectumsempra spell at Malfoy. In every place before, even when confronting Death Eaters and Voldemort, Harry aimed to disarm, petrify, or impede, not to physically harm. From this point with Draco, Harry understood the fire he'd been playing with in the Half-Blood Prince's potion book and gets rid of it. How fitting it is, then that in the end of DH, Harry saves Malfoy's life (twice)!

This theme of the various shades of gray of human character is best exemplified by Snape, who is one of the grayest. (For more, please see my post on Snape's Gray Undies). Indeed, it is because of Snape's very gray, ambiguous character that he is also considered the most intriguing in the whole Potter universe.

Even Voldemort, the chief baddie and darkest character in the book, is shown with a touch of gray when through the Pensieve we see what brought him as a child to such darkness.

In the end, Harry does not defeat Voldemort as the white knight on a stallion charging at a black dragon, but rather as as a young man who has faced his dark side, challenged his shadow, been refined and strengthened through conflict, and learned to trust the loving side of his nature rather than his hatred and fear of death. Because, for JK Rowling, the key ingredient in determining what shade of gray we reflect relies on what choices we make.

Choice:

"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
------  Dumbledore, Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone

From Harry's first moment of choosing Gryffindor over Slytherin, and Dumbledore's explanation, we know that this is one of the main themes of the series. Harry chooses to risk winning the TriWizard tournament in order to ensure that Fleur's sister is safe. He chooses to claim the Goblet of Fire with Cedric. He then chooses to risk his life to bring Cedric's body back to his parents. Ron and Hermione choose to accompany Harry on his dangerous quest to find and eliminate Voldemort's Horcurx. Ron chooses to return. The examples are too numerous to name. We see choices that bind friends together as when Hermione covers for Ron and Harry about the troll, and choices that tear families apart, as when Percy turns his back on his family. Finally there are the choices that kill, such as making Horcruxes, and choices that save, such as finding Hallows.

In the end, Harry makes the choice to disarm Voldemort rather than to kill. It is Voldemort's choice to kill anyone standing between him and eternal life which denies him that impossible dream.

Love:

Dumbledore: "She sacrificed herself for you. And that kind of act leaves a mark... This kind of mark cannot be seen. It lives in your very skin."
Harry: "What is it?"
Dumbledore: "Love, Harry. Love."
------ Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone

Finally, the inner core that guides the choices a person makes is the love that person feels. Love is the most powerful, ancient magical theme in JKR's awe-inspiring arsenal. It is love that makes Lily give her life freely in order to save her baby's. It is love that lives in Harry's skin protecting him from Quirrel's touch and Voldemort's reach in his mother's blood house. It is the love that Harry feels for Sirius that Voldemort cannot stand to come in contact with. And it is love of his friends and adopted family and sharing in those they have lost that guides Harry's feet into the Dark Forest to lay down his own life so that others may live.

To be denied love is to not only never truly live, but to also exist in the meanest way possible. To be denied the love you seek, even when it may be your own fault, is to live a bitter life, never filled with the joy of sharing your innermost dreams with another.

Love is the magic that lives beyond the grave. Love is the balm that carries us through a Dementor's attack. And love is the music of the Phoenix song that lift our hearts and inspires us in our darkest times.

What themes do you work with in your own novel? How have you introduced it to your reader? Have you shown the theme in its full glory, from its negative through to its positive aspects? Have you brought your theme home, in a magnificent spiral from the beginning, to conclude it at its strongest, most powerful impact?  And can you somewhere, somehow in your story encapsulate your theme in the words of one of your characters?

Themes help guide our writing, keeping us on track as authors. For myself, I may be able to start a story without a theme in mind, but I won't be able to conquer the hard parts until my core is identified. I think of theme as the hub of my story's wheel, around which rotate the spokes of character, plot, setting, conflict, and metaphor. Any time I get stumped, and am unsure of which choice to take, I go back to my theme and let it guide me.

How you choose your theme is as varied as there are writers out there. But one thing is for certain. Choose your theme wisely, for if it does not resonate with you personally, it does not stand a chance in an Inferi cave of igniting a flame within your reader's heart.


(Check Out JK Rowling's Newest Release -- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child here!) 

The Shining Moments of Character Development

This is the fourth in a series of posts to analyze the final chapter, "The Flaw in the Plan," of Deathly Hallows.

(Spoiler Alert -- I truly feel this is not necessary as the books have been out for four years. However, if you're a fan of the movies who has not read the books, you have been warned!)

When finishing a story successfully, there is little (if anything) that ranks higher in importance than drawing your characters to a final, fulfilling conclusion. For JK Rowling, in capping off this epic, massive, seven-tome series, the pressure must have been weightier than Hagrid standing on Gawp's shoulders.

Not only did JK Rowling have impossibly high expectations from her fanbase, many of whom had written their own fan-fiction versions of the final battle, but she also had a humongous cast of characters to deal with, many of whom were competing with each other for most endearing role.

How well did she bring her characters to their final destination and how did she do it?

To successfully judge a character arc, we need to look at 1) where that character started, 2) what obstacles they had to overcome, 3) what changes occurred along the way, and 4) where they ended up. I'll cover the major secondaries below, but the primary characters will have to wait for their own post. Otherwise, this parchment would rival one of Hermione's.

Please note that even though these analyses seem rather long, I'm truly keeping them as short as possible, just hitting the highlights. It is not my goal to document every aspect of that characters growth…which would require a book rather than a blog post…but rather to point out what is most necessary to help us as writers see the techniques JK used to show (not tell) her characters' growth.

Neville -- started off a fumbling, forgetful, awkward, picked-on child. His character growth is startling. Throughout the series, Neville had to face not only the condescension from the other students, but his grandmother as well, all while living with the constant pain of seeing his parents as empty shells. But through his incredible skills in herbology, Neville began to believe in himself. He developed his own brand of bravery and strong convictions, obviously like his auror parents. When pressed to defend his friends, and to stand up against those he believed wrong, he became a true resistance leader and proved himself worthy of not only his parent's heritage, but his place as destroyer of the last, and only living and deadly, Horcrux.

Neville's shining moment is of course when he pulls Gryffindor's sword form the Sorting Hat and uses it to slay Nagini, the final Horcrux. Gryffindor's sword is like the badge of courage to the Cowardly Lion, a symbol of what was already abundantly clear -- that Neville was a brave leader of many.

Luna -- Luna started her place in the story as a rather flighty, imaginative, childlike teen, who, because of her unusual beliefs, was ostracized by many other students. But even through this, perhaps because of her earlier loss of her mother, she had the ability to see things and understand the mysteries of life others did not. This ability was put to the test as she joined in Dumbledore's Army and made true friends, but faced new adversaries, more merciless than her school chums. Forced into her own personal imprisonment and a certain loss of innocence, Luna maintained through it all her faith in human nature and her willingness to look at life differently. In the end, she was able to channel her belief in the fantastical and her extreme loyalty to her friends towards a great benefit, as she did when fighting in the Final Battle and when helping Harry escape from his admirers in the Great Hall at its end. Pointing out a Blibbering Humdinger she knew did not exist, Luna laughed at her own self in a way.

Luna's shining moment -- actually comes before the final chapter when she helps Harry find the diadem of Ravenclaw by getting him into Ravenclaw tower to view Rowena's bust. When confronted by Alecto Carrow, Luna successfully stuns the Death Eater.

Ginny -- To become our hero's love interest, Ginny had to prove herself worthy and strong. She goes from being a shy little sister to a very popular girl-about-campus to an understanding and comfortable companion for Harry. However, along the way, she faced her insecurities from knowing Harry barely noticed her, and certainly didn't look at her as anything other than his best friend's sister. She got along with her own life, becoming a prowess on the Quidditch field and a powerful witch capable of casting a Reductor Curse that even stopped a Death Eater during the Ministry of Magic battle in OotP. She also developed a strong note of compassion for those picked on by others, as shown when she goes with Neville to the Yule Ball and stops others from picking on Luna.

Ginny's shining moment is when she fights Bellatrix (along with Hermione and Luna), proving herself once again a valuable member of Dumbledore's Army, even though underage, and an opponent far stronger than her 16 years, a brave girl determined to stand up to her brother's murderers.

Draco -- Draco's character growth could be seen in what he does not do rather than what he does. It is the fact that in two critical moments he does not act upon the extreme prejudice and privilege to which he has been brought up and ingrained in him that makes his story compelling. Draco starts the series as a simple arrogant bully, determined to make anyone who does not align with him, as Harry chose not to, suffer. As the series progresses, and the reader meets Draco's father, we understand that he has been trained to hold the attitudes he possesses. Still, even when Draco is forced to kill to protect his family's position and his father's life, he is unable to do so. His hesitancy stems from the fact that he is not the black heart Voldemort, and sometimes Harry, would have him be. His mother's love has protected him from the depths of hell that has claimed Voldemort's lost soul.

It is in the Room of Hidden Things during the final battle where Draco has his shining moment. Unlike Crabbe, who shoots Avada Kedavra at Hermione, Draco stops him with yells to not kill. He then seeks to protect his stunned friend Goyle from the Fiendfyre, even to the point of risking his own ability to save his life by refusing to drop Goyle's hand to climb aboard Harry's broom. Draco has demonstrated that he cares about someone beyond himself and that, considering his upbringing, his inaction is a show of heroism.

Hagrid -- Hagrid started the story almost as the adult version of Neville -- rough and stumbling, made fun of by the pureblooded Draco, and forced by the actions of Tom Riddle to live his life literally on the periphery of wizarding society. Hagrid's road to growth begins with his journey to recruit the giants, a crucial role he fulfills along with headmistress and other half giant Madam Maxime. It is when Hagrid encounters the community of giants that he truly starts to stand up for himself and reclaim an aspect of his life that was once lost. Hagrid brings his midget-giant half-brother Grawp home to Hogwarts, putting himself in physical harm in the process. It is Hagrid's firm belief in the good in all living creatures, no matter how monstrous, that is his true strength and what brings him to his triumphant concluding arc. For it is largely because of Hagrid that centaurs, thestrals, and Grawp join the final battle. Their fierce attack upon the Death Eaters ushers the combatants into chaotic confusion into the Great Hall where Harry can take his final stand.

Hagrid's shining moment is when in a moment reminiscent of him bringing the sleeping baby Harry to Privet Drive at the beginning of the series, Hagrid carries the pseudo-dead body of Harry into the final battle. In alchemical terms, Hagrid symbolizes the Red Man who ushers the completely broken down body of the prima material into his golden moment of resurrection.

Mrs. Weasley -- Molly went from being the ultimate Mum to the fiercest Amazon on the battlefield, singlehandedly bringing down Voldemort's most loyal Death Eater. Along the way, we see Molly progress from a somewhat harried mother, not sure of which twin is which, giving Ron the sandwiches he doesn't like, to taking Harry in as one of her own, to standing up to Sirius when she believes he is in the wrong. Along the way she becomes the fierce motherly lioness, both capable of defending and attacking her own cubs when they do wrong, while battling her very real fears of the potential deaths of her beloved children.

Molly's shining moment was, of course, her slaying of Bellatrix to protect not only her daughter, but all the other children in the wizarding world as well. How many of us will ever forget -- "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"?

JKR deliberately choose this mother and housewife to be the killer of her most evil female counterpart. Jo said this was very important to her, to show the strength and ultimate veracity of maternal love.

McGonagall -- Contrasted with Mrs. Weasley, McGonagall, was introduced to the reader as a very stern, upright person, instantly recognized by Dumbledore, even as a cat, because of her rigid composure. She tolerated no shenanigans either inside or outside her class, and was even willing to deduct points from her own house for Harry's rule breaking. Even though awesome in powers herself, she seems to be always secondary in comparison to the wisdom of Dumbledore or the intrigue of Snape. However, throughout the series, her warm side began to seep through the cracks. Is it she who uttered the first and most horrible scream of denial at the sight of Harry's "dead" body.


It is in the Final Battle where Minerva McGonagall fulfills her latent potential in her shining moment. True to her name as the goddess of war, she took charge inside the castle to prepare for the battle of Hogwarts. She prepared the other professors to protect and enchant the castle, transfigured the suits of armor herself to do battle, then organized the younger student to leave and the older to stay and protect. She made a brilliantly capable, as well as warmhearted, commanding general.


So much of the strength of JK Rowling's series lies in the depth and quirkiness of her characters. I think she was able to bring these pen and paper creations to engaging life because they lived so fully in her head. This ability to visualize her creations in such detail must be because she's the kind of person who finds people an endless source of amusement and fascination. I imagine that JKR is a people watcher, constantly studying those around her and analyzing why they act the way they do. It is this fascination with human nature, with a benign sense of humor and understanding of their foibles, and yet a rapier-sharp anger at the needless bigotry and greed that causes others harm and loss, which she is able to so successfully embody in her characters.


Do you watch people? Do you study them, seeking below their superficial appearance to try to understand what motivates them? What unique characteristics, mannerisms, foibles make each person you meet on a daily basis completely unique, and in their own way interesting? How can you bring these characteristics to life on the paper?

Everyday people can be just as intriguing as Hagrid and Luna…if you find them so. If you're a person who likes to study and understand others, you can learn the techniques to make your own ink and paper creations breathe a full life as well.

While writing in an exotic, fantastic world does give JKR a certain edge in creating eccentric, memorable characters, her basic skills are still ones we can apply to our own writing, no matter the genre.  Draw your characters, even your secondaries, in engaging, intriguing, yet realistic detail.  Get at their hearts to understand what they are good at...and as with the boggart in the cupboard, what they most fear.  Give each character a goal and a reason to be motivated toward this goal.  Make each one face a stumbling block, a hardship or conflict they have to fight against toward attaining this goal. Make your characters conquer real challenges before achieving their triumphs. And through all this, show your characters' choices and development with action, not just with narrative words.

Note: The primary characters I will cover in a separate post include: Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Snape, Voldemort, and, of course, Harry.

What tools do you use to complete your character arcs? How do you show with action their overcoming of obstacles?

(Check Out JK Rowling's Newest Release -- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child here!) 

The Great Hall as the Great Work

This is the third in a series of posts to analyze the final chapter, "The Flaw in the Plan," of Deathly Hallows.

(Spoiler Alert -- I truly feel this is not necessary as the books have been out for four years. However, if you're a fan of the movies who has not read the books, you have been warned!)

alembic

Did it seem strange to anyone else that JK Rowling had the final battle scene between Harry and Voldemort take place inside the Great Hall? That kind of perplexed me when I first read it, and even through subsequent re-reads as I studied the scene in detail. I mean, it's this massive war scene involving giants and thestrals and hippogriffs and a large number of Death Eaters and students, and all of a sudden, they take the fight inside?? Seemed odd.

Yes, I know she lays it out such that Death Eater and Hogwartsians alike are escaping the smashing giants being pummeled by the hippogriffs, but it all seemed a bit stumbling and contrived to get them into the castle. And I couldn't help but wonder...for what purpose?

I'd assumed for all these past years that it was due to what the Great Hall symbolized, as a joining of the four houses, the unity, the love of the school...all that kind of hogwash (just kidding!). But recently, another idea has come to mind and I can't let it go.

Perhaps the Great Hall symbolized something that represented the metaphorical framework of the novel in such a way that the final battle between Harry and Voldemort could not take place anywhere else. And it all has to do with Alchemy.

From the beginning,JK Rowling let her astute reader know that the series had a basis in alchemy. It's such a shame that Scholastic chose to change the title from Philosopher's Stone, a real historical name for the alchemical elixir of life, to Sorcerer's Stone, Scholastic's own creation, because many American children did not catch on as quickly and as easily as to how important a role alchemy played, not only in this first book, but throughout the series.

Indeed, having studied JKR's profound use of metaphor and analogy, I believe alchemy to be her base material for framing the story. Although she uses Greek, Roman, Nordic, and Egyptian mythological references as well, the first three are for fleshing out the world, and the Egyptian is, in part, due to its role as the home of Thoth to whom alchemists paid homage as their founder.

I do not want to get into an in-depth analysis here of how JKR used alchemy throughout the series, because 1) it would take a whole book to cover, 2) there are numerous posts and books already out there covering all these hidden alchemy gems, and 3) this post focuses on how she brought it all to a close in the final chapter...not how she built it throughout. Let me instead provide a large overview of what alchemy is and how JKR played with it in the series before we see how she concluded this great work.

Alchemy was not just the study of how to transform base metal into gold, as many people believe. It was also quite often considered a spiritual discipline by its practitioners with their purpose to transmute their own base human nature into the gold of spiritual enlightenment. It was not only practiced by the medieval quacks often associated with it, but more often by the cutting edge scientists of their day, including Isaac Newton in the 17th and 18th centuries.

An Epic Battle of Worldbuilding Proportions

This is the second in a series of posts to analyze the final chapter, "The Flaw in the Plan," of Deathly Hallows.

(Spoiler Alert -- I truly feel this is not necessary as the books have been out for four years. However, if you're a fan of the movies who has not read the books, you have been warned!)

We knew it was coming.  The winds of war had been howling stronger with each successive Potter tome's release.  When it finally came, the battle for Hogwarts mobilized all the magical creatures and beings named before in the series -- giants and centaurs, thestrals and Hippogriffs, Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and even Slytherins led by Slughorn. Most touching of all was perhaps the site of the house-elves, stabbing at the Death Eaters' knees, led by Kreacher, with Regulus' locket bouncing on his chest.

Throughout her first six books, JK Rowling had created an immense empire of magical items, creatures, and people. To truly pull off an epic battle of good against evil, it was imperative that she bring all these worldbuilding elements together in her final battle plan.

Let's see how well she did.

Beings and Creatures:

1. Acromantula -- Not present in last chapter, but were used by Death Eaters in the first stage of attack.
2. Dementors -- Eyes sealed in feigned death, Harry can still hear the "rasping breath of the Dementors that patrolled the outer trees." But they have no effect on him.
3. house-elves -- Armed with knives and cleavers, and led by Kreacher, they fight the Death Eaters, hacking and stabbing at their legs.
4. giants -- Two giants fight alongside the Death Eaters. Grawp joins the battle and attacks the Death Eater giants.
5. werewolves -- Fenrir Greyback is brought down by Ron and Neville. And we won't discuss what happened to Lupin. (sob!)
6. centaurs -- Hagrid blasts Bane for not helping in the forest, but the centaurs show up during the battle and rain arrows upon the Death Eaters. Bane, Ronan and Magorian burst into the Great Hall. Afterwards, Firenze lays recovering in a corner.
7. Thestrals -- Soared above the heads of Voldemort's giants. scratching at their eyes.
8. Hippogriff -- Buckbead joins the fray with the Thestrals.
9. snakes -- Nagini is beheaded by Neville.
10. Peeves -- Drops giant worms on Death Eaters' heads, and gives his rousing victory song, which according to Ron, "Really gives a feeling for the scope and tragedy of the thing."
11. phoenix - Phoenix song fills Harry with peace when gazing upon the beaming face of Dumbledore in his portrait
12. ghosts -- While not in the final chapter, we cannot forget the crucial role The Grey Lady played in informing Harry about the Ravenclaw Horcrux.
13. portraits -- The applause they bombard Harry with in Dumbledore's office is heartwarming