I will try to jot down a few points which have been in my mind, regarding the Harry Potter series.
I may not be able to return to the topic for sometime, however interesting it is.
I do enjoy reading the novels, occasionally watching snippets from the films, and thinking about them.
But there’s so many other things to do :)
So one doubt which came to mind pertains to the Hogwarts Express.
I may not have understood Rowling’s ideas correctly, so I should simply write down my thoughts.
In which realm, or dimension, does the Hogwarts Express actually exist?
We are told that all the wizards & witches enter Platform 9 ¾ by walking through a platform-barrier in King’s Cross Station in London.
The magic people, then, vanish.
And go where?
I think the answer is: They enter another realm.
This is the important point.
They no longer exist in the Muggle world.
That particular barrier is like a portal to another world.
It is not only invisible to the Muggles, it is also invisible to the Wizards & Witches.
That would mean, that the whole platform on which the Magical people board the Hogwart’s Express, is a parallel reality – a parallel world – parallel to, & simultaneous with, the Muggle world of King’s Cross Station.
It cannot be OUR world – the world of King’s Cross Station, and London.
This has to be another universe, so to speak.
So how does the train go through our terrain, our towns & cities?
Does it, or not?
It appears to do so, because we’re told that the terrain keeps getting wilder, and the reader automatically assumes that the train is headed for the mountainous regions of Britain, probably Scotland.
But how can the Hogwart’s Express be going through England & Scotland – the “Muggle” England & Scotland – when it exists in a parallel reality?
I repeat: doesn’t it exist in a parallel reality?
What am I missing?
The problem is intensified, when Ron & Harry take Mr. Weasley’s Ford Anglia, to follow the train.
But the train isn’t at King’s Cross Station per se.
The train and the platform – and the railway station at which it stops & where the Magic folk board it – CANNOT BE King’s Cross Station.
King’s Cross Station merely contains a gateway to the Hogwart’s Railway Station (I’ll use this term, for convenience).
The train ought to move in a parallel reality, UNLESS it passes through another portal BACK INTO the mundane Muggle world.
Even then, the problem of visibility arises, and all we can surmise is, that once it returns to the Muggle dimension, it is invisible.
But this is never enunciated, by the author.
The question is: how do Harry & Ron see the Hogwart’s Express, when it is (rather, ought to be) moving in a parallel reality, and the platform & train are completely invisible, even to wizards & witches, in the Muggle world?
They do not enter another portal – like the one between Platforms 9 & 10 in King’s Cross Station – they rise up in the car in the Muggle World.
And yet, they can see the Hogwart’s Express, which is NOT anywhere in (the mundane) King’s Cross Station.
How is that possible?
I’d love some clarity on that point.
All I can understand is that the train is somehow passing through the Muggle landscape, through the usual cities & towns, but is all invisible & intangible, to the Muggles.
It might be passing right through your office, but nobody can see or feel anything.
I’m not sure how does Rowling fit in a train which doesn’t exist for Non-Magical folk, into a Muggle cityscape & landscape.
So Muggles see Hogwarts as a dreary ruin – but they do see some-thing.
A very concrete, definite something.
But somehow nobody can perceive a full-fledged magical train carrying hundreds of students right through their midst?
What do they see, or feel, or experience, when this train is passing by, or through, them?
Yes, I am also thinking of the Knight Bus (& the rather ridiculous way in which it’s summoned)—but the Bus is actually invisible, or (in the films) keeps flitting between visibility & invisibility, between something solid & something insubstantial.
[I certainly didn’t get why whole buildings would jump out of the way of the Bus – or the whole point of it (since it seems to be a horrible way of traveling, the way it jerks & jumps & starts all the time) – but, well, this is not an important point.
(It somehow conveyed the idea that the whole world is actually somehow magical – which is why Muggle lamposts jump out of the way of the Bus.)]
Second point pertains to the films.
The Potters’ Gringotts Vault Number is 687.
Curious, very curious!!
687 is the exact reverse of 786 – the sacred Islamic, Sufi number.
Let’s see what Idries Shah writes about this number, in his book The Sufis:
And then the most important part:
Please note, that this – the number of the Potters’ vault – is not to be found in the books.
There is likely something in Rowling’s mind when she chose the numbers she did choose, because the vault in which the Philosopher’s Stone is kept, is 713 – which is the reverse of 317 – or 31st July – the date of both Harry and Rowling’s birthday.
Is Rowling indicating that Harry is, in a certain sense, the Philosopher’s Stone?
She’d know best.
Sirius Black’s Vault Number is 711.
Is that supposed to be read as 11th July?
Or maybe 7th November?
Not that it matters.
But it does matter that Sirius could get gold withdrawn from his vault, when he’s the most dreaded criminal on the run from the Ministry of Magic AND the Muggle government.
I would think that the bank account of a notorious, deranged mass murderer who’s escaped after 12 years of incarceration would be frozen, and the moment there’s the slightest activity – such as a demand to withdraw money – the Bank would know instantly, and immediately notify the Ministry which is hunting relentlessly for said unhinged mass murderer.
Most probably, the transaction would never occur, and Sirius couldn’t have possibly bought the Firebolt for Harry.
Also, 711 would probably be in the immediate vicinity of 713, and both of them, rather close to 687: unless Gringott’s doesn’t follow a numerically linear grid in its layout of underground vaults.
I would also like to write about the improbabilities of the 7th novel.
That is, why the novel is DEEPLY unconvincing at many levels.
The most important point is this: why is Harry struggling so hard – why is the Order of the Phoenix struggling so hard – in the 7th novel – WHEN DUMBLEDORE IS PRETTY MUCH ALIVE IN HIS PORTRAIT AT HOGWARTS???
Hello!!
The old man is right there – not in his physical, human body, yes – but in some sort of ethereal, magical, but real body – fully & completely his own self alright! – in the portrait in the Headmaster’s office at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry – with what looks like a 100 other Headmasters – ALL of them long “Dead” – but ALL of them pretty much “Alive”! – with all their mental powers, their individual personalities, and their memories – INTACT!
Harry KNOWS this!
The other wizards & teachers either know, or OUGHT TO KNOW, this!
Dumbledore is busy giving instructions to Snape from his portrait!
Why can’t he give them to Harry?
All the “dead” Headmasters are helping Dumbledore in the novels – by, say, visiting their other portraits, and conveying messages between Hogwarts & London!
Phineas Nigellus is doing it!: passing information, spying, warning, and instructing!
ALL HARRY HAD TO DO, WAS TO FIND A WAY TO CONTACT, AND KEEP CONTACT WITH, DUMBLEDORE’S PORTRAIT – AND HE’D TELL HARRY EXACTLY WHAT TO DO!
The 7th novel would never happen!!
It doesn’t have to!
Take for instance that Nigellus is talking to Cornelius Fudge in the 5th novel, after Dumbledore’s escape.
So Fudge certainly knows that all “dead” headmasters listen, watch, move around, talk, laugh, fight, and even cry! – and communicate like normal, living humans!
Wouldn’t Scrimgeour – the Minister of Magic – know that too?!
Why wouldn’t he talk to the Portrait Dumbledore about his will?
The whole thing is very confusing & muddled.
Rowling very cleverly avoids the fact that Dumbledore is still around – keen & “alive” & conscious – in his portrait – in the Headmaster’s office at the end of the 6th novel.
I’ll return to this point sometime later, if time & opportunity permit, after thinking about it more carefully.
Fourth point I’d like to make is about Snape.
I’m increasingly convinced that Snape simply wanted to take revenge on Moldy Voldy for the death of Lily.
He had no other interest or concern.
NONE of his acts were acts of redemption or benevolence – not even that of trying to “save” Lupin.
He was not interested in defeating the Death Eaters.
He was not interested in protecting the students (what had he done, to protect them anyway?).
He was least interested in the life of Harry.
He simply was keeping Harry alive because he believed Harry was the only one who could kill Darky.
He did whatever he could, to help Dumbledore, SIMPLY BECAUSE HE WANTED TO AVENGE LILY’S MURDER.
That is my assessment of Snape’s character.
He was no martyr, and no hero.
In a definite sense, he was using Dumbledore & Harry to punish Voldy.
The most disturbing doubt that springs to mind is this: WHAT WAS SEVERUS SNAPE’S PLAN TO LET HARRY KNOW WHAT HE (i.e. Snape) WAS REALLY DOING?
Isn’t it true that Harry (with Hermione & Ron) discovered the dying Snape almost accidentally?
In the sense, that Snape had not planned or intended for Harry to be in the Shrieking Shack, to see those last moments between himself & Voldy, or to witness his death.
He didn’t know that Harry was there.
It just so happened, that Harry came to the Shrieking Shack when Voldy confronted Snape about the Elder Wand.
This was not because of anything Snape planned or did.
What if Harry hadn’t gone to the Shack, and Snape had just died there, murdered by Voldy?
What if Harry had reached the Shack only after Snape had died?
What if Snape had somehow been killed, before all this could’ve happened?
How would have Harry known the truth he saw in the Pensieve?
How would he have known that he’s the 7th Horcrux?
Snape has no backup plan – like Dumbledore – as in, a way to convey the truth to Harry just in case he (i.e. Snape) dies without being able to do so.
The whole thing is extremely dubious.
Harry looks into Voldy’s mind at the exact time Voldy asks Lucius Malfoy to fetch Snape, and Harry arrives at the Shrieking Shack at the exact time that Voldy has that last, critical conversation about the Wand, with Snape: this is a lot of coincidence.
Last but not the least – and on a more affirmative, positive note – I’d like to note a couple of thoughts about the role of the EYE – and the function of SEEING – in the Harry Potter universe versus in The Lord of the Rings universe.
The Eye is of paramount importance, in HP.
SEEING is the greatest saving power.
This is the opposite of Tokien’s world, where the EYE is the symbol & representative of Evil.
I have indicated the theme of Voyeurism in HP.
Rowling implicitly approves of it.
Of course, not in a literal, dirty Peeping-Tom sense, but yes, to be invisible and yet totally watchful – to see while not being seen – is one of the greatest powers that helps & saves Harry, in the series.
THE EXACT OPPOSITE IS TRUE, IN LOTR.
Seeing in a state of invisibility – and invisibility per se – and Seeing per se – are all anathematized, explicitly or implicitly.
It is interesting to note that in the HP series, while Harry can see through Voldy, and see what Voldy is seeing – Voldy can’t, or doesn’t, do the same.
Seeing, in Voldy, is comparatively much weaker.
Harry can see what nobody else can see.
The Pensieve is also an instrument of seeing – an object through which one can watch events & people totally unbeknownst to them.
(It may also be an instrument of voyeurism.)
Compare this with the Palantir, basically an evil object, in LOTR.
If not intrinsically evil – if not evil in itself – it serves no healthy function – and indeed, serves the purposes of evil.
In Harry Potter, I’d like to point out 5 objects/powers of seeing (I’m not using the word “vision”), which are crucial to the story:
1. Harry’s ability to look through Voldy’s eyes, and see what Voldy is seeing. Very tellingly, Voldy can’t use this power, in reverse.
2. The Invisibility Cloak: it enables a person to see without being seen.
3. The Marauders Map: it has the same fundamental power – only a different way (of seeing), or aspect, of it.
Truth be said, the Marauders Map is, at least partially, an instrument of voyeurism.
4. The Pensieve
5. Mad-Eye Moody’s Eye.
One is also reminded of the mirror which is given by Sirius to Harry: while not limited to the power of seeing, it is through the symbol of the eye (Aberforth’s, which is identical to Albus’s) that the mirror acquires its emotional value in the story.
The Lord of the Rings is the exact opposite.
The Eye is the ultimate symbol of evil (along with the Ring).
Tolkien doesn’t set much store by the power of seeing, even though he’s an aesthete, and has created a beautiful, distinctive aesthetic vision, in Lotr.
The Eye symbolism in Harry Potter is extremely pervasive & intense (think of the numerous references to Harry & Lily’s eyes), and pretty much the opposite of the Eye symbolism in The Lord of the Rings.
In HP, the Eye Liberates & Saves.
In LOTR, the Eye Imprisons & Presages Death.
It is interesting that the giant spider in HP, i.e. the many-eyed Aragog, is all blind, but the giant spider in LOTR, i.e. Shelob, is all-too-watchful eyes.
{“But other potencies there are in Middle-earth, powers of night, and they are old and strong.
And She that walked in the darkness had heard the Elves cry that cry far back in the deeps of time, and she had not heeded it, and it did not daunt her now.
Even as Frodo spoke he felt a great malice bent upon him, and a deadly regard considering him.
Not far down the tunnel, between them and the opening where they had reeled and stumbled, he was aware of eyes growing visible, two great clusters of many-windowed eyes – the coming menace was unmasked at last.
The radiance of the star-glass was broken and thrown back from their thousand facets, but behind the glitter a pale deadly fire began steadily to glow within, a flame kindled in some deep pit of evil thought. Monstrous and abominable eyes they were, bestial and yet filled with purpose and with hideous delight, gloating over their prey trapped beyond all hope of escape.
...
Frodo and Sam, horror-stricken, began slowly to back away, their own gaze held by the dreadful stare of those baleful eyes; but as they backed so the eyes advanced.
Frodo’s hand wavered, and slowly the Phial drooped.
Then suddenly, released from the holding spell to run a little while in vain panic for the amusement of the eyes, they both turned and fled together; but even as they ran Frodo looked back and saw with terror that at once the eyes came leaping up behind.”}
As always, Rowling has a broader, more all-encompassing vision of things than Tolkien.
So she does have evil eyes – that of the Basilisk, and that of Voldy.
Mad-Eye Moody’s eye is also treated with a certain degree of revulsion, and is used to no good purpose (Barty Crouch Jr. uses it to clear Harry’s path to the Triwizard Cup).
But the power of the negative Eye in HP is way, way lesser than that of the positive (think of Dumbledore’s piercing, bright blue eyes, referenced repeatedly), and undoubtedly, incomparably lesser than that of the evil eye in Lotr.
The Basilisk loses its death-dealing eyes almost immediately, and it succeeds in killing only one person in 1,000 years (Myrtle).
On the contrary, the eyes of the Phoenix shed tears which heal the fatal wound caused by the Basilisk fang.
There are some other, less negative elements pertaining to this theme – Snape’s eyes, Moaning Myrtle’s quasi-voyeuristic behaviour, the eye in Slytherin’s Locket, etc. – but these are in no way comparable to Rowling’s genuinely passionate affirmation of Eyes & Seeing.
The most terrifying creatures in her universe are the Dementors – who have no eyes.
In the Potterverse, Seeing is searching, finding, discovering – a process or power of acquiring knowledge, truth, & insight, in the most positive sense of the term.
Ultimately, it implies freedom & joy.
In Lotr, Seeing is entrapment, submission, loss of soul, loss of self – or somehow involves pain & struggle.
Or, Seeing is predatory, like that of a bird of prey, a weapon of dominance & control.
Again, obviously, this is not the case every-time and every-where, but it is undoubtedly the fundamental thematic premise.
In HP, Voldy LACKS any special ability of Seeing.
He cannot see through Harry’s eyes.
He cannot see through Snape’s facade.
And the one time he uses this particular human faculty – he uses it negatively, i.e. he perverts vision – he corrupts it by falsifying it (in the 5th novel; in the 2nd novel, he again perverts the power of sight by showing Harry not a false vision, but the real vision of a falsehood).
Harry’s powers of seeing are phenomenal – beginning with his being a Seeker who needs to spot the flighty Snitch – to his ability to see whatever Voldy is seeing.
An insatiable curiosity to check out stuff & see things for himself, an irrepressible urge to find out the truth about anything & not stopping until he has found out, is the most pertinent feature of Harry’s character.
This is what makes him spy & eavesdrop (mostly using the Invisibility Cloak) throughout the series.
Harry just doesn’t hear or just read about things – he sees them for himself (Ron & Hermione don’t – Hermione’s strength lies in the written word).
That’s the crucial point.
Even Tom Riddle’s diary SHOWS him what happened between Riddle & Hagrid 50 years ago ... if Rowling wanted, she could’ve made the spirit in the diary just write down everything.
But Rowling respects seeing things first-hand, too much.
(Besides, a diary which kinda eats you up whole, is way more scary!!)
On the contrary, see what Tolkien does with his best character, the true hero of the story, Samwise:
““Yet even so, as Ring-bearer and as one that has borne it on finger and seen that which is hidden, your sight is grown keener.
You have perceived my thought more clearly than many that are accounted wise.
You saw the Eye of him that holds the Seven and the Nine.
And did you not see and recognize the ring upon my finger?
Did you see my ring?’ she asked turning again to Sam.
‘No, Lady,’ he answered. ‘To tell you the truth, I wondered what you were talking about. I saw a star through your fingers.””
Not that Frodo’s keener sight is of any great use to him, or to anybody.
The important point is that the faculty of Seeing is actually fundamental & critical to the events of the story – to the plot-progression – in HP.
I would like to extend the logic of this thought, and develop a few more points, but I’m not so sure about them, and will keep those ideas for a later time.
For instance, I’m inclined to think that dreams play different roles in both authors: in Tolkien, sleeping & dreaming is a rather positive phenomenon – in Rowling, it’s definitely negative.
But I’d have to read the novels very carefully, line by line, before deciding that, and it may be a long time before I can do that.
