The Silver Doe by Lilyhbp. Click for original link.
In medieval symbolism, in the Arthur stories, and even in Narnia, we get the pursuit of the White Stag as a symbol of the human pursuit of the Christ. In Harry Potter, we’ve seen a white stag, but there’s not much pursuit of it. On the contrary, Harry himself produces the stag, and it’s an internal echo of his father.
But in chapter 19 of Deathly Hallows, in Harry’s darkest moment to date – wand broken, having survived the Bagshot-Snake attack, Dumbledore denounced, and his parents’ graves visited – he pursues not a White Stag, but a “Silver-white Doe” into the forest. The reason for this is simple enough: Harry’s pursuit in this story is not of his father. It’s of his mother. At the end, he tells Voldemort, “I’ve done what my mother did.” In order to defeat Voldemort, he has to go through the way of Lily, which is the way of the Christ. So J.K. Rowling gives us a feminine version of the Christ symbolism. This is Christ, the Sophia of God, as St. Paul says. [click to continue…]
Melissa Anelli has posted a new “Vault” entry. These are excerpts from her interviews with J.K. Rowling. Two fascinating items come out of this discussion.
Grindelwald as Lucifer
MA: It reminds me of WICKED, did you ever read WICKED?
JKR: No.
MA: Maguire does retellings of old fairytales and he made a very cerebral book about the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, and how they used to be best friends.
JKR: Oh really…
MA: It’s very similar; she went one way to fight injustice and fight the wizard, and Glinda went the other, to be the political figure and play into the system. Really interesting.
JKR: Well, it’s the old fallen angel idea in some ways, isn’t it? It’s God and Lucifer.
MA: I wanted to ask you about that, because Grindelwald resembles – the golden curls, the first person I thought of was Lucifer.
Fascinating. Rowling goes on to call their friendship a “fraternal bond,” and she notes that Dumbledore’s emotional infatuation with Grindelwald makes him “less culpable.” Thoughts?
Then, there’s this bit. Often, when I think Ms. Rowling didn’t think through something well enough, she comes out with something like this to prove me wrong: [click to continue…]
Chapter 18 of our Deathly Hallows Read-Through is brought to you by Red Rocker.
Like other great novels, Deathly Hallows is about how human beings try to love one another. Chapter 18 shows different kinds of love: the love Harry and Hermione have for each other and which makes itself known in every word they speak to one another. The problematic love of Albus Dumbledore for one Gellert Grindelwald. And more importantly, for one Harry Potter
This is how matters stand at the start of chapter 18.
Harry has lost his parents, his godfather, and his mentor to Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Dumbledore has set him on a mission to destroy the remaining horcruxes, but has not given him a clear idea of where they are or how he is to destroy them.. Ron has walked out on him. His last good idea of where the Sword of Gyriffindor might be has backfired in a grotesque ambush. And his wand – his right arm – has been rendered impotent. As in broken and bent, hanging together by a strand of phoenix feather. So useless that he has to borrow a girl’s wand to protect himself. [click to continue…]
A belated installment.
Bathilda has a nasty secret and she’s ready to reveal it to Harry. Just wait.
We spend some time with Harry and Hermione trying to work out what’s happening behind the hedge. The blame goes, as usual, to a cat. Why are cats always to blame?
Rowling then gives us a nice little reference to Harry and Hermione taking refuge within the church. but Hermione suggest the dark road before Harry can speak up.
On their search for Bathilda’s house they come upon the ruins of the Potter’s residence. It has been left in ruins as a reminder of the violence that consumed the Potter family. In our own society I cannot imaging this happening. We like to sweep unpleasant images and reminders away. As a society we have a Voldemort-like hatred of death. We wish to avoid any reminder of it. On the fence is a plaque stating the situation and other magical folk have added their own inscriptions. I was hoping for “Spartan-117″ but it wasn’t there… [click to continue…]
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