The Meaning of the Phoenix, Prophecy 2007 Version

This essay is also available in audio form in PubCast #33.

From The Epic of Gilgamesh to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the question of death has been explored in the pages of literature, not least in mythological works. There is hardly a more universal human experience than death, and its chilling finality has caused fear in not a few hearts and minds. J.K. Rowling has said that death is “possibly the most important theme” in the books. Through the lens of mythological studies, Harry’s figurative death and resurrection as part of the Hero’s Journey can be seen book after book, and the theme of love’s victory over death is powerfully reinforced by the symbolism of the phoenix and Harry’s interaction with the series’ “Wise Old Man” (Dumbledore) and “Shadow” (Voldemort) archetypes.

The best place to start when considering the phoenix is Rowling’s own work, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. We’ll visit world mythology, of course, but Rowling’s own use of the phoenix gets primary consideration.

The phoenix is a magnificent, swan-sized, scarlet bird with a long golden tail, beak, and talons. It nests on mountain peaks and is found in Egypt, India, and China. The phoenix lives to an immense age as it can regenerate, bursting into flames when its body begins to fail and rising against from the ashes as a chick. The phoenix is a gentle creature that has never been known to kill and eats only herbs. Like the Diricrawl, it can disappear and reappear at will. Phoenix song is magical; it is reputed to increase the courage of the pure of heart and to strike fear into the hearts of the impure. Phoenix tears have powerful healing properties. (Scamander 32).

We see these characteristics clearly enough throughout the series. Harry first meets Fawkes on a Burning Day, so he becomes witness to a regeneration; this he sees again when the bird deliberately sacrifices itself for Dumbledore in the Ministry. The Phoenix song plays a powerful role in the series, twice frightening Voldemort (in Chamber and in Goblet) while simultaneously strengthening Harry. “One soft, wavering note” from Fawkes gave Harry the courage to tell the story of Cedric’s death, while the lament gave the Order the ability to grieve after the loss of Dumbledore at the end of Half-Blood Prince. Twice in the series, Fawkes’ tears healed Harry, once from certain death, the other time from the wound that led to Voldemort’s rebirth.

Fantastic Beasts includes a footnote on the XXXX rating the Ministry gives the phoenix (Scamander 32). “XXXX” generally means that the beast is “dangerous” while needing a “specialist” and a “skilled wizard” to “handle” (Rowling, Beasts xxii). The footnote explains that while the “dangerous” part of the rating does not apply to the phoenix, but that “very few wizards have ever succeeded in domesticating it” (32). This, of course, says tremendous things about Dumbledore.

You’ll note that Fantastic Beasts claims that the phoenix lives in China, Egypt, and India. The reference to Egypt is important, due to Egyptian mythology’s being the origin of the phoenix, in the form of the Benu bird, found in The Book of the Dead and “associated with the Egyptian sun-god Ra” (Lindermans, “Benu”). In Chinese mythology, the feng-huang is the phoenix parallel and represents “the primordial force of the heavens” (Lindermans, “Feng-huang”).

The reference to India is particularly fascinating. While Arabia (the location of the phoenix in Greek mythology) is conspicuously absent, this connection to Hindu mythology is interesting.

Garuda “is one of the three principal animal deities in the Hindu Mythology that has evolved after the Vedic Period in Indian history” (Sanyal). This Hindu version of the phoenix is attached to an intriguing story about its opposition to snakes. You see where I’m going with this. There’s more to the story than this, but the significant details are these:

The Story:

Kashyap, Garuda’s father, had two wives: Kadru, the elder, and Vinata, Garuda’s mother, the younger. There was great rivalry between the two wives. They could not stand each other. Once, they had an argument over the color of the horse… produced … just after the time of creation. Each chose a color and laid a wager on her own choice. The one who lost would become the other’s slave. Kadru proved to be right and, as part of the agreement, imprisoned Vinata in the nether regions, Patala, where she was guarded by serpents. The serpents are, according to another myth, the sons of Kadru herself.

Garuda, on hearing of his mother’s imprisonment, descended to Patala and asked the serpents to release Vinata. They agreed to do so and demanded as ransom a cup of amrita (ambrosia). So Garuda set off for the celestial mountain where the amrita was kept. Before he could get to the amrita he had to overcome three hazards set up by the gods to guard the celestial drink. First, Garuda came upon a ring of flames fanned by high winds. They roared and leapt up to the sky but Garuda drank up several rivers and extinguished the flames. Next, Garuda came upon a circular doorway. A very rapidly spinning wheel with sharp spikes on the spokes guarded it. Garuda made himself very small and slipped through the turning spokes. Lastly, Garuda had to defeat two fire-spitting serpents guarding the amrita. He flapped his wings rapidly and blew dust into the eyes of the monsters and blinded them. Then he cut them to pieces with his sharp beak. So Garuda finally reached the amrita and started to fly back with it to the nether regions but the gods anticipated his purpose and gave chase. Indra, king of the gods, struck him with his thunderbolt but Garuda proved a superior warrior and defeated the gods and continued unscathed on his journey to Patala.

When the serpents got the amrita they were overjoyed and released Vinata. Garuda got his mother back but he became an inveterate enemy of the serpents, the sons of his mother’s rival Kadru. The serpents, the Nagas, symbolized evil and that automatically invoked Garuda’s hatred. (Sanyal)

The phoenix has been a powerful literary and religious symbol for thousands of years. Originally a crimson and gold bird of ancient mythologies of Egypt and Greece, the phoenix lived for 500 (or 1461) years, and as its death approached, it built itself a “nest of aromatic wood,” set a fire, and “was consumed by the flames” (Lindermans, “Phoenix”). Out of the ashes, a new phoenix would rise, becoming a potent symbol of “immortality, resurrection, and life after death” (Lindermans, “Phoenix”).

As such, it achieved some prominence as a religious symbol. “Judaic lore mentions that the phoenix achieved its unique status as an immortal bird because it refrained from bothering the overburdened Noah during the Flood voyage” (Lindermans, “Phoenix”). As early as 96 A.D., the Christian bishop Clement employed the phoenix as a Christ symbol, calling it a “remarkable token” of Jesus’ resurrection as well as a future resurrection day (Clement 55). Subsequent Christian leaders followed this example, and by the Middle Ages the phoenix was referred to as a “resurrection bird” and “was used in heraldic devices and shields to represent the bearer’s hope of eternal life in Christ” (Granger 94).

Alice Mills, who notices the Christ symbolism, explains the mythical significance of the phoenix as it relates to other symbols utilized by Rowling, such as unicorn blood (also a Christ symbol) and the three-headed dog:

All of these mythic figures…are linked to the human longing to transcend time and death, whether by descending to the underworld and returning unscathed, or by magically gaining eternal life through the use of a talisman, or by being resurrected from the dead (Mills 4).

So there is deep, mythological significance here. Rowling takes mythology and uses it to her own advantage, in her own way. In fact, in an interview with Stephen Fry, she called British mythology a “Totally Bastard Mythology” because it’s such a combination of other mythologies, and then goes on to say that she takes lots of liberties with that mythology.

Let’s take a quick look at the three primary mythological archetypes of the series: The Wise Old Man, the Shadow, and the Hero, and their relationship to the overarching theme of love’s victory over death.

Wise Old Man
Dumbledore clearly fits the “wise old man” archetype, and he is the great teacher about death – calling it “the next great adventure” to “the well-organized mind” and assuring “Tom” that “there are worse things than death.” We learn from Deathly Hallows of course, that he is a wise teacher about death because he was once also tempted by immortality.

Fawkes the phoenix is Dumbledore’s pet, whose home is in his office and whom Harry unfortunately first met on a burning day (Rowling, Chamber 207). In this scene, Dumbledore describes the phoenix to Harry, and Rowling puts specific emphasis on the phoenix’s nature as a “faithful pet” (207, emphasis in original). One of the key elements of the phoenix symbolism is loyalty.

The denouement of Goblet of Fire provides us with an intriguing scene that illustrates the connection between Dumbledore, Fawkes, and the theme of death. Rowling has explained that it was at Cedric’s death that Harry “really [felt] what death means” for the first time (Rowling, “F.A.Q.”). In that scene, Fawkes recognized the pain of death that Harry felt, because Fawkes immediately “left his perch, [flew] across the room, and landed on Harry’s knee” (Rowling, Goblet 694). Harry absolutely does not want to talk about it, but Dumbledore wisely presses him:

If I thought I could help you…by putting you into an enchanted sleep for a while…I would do it. But I know better. Numbing the pain for a while will only make it worse when you finally feel it (695).

As Harry realizes that he would have to tell the whole story of Cedric’s death right then and there, the interplay between Dumbledore and Fawkes continues: Fawkes “let out one soft, quavering note” that warms and strengthens Harry for the story he is about to tell (695). With the combination of Dumbledore’s words and Fawkes’s song, Harry learns how to begin to grieve Cedric’s death not by pushing it down, but by speaking and letting it all out. It’s painful, but simultaneously a “relief” for Harry to relive the night’s awful events (695).

In Half-Blood Prince, we learn that the connection between Dumbledore and Fawkes is so strong that when Dumbledore dies, Fawkes sings a very long lament and then “[leaves] Hogwarts for good,” just as his master had (Rowling, Half-Blood 632). When Dumbledore’s white tomb had burst into flames, Harry “thought…he saw a phoenix fly joyfully into the blue” (645). It seems quite obvious that the Dumbledore/Fawkes connection is a primary vehicle for what Rowling wants to teach about death, and Harry’s loyalty to Dumbledore connects him to the phoenix.

The Dumbledore/phoenix connection symbolizes resurrection and victory over death, but it is Dumbledore’s teaching that explains it. The lesson at the end of Book 1 about death being the next great adventure, the grief at Cedric’s death at the end of Book 4, the teaching about the mysterious power of love in the Department of Mysteries after Harry lost Sirius, and Dumbledore’s explanation of love as the “power the dark lord knows not,” and Dumbledore’s own willingess to die to protect the soul of his would-be killer, Draco all teach Harry about love and death, and they all prepare Harry to die well.

The Shadow and the Phoenix
Another important lesson of Dumbledore’s is that Voldemort’s greatest weakness lies in his inability to love and to see that “there are things much worse than death” (Rowling, Order 814; see also Half-Blood Prince 559, 566). Voldemort, the series’ “shadow” archetype, is key to understanding what not to believe about death. The name Voldemort, taken on by the young Tom Riddle, Jr. can literally mean, “willing death, flight of death, or flight from death” (Granger 108). Both ideas apply perfectly: he is simultaneously attempting to flee from death and willing death upon anyone who gets in his way.

Voldemort so despises and fears death that he has “gone further than anybody along the path to immortality” through certain “experiments” (Rowling, Goblet 653). We learn in Book 6 that these experiments are horcruxes, “wickedest of magical inventions” (Rowling, Half-Blood 381). They are so wicked because, in order to create them to keep one’s self alive, one must commit murder, “the supreme act of evil,” ripping one’s soul apart and placing the soul fragment into an object (497-98). Slughorn explaines to young Riddle that “death would be preferable” to an existence reliant upon a horcrux (497).

It is quite apparent that Riddle. did not agree. Even at the age of 11, Tom was convinced that someone who knew magic would be able to prevent death (275). The rest of his life is spent in pursuit of this goal, firm in his belief that “[t]here is nothing worse than death” (Rowling, Order 814). So determined was Voldemort to never die, that he was willing to live a “cursed life” by drinking unicorn’s blood, become less and less human, and kill anyone in his path to achieve his goal (Rowling, Sorcerer’s 258).

It is also evident that Voldemort has nothing but disdain for sacrificial love. He called Lily Potter’s sacrifice “foolish” and challenged Dumbledore directly on his belief that “love is more powerful than [Voldemort’s] kind of magic” (Rowling, Goblet 653; Half-Blood 444). Voldemort is so unconvinced of the power of love that he thinks his use of Harry’s blood, in which the “old magic” that he had “forgotten” resides, for his rebirth will counter its power and give him victory over Harry (Rowling, Goblet 652-53). The twinkle of victory in Dumbledore’s eye is now understood. Lily’s sacrifice of love for Harry, and Harry’s willingness to sacrifice himself out of love for the rest of the world just like his mother did, was the key to Voldemort’s downfall (696).

Since sacrificial love connects us to the theme of choice, we can also see Voldemort’s weakness in this area. As Dumbledore explains, the prophecy need not have been acted upon, but Voldemort “created his worst enemy” out of fear, making a “grave error” in marking his equal and establishing his own vanquisher, the one with power he knew not (Rowling, Half-Blood 510). In other words, Voldemort believes the prophecy to be necessarily fulfilled, because of his own fear of death, and therefore chose to act upon it when, in reality, he could have walked away. Because he did not understand the power of choice, “he not only handpicked the man most likely the finish him, he handed him uniquely deadly weapons” (510). Voldemort’s fear of death and inability to comprehend love will be his own undoing.

There are a few connections we can establish between the phoenix and Voldemort which give us a symbol for the defeat of the one who wills and flees from death. Three times the phoenix symbol is present and active in the thwarting of Voldemort’s plans: in the chamber of secrets, as a result of the priori incantatem effect, and in the Ministry in his attack on Dumbledore.

Harry, Fawkes, and Resilience
Misty Hook argues in her essay, “What Harry and Fawkes Have in Common” that Harry’s suffering throughout the series has been necessary, primarily because the character it produces in Harry makes him able to confront Voldemort.

In order to defeat Voldemort, Harry must show resolve and the determination to do what must be done no matter what the cost to himself. Thus, while Harry’s humanity and capacity for love could have blossomed in the arms of loving parents and caretakers, it is only through Harry’s multiple losses and his ability to be positively molded by his grief that he has discovered the toughness it will take to achieve victory over Voldemort. As such, Harry’s grief is like a phoenix: it burns him up only to help him emerge a stronger, better person (Hook 92).

Harry’s ability to love was created by multiple phoenix-like moments, beginning with the loss of his parents, continuing through mistreatment at the Dursley house, and being re-lived year after year as he progresses through trials, losses, and the figurative death and resurrection sequence of his journey.

This morning, John Granger made the statement that Harry died and rose again every single book. If you were wondering what on earth he was talking about, I’m going to conclude this with an overview of that. He’s done excellent work on this, and I think it’s a good way to finish things up here. As Misty Hook notes, Harry and Fawkes are very alike. Here is Harry’s death/resurrection pattern, book by book:

In Philosopher’s Stone, Harry figurative descends into the Underworld, passing by the three-headed dog Fluffy, a “comical version of the three-headed dog Cerberus that guards the path to the underworld in Greek myth” (Mills 3). In battle with Quirrellmort, which can almost be seen as a figurative battle for eternal life over the stone, Harry “knew all was lost, and fell into blackness” (Rowling, Sorcerer’s 295). He awakes again in the hospital wing with Dumbledore watching over him. When Harry asks how long he has been out, Dumbledore replies, “Three days” (296). It is hard to miss the resurrection imagery there.

In Chamber of Secrets, Harry once again makes a descent, this time to do battle with a great serpent, the basilisk. Once again we see a clear reference to death, as Harry is succumbing to the basilisk’s poison (Rowling, Chamber 321). But as Riddle pronounces Harry’s death, and Harry is blacking out, he is saved by the healing tears of the resurrection bird, Fawkes the phoenix, and once again ascends victorious (321).

In Prisoner of Azkaban, after a descent underground where Sirius’ identity is revealed and a return to the surface, Harry is once again on the edge of death as the Dementor begins to perform its soul-sucking kiss on him. The text holds two clear references to death prior to the kiss, and Harry hears his mother’s final screams as it begins; once again, he was saved, this time by his own patronus charm, which appeared in the form of a stag (Rowling, Prisoner 384-85, 411). It is important to point out that in the absence of the phoenix symbol, a stag is present. The stag is also a medieval Christ symbol which represents new life because of its cycle of losing and re-growing its antlers (Granger 95).

In Goblet of Fire, the death/resurrection scene takes place, appropriately, in a graveyard. After Voldemort is reborn, he “attacks Harry with a spell that certainly is meant to call to mind the sacrifice of Jesus, the Cruciatus Curse” (Grimes 113). As the subsequent duel ensues, and once again Voldemort explains his intentions to kill Harry, his Avada Kedavra curse meets Harry’s Expelliarmus charm, and the Priori Incantatem effect links the two phoenix-core wands (Rowling, Goblet 668). Harry hears the same phoenix song he had heard when Fawkes came to his rescue two years prior in the Chamber of Secrets, and he is once again saved from certain death in the presence of the phoenix symbol (664-69)

In Order of the Phoenix, Harry descends into the Ministry and has to deal with the “very arbitrary and sudden death” of his godfather, Sirius (Rowling, “J.K. Rowling”). Facing Voldemort’s killing curse once again, Harry, entirely unable to defend himself this time, is saved by Dumbledore and Fawkes, the latter having to swallow a killing curse, burst into flames, and be reborn from the ashes (Rowling, Order 815).

In Half-Blood Prince, Harry has forced Dumbledore to drink the green potion of fear and death, and is at the point of knowing for certain that he’ll be dragged underwater to become another inferius, when “red and gold flames” erupt around him. This is an obvious Dumbledore/Fawkes connection, and Harry rises from the underground once again, having been saved from death.

In Deathly Hallows, there is no subtlety to the matter. It is masterfully done. Fawkes is gone, but she maintains her fire imagery in some interesting ways. For example, after Mad-Eye’s death, everyone is looking around at each other suspiciously. Who’s the sneak? Harry calls Dumbledore to mind, remembers the way he trusted, and then does what – he takes a drink of firewhiskey and immediately feels strength and courage (Rowling, Hallows 80). We suddenly see a very decisive, very Dumbledore-like Harry in that moment, who simply will not let them be divided (80).

The death and resurrection scene, chapters 34-36, whatever else you think of Deathly Hallows, is secured this series a place in the list of classics. Plot details and contradictions will be forgiven in light of this masterfully written section of the story. Chapters 34-36 was the whole point of this series. Rowling wrote the previous 6.9 books for these three chapters.

One of my commenters at swordofgryffindor.com said that she out-did C.S. Lewis here. One of the most moving portions of the whole Narnia series is Aslan’s walk to the Stone Table with Susan and Lucy. Harry’s walk through the forest with his deceased loved ones outdoes Lewis on this, and I would have never guessed he could be outdone.

Lewis’ series, despite is obvious flaws and glaring plotholes, will always be a classic. In the way that Rowling has written the theme of Love’s Victory Over Death, she has accomplished the same. Oh, we’ll find plot holes, detail problems, and the like. But she did it. She wrote the classic epic fairy-tale myth of our time, and she did it with that powerful theme symbolized by the phoenix: The one who lives a life of true, genuine, self-sacrificial love and who trusts wholeheartedly in the self-sacrificial love of Another on their behalf, has no reason to fear death.

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