On the usefulness of JK Rowling's celebrated series as a tool for teaching our young

“But- I stopped Sirius and Professor Lupin from killing Pettigrew! That makes it my fault if Voldemort comes back!”

“It does not,” said Dumbledore quietly....”The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed.... you did a very noble thing in saving Pettigrew's life.”

...”Pettigrew owes his life to you. You have sent Voldemort a deputy who is in your debt.... When one wizard saves another wizard's life, it creates a certain bond between them ... and I'm much mistaken if Voldemort wants a servant in the debt of Harry Potter.”

... “I knew your father very well”....”He would have saved Pettigrew too, I am sure of it.”

...

“I thought it was my dad who'd conjured my Patronus. I mean, when I saw myself across the lake ... I thought I was seeing him”

“An easy mistake to make,” said Dumbledore softly. “I expect you'll tire of hearing it, but you do look extraordinarily like James. Except for the eyes... you have your mother's eyes.”

Harry shook his head.

“ It was stupid, thinking it was him,” he muttered. “I mean, I knew he was dead.”

“You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us?”... ”Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night.”

--From Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

It was in the fall of 2007 that I found myself re-reading the Harry Potter series to my wife and as-of-yet unborn child. When reading through the books for the first time, largely as they were released, I had not been in the process of shifting my world-view to a Heathen one. However, upon reading the series anew, I was surprised to see things unnoticed my first time through. Surely, there were glimmers early on, but it was not until reading the preceding passage aloud that I found myself staring wide-eyed and mouth agape at my lovely wife.  She was looking back at me wearing the same expression, as if she knew exactly what went through my head. This is Heathen. We can use this.

Certainly not all of what JK Rowling wrote is particularly applicable to our ways; magic as practiced in the series bears little to no resemblance to seidh, and it would be foolish to use the books as instruction manuals for dealing with wights. Even the above excerpt  shows a bit of Christian thinking in it; surely a Heathen Harry would have sought (and a Heathen James would have wanted) compensation or blood from the oathbreaker Pettigrew, instead of merely showing mercy. Detailing all of the ways in which the material does not match our ways is beyond the scope of the article, nor is this article a guide for utilizing the books for teaching; I will merely bring to light some of the Heathenness that I have found.

As Bauschatz describes in The Well and the Tree, the Germanic conception of time does not split into a tripartite system of Past, Present and Future, but but rather it is split into “that which has become” (or perhaps “that which has formed” or even “that which is real”) and that which hasn't. “That which has” essentially (or actually) still is, and as such continues to affect that which is in the process of becoming out of what is merely potential. In the context of Harry Potter this can be seen throughout the books. An odd event, item, character, or statement which might seem to have no relevance, will later (sometimes in the same book, sometimes in later volumes) be shown to have greater significance to the overall story.

“Oh I would never dream of assuming I know all of Hogwarts' secrets”...”Only this morning...I took a wrong turning on the way to the bathroom and found myself in a beautifully proportioned room I have never seen before, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots.”

This quote of Professor Dumbledore's, while seeming merely humorous when read in the fourth book, HP and the Goblet of Fire, in fact foreshadows its use by Harry and 'Dumbledore's Army' as a secret training facility in book five, HP and the Order of the Phoenix . After having read that volume, one might guess that the Room's narrative purpose had been fulfilled and would have no more bearing on the larger story, but one would be wrong. The Room of Requirement, as it is called, is also important to the plots of books six and seven.

The Room of Requirement is by no means unique in this regard. Just in the first two chapters of the first book, HP and the Philosopher's Stone (or HP and the Sorcerer's Stone if you are reading the Americanized version), we are introduced to a device that takes the light from street lamps and are told of an episode of Harry speaking to a snake. None of these things seem terribly important at the time, yet each comes into play in later volumes; the "deluminator" provides a way for Ron Weasley to reunite with Harry and their friend Hermione during the course of the seventh book, HP and the Deathly Hallows, and the ability to speak and understand the language of snakes is revealed in the second book, HP and the Chamber of Secrets, to be a rare and feared ability among Wizards. Even the entire plot of the second book seems out of place in the series, as the main threats of the book, the titular Chamber of Secrets (which, I must say, is a spectacular allusion to Hvergelmir, intentional or not) and the Diary of Tom Riddle, seem to be remnants of the past. But, as discussed above, that which has become continues to affect that which is becoming, and as such it is shown in the sixth book, HP and the Half-Blood Prince that the diary (now destroyed) was one of the keys to defeating Voldemort.  More instances abound in the series; probably enough to fill an entire article in itself.

All of this is meaningless, however, if we have no demonstration of an individual forming his Wyrd through his choices and deeds. In HP and the Philosopher's Stone rumors of and encounters with the sort of witches and wizards associated with the Slytherin House of Hogwarts gave Harry an aversion to the house. When it came to be time for him to be sorted into a house, he thought “not Slytherin” to the Sorting Hat, prompting it to place him in the Gryffindor House despite how well it thought Harry would do in Slytherin. Later, in Chamber of Secrets, Harry spoke to Professor Dumbledore about this, concerned that he was tainted with evil and should have been in Slytherin were it not for his demand to not be put there.

“It only put me in Gryffindor,” said Harry...”because I asked not to go in Slytherin....”

“Exactly,” said Dumbledore....”It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

In essence, Dumbledore says that we are our choices, which is not a far cry from “we are our deeds.”

This is not to say that Rowling is dismissive of aspects of one's wyrd that are beyond one's direct control. Much of wyrd is determined not only by one's own actions, but of the action's of one's kin. This is also shown in the books. Throughout the series several families are presented and we see glimpses of kin bonds exerting their influence. From Ron Weasley's use of his father's illegal flying car and the dysfunctional relationship of the Longbottom family to the effect Lucius Malfoy's machinations and failures have on his son Draco's life, the book is filled with families, kin bonds, and inheritance.

However, the most important examples of familial wyrd and luck are found, not surprisingly, in Harry and his enemy Voldemort. Considering that both Harry and Voldemort are orphans, it is difficult for me to not think of Sigurd, who reclaimed the wyrd and luck of the Volsungs when Gram was reforged, despite having never known his father. In the sixth book, HP and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort's lineage is detailed. His mother's side was descended from Salazar Slytherin, one of the four legendary founders of Hogwarts. Slytherin's descendants inherited his obsession with magical blood purity to the point that they ended up as inbred, antisocial mutants. Voldemort's father, however, was a cold-hearted but wealthy and handsome muggle who caught the eye of Voldemort's mother. By use of magical coercion the two married and produced Voldemort (or Tom Riddle Jr. as he was named), but the marriage, and his mother's life, ended tragically before he was born. From all his ancestors Tom inherited a potent combination of traits which formed the foundation of his villainy.

Harry, on the other hand, is shown glimpses of his parentage throughout the series, learning that he has inherited much of his father's daring, looks, and flying skill, as well as kindness and integrity from his mother (and her eyes; he has his mothers eyes). When he was one year old, as Voldemort killed Harry's mother on his way to Harry, she cast a spell powered by her love for him that proved to protect him from Voldemort's attacks on many occasions. As was described above, Harry's patronus charm (very similar to a fetch or fylgja) took the form of a stag, a form that Harry's father had learned to assume. However, it is Harry's invisibility cloak that deserves special attention. Given to him in his first year at Hogwarts, the cloak, Harry learned, belonged to his father.  In the course of his many adventures, it proves quite useful in getting him out of tight scrapes and allowing him access to places ordinarily forbidden. It is not until the final book, however, that Harry learns that his cloak is of exceptional quality, and is actually a fabled item that (along with two other items) was the basis of a part of wizarding folklore, “The Tale of the Three Brothers.” The cloak was either created or won by Ignotus Peverell and was passed down through the generations until it came to Harry. A better representation of Hamingja would be hard to come by.

Extending outward from the family line, we come to the tribe. We can see tribal dynamic take a couple of forms in the series. First is in the houses at Hogwarts. Each of the four houses, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, acts as its own tribe. Each has its own values and its own ways, but most importantly, each is in competition with the others. This competition is formed not only by the year-long quidditch season, but by the points awarded and retracted by the faculty in response to the efforts and behavior of each of the students. As such, each member affects the luck of the tribe.

The second form of tribalism in the series is much more central to the overarching plot of the books and can be seen in society as a whole. In this example there are two main tribes: the tribe of witches and wizards, and the tribe of muggles.  Other tribes exist too, but are less significant.  Within wizarding society, there are those who would subjugate those without magical ability, and would exterminate those who have magical ability but come from muggle stock. To them, the luck of the tribe must be preserved, and to do so they must promote the purity of the tribe. However, regardless of their views, the fact remains that muggle-borns do have the ability to perform magic and are therefore witches and wizards. It seems as if nature itself has seen to adopting these muggleborns into the tribe. In the Well and the Tree, Bauschatz states that in Beowulf, Scyld and Beowulf start their lives with little to no personal history, and therefore they have the freedom to create their own wyrd. This is how we can see the muggleborns, as individuals unburdened by inherited wyrd, that can bring new blood and new luck to the tribe.

In other examples of interpersonal relations, we have instances of bonds of debt formed by gifting. One example of the bonds of gifting is found in Harry's gift of his winnings from the Triwizard Cup to the Weasley twins at the end of book four. At the beginning of book six the twins have used the money to start a successful business, and as repayment make it clear to Harry that he can take anything from their stock, free of charge.  A more complicated example is found in the relationship between Harry and Dobby the house-elf. Dobby, although bound to serve the Malfoys, chose to disobey and attempt to protect Harry from a plot of Lucius Malfoy's. Although Dobby's attempts of protection always ended badly for Harry, Harry later saw fit to repay Dobby's concern by tricking Lucius into granting Dobby his freedom by inadvertantly giving Dobby one of Harry's own socks.  This is because to give a house-elf a piece of clothing is to free it from service.  While it is ironic that this form of gifting actually severs bonds, this instance proves to match the Germanic significance of gifting and indebtedness. Although free, Dobby now saw himself as indebted to Harry and proved helpful to Harry thereafter, eventually ending with Dobby giving his own life to save Harry and others.

However, the most important example is in the mercy Harry had shown to Peter Pettigrew, as mentioned above. Pettigrew was the protector of the secret of the location of Harry and his parents as they hid from Voldemort. He then betrayed the Potters, allowing Voldemort to kill Harry's parents and attempt to kill Harry. Years later, James Potter's childhood friends Remus Lupin and Sirius Black found themselves in the position to take revenge on Pettigrew for the betrayal of the secret, and for framing Sirius for his crimes. Harry stopped them, allowing him to escape to find the weakened Voldemort, but leaving him in Harry's debt. Pettigrew then served Voldemort and helped him regain his power by giving his own arm in the process. Voldemort subsequently rewarded him with a new silver arm. Eventually the paths of Harry and Pettigrew, also known as “Wormtail”, crossed again, this time with Pettigrew's silver hand around Harry's throat.

“You're going to kill me?” Harry choked...”After I saved your life? You owe me Wormtail!”

At this point Pettigrew hesitated and his grip slackened momentarily, allowing for Harry to escape and for Ron Weasley to disarm him. At this, the silver hand turned on him, taking revenge for betraying his master, and in essence for all of Pettigrew's treachery. Wanted or not, Lilly and James Potter got their revenge.

One can hardly talk about interpersonal bonds and debts without speaking of symbel. Yes, even symble makes its way into the books, or at least there are acts that are reminiscent. In the fourth book the titular Goblet of Fire acts as the symbel horn, and as Urð's well. Names are placed in the goblet by students hopeful to participate in the Triwizard Tournament. The goblet then chooses a select few to be entered. Placing one's name in the goblet is a boast that one is up to the task of facing the challenges. It is stated in the book that if selected by the goblet, one must perform; there is no backing out. Although the penalty for not fulfilling the boast is never stated, considering the dangerous nature of the tasks, one could venture a guess of certain death.

Much like the Goblet of Fire, the sixth book introduces the Unbreakable Vow. The Unbreakable Vow is a spell performed by two people; one that makes the vow, and one that acts as a “bonder”. The role of the bonder is unclear, but what is clear is that breaking the vow means certain death to the vow-maker.

It seems fitting that the last topic for this article should be the nature of prophesy, spae, and skuld. The shape of Harry's life was determined by the utterance of a prophesy, as was revealed in book five, HP and the Order of the Phoenix. The prophesy in itself did not name Harry as the one to defeat Voldemort; in fact the prophesy could have applied to Neville Longbottom as well as it applied to Harry. It was only because Voldemort got wind of a fragment of the prophesy, chose to act on it, and chose Harry as his enemy rather than Neville, that it came to be set on Harry. In fact, if Voldemort had never heard of the prophesy, or had never acted on it, it never would have come to pass at all; Dumbledore even says in Half-Blood Prince that not all prophesies come to pass. Dumbledore goes further to explain that even though Voldemort chose to have the prophesy apply to Harry, Harry was still free to ignore it if he chose. In this way, prophesy as it is described in the books both analyzes the most likely course of events (what should become), but also takes a part in setting that course. Prophesy does not set the future in stone, nor give an account of what is predestined. This is a rather unusual way of presenting prophesy in modern fantasy, as it does not follow the Christian model.  Instead, it reflects the Germanic view of prophesy and the future.

An astute reader will likely find more than is detailed here; this is but a survey. But hopefully one can see the value in using these books to teach concepts central to our ways to children who may already be predisposed to reading them.

Sources:

Bauschatz, Paul C. The Well and the Tree: World and Time in Early Germanic Culture. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1982

Byock, Jesse L. trans. Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. Berkely: University of California Press, 1990

Gundarsson, Kveldúlf; et al. Our Troth 2^nd Edition Volume One: History and Lore. Berkeley: The Troth, 2005

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1997

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Scholastic Press, 1998

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Scholastic Press, 1999

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic Press, 2000

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic Press, 2003

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. New York: Scholastic Press, 2005

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Scholastic Press, 2007

Rowling, J. K. The Tales of Beedle the Bard. New York: Scholastic Press, 2008