Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
"Harry Potter" is a series of fantasy novels by British author J.K. Rowling, centering on the life and adventures of a young wizard, Harry Potter. The story begins with Harry, who lives with his unkind relatives, the Dursleys, unaware of his magical heritage and the significance of his past. He discovers his identity as a wizard on his eleventh birthday and starts attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he forms close friendships with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Throughout the series, Harry faces the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who is responsible for the deaths of Harry's parents and seeks to regain power.
The narrative unfolds over seven books, exploring themes of friendship, bravery, and the battle between good and evil. As Harry matures, he learns about prophecies, the complexities of his connection to Voldemort, and the importance of love and sacrifice. The series includes encounters with various magical elements, including Horcruxes—objects containing pieces of Voldemort's soul—and culminates in a final showdown at Hogwarts. The "Harry Potter" series not only captivates readers with its imaginative world but also addresses profound issues such as identity, morality, and the consequences of choices.
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Subject Terms
Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
- Born: July 31, 1965
- Birthplace: Yate, England
First published: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 1997 (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 1998); Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1998; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 1999; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, 2000; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2003; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 2005; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, 2007
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy; Children’s literature
Time of plot: 1991–1998
Locale: London, England; Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland; Hogsmeade, Scotland
Principal Characters
Harry Potter, a powerful young wizard
Ron Weasley, his friend
Hermione Granger, his friend
Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, his mentor
Lord Voldemort, also known as the Dark Lord, his enemy
The Story
At the start of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (published as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the United States), eleven-year-old Harry Potter does not realize he is a famous wizard. He lives with his nasty Muggle (nonmagical) relatives, Petunia and Vernon Dursley, and their son, Dudley. Fearful of his wizard heritage, Petunia and Vernon hide the truth: Harry’s parents, witch and wizard Lily and James Potter, were murdered by evil wizard Lord Voldemort. Voldemort’s assault was prompted by a prophecy that states that a wizard born at the end of the seventh month to parents who defy the Dark Lord three times will defeat him. Voldemort identified Harry as the one foretold and attacked the infant, but Lily’s love shielded her son. Voldemort’s own killing curse rebounded, disembodying him, and split off a piece of his soul, which became lodged in Harry’s psyche. Thereafter Harry and Voldemort share an eerie connection that neither understands.
Harry’s adventures begin when Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sends Rubeus Hagrid, Hogwarts gamekeeper, to retrieve Harry from the Dursleys and bring him to the school. Harry’s blood relationship with Petunia, his mother’s sister, protects him from Voldemort’s cohorts in the Muggle world, and the enchanted castle of Hogwarts provides a safe environment for Harry to develop his magical powers. At school, he meets Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who become his best friends. He also encounters Professor Severus Snape, whose malice confounds Harry, and Draco Malfoy, snobbish son of pureblood wizards, whose calculating offer of friendship Harry rebuffs.
During their first year, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that Voldemort, now a wraithlike creature, is searching for the Philosopher’s Stone, which is hidden in an underground chamber at Hogwarts. The possessor of the stone is rumored to gain immortality, which Voldemort desires. In an effort to foil Voldemort, the three friends overcome a series of challenges to recover the object.
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, during their second year, a magical diary written fifty years earlier by Hogwarts student Tom Riddle, who later became the Dark Lord, lures Ron’s young sister, Ginny, into the Chamber of Secrets. After Harry and Ron kill the basilisk guardian of the chamber, they find Ginny inside sitting beside a spectral Tom Riddle. Riddle’s image dissolves when Harry stabs the diary with a fang from the dead basilisk, freeing Ginny from Voldemort’s spell.
When Harry returns to Hogwarts for the next term in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, he learns that Sirius Black, a notorious criminal thought to have betrayed Harry’s parents to Voldemort, has escaped from Azkaban, the wizard prison. Sirius is an Animagus (a shape-shifter) who transforms into a black dog. Initially Harry seeks revenge for his parents’ deaths. However, Remus Lupin, a werewolf and teacher at Hogwarts, explains that Sirius, along with himself and Peter Pettigrew, another Animagus who changes into a rat, were friends of James Potter. Later Harry discovers that Pettigrew is Ron’s pet rat, Scabbers, and a Voldemort informant.
Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts, chronicled in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, proves to be a pivotal time in his conflict with Voldemort. Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament, a contest between three wizarding schools. Although Harry is underage, his name is mysteriously ejected from a magical receptacle called the Goblet of Fire, which chooses the tournament’s contestants. During the contest’s third task, Harry navigates a deadly maze where a magical trap set by Voldemort’s supporters transfers him to a graveyard. There Peter Pettigrew forcibly draws blood from him. Pettigrew then cuts off his own hand, and along with Harry’s blood, throws it into a cauldron where he has placed what appears to be a human infant. The infant is Voldemort, who rises from the cauldron as an adult. Using their wands, Harry and Voldemort engage in a ferocious duel, but neither wins.
As Harry begins his fifth year at Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Ministry of Magic denies that the Dark Lord has come back and sends Dolores Umbridge to Hogwarts to suppress any talk concerning Voldemort. Her oppressive regime prompts Harry, Ron, and Hermione to form a student resistance group called Dumbledore’s Army. Also active is an adult group called the Order of the Phoenix, of which Dumbledore, Sirius, the Weasleys, Lupin, and others are members. Finally, a group of dark wizards, called Death Eaters—which include Draco Malfoy’s father, Lucius; Bellatrix Lestrange; and Severus Snape—gather around Voldemort and his vicious pet snake, Nagini. In a confrontation within the Ministry building, Sirius is murdered by Bellatrix.
After the battle at the Ministry, Dumbledore is often absent from the school. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, during Harry’s sixth year, the headmaster tells Harry that he has been searching for Voldemort’s Horcruxes, magical objects used to store pieces of a dark wizard’s soul to ensure his immortality. Two have been destroyed—Tom Riddle’s diary by Harry and Marvolo Gaunt’s ring by Dumbledore. Because Dumbledore is the only wizard Voldemort fears, Voldemort orders Draco Malfoy to assassinate him. However, Draco proves unable to go through with the murder, and Snape kills Dumbledore in his place. Snape’s murder of Dumbledore seems to indicate that he is Voldemort’s loyal follower.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, after Dumbledore’s death, Harry, Hermione, and Ron drop out of school before their final year to search for the Horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows, magical objects that give the wizard who reunites them power over death. Meanwhile, Voldemort and his Death Eaters invade Hogwarts and battle Dumbledore’s Army and the Order of the Phoenix. During the battle, Voldemort, who believes Snape possesses the elder wand, one of the Deathly Hallows, commands Nagini to kill Snape. Before he dies, Snape communicates to Harry that his love for Lily is the reason he protected Harry. Harry also learns that Snape was acting as a mole among the Death Eaters and killed Dumbledore at Dumbledore’s own request.
Because a piece of Voldemort’s soul was embedded in Harry during Voldemort’s attack seventeen years earlier, Harry is one of the remaining Horcruxes. In a skirmish in the forest, Voldemort fires a curse at Harry, dislodging the piece of Voldemort’s soul residing in him. Feigning death, Harry allows Hagrid to carry him back to Hogwarts, where Neville Longbottom dispatches Nagini, the last Horcrux. Voldemort engages in a fierce duel with Harry, but Harry defeats him, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
Bibliography
Anatol, Gisele Liza, ed. Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays. Westport: Praeger, 2003. Print.
Duriez, Colin. Field Guide to Harry Potter. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2007. Print.
Heilman, Elizabeth, E. Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter. New York: Taylor, 2008. Print.
Langford, David. The End of Harry Potter? New York: Tor, 2007. Print.