Cycles of Death and Rebirth in the Harry Potter Series Leslie Barnhart

Revivals, Resurrections, and Reincarnations Difference between resurrections, reincarnations, and revivals/ resuscitation: – Resurrection: body was dead and came back to life as same person – Reincarnation: body died, spirit took on new body and came back to life – Resuscitation/ revival: body never died, came close to death but returned to life with new spirit

BRAINSTORM: REVIVALS WITHIN THE SERIES Talk to a neighbor or write down all the “revivals” you remember from the series (canon or movies)

Which are which from your lists Resurrections – CS: Fawkes in office – PoA: Sirius at lake – OoP: Fawkes in Ministry – HBP: Dumbledore – Spirit carried off as Fawkes (returns to heaven) – DH : Harry from Forbidden Forest Reincarnations –G–GF: Lord Voldemort in graveyard Revivals PS: Harry from Hogwarts’ basement CS: Harry, Fawkes restores health; Ginny: Harry restores life by destroying LV; CS: 7 beings restored from petrification (Ms. Norris, Sir Nick, Colin Creevey, Justin F- F, Penny Clearwater, Hermione Granger, Ginny…) PoA: Harry and Hermione restored by the lake GF: Harry returns from the graveyard to Hogwarts (symbolic death) OoP: Harry survives LV’s possession HBP: Draco survives near-death in bathroom HBP: Harry saved from lake DH: multiple… pool, fire, killing curse…

Cycles of Death and Rebirth Big picture: Deathly Hallows: Harry returning from “Avada Kadavra” curse Each book in canon: Harry goes through a death and rebirth, each one mastering new element (earth, water, air, fire, astral plane, black, white, and red stages) Death/near death – rebirth cycles accelerate towards end of canon: multiple events in “Half-Blood Prince” and “Deathly Hallows”

Drivers of Cycles Symbolism – Harry’s path marked by mastery of different elements, immersed in element to master it (come out on top) Religious overtones – dying to old self/ understanding, rebirthing to new self/ understanding Conversion facilitated when people sense an end is near

Closer Look at HBP  Harry – Insights – Illumination!!  Lead-ins: Draco’s near death leads to his conversion – fiery cross in bathroom, Draco never hurts anyone thereafter  Beginning with Climax of quest (Destroy the horcruxes) – near-deaths for those around Harry leads to his alchemically centered transformation:  Earth: Aragog dies;  Water: Inferi – death all around Harry;  Air: Dumbledore dies;  Fire: Hagrid’s Hut up in flames (near death for Hagrid)  Astral plane: Fawkes departs, never to return  End of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s lives as students at Hogwarts  Ultimate understanding: everything has an end

Deathly Hallows: Rebirth after Death Begins with Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s departure from World Dying to self, being reborn: more common name: baptism

Deathly Hallows: Earthly Element “Baptism” through earthly element The trio descends into the Ministry of Magic: – Definition of who they are: wizards, their community, their identity – Nearly caught, stuck in depths of Ministry Escape from tainted identity, working together Emerge with locket Horcrux – cursed exit

Deathly Hallows: water element Attracted by Sword of Gryffindor – symbol of the cross, the spirit Free-willing entrance into water, full immersion, locket/ curse strangles Harry – death imminent Rebirth - “Baptism” from Ron, Harry has new insights Emerges with Horcrux destroyer

Deathly Hallows: Air Element Immersed in air on back of dragon escaping from Gringotts – Dragon: Symbol of immortality, death to self – Air: breath, time, spirit – – Air is very cold, they hunger, thirst, ache from cold Emerge from air together, solidly in purpose, with Horcrux

Deathly Hallows, Fire Element Room of Requirement: Fiendfyre surrounds everyone, kills Crabbe Symbolic of fires of hell and death, consuming fire that destroys that which is evil within us Trio emerges from fire with another horcrux destroyed, reborn in their acceptance of their parts in the end of LV Draco and Goyle revived in turn

Deathly Hallows, Astral Plane In Forbidden Forest, Harry is hit with “Killing Curse”, somewhere between death/ life Immersed in Astral Plane – meets up with Albus Dumbledore “in his head” Can choose whether to go on to death, or return to life Emerges from Astral plane with new understanding, reborn without horcrux attachment

Conclusion Spiraling death/ rebirth cycles throughout series – revival, reincarnation, and resurrection One of J. K. Rowling’s main themes -There is life beyond the end Entirety of canon summarized through the snitch: Once we accept the inevitability of our own deaths, we are apple to accept the resurrection beyond

Reflection When have you experienced near-death experiences? Did they change how you understood the world around you? Did it drive you to a more spiritual understanding of who you are? Would Harry be who he is without any of the experiences he had at Hogwarts?

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