Harry Potter and The Hero Pattern

The hero pattern based upon The Hero: A study in Tradition, Myth and Dreams by Lord Raglan is here applied to the life of Harry Potter as developed by J. K. Rowling, especially in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Scholastic Press, 1998).

Click here to see Lord Raglan's pattern and to compare Harry Potter as a hero to other mythic heroes.

Harry Potter's mother is a witch (1) and his father is a wizard (2). As an infant he is almost killed by Voldemort (6), but he is spirited away through the efforts of Dumbledore and Hagrid (7) and reared by his Muggle relatives the Dudley's (8). We are told nothing of his childhood (9) until, at the age of 11, Harry returns to the wizard world and enters Hogwarts School of Wizardry (10), where he has his first victory over Voldemort and his followers (11).

Due to the young age of Harry Potter his story reaches only as far as #11.

8 out of 11 points (through #11).

For more on Harry as a hero, see "Harry Potter" at Mythichero.com.

This document was placed on the web by Professor Thomas J. Sienkewicz for his students in CLAS230 Classical Mythology at Monmouth College, Monmouth, Illinois. If you have any questions, you may contact him at toms@monm.edu..