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M. Wendy Hennequin

Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Volume 25, Number 1, Spring

2013, pp. 67-81 (Article)
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DOI: 10.1353/rpc.2013.0008

For additional information about this article

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/rpc/summary/v025/25.1.hennequin.html

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Harry Potter and the Legends of Saints

M. Wendy Hennequin
Tennessee State University
Abstract: Along with its other generic borrowings, the Harry Potter series uses tropes and
plot structures from medieval hagiography. Rowling most signicantly uses hagiographical
plot structures during the confrontations between Harry and Voldemort in the second and
fourth novels, and the confrontation between Neville and Voldemort in The Deathly
Hallows. The rst re-enacts the story of St. George; the second is constructed as a passio;
and the third combines the two. These hagiographical plot structures serve to reveal character, reinforce the core values of the texts, and identify Harry with saints in order to signal
his inevitable victory.
Keywords: Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows, hagiography, saints lives, saints legends, Harry Potter (character), Tom Riddle, St. George, martyrs, martyrdom, Neville Longbottom, Voldemort

Anne Hiebert Alton (2003), noting the elements of many diverse genres in J. K. Rowlings
Harry Potter series, calls the works a generic mosaic (159), and others have made similar observations. For instance, June Cummins (2008) notes that the Gothic components in the texts
are so natural to its setting that they are almost invisible or at least so normalized that it appears as if they do not merit attention (17778). Cumminss statement can be equally applied
to the other genres that inform the Harry Potter series: the conventions become so subsumed
into, and so seamlessly interwoven with, the plot, characters, atmosphere, and elements of the
other genres in Rowlings books that they become almost unnoticeable. Despite their neat integration, several recent studies of Rowlings Harry Potter series have explored the texts relationships with medieval romances, folk and fairy tales, pulp ction, the school days novel, and
Gothic ction.1
Scholars have, however, neglected one ingredient of the generic mosaic: medieval hagiography. Certain objects, abilities, tropes, and even plot structures in the Harry Potter series
clearly derive from medieval saints lives and the cult of saints. Rowling presents the possessions of the Four Founders almost as saints relics, revered because of their original owners.
Indeed, the Sorting Hat and the sword of Gryfndor almost function as relics, for they retain
some of Godric Gryfndors power. Voldemorts Horcruxes, on the other hand, clearly function as anti-relics, literally containing remnants of a powerful soul but conveying Voldemorts
corruption instead of holiness. Some of the magical powers exhibited by the Harry Potter characters also originate in medieval hagiography. Critics generally associate Parseltongue with
Lord Voldemort and evil (Chevalier 2005, 399; Orgelnger 2009, 143; McVeigh 2002, 201), as
do the characters (Rowling 1999a, 199), but several saints, notably Patrick, exhibit this ability,2
and Harry uses the power not as Voldemort does but as a saint does.3 The sacricial death of
Lily Potter and Harrys symbolic death at the end of the series recall the deaths of martyred
saints and even of Christ, and the protections that result from these deaths (Rowling 1997,
299; 2007, 738) echo the divine favours which some martyrs, such as George and Catherine,

The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 25:1, Spring 2013

doi:10.3138/jrpc.25.1.67

Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 25:1 Spring 2013

earn for their adherents through their martyrdoms (Voragine 1993, 1:242, 2:339).4 Finally, certain episodes within the novels share the plot structures of saints lives, though in some cases
these might be mistaken for medieval romance plots, as these genres borrowed freely from
each other (Salih 2006, 15; Bell 2008; Thompson 2003, 8788).
All of these medieval hagiographical conventions function importantly within the Harry
Potter series. This article, however, will concentrate on the last element, hagiographical plots
and plot structures. Three episodes in the Harry Potter series exhibit plot structures seen in
saints lives. The battle between Tom Riddle, the basilisk, and Harry in the Chamber of Secrets
recalls the legend of St. George and the dragon. The confrontation between Voldemort and
Harry at the end of The Goblet of Fire is constructed as a passio, or martyrdom story. Rowling
combines and echoes these two episodes in the seventh novel when Voldemort confronts and
tortures Neville Longbottom in another passio-like episode. These hagiographical plot structures serve the same purposes in Harry Potter as they do in saints lives: they identify the
heroes and villains, emphasize the virtues of the saint and the vices of the villain, underscore
the values of the text, and, ultimately, reassure the audience that goodness will defeat evil in
the end.
Let us begin with the battle between Tom Riddle, Harry Potter, and the basilisk in Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in which Harry journeys to the underground Chamber of
Secrets, where he confronts the fragmented soul of the teenaged Tom Riddle (later Lord Voldemort) and his basilisk in order to rescue Ginny Weasley. This sequence strongly suggests a
juvenilized version of St. Georges defeat of the dragon. The story of George and the dragon is
a mainstay of English culture, often retold in childrens stories and frequently represented
artistically (Riches 2000b, 3), and was undoubtedly known to Rowling through her parochial
preschool and primary education and her university classics background (S. Smith 2001, 26
28, 34, 83; Kirk 2003, 2829; Weir 1999). This legend, originated and popularized by Jacobus
de Voragines thirteenth-century Golden Legend (Riches 2000a, 47; 2000b, 3; Stace 2002, 40
41),5 follows a typical romance sequence (Mulryne 1988, 193). The city of Silena is beset by a
pestilential dragon. To stave off its wrath, the city sacrices livestock and, when the supply of
livestock dwindles, youths and maidens. When the kings daughter is about to be sacriced, St.
George meets the princess along the road outside the city and vows to save her. Blessing himself with the Sign of the Cross, George wounds and eventually kills the dragon and saves both
princess and city not only physically but spiritually, for Georges actions inspire a mass conversion (Voragine 1993, 1:23840).
Once one is familiar with the story of St. George and the dragon, the parallels between
this legend and the episode in the Chamber of Secrets become readily apparent. The main
community of the Harry Potter series, Hogwarts, is under attack by Tom Riddles basilisk, just
as Silena is besieged by the dragon. A basilisk is not a dragon, but it very appropriately substitutes for the dragon as the monster which Harry Potter must defeat. Medieval bestiaries call
the basilisk the king of dragons and of serpents (Huey 2005, 6768; White 1954, 168; Clark
2006, 195), and both mythical beasts are traditionally associated with snakes. Rowling clearly
uses these traditions in her depiction of the basilisk (Rowling 1999a, 290, 318). Just as medieval texts and artwork often used the words for and images of dragons and snakes interchangeably (Riches 2000b 146), Rowling freely uses the word serpent to denote the basilisk
(1999a, 31820). The basilisk is controlled, like other snakes in the novels, by Parseltongue
(317). The basilisk also functions, as does the dragon of the legend, as the physical threat to
the community: it has necessitated the slaughter of Hagrids roosters, killed Moaning Myrtle,
and petried four students, one ghost, and a cat, and it is forcing the closure of Hogwarts. In
other words, like the dragon, the basilisk is feeding off the livestock and youth of Hogwarts
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Harry Potter and the Legends of Saints

and threatening its destruction. In the George legend, the dragon represents not only evil or
the devil but paganism or idolatry (Riches 2000a, 47; 2000b, 152; Stace 2002, 4243), and
Rowlings basilisk carries the same associations. We can easily see the link between the basilisk
and evil. Rowling also associates the basilisk, and snakes generally, with evil in the series, by
placing them, and their human counterparts, the Slytherins, generally in Lord Voldemorts
camp; this association also functions as part of the overlying Christian imagery of the novels.
The link between the basilisk and paganism is more subtle, buried in the imagery of the Chamber of Secrets which the basilisk inhabits, a room described almost as a subterranean pagan
temple, complete with tall, snake-entwined columns, a dominating statue of Salazar Slytherin,
and Ginny Weasley laid out at its feet like a votive offering (Rowling 1999a, 3067).
For Ginny Weasley obviously parallels the sacricial princess of the St. George tale. She is
not a princess, but her father is signicantly named Arthur, after the greatest of legendary
English kings, and like St. Georges princess, Ginny is the only daughter (Voragine 1993,
1:238). She also has a royal name: her full name, Ginevra, is a variant of Guinevere. Ginny
clearly functions as a sacrice as well, but here Rowling increases the jeopardy. In the St.
George legend, the princesss body must be sacriced to the dragons physical appetite. In The
Chamber of Secrets, Tom Riddle (not his basilisk) wishes to consume not only Ginnys life but
her soul (Rowling 1999a, 310). The princess of the St. George legend is often interpreted as representing the Church or the city (Riches 2000b, 27; Stace 2002, 4243); as one of its students,
Ginny is certainly a representative of her community, Hogwarts, and the possibility of her
death at Riddles hand nearly closes the school (Rowling 1999a, 293).6 Indeed, as Riddles fragmented soul slowly robs Ginny of her own consciousness, his actions drive away Hogwartss
spiritual centre: the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. But Rowlings reconstruction of Ginny as
Silenas princess shows one major plot difference: Ginnys marked passivity. The princess,
though clearly a damsel in distress, does participate in the episode; she provides George with
information, begs him to save himself, and later leashes the dragon with her girdle and leads it
to the city (Voragine 1993, 1:23940). Ginny, on the other hand, has been rendered unconscious before Harrys battle with Riddle and the basilisk begins, and she wakes up only after
the danger has passed. Perhaps we can attribute this change to Ginnys youththe character
is only eleven years oldor to Riddles hold over her soul and dying body. Still, Ginny does
serve an important function as the princess whom Harry must rescue, and also as the witness
to his triumph: Ginny is the only speaking character, other than Harry, who has interacted
with the fragmentary Tom Riddle and who sees the basilisks carcass (Rowling 1999a, 323).
As Rowling constructs Ginny Weasley as the sacricial princess, Harry Potter naturally
plays George. Obviously, both characters kill the serpentine monster threatening the community. But George is not only a dragon slayer but also the soldier-saint who embodies the
mores of the medieval chivalric code (Riches 2000b, 124), and Harry is also constructed as
the exemplar of knightly virtue. St. George was depicted as a knight in English art by 1100
(Stace 2002, 27, 33) and was culturally connected to chivalry and prowess, a connection reinforced and made ofcial by his patronage of the Order of the Garter (Riches 2000b, 48). Similarly, Rowling repeatedly associates Harry with chivalry. Partially through his own choice
(Rowling 1997, 121; 1999a, 333), Harry is sorted into House Gryfndor, whose members
exemplify daring, nerve, and chivalry (1997, 118; my emphasis). Rowling clearly shows Harrys chivalry throughout the novels.7 Harry is later conrmed as a true Gryfndor, one who
exemplies the Houses chivalric values, by his retrieval of the sword of Gryfndor from the
Sorting Hat (1999a, 334). The association with Gryfndor also makes Harry symbolically a
miles Christi, a soldier of Christ, like George: the symbol of Gryfndor is a lion, which, in

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Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 25:1 Spring 2013

medieval bestiaries, was constructed as the natural enemy of serpents and was associated with
Christ (White 1954, 79; Clark 2006, 120; Orgelnger 2009, 145).
The confrontation in the Chamber of Secrets between Harry, Tom Riddle, and the basilisk
not only duplicates the characters of the legend of St. George and the dragon but parallels the
plot as well. The most signicant points of the episodethe slaying of the basilisk, the rescue
of Ginny, and the liberation of Hogwarts from the rampages of the monsterobviously correspond to Georges conquest of the dragon, rescue of the sacricial princess, and deliverance of
Silena. Rowlings version also replicates minor plot points of the St. George story. In Voragines version of the legend, George arrives and asks the princess for information. When she
gives it, he declares, I am going to help you in the name of Christ! George then arm[s] himself with the sign of the cross . . . commend[s] himself to God and either kills the dragon as it
makes to eat the princess, or wounds the dragon and later kills it in front of the city walls
(Voragine 1993, 1:23940). Harry, too, upon arriving in the Chamber of Secrets, receives
informationnot from the unconscious Ginny, but from the fragmented soul of Tom Riddle
(Rowling 1999a, 30714). During this time, Harry, like George, declares his faith and loyalty,
not to Christ, but to the absent headmaster, Albus Dumbledore (315). Harry does not commend himself to God,8 but, like George, he expresses faith when he declares that Dumbledore
is greater than Voldemort and is not as gone as you might think! (31415). First, Harrys
declaration recalls and accepts Dumbledores earlier promise: I will only truly have left this
school when none here are loyal to me. You will also nd that help will always be given at
Hogwarts to those who ask for it (26364). Second, Harry accepts on faith the help offered,
Fawkes the Phoenix and the Sorting Hat, whose importance he does not initially understand
(316). Yet these two unlikely items allow Harry to arm himself with the sword of Gryfndor.
The sword clearly corresponds to Georges literal weapon. But it is also a great silver cross
(Rowling 2007, 367) and thus suggests the Sign of the Cross with which George blesses himself
before battle. With this swordboth weapon and crossHarry kills the basilisk and fullls his
role as knight-rescuer and St. George.
Harry receives the sword of Gryfndor, literally in answer to a prayer,9 through the intervention of Fawkes, Dumbledores pet phoenix (Rowling 1999a, 319). Though the dragonslaying episode of St. George offers no corresponding character,10 Fawkes plays the role and
performs the actions normally assigned to Christ elsewhere in the St. George legend and in
medieval hagiography generally.11 Fawkes is a signicantly a phoenix, a bird which early and
medieval Christians considered emblematic of Christ because of its ability to resurrect
(McVeigh 2002, 210; Gibbons 2005, 8586; Huey 2005, 76; Orgelnger 2009, 144). Fawkes
also plays the roles normally assigned to Christ in medieval hagiography. He is the comforter
in distress. Rowling shows that Fawkess music comforts and encourages Harry: it . . . made
his heart feel as though it were swelling to twice its normal size (1999a, 315), much as Christ
comforts and encourages his tortured saints George and Catherine in prison (Voragine 1993,
1:240, 2:337). Most signicantly, however, Fawkes, like Christ, is the miraculous healer who
can raise others from the dead. When Harry is wounded and poisoned by the basilisk, Fawkess tears heal him and bring him back from the brink of death (Rowling 1999a, 321).12
Besides the obvious biblical parallels, we might also read this as Fawkess suffering (in the
form of tears) redeeming Harry from death at the fangs of the basilisk, just as Christs suffering
rescues the faithful from the devil, often represented as or identied with a serpent. The poisoning element may also derive from the legend of St. George: during his later passion, George
is twice poisoned by a wizard and twice survives through the symbolic intervention of Christ
in the form of the Sign of the Cross (Voragine 1993, 1:240).

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Harry Potter and the Legends of Saints

After the episode in the Chamber of Secrets, the overt associations between Harry and St.
George are not pursued, beyond their shared connection with chivalry. But Rowling again uses
a hagiographical plot structure in the graveyard episode of the fourth novel, Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire, and, later, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, when Voldemort confronts Neville Longbottom. Unlike the confrontation in the Chamber of Secrets, these two
scenes do not recall any specic saints story. Rather, Rowling uses the major plot elements of
a passio, or martyrdom tale. The construction of these confrontations as passiones, with Harry
and Neville cast as the saints, can hardly be surprising, given the overriding theme of sacrice
and martyrdom in the Harry Potter novels. Indeed, Harrys story begins and ends with martyrdom. Though the readers do not know it until the third book, Lily Potter dies specically to
save her son just as Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone begins, though she could have chosen
to save herself (Rowling 1999b, 179; 1997, 1112). The nal novel ends with two martyrdoms:
the murder of Severus Snape, who dies doubly martyred, both for his apparent (and, we learn,
former) dedication to Voldemort and for his ultimate adherence to Dumbledores instructions,
and Harrys submission to death in order to destroy the Horcrux within him (Rowling 2007,
65657, 67790). Obviously, the representation of Harry and Neville as martyrs and saints
forms part of the chain of martyrs which stretches throughout the series, but unlike the deaths
of Snape, Dumbledore, and Lily, the confrontations between Harry and Neville and Voldemort
echo the plots of martyrs passions specically.
In his study of Latin and Greek passiones, Charles F. Altman identies the following common plot elements in martyrs passions:
1. A confrontation between the saint and a non-Christian ofcial, in which the ofcial
urges the saint to abjure the Christian faith. According to Altman, these confrontations use diametrical opposition to show us the values of each group (1975, 12).
2. Persecution and actual martyrdom, involving the exemplication of virtue and vice
through the opposition of the two parties (2).
3. Divine and human supporters for each party (2).
Altman explains further that these plot elementsthe confrontation between saint and persecutor, the persecution and execution, and the supporterswork to distinguish Christian from
pagan, sinner from saint (2). The components which Altman identies appear quite clearly in
the graveyard episode and in the later confrontation between Neville and Voldemort at Hogwarts. They also function similarly: they show us Harry and Nevilles virtues and Voldemorts
wickedness as reections of the beliefs which Rowling attributes to them, and they underscore
the chief values promoted by the texts.
Rowling rst uses the passio structure in the duel between Voldemort and Harry in the
graveyard in Goblet of Fire.13 The rst of Altmans elements, the confrontation between the
ofcial and the saint, is complicated by Voldemorts long lecture to his followers, the Death
Eaters. Christian hagiographers rarely assign their villains such long and complex speeches,
giving them instead to their heroic saints; Voldemorts lecture stems instead from the oftensatirized clich of science ction, fantasy, and action lms: a villains triumphal expository
monologue.14 Voldemorts account of his activities during his thirteen-year hiatus disrupts the
passio plot not only by shifting the focus, at least initially, away from the saint gure and onto
the villain but also by setting up a faith to rival Harrys. During Voldemorts lecture, Rowling
establishes him as a sort of deity. The Death Eaters treat Voldemort as a divinity: each one
kisses his robes, and several beg for mercy for the sins of faithlessness and apostasy (Rowling
2000, 64748). Rowling constructs Voldemort not only accepting that role but promoting it,
too: he claims godlike powers of immortality and resurrection and rewards and punishes his
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Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 25:1 Spring 2013

followers for their adherence to, or deviation from, his cause (64850). More important in the
context of a saints passion, his long lecture establishes his cause as a faith, a religion:
And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? They, who
knew the steps I took, long ago, to guard myself against mortal death? They, who had seen
proofs of the immensity of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living?
And I answer myself, perhaps they believed a still greater power could exist, one that could
vanquish even the Lord Voldemort . . . perhaps they now pay allegiance to another . . . perhaps
that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles, Albus Dumbledore? (Rowling
2000, 648; my emphasis)

Voldemorts focus is here is the Death Eaters beliefs. He chastises the Death Eaters lack of
faith in his immortality and divine power and their Thomas-like doubt of his resurrection. He
even accuses them of heresy, believing in Dumbledores still greater power and rival faith.
Throughout the rest of the chapter, Voldemort continually contrasts the present Death Eaters
disloyalty and lack of faith with those of his absent but devoted servants, the Lestranges, and
his most faithful servant, Barty Crouch Jr., who will be honored beyond their dreams for
their delity (651). Voldemort even prophesies the martyrdom of the apostate Snape: One,
who I believe has left me forever . . . he will be killed, of course (651). Voldemorts diction, if
nothing else, constructs adherence to the Death Eaters cause as a religion, with Voldemort as
its demonic and false idol, one who demands (as we have seen in the previous chapter of The
Goblet of Fire) blood sacrice, including child sacrice, and whose religion centres around
murder and torture. Rowling could not construct a clearer parallel to the Christian perception
of the pagan religions presented in medieval saints lives.
Voldemorts lecture does not culminate directly in a verbal confrontation between Voldemort and Harry, as Altmans elements would predict and as most passions do. The confrontation begins, instead, with torture: while nishing his lecture to the Death Eaters, Voldemort
tortures Harry with the Cruciatus Curse (Rowling 2000, 65758). Torture certainly gures
prominently in most passions, but confrontation generally precedes the initial torture. This
chronological inversion stems from the differences in Voldemorts and the pagan ofcials
agendas. First of all, Voldemorts return requires a demonstration of power, proof of his superiority, as he himself states: And now I am going to prove my power by killing him, here and
now, in front of you all . . . He will be allowed to ght, and you will be left in no doubt which
of us is the stronger (658). But second, and more important, Harry does not have the option,
as most saints have, to recant, avoid torture, and save his life. Voldemort has already determined to kill him; in an inversion of most passiones, where the saints death conrms the
rightness of the Christian religion, Voldemort here constructs Harrys murder as a way to reestablish the Death Eaters weak faith.
This sequential change, however, does not invalidate the graveyard scenes afnity with
passions. Though Altman untangles the elements and orders them, the plot pattern in passiones does not simply progress from verbal confrontation, to persecution, and then to martyrdom; after the initial argument, confrontation and persecution become intertwined, often with
the saint and ofcial arguing theology while the saint is being tortured, just as Voldemort incorporates torture into his confrontation with Harry in the graveyard scene. After the initial
torture, Voldemort releases Harrys bonds and taunts him with jibes about Dumbledore and
Harrys father, and then uses magic to push Harry forward into a bow (Rowling 2000, 660).
Then Voldemort tortures Harry again, as he initially did, with the Cruciatus, a curse whose
very name invokes the Crucixion (Rowling 2000, 66061; Grimes 2002, 113).
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Harry Potter and the Legends of Saints

During this confrontation, Harry behaves much as the saints in passions do: he refuses to
speak or act according to the demands or beliefs of the pagan authority gure, Voldemort.
When Voldemort orders Harry to bow in preparation for a duel, Harry did not bow. He was
not going to let Voldemort play with him before killing him (Rowling 2000, 660). Similarly,
when Voldemort asks Harry whether he enjoyed the Cruciatus, he wasnt going to play along.
He wasnt going to obey Voldemort (661). These refusals, granted, are not constructed in
terms of faith and apostasy like those of saints but rather in terms of action. Still, it shows us
the same choice that the martyrs must make: acquiesce to the torturing ofcials demands or
defy the torturer and remain true. Harry, like the saints, makes the second choice and believes
so rmly that he is able to break Voldemorts Imperius Curse a few paragraphs later (662).
With Harrys refusals, Rowling privileges Harrys bravery and his acceptance of death: He
was not going to die crouching here like a child playing hide-and-seek; he was not going to die
kneeling at Voldemorts feet . . . he was going to die upright like his father, and he was going
to die trying to defend himself, even if no defense was possible (662). Harrys bravery in the
face of torture and his willingness to accept death also associate him with the saints of the passions, who universally exhibit the same bravery and make the same choice. This bravery, one
of the Gryfndor virtues, contrasts clearly with the obedience that Voldemort demands as part
of his quasi-religion and that ofcials demand of the saints on either civic or lial grounds:
obedience is a virtue I need to teach you before you die (662).
Altmans third element of saints passions, the supporters for each party, are also present
in Rowlings graveyard scene. Voldemorts supporters are obvious: the Death Eaters, who
laugh at Harrys pain and attempt to help Voldemort in the duel, and the snake Nagini, who
slithers around the opponents (Rowling 2000, 658, 660, 66364). Harrys supporters, echo
[es] of Voldemorts victims, arrive later (65567). Like the ghosts in the last act of Richard
III, they function to validate Harry and discourage Voldemort: Voldemorts dead victims
whispered as they circled the duelers, whispered words of encouragement to Harry, and hissed
words Harry couldnt hear to Voldemort (667). More important for our purposes, these echoes recall the spiritual helpers who often visit, comfort, and heal imprisoned saints: Catherine,
for instance, receives similar visits from angels and Christ (Voragine 1993, 2:337). The appearance of these echoes, like spiritual visitations in saints lives, includes miraculous light: the connection of Harrys and Voldemorts wands creates a cage of light, not only recalling the holy
illumination, but also the prisons in which those visitations typically take place (Rowling 2000,
664).15
Rowling constructs a more traditional version of a saints passion in Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows when Voldemort confronts and tortures Harrys friend Neville Longbottom.
This encounter is briefer and much less detailed than the graveyard scene in Goblet of Fire and
the battle with Riddle and the basilisk in Chamber of Secrets, but it recalls both scenes, combining the elements of a passio with echoes of the legend of St. George and the dragon. In
doing so, the confrontation between Neville and Voldemort also repeats several components
specic to Harry Potters saintly experiences, thus linking Neville not only to the martyrs generally and St. George specically but to Harry as well.
Nevilles passion begins with the confrontation between saint and ofcial that Altman describes. Although Rowling opens the confrontation with an untraditional magical attack, this
confrontation is otherwise eerily reminiscent of the arguments between saints and pagan ofcials in passiones. Many passions, such as Catherines and Georges, begin with the authorities
requiring the populace to worship idols, often on pain of death, and the saint defying the
validity of that practice. In Nevilles episode, Voldemort demands that the Hogwarts community join the pagan religion established in the graveyard scene, in which he himself is a god,
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Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 25:1 Spring 2013

complete with authority to forgive and power over life and death: Come out of the castle
now, kneel before me, and you shall be spared. Your parents and children, your brothers and
sisters will live and be forgiven (Rowling 2007, 72829; my emphasis). Nevilles response, a
magical attack, serves the same purpose as a saints verbal challenge to his persecutors: he denies Voldemorts claim that Harry deserted the battle to save himself16 and refuses to worship
as ordered. Voldemorts response typies the response of government ofcials in the passions.
Instead of attacking Neville, Voldemort says, You show spirit and bravery, and you come
from noble stock. You will make a very valuable Death Eater. We need your kind, Neville
Longbottom (731). This invitation to recant includes several elements typical of the confrontation in passiones not present in the graveyard scene. Typically, when the non-Christian villain demands the saints return to pagan worship, the villain also recognizes the saints
nobility, approves the saints bravery and eloquence, and, at some point, offers the saint some
sort of position of honour. We can see this pattern in the passion of St. Catherine of Alexandria, for instance (Voragine 1993, 2:33539),17 and Rowling has put the speech of a hagiographical villain into Voldemorts mouth, point by point: Voldemort acknowledges Nevilles
nobility; praises his bravery; invites him to join his court, the Death Eaters; and implicitly demands again that Neville switch faiths.
Nevilles response continues the typical pattern of the confrontation in a passio and also
connects him to Harry and the faith that Harry exemplies in the Chamber of Secrets and the
graveyard scene. Neville rejects outright Voldemorts offer of clemency and inclusion in
exchange for his apostasy: Ill join you when hell freezes over! (Rowling 2007, 731). The diction is hardly saintly, but the steadfast refusal to recant is traditional for saints. Nevilles
response also specically echoes Harrys verbal deance and Harrys repeated, though
unvoiced, refusals to play by Voldemorts rules both in the graveyard and in the Chamber of
Secrets. Neville furthermore declares his faith: Dumbledores Army! (731). This exclamation
recalls Harrys allegiance and faith in Dumbledore in the Chamber of Secrets and may again
remind the reader of the help promised to those who express such loyalty and faith (Rowling
1999a, 31415, 26364).
As the scene continues, Rowling constructs it not only as a saints passion but as a repetition of Harrys experiences in the graveyard and in the Chamber of Secrets. Nevilles deance
carries the usual penalty of torture,18 and he, like Harry in the graveyard, is bound and then
tormented with the Cruciatus Curse (Rowling 2007, 732). The presence of the snake Nagini
too recalls the graveyard scene, where Rowling several times notes the snake slithering around
Voldemort and Harry (2000, 658, 663; 2007, 73032). But Neville also repeats Harrys experience in the Chamber of Secrets, with Nagini substituting for Voldemorts other serpentine
ally, the basilisk. Like Harry, Neville is given the Sorting Hat to wear, but in an inversion of its
previous appearance, the Hat is not brought by Fawkes but summoned by the enemy Voldemort, who, phoenix-like, has risen from the dead (Gibbons 2005, 8889).19 And with Voldemorts attempt to use the Hat to set Neville on re (Rowling 2007, 732), Rowling shows the
villains attempt to pervert the Hats purpose in the Chamber of Secrets, where it helps
Harry.20 Yet Rowling shows that the function of the Sorting Hat cannot be changed. First and
foremost, in a twist right out of a martyrs passion, Neville emerges from the ames unharmed, just as many saints do (733).21 Second, the Hat reverts to its function in the Chamber
of Secrets, to deliver the sword of Gryfndor: the aming hat ew off him and he drew from
its depths something silver, with a glittering, rubied handle . . . With a single stroke Neville
sliced off the great snakes head (733). We should recognize these actions immediately from
the encounter in the Chamber of Secrets: both Harry and Neville draw the Sword of Gryfndor from the Sorting Hat and with it slay Lord Voldemorts snake. Both characters thereby
74

Harry Potter and the Legends of Saints

save the community: Nagini, as Voldemorts nal Horcrux, holds the magical world hostage
by ensuring Voldemorts immortality. Therefore, by slaying Nagini, Neville frees the community symbolized by Hogwarts, just as Harry does in The Chamber of Secrets by killing the basilisk. There is no princess here to be rescued, but Neville, like Harry and St. George, slays the
serpent and saves the city.
Rowling similarly constructs Neville, like Harry, with the virtues of St. George. Neville is
constructed as knightly by his ability to retrieve the sword at all; we are reminded in the beginning of Deathly Hallows that the sword may present itself to any worthy Gryfndor (Rowling 2007, 129). Rowling represents Neville, then, as an emblem of chivalry, a worthy knight,
the rescuer of a community, the slayer of the evil serpentall the aspects that The Chamber of
Secrets assigns Harry, and which connect Harry to St. George. Neville has taken Harrys place
symbolically as a saint, possibly George, just as he has taken Harrys place in the plot as the
leader of Dumbledores Army.
For Harrys role in this sequence is not saint but supporter. As Altman (1975, 2) notes,
the inclusion of supporters is typical of passions, and Nevilles is no exception. As with the
other elements of Nevilles passio, the supporters are drawn from Harrys earlier experiences.
The Death Eaters appear here as they did in the graveyard, and Nagini reprises both her own
presence there and the basilisks in the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling 2007, 730, 732). The protectors of Hogwarts who cheer Nevilles deance and who attempt to defend him later when
Voldemort begins to torture him support Neville (73132). These protectors link Neville and
Harry because they are Harrys supporters as well; they have been defending Hogwarts because
they support Harrys cause. But Neville is the saint here, not Harry; Harry has taken the supporting role of Fawkes the phoenix in The Chamber of Secrets. Harry, like Fawkes in the second book, has just died and risen from the dead, and Harry protects Neville from harm, both
through the sacrice that immunizes Neville to Voldemorts spells and through his attempt to
intervene in the torture just before Neville draws the sword (73233). In other words, Neville
becomes the saint in Deathly Hallows because Harry must take up the role of Christ, both sacriced and risen, and the protector and patron of saints.
Despite the afnities between saints lives and these episodes in the Harry Potter series, one
can hardly argue that Rowling represents Harry or Neville exclusively as saints, nor does she
construct the novels as an elaborate saints life or an allegory of one. The Harry Potter series
tells the story of a boy wizard and his friends ghting evil. Yet the hagiographical echoes remain
part of the generic mosaic (Alton 2003, 159), and they serve the same purposes as they do in
saints lives. First, the diametrical opposition of these opponents during the confrontations reinforces the villainy and vice of Voldemort and the heroism and virtue of Harry and Neville,
just as it does in saints lives (Altman 1975, 1). We can hardly doubt that Voldemort and his
earlier incarnation as Riddle are villains when we see him suck the life and soul from Ginny
Weasley, murder Cedric Diggory, and torture Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom. Nor can
we doubt that Harry is our hero when he slays the basilisk or stands up to Voldemort in the
graveyard, nor that Neville, too, is a hero when he refuses worldly honour and risks his life to
keep faith with Harry and Dumbledore. Voldemorts actions clearly show his vices: pride,
anger, selshness, arrogance, power hunger, sadism, and murder. Harry and Nevilles actions,
on the other hand, just as clearly demonstrate their virtues: chivalry, bravery, self-sacrice,
prowess, and faith. Granted, such reinforcement is generally unnecessaryif readers havent
gured out by the end of the rst novel that Voldemort is the villain and Harry the hero, they
havent been paying attentionbut in a saints life, it is equally unnecessary.
More important, the elements of saints lives included in the Harry Potter series underscore and reinforce the central values of the text. Altman (1975, 2) tells us that the verbal
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Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 25:1 Spring 2013

confrontation between saint and ofcial serves to identify the values of the passio. Consistently, Rowling uses hagiographical plot elements for the same purpose. The texts endorse the
chivalric virtues of House Gryfndor which Harry and Nevilleand St. Georgeexemplify.
Another value, introduced by Dumbledore himself in the rst novel, is the willingness to ght
a seemingly losing battle against evil to diminish or delay its power (Rowling 1997, 298). Every
one of these saintly episodes involves Harry and Neville ghting, though they seem unable to
win.
The third and most important value that Rowling espouses in these episodes is the willingness to accept death, a value which Rowling herself says denes her characters (Vieira 2007).
She introduces this value in the rst novel, with Dumbledores discussion of Nicholas Flamels
long-delayed demise, and continually reinforces it throughout the series (Rowling 1997, 297).
Voldemort, as Rowling often shows us, is unwilling and unable to accept his own mortality.
Both the graveyard scene and the episode in the Chamber of Secrets demonstrate that he is
willing to shed others blood, imprison others souls, and commit murder to avoid death, all of
which construct Voldemort as evil and repellant. Harry and Neville, on the other hand, willingly accept death as the possible price of thwarting Voldemort and therefore are constructed
as brave, steadfast, and chivalrous. This value, too, connects the Harry Potter series to saints
lives. The willingness to die for righteousness is also a core value of hagiography: death not
only holds no terror for the saints, they embrace it eagerly (Thompson 2003, 17). In other
words, through Harry and Nevilles acceptance of death, Rowling again constructs Harry and
Neville as saints. Granted, Harry and Neville, unlike Dumbledore and the saints, are not represented as thinking death is but the next great adventure (Rowling 1997, 297), and Rowling
constructs them with much more human fear than the saints normally show. But both at least
willingly accept the possibility of death in the scenes I have discussed and also when Harry allows Voldemort to kill him temporarily in the seventh novel. Through this willingness, Rowling not only endorses the values of her own texts but reinforces one of the core values of
medieval hagiography.
Finally, by using these hagiographical plot structures and identifying Harry and Neville
with saints and specically with martyrs, Rowling has constructed a narrative which indicates,
from the very beginning of the series, that Harry (and Neville) will not and indeed cannot lose.
As Dan McVeigh (2002) tells us, Rowling writes in a specic Christian literary tradition . . .
one whose High Church rootsAnglican and Roman Catholicmake assumptions . . .
[which] grow out of a sacramental view of the universe, the belief the world for all its heartaches is comic (200). The comedy springs from the promise of happy ending: God will ultimately triumph over evil, and goodness and justice will prevail. Hagiography and passiones are
part of this comic tradition with its assurance of eventual victory, and therefore, in hagiography, saints never lose. This is the central paradox of sainthood and martyrdom: even when indignities, torture, and death seem to indicate their defeat, saints are in fact conquering their
foes. The saints opponents, human or demonic, wield only material and temporal power and
are helpless in the face of the saints holiness and spiritual power. Indeed, in hagiography,
everything the pagan opponents do serves only to weaken their authority and strengthen the
saints and their cause. The prefect Dacian, for example, compels St. George to worship at a
pagan temple; the temple is consumed in re, and the prefects wife converts (Voragine 1993,
1:240). A pagan judge tortures St. Margaret for her refusal to sacrice to the gods, but Margarets endurance, and her emerging from boiling water unscathed, converts ve thousand to
Christianity (1:370). Not even death can defeat a saint: a martyred saint, like Obi-Wan Kenobi,
only becomes more powerful (Lucas 1977). St. Catherine, St. George, and St. Margaret, among
others, gain favours for their adherents through their martyrdom, thus increasing their power
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Harry Potter and the Legends of Saints

to work miracles (Voragine 1993, 2:330, 1:370, 1:242), and all saints, implicitly, strengthen the
Christian faith through their conversions and their examples. Saints may and indeed do die,
but through their sanctity and martyrdom, they retain their power, and they paradoxically triumph even when, in a material and physical sense, they seem to be defeated. In the comedic
Christian tradition, the saints, like Christ, conquer suffering and death by suffering and dying,
and the weapons of the evil temporal authorities ultimately have no power.
By drawing on hagiographical traditions and narrative structures, Rowling builds this
same reassurance into the Harry Potter series. The theme of martyrdom and the narrative
tropes of saints lives are woven into the novels from the very beginning, when Lily dies. Like a
saint, she wields more power after her martyrdom: Your mother died to save you . . . to have
been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever (Rowling 1997, 299). The circumstances of her death and its resulting protections
against evil indicate her martyrdom and show us that, in Rowlings ctional world, as in hagiography, a martyred saint always wins. Lilys death, though sad, is a triumph: by dying, she
gains Harrys safety and ensures Voldemorts rst defeat. Furthermore, Lilys death shows that
Voldemort, like the pagan ofcials of medieval hagiography, will only ensure his own destruction whenever he attempts to defeat those who oppose him and his dark religion. Harry is
clearly the chief among Voldemorts opponents, and Rowling constructs Harry as early as the
rst novel as saintly, willing to accept death as part of the price to defeat evil and willing to
ght what seems a losing battle (Rowling 1997, 298; my emphasis) but ultimately is not.22 By
using these hagiographical plot structures and by representing Harry periodically as a saint,
Rowling leads us to expect that Harry and his associates will eventually triumph and that Voldemorts own struggles against Harry and his associates will only enable his ultimate defeat.23
Rowlings use of the hagiographical plot structures may explain, partially at least, the popularity of the Harry Potter series. Our culture, which demands a certain amount of realism
even in such fantastic series as Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Lord of the
Rings, cannot and will not accept a hero who cannot die. Rowling never represents Harry Potter as immortal; we are reminded time and again that Harry is vulnerable to injury and death.
Yet knowing very well that Harry might not survive the book, millions pre-ordered Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and lined up at midnight to buy it, because we were reassured by
a narrative structure which guarantees the triumph of good over evil. We all knew our hero
might die, but we also knew that Harry would not lose and Voldemort would never win. This
hagiographical narrative structure is simultaneously satisfying and reassuring: the possibility
of the heros death anchors us to our own world and its reality, and the guarantee of the nal
victory of good over evil gives us hope in the same real world, which frequently does not reinforce that kind of optimism.

Notes
1. See, for instance, Alton 2003; Cummins 2008; Arden and Lorenz 2003; Grimes 2002; Lacoss 2002;
Nikolajeva 2003; Polk 2004; K. Smith 2003.
2. See Voragine 1993, 1:194; and Jocelin 1809, 22627. Saint Christina also controls and banishes
snakes (Voragine 1993, 1:387), and Aaron and Moses command divinely summoned snakes to duel
the Egyptian priests (Exodus 7:912; Orgelnger 2009, 150). As Dumbledore tells us, There are
Parselmouths among the great and good too (Rowling 2005, 276).
3. St. Patrick gathers together the snakes and venomous creatures that plague Ireland and banishes
them (Jocelin 1809, 226). Similarly, Harry Potter uses Parseltongue either to protect people from
serpents, as he does during the Dueling Club meeting, or to send them out of the country, as he
does the boa constrictor in the zoo (Rowling 1999a, 194; 1997, 2728).
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Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 25:1 Spring 2013

4. St. George prays that all who implored his help might have their requests granted (Voragine
1993, 1:242). Catherine prays that those who think on her passion or call on her may be helped
(2:339). Both saints are assured by divine voices that God has granted their requests.
5. I am using Voragines Golden Legend, not only because it contains the earliest extant literary version of St. Georges ght with the dragon, but also because Voragine greatly inuenced many other
hagiographers, who used The Golden Legend as a source. Voragines version of the St. George story
is, as far as we can determine, the literary origin of the dragon episode, though the image of St.
George slaying a dragon appears earlier in artwork (Riches, 2000a, 47; 2000b, 3, 27; Stace 2002, 40
41). Many earlier and later versions of St. Georges story exist, however; the earlier literary versions
feature the same plot but different heroes (Riches 2000b, 2730).
6. Ginny also plays the princesss role in another way: as the George gures future wife. In preChristian and post-Reformation versions of the George legend, the George gure marries the princess (Stace 2002, 42; Riches 2000b, 99100, 18788; 2000a, 47), as Harry marries Ginny later
(Rowling 2007, 75354).
7. To list and discuss all examples of Harrys chivalry would comprise an article in and of itself. However, some brief examples include his attempts to protect the Sorcerers Stone from Voldemort and
Quirrell in the rst novel; Harry seeking the Chamber of Secrets to attempt to rescue Ginny in the
second; his refusal to allow Peter Pettigrew to be murdered in The Prisoner of Azkaban; his ensuring fair play during the Tri-Wizard tournament by informing Cedric Diggory about the dragon
challenge; and, later, Harrys retrieval of Cedrics body in The Goblet of Fire. Harrys attempted
and completely unnecessaryrescue of Sirius Black in The Order of the Phoenix and his retrieval of
Draco Malfoy and Goyle from the burning Room of Requirement in The Deathly Hallows constitute later examples of Harrys chivalry.
8. Arguing that Dumbledore gures as God, here or elsewhere in the series, would break a point,
rather than stretch it. Certainly, Dumbledore is a father gure, a mentor, and the embodiment of
safety and protection, but not God. Rowling, while acknowledging the religious aspects of the
series, protests, But obviously, Dumbledore is not Jesus (Grossman 2005).
9. Help me, help me, Harry muttered wildly, someoneanyone, and two paragraphs later,
Help me help me Harry thought, his eyes screwed tight under the hat [the Sorting Hat]. Please
help me (Rowling 1999a, 319). At this point, the Sorting Hat dispenses the Sword of Gryfndor
inconveniently onto Harrys head.
10. The St. George legend offers no corresponding character to Tom Riddle, either. Unlike the basilisk,
Silenas dragon appears to act independently.
11. Fawkes could also be seen as angelic, possibly an emblem of St. Michael the Archangel. Fawkes
brings the Sorting Hat to the Chamber of Secrets in direct response to Harrys loyalty to and faith
in Dumbledore (Rowling 1999a, 315), just as angelic visitors in hagiography appear because of the
saints faith. The arrival of a holy bird in response to a dragon problem actually occurs in hagiography; an Anglo-Irish legend tells us that, in response to locals prayers, St. Michael the Archangel appeared in the form of a bird to slay a dragon (Ruggerini 2001, 2224). In many saints legends,
angelic visitors help defeat pagan emperors and demons by destroying instruments of torture and
death, as Fawkes destroys the basilisks eyes here (Rowling 1999a, 31819).
12. We discover later in the series that, indeed, Fawkes is the only creature who could have saved
Harry from death at this point. According to Hermione Grangers later research, basilisk venom
can be counteracted only by phoenix tears (Rowling 2007, 104).
13. Rowling makes two rather important and obvious changes to the passio plot structure. First, Harry
and Voldemort duel. Saints generally confront their persecutors only verbally and spiritually;
though this may be expressed in military terms, most martyrs dont take up literal arms and ght
back. There are some exceptions, some of the Anglo-Saxon saint-kings, for example, who fought
for their faith and their country against pagan invaders. Most soldier saints, however, such as Martin and George, give up their literal arms at some point and take up the metaphorical Sword of the
Spirit (Ephesians 6:16). Second, Harry Potter does not die at the end of the episode; instead,
78

Harry Potter and the Legends of Saints

14.

15.

16.

17.
18.

19.

20.

21.

Rowling substitutes the death of Harrys rival and schoolmate, Cedric Diggory, and delays Harrys
death until the seventh novel. Such substitutions and delays are a regular feature in hagiography.
Several saints companions and converts, such as Cecilias husband, the converted wizard in St.
Georges story, and the philosophers and knights in St. Catherines, are martyred before the principal saint is executed. We can easily account for these differences: Rowling, though borrowing elements of hagiography, is not in fact composing a saints life. Harry must deal with the threat of
Voldemort as a wizard, not as a saint, and his death in the fourth novel would obviously compromise the rest of the series.
See, for instance, Syndromes self-mockery in The Incredibles when he catches himself monologuing again and thus giving the heroes time and opportunity to nd their way out his clutches
(Bird 2004). In Spaceballs Dark Helmets similar speech, ironically including Evil will always triumph because good is dumb, allows Lone Star not only to defeat him but eventually to destroy
MegaMaid (Brooks 1987). In Peter Anspachs well-known Evil Overlord List (19961997), rules
6 and 7 are, I will not gloat over my enemies predicament before killing them and When Ive
captured my adversary and he says, Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is
all about? Ill say, No. and shoot him. No, on second thought Ill shoot him then say No. Rowling shows Voldemort falling victim to the expository monologue on more than one occasion. In
The Deathly Hallows, for instance, Voldemort gives his Death Eaters a long lecture justifying his
murder of Charity Burbage, the Muggle studies professor, before nally killing her, and he later explains to Severus Snape the necessity of murdering him, an opportunity for escape and rescue
which both Snape and Harry miss (Rowling 2007, 1112, 65456).
Harry, like many saints, is also saved from death by an angel. In hagiography, angels often destroy
instruments of torture and humiliation. For instance, angels destroy torture wheels in the stories of
Juliana and Catherine (Voragine 1993, 1:161; 2:337). St. Michael the Archangel delivers St. Christina from drowning (1:386). St. Quentin is freed by a guardian angel (2:265), and Agnes is shielded
by an angel in the brothel, who appears in light (1:103). In the graveyard scene, the statue of an
angel protects Harry from the curses of the Death Eaters (Rowling 2000, 668).
Voldemort is, in fact, lying. Harry Potter did indeed desert the battle, but to give himself up to Voldemort and death in order to destroy the Horcrux within him. Unaware of the Horcrux in Harry,
Voldemort actually demanded this surrender in exchange for sparing Hogwarts and, to add insult
to injury, revises the events to promote his own cult and power.
The pattern occurs in many other saints lives also.
Voldemort blames the torture not on himself but on Neville: On your head, he said quietly, be
it (Rowling 2007, 732). This displacement of blame also frequently occurs in passiones; not only
pagan ofcials but sympathetic gures such as mothers and pitying crowds often ask the tortured
saint why he/she is allowing the torture to happen.
Sarah E. Gibbons (2005, 8889) also maintains that Voldemorts resurrection reverses the natural/
mythological order by requiring the sacrice of the young (Harry, Ginny, Bertha Jorkins) for its
accomplishment.
Rowling also shows that Voldemort attempts to change the signicance of the Hat. Ever since the
rst novel, the Sorting Hat has enforced diversity by organizing students into different Houses according to their talents and values. Voldemort announces that all students will henceforth be
Slytherins, his former House and the House whose members most consistently ll his ranks (Rowling 2007, 732).
The ability of saints to endure re without harm is practically clich in medieval hagiography;
Agnes, Margaret, Christina, Nicea, Christopher, Cosmas, Damian, and Theodore all miraculously
survive the ames (Voragine 1993, 1:103, 370, 38687; 2:14, 197, 291). This list is hardly complete
or comprehensive and does not include the hosts of saints who endure heat or boiling without
injury. Not only does Nevilles miraculous escape link this incident to hagiography in its imagery
and narrative elements, but the miracles share the same cause: like a saint, Neville is protected
because someone sacriced his life to save himin this case Harry, not Christ (Rowling 2007, 738).
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22. When confronted by the possibility of expulsion should he choose to protect the Sorcerers Stone,
Harry reminds Hermione and Ron that the stakes are, in fact, much higher and that, no matter
what the outcome, he may be required to die for his belief in goodness: If I get caught before I can
get the Stone, well, Ill have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to nd me there, its
only dying a bit later than I would have, because Im never going over to the Dark Side! (Rowling
1997, 270). According to Dumbledore, this commitment to ght in and of itself will effectively
defeat evil: Nevertheless, Harry, while you may have only delayed his return to power, it will
merely take someone else who is prepared to ght what seems a losing battle next timeand if he
is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power (Rowling 1997, 298).
23. Voldemort admits in the nal novel that he (and others) have made mistakes regarding Harry Potter in the past (Rowling 2007, 5), but it is more accurate to say that everything Voldemort attempts
to defeat Harry eventually backres. Voldemorts attempts to kill Harryrst when he was an
infant, later in the graveyard when he takes Harrys blood, and nally in Deathly Hallows in the
Forbidden Forestultimately protect and empower Harry and lead directly to Voldemorts own
defeat.

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