(no subject)
I read a pretty interesting observation in Time a couple of weeks ago during all of the Harry Potter fanfare. While magic and the supernatural feature prominently in the Harry Potter universe, there is never any mention of any kind of deities at all; the closest Rowling gets to a spiritual element is Love. The article's author find this silly and saccharine, particularly in comparison with some of the other fantasy epics to which the Harry Potter series is often (wrong-headedly?) compared, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, where a spiritualism derived from Christianity governs much of the action. He sees the world of Harry Potter as tacitly atheist and thinks that is an indication of how secular our thinking has become.
I don’t really care whether the secularism in Harry Potter is indicative of anything, but it does fascinate me that Harry Potter is devoid of theology (at least to the best of my knowledge; I haven’t read the last two books). Not everyone can be Tolkien, but I have often taken note that it is not common for fantasy to ignore metaphysics entirely. It is hard to handle magic without addressing its mechanics and origins, both of which usually entail some higher power, and it is even harder to talk about ghosts without explaining where the ghosts come from and why there aren’t more ghosts running around. (Likewise, in science fiction there is usually at least a cursory description of an imaginary technology’s scientific basis, or at least a few words of explanation for why it works the way it does.)
But in Harry’s world, magic is completely grounded in the individual. The ability to work it and one’s talent in it are congenital, but past that all it requires is some education. And, of course, there is plenty of magical technology that others have invented that can help one along the way. It’s not that Harry never prays because there is nobody to pray to; it’s because he never needs to pray. In other kinds of fantasy, characters appeal to their gods because they know what’s good for them - that’s where power and help come from. Not for Harry. He can fight and win because he has the character and know-how he needs to fight and win and, even more importantly, because he has good friends and had a loving family who are a backing him.
I do wonder though, as I have wondered since reading The Philosopher’s Stone, where magic comes from in the Harry Potter universe. Do the faux-Latin words have any power? Did someone invent the words to a spell, or were the words and spells discovered? And what in the world is the deal with ghosts?
I don’t really care whether the secularism in Harry Potter is indicative of anything, but it does fascinate me that Harry Potter is devoid of theology (at least to the best of my knowledge; I haven’t read the last two books). Not everyone can be Tolkien, but I have often taken note that it is not common for fantasy to ignore metaphysics entirely. It is hard to handle magic without addressing its mechanics and origins, both of which usually entail some higher power, and it is even harder to talk about ghosts without explaining where the ghosts come from and why there aren’t more ghosts running around. (Likewise, in science fiction there is usually at least a cursory description of an imaginary technology’s scientific basis, or at least a few words of explanation for why it works the way it does.)
But in Harry’s world, magic is completely grounded in the individual. The ability to work it and one’s talent in it are congenital, but past that all it requires is some education. And, of course, there is plenty of magical technology that others have invented that can help one along the way. It’s not that Harry never prays because there is nobody to pray to; it’s because he never needs to pray. In other kinds of fantasy, characters appeal to their gods because they know what’s good for them - that’s where power and help come from. Not for Harry. He can fight and win because he has the character and know-how he needs to fight and win and, even more importantly, because he has good friends and had a loving family who are a backing him.
I do wonder though, as I have wondered since reading The Philosopher’s Stone, where magic comes from in the Harry Potter universe. Do the faux-Latin words have any power? Did someone invent the words to a spell, or were the words and spells discovered? And what in the world is the deal with ghosts?