The Seven Books of Mystical Wisdom
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: The Key to the Code
Why does his work have to be an enigma at all?
...
He told me to think of a crossword puzzle -- of the hundreds of images that pass through the mind while solving one. "In your father's puzzles, the sum-total of the images adds up to the meaning he wants to convey. And the sum-total of all the sections of his book, all the puzzles, problems, patterns, progressions -- I believe there's even going to be a detective section -- will add up to his philosophy of search-creation." (4)
The fictional book described above is written by James Mortmain, the heroine's father, in I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. That book, in turn, is prominently featured on the "Links" page of J.K. Rowling's website:
The reason, of course, is obvious. Rowling is informing us that her book series is exactly this type of work. Note the placement in the preeminent center portion of the top shelf, flanked on one side by a book titled merely "?" and, on the other side, near two books by Dorothy L. Sayers, Pride and Prejudice, and The Little White Horse (5). Could her message be any clearer? Deciphering the code from left to right (beginning from the seventh book on the shelf):
"My books (the bookshelf) are an enigma ("?") just like the book in I Capture the Castle, and the mysteries (Dorothy L. Sayers) of the romance (Pride and Prejudice) should be solved using symbolism (The Little White Horse)" (6).
But the discerning reader was cued into the secret structure of the Harry Potter books years before the debut of the website and this image. Rowling emphasized the essential clue to Newsweek in August of 1999:
She envisioned an epic in seven parts, one for each year of Harry's stay at Hogwarts. "When you dream," she says, "you can do what you like. And I always thought seven was a good number." (7)
And again to her authorized biographer Lindsey Fraser in May of 2000:
By the end of that train journey I knew it was going to be a seven-book series.
...
So, I got back to the flat that night and began to write it all down in a tiny cheap notebook. I wrote lists of all the subjects to be studied - I knew there had to be seven. (8)
And again in November of 2001:
It took me a long, hard five years to complete The Philosopher's Stone. The reason so much time slipped by was because, from that very first idea, I envisaged a series of seven books - each one charting a year of Harry's life whilst he is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. (9)
And again on her website in May of 2004:
when I was eleven I wrote a novel about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them.. (10)
Do you get it yet? The first absolutely dominant and overwhelmingly important clue is the number seven. Seven shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be seven. This seemingly small, seemingly simple clue is in fact the vital key that unlocks the door to the central mystery of Harry Potter; following this humble thread we can literally unravel the entire tapestry of the puzzle Rowling has created for us.
Each use of the number seven must be understood not as an artifact of the mere narrative plot (which can be disregarded) but as an indicator, a marker, a tip-off to underlying structural interrelationships. Every use of the number seven is intimately tied to the symbolic framework of the books and every symbolic pattern in the books is associated with the number seven.
Before I proceed to lay out the solution of the mystery, I feel as if I should respond to the natural objection that some will make. "What," you may ask, "is the good of finding clues in Rowling's quotes? The reader must be able to find the clue in canon, or the puzzle is essentially unsolveable." This is, of course, correct, and I am not such a dunderhead as to argue otherwise. What you have failed to take into account is how smoothly and cleverly Rowling worked this pivotal information into Chapter 5 of the first book:
'If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him,' growled Hagrid. 'Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself.
If you missed that (and don't be ashamed if you did -- I didn't catch on to its full importance until quite recently), she nudges us with multiple other clues, all in the first book:
- Harry's birthday, which is also the day his Hogwarts acceptance is due and the first day he enters the Wizarding world, is the 31st of July -- the seventh month (later emphasized in the prophecy, in case you missed it).
- Harry pays seven galleons for his wand.
- The Philosopher's stone is in vault number seven hundred and thirteen.
- There are seven children in the Weasley family.
- The entrance to Gryffindor Tower is on the seventh floor.
- Harry has seven classmates in his year in Gryffindor.
- Harry is taking seven classes.
- Harry's Quidditch lesson with Oliver Wood is scheduled for seven o'clock.
- There are seven players on a Quidditch team.
- There are seven hundred known fouls in Quidditch.
- Gryffindor wants to defeat Slytherin for the House Cup for the first time in seven years.
- The Trio faces seven tasks, set by seven professors, to get to the Philosopher's Stone.
- There are seven bottles in the Potions task.
Is this coincidence? Hell no (11)! In my next post, I will demonstrate how the number seven forms a coherent framework for understanding the central mystery of Harry Potter.
Notes:
(4) Smith, Dodie, I Capture the Castle, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1988, pp. 336-7.
(5) It should be elementary that the two books Press and Publicity and Amnesty International, written with reverse-direction titles, are meaningless "real-life" filler and are to be disregarded.
(6) Do you need a footnote for this? Come on! It's a picture of her books, Sayers writes mysteries, Pride and Prejudice is like the most famous romance ever in history, and The Little White Horse is stuffed so full of symbolism it's hardly readable. Look, if I have to explain every little thing like this I'm never going to finish this essay. Just go with me, okay?
(7) Newsweek, 23 Aug. 1999.
(8) Fraser, Lindsey, Telling Tales, An Interview with J.K. Rowling, London: Mammoth, 2000, pp. 21-22. Also here (incorrectly dated).
(9) Toronto Star, 3 Nov. 2001.
(10) FAQ's, in response to question: "Have you ever written anything other than Harry Potter?"
(11) Pardon my language, but I am cleverly introducing a second vital clue. ;)
Part 2: The Key to the Code
Why does his work have to be an enigma at all?
...
He told me to think of a crossword puzzle -- of the hundreds of images that pass through the mind while solving one. "In your father's puzzles, the sum-total of the images adds up to the meaning he wants to convey. And the sum-total of all the sections of his book, all the puzzles, problems, patterns, progressions -- I believe there's even going to be a detective section -- will add up to his philosophy of search-creation." (4)
The fictional book described above is written by James Mortmain, the heroine's father, in I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. That book, in turn, is prominently featured on the "Links" page of J.K. Rowling's website:
The reason, of course, is obvious. Rowling is informing us that her book series is exactly this type of work. Note the placement in the preeminent center portion of the top shelf, flanked on one side by a book titled merely "?" and, on the other side, near two books by Dorothy L. Sayers, Pride and Prejudice, and The Little White Horse (5). Could her message be any clearer? Deciphering the code from left to right (beginning from the seventh book on the shelf):
"My books (the bookshelf) are an enigma ("?") just like the book in I Capture the Castle, and the mysteries (Dorothy L. Sayers) of the romance (Pride and Prejudice) should be solved using symbolism (The Little White Horse)" (6).
But the discerning reader was cued into the secret structure of the Harry Potter books years before the debut of the website and this image. Rowling emphasized the essential clue to Newsweek in August of 1999:
She envisioned an epic in seven parts, one for each year of Harry's stay at Hogwarts. "When you dream," she says, "you can do what you like. And I always thought seven was a good number." (7)
And again to her authorized biographer Lindsey Fraser in May of 2000:
By the end of that train journey I knew it was going to be a seven-book series.
...
So, I got back to the flat that night and began to write it all down in a tiny cheap notebook. I wrote lists of all the subjects to be studied - I knew there had to be seven. (8)
And again in November of 2001:
It took me a long, hard five years to complete The Philosopher's Stone. The reason so much time slipped by was because, from that very first idea, I envisaged a series of seven books - each one charting a year of Harry's life whilst he is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. (9)
And again on her website in May of 2004:
when I was eleven I wrote a novel about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them.. (10)
Do you get it yet? The first absolutely dominant and overwhelmingly important clue is the number seven. Seven shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be seven. This seemingly small, seemingly simple clue is in fact the vital key that unlocks the door to the central mystery of Harry Potter; following this humble thread we can literally unravel the entire tapestry of the puzzle Rowling has created for us.
Each use of the number seven must be understood not as an artifact of the mere narrative plot (which can be disregarded) but as an indicator, a marker, a tip-off to underlying structural interrelationships. Every use of the number seven is intimately tied to the symbolic framework of the books and every symbolic pattern in the books is associated with the number seven.
Before I proceed to lay out the solution of the mystery, I feel as if I should respond to the natural objection that some will make. "What," you may ask, "is the good of finding clues in Rowling's quotes? The reader must be able to find the clue in canon, or the puzzle is essentially unsolveable." This is, of course, correct, and I am not such a dunderhead as to argue otherwise. What you have failed to take into account is how smoothly and cleverly Rowling worked this pivotal information into Chapter 5 of the first book:
'If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him,' growled Hagrid. 'Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself.
If you missed that (and don't be ashamed if you did -- I didn't catch on to its full importance until quite recently), she nudges us with multiple other clues, all in the first book:
- Harry's birthday, which is also the day his Hogwarts acceptance is due and the first day he enters the Wizarding world, is the 31st of July -- the seventh month (later emphasized in the prophecy, in case you missed it).
- Harry pays seven galleons for his wand.
- The Philosopher's stone is in vault number seven hundred and thirteen.
- There are seven children in the Weasley family.
- The entrance to Gryffindor Tower is on the seventh floor.
- Harry has seven classmates in his year in Gryffindor.
- Harry is taking seven classes.
- Harry's Quidditch lesson with Oliver Wood is scheduled for seven o'clock.
- There are seven players on a Quidditch team.
- There are seven hundred known fouls in Quidditch.
- Gryffindor wants to defeat Slytherin for the House Cup for the first time in seven years.
- The Trio faces seven tasks, set by seven professors, to get to the Philosopher's Stone.
- There are seven bottles in the Potions task.
Is this coincidence? Hell no (11)! In my next post, I will demonstrate how the number seven forms a coherent framework for understanding the central mystery of Harry Potter.
Notes:
(4) Smith, Dodie, I Capture the Castle, NY: St. Martin's Press, 1988, pp. 336-7.
(5) It should be elementary that the two books Press and Publicity and Amnesty International, written with reverse-direction titles, are meaningless "real-life" filler and are to be disregarded.
(6) Do you need a footnote for this? Come on! It's a picture of her books, Sayers writes mysteries, Pride and Prejudice is like the most famous romance ever in history, and The Little White Horse is stuffed so full of symbolism it's hardly readable. Look, if I have to explain every little thing like this I'm never going to finish this essay. Just go with me, okay?
(7) Newsweek, 23 Aug. 1999.
(8) Fraser, Lindsey, Telling Tales, An Interview with J.K. Rowling, London: Mammoth, 2000, pp. 21-22. Also here (incorrectly dated).
(9) Toronto Star, 3 Nov. 2001.
(10) FAQ's, in response to question: "Have you ever written anything other than Harry Potter?"
(11) Pardon my language, but I am cleverly introducing a second vital clue. ;)