Ministry of Magic = Hell. Literally.
Has anyone read Dante's Inferno? If you have, I'm certain you're familiar with his idea of what Hell looks like. And if you haven't... it's what we imagine Hell to look like. Fire and brimstone and all that.
Recently, completely by accident, I realized that the structure of the Ministry of Magic is scarily similar to the structure of Hell in Dante's Inferno. There are nine circles of Hell (with subdivisions with names I can't be bothered to remember) and there are nine levels in the MoM. Not to mention that there are subdivisions within the levels of the MoM too! You have a different department on each level and smaller offices, like the Auror office, in each department. See? The offices are the rings/bolgias/rounds within each level. (I gave into the urge to figure out what the subdivisions were actually called.)
There is a level ten in the MoM, but on the tenth level are the Wizengamot courtrooms, where Harry was tried in Order of the Phoenix. There's a tenth level (ish) to Hell too. It's the very center of Hell where Satan is.
I won't pretend that I've figured out that each circle of Hell corresponds to each department in the Ministry, but the structure is certainly very similar. There's a vestibule to Hell too. I kinda want to say that's the phone booth you can use to get into the Ministry. Which... is almost saying that the world above the MoM is the vestibule to Hell. Depressing, isn't it?
And, you know, there's the whole the MoM is underground thing, and the fact that the Ministry does give Harry hell for being Harry Potter. So... the comparison really isn't all that farfetched.
Recently, completely by accident, I realized that the structure of the Ministry of Magic is scarily similar to the structure of Hell in Dante's Inferno. There are nine circles of Hell (with subdivisions with names I can't be bothered to remember) and there are nine levels in the MoM. Not to mention that there are subdivisions within the levels of the MoM too! You have a different department on each level and smaller offices, like the Auror office, in each department. See? The offices are the rings/bolgias/rounds within each level. (I gave into the urge to figure out what the subdivisions were actually called.)
There is a level ten in the MoM, but on the tenth level are the Wizengamot courtrooms, where Harry was tried in Order of the Phoenix. There's a tenth level (ish) to Hell too. It's the very center of Hell where Satan is.
I won't pretend that I've figured out that each circle of Hell corresponds to each department in the Ministry, but the structure is certainly very similar. There's a vestibule to Hell too. I kinda want to say that's the phone booth you can use to get into the Ministry. Which... is almost saying that the world above the MoM is the vestibule to Hell. Depressing, isn't it?
And, you know, there's the whole the MoM is underground thing, and the fact that the Ministry does give Harry hell for being Harry Potter. So... the comparison really isn't all that farfetched.