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Jenna Johnson
Hallows or Horcruxes:
An Examination of Harry Potter as an
Archetypal Hero

Within the literary world, there has never been a story that has created quite the same
level of cultural phenomenon than that of J.K. Rowlings series based on the character of Harry
Potter. Since the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone in 1997, Rowlings novels
have been translated into over sixty languages and sold well over 100 million copies (Rogers).
Though there are a number of characteristics that have helped to raise the Harry Potter series to a
level of cult classic, the aspect of the stories that have kept fans following along throughout all
seven novels is the character of Harry itself. Rowling has closely followed the archetype of the
hero in the creation of Harry Potter; beginning with the extraordinary circumstances surrounding
his young life, to overcoming the obstacles placed before him in adolescence, until in adulthood
he is finally able to fulfill his destiny while at the same time maintaining the purity he exhibits
throughout his youth.
The Hero is a concept that can be found in some of the earliest known works of literature
and spans almost every genre imaginable; from Epics, to romance novels, to comic books, the
importance of the Savior character is such that a number of studies have been conducted over
time to establish the reasons behind the continuous public fascination. The earliest of these
studies is thought to have been done over a century ago by Freudian disciple Otto Rank.
According to Rank, there are a series of specific events that play out in a heros young life,
which he explains as such:

The hero is the son of parents of the highest station. His conception takes place under
difficulty. There is a portent in a dream or an oracle connected with the childs birth. The
child is then sent away, or exposed to extreme danger. He is rescued by people of humble
station or by humble animals and reared by them (Altshuler, Janaro).
Ranks characteristics defining the life of a hero are very clearly present in Rowlings creation of
Harry Potter. At the time of Harrys conception, the wizarding world is already at war, and both
of his parents are known members of The Order of the Phoenix. As this is the group of witches
and wizards defending the side of good in the magical community, the entire family is at
constant risk of being targeted for capture, torture and murder, thus fulfilling the need of the hero
to be conceived and born under circumstances of extreme danger.
Within the novels there is a clear line drawn to separate the magical population from the
non-magical; therefore Harrys birth can be looked at as extraordinary in and of itself simply
because he is born with powers. The true beginning of Harrys journey however happens on his
first birthday, when he and his parents are hunted down by Lord Voldemort, the most powerful
dark wizard of all time (Rowling, 2007). The event is extraordinary because, though Voldemort
succeeds in murdering Harrys parents, the killing curse aimed at Harry himself is deflected. The
curse rebounds and instead strikes its original caster; though Voldemort has tied his soul to
immortality through the use of Dark Magic, his body is destroyed by the curse and he is forced
into hiding until a time that he is strong enough to face Harry once again.
Ranks qualification that the birth of the hero is predicted through a dream or an oracle is
also present within the Harry Potter series, though the prophecy is not revealed until the fifth
novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Made by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and

Wizardry professor Sybil Trelawny, the prophecy is also the reason behind Voldemorts attack
upon Harry as an infant:
The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have
thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as
his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the
hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to
vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ... (Rowling, 2004).
This prophecy prompts Voldemort to seek Harry out, in turn placing him in extreme danger as
an infant. Though Harry survives, he is now orphaned and forced to live outside of the magical
world with thoroughly non-magical relatives; these non-magical relatives, or muggles would
be considered by wizards to be of humble station. Furthermore, the character that actually
removes Harry from the remains of his childhood home is that of Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys
and grounds at Hogwarts. Hagrid would also be considered of humble station because he is the
groundskeeper at the school and not a professor.
Following the extraordinary events of Harrys birth and childhood, the next step in the
heros life is to begin the adventure that will eventually lead to him discovering his destiny.
Joseph Campbell, an anthropologist and mythologist, expands further upon this idea of the
adventure in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerers
Stone, Harry is informed of the fact that he is a wizard on his eleventh birthday. The person that
delivers this message is Hagrid, who according to Campbell can be referred to in this moment as
the herald, and his appearance at this crucial time as the call to adventure. Campbell goes on
to explain that as the hero begins his quest, what he is actually embarking on has been termed

the awakening of the self, or the beginning of the heros journey to fulfilling his destiny
(Campbell, 47).
For Harry the adventure begins when he arrives at Hogwarts, and it is there that he will
meet what Campbell refers to as the supernatural aid (Campbell, 65). In Rowlings novels the
supernatural aid is without question Albus Dumbledore. Although Harry and Dumbledore do not
start preparing for Harrys imminent clash with Voldemort until the sixth novel, all seven novels
include scenes in which Dumbledore is giving Harry some kind of valuable information, whether
that includes information specific to the defeat of Voldemort, or a valuable lesson to be used in
all aspects of his life. It is in this way that Dumbledore fulfills Campbells explanation of the
role of this character in the heros life:
What such a figure represents is the benign, protecting power of destiny. The fantasy is a
reassurancea promise that the peace of Paradise, which was known first within the
mother womb, is not to be lost; that it supports the present and stands in the future as well
as in the past (is omega as well as alpha); that though omnipotence may seem to be
endangered by the threshold passages and life awakenings, protective power is always
and ever present within the sanctuary of the heart and even immanent within, or just
behind, the unfamiliar features of the world (Campbell, 66).
It is while the hero is under the instruction or supervision of the supernatural aid that he begins
his own series of adventures; for Harry Potter these adventures begin in book one and happen
continuously until book seven, where he will finally fulfill his destiny in a violent confrontation
with Lord Voldemort.

According to Campbell however, there is another rite of passage that must occur before
he can fulfill his destiny; The Crossing of the Threshold occurs when the hero must step out of
the realm of the known and into a world of darkness (Campbell, 201). In most cases this crossing
is necessary because the hero must attain something to aid in his survival specifically for Harry
Potter it means finding and destroying the Horcruxes that Voldemort has created in order to keep
himself linked to immortality. The Horcruxes contain small parts of Voldemorts soul, locked
away and hidden in magical containers so that, even if his body should be harmed, he will be
able to live on as long as the Horcruxes remain protected. Harrys mission throughout the
seventh novel is to locate and destroy all of these items, which in turn means traveling outside of
the safety of the wizarding world.
It is during his search for the Horcruxes that Harry discovers the other three items that
will aid in his defeat of Voldemort The Deathly Hallows. The Hallows consist of the the Elder
Wand, the Stone of Resurrection, and the Cloak of Invisibility and when united also have the
power of making the owner truly invulnerable to death (Rowling, 2007). According to Campbell,
these items represent within the novel the boon or elixir, the object that will bless the hero
during his quest for good. Should Harry succeed in cutting Voldemort off from his own magical
aids, the Horcruxes, and finding the Hallows for his own purposes, he cannot fail in the final
battle.
The juxtaposition of the Hallows and Horcruxes within the Harry Potter series is the way
in which Rowling emphasizes the purity of Harry versus the evil of Voldemort; the Hallows can
only be possessed by someone truly deserving of them, while the Horcruxes are created by
ripping ones own soul apart through an act of murder in order to gain immortality. Dumbledore
explains Harrys ability to possess the Hallows as such:

Maybe a man in a million could unite the Hallows HarryYou are the true master of
Death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he
must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than
dying (Rowling, 2007).
It is only the fact that Harry seeks to protect others that allows him access to the powers of the
Hallows. Dumbledore also emphasizes the purity of Harrys soul when he states, Lord
Voldemorts soul, maimed as it is, cannot bear close contact with a soul like Harrys. Like a
tongue on frozen steel, like flesh in flame (Rowling, 2007). By presenting this information
through the Supernatural Aid, the omnipotent presence, Rowling ensures that there can be no
doubt of Harrys good intentions.
When the battle of good and evil finally begins to take place in the seventh novel, Harry
will gain the last piece of information that will solidify his standing as a true hero, which
Dumbledore reveals in a conversation with Hogwarts professor Severus Snape:
Tell him that on the night Lord Voldemort tried to kill himthe Killing Curse rebounded
upon Lord Voldemort, and a fragment of Voldemorts soul was blasted apart from the
whole, and latched itself onto the only living soul left in that collapsing building. Part of
Lord Voldemort lives within Harryand while that fragment of soul, unmissed by
Voldemort, remains attached to and protected by Harry, Lord Voldemort cannot die
(Rowling, 2007).
Upon learning this information, Harry does the only thing he can to ensure that all of
Voldemorts ties to immortality are severed and offers his life as a sacrifice. He presents himself
to the Dark Lord, and without raising his wand to defend himself, allows his life to be taken by

the Killing Curse. Instead of having the effect that Harry is expecting however, his sacrifice
reunites him with his Supernatural Aid and then gives him the option of remaining in the afterlife
or returning to the battle. This option is explained by Rowling in a conversation between Harry
and Dumbledore: when Harry claims that he should have died, that he didnt raise his wand to
defend himself, Dumbledores reply is And that will, I think, have made all the difference
(Rowling, 2007).
This scene within the novel can be explained as what Campbell would refer to as Harrys
divinization; by turning himself into a martyr, Harry will from then on be able to go forth
under the blessing of the powers that be (Campbell, 228). Having completely severed all of
Voldemorts ties to immortality, the final battle commences and is used by Harry as a final act of
defiance against evil; as the opponents raise their wands, Harry refuses to use the Killing Curse,
instead attempting to disarm Voldemort. The curses collide in midair, and Voldemort is again
destroyed by his own rebounding curse, this time completely and irreversibly,
Having fulfilled his destiny, Harry can now go forth with what Campbell refers to as the
Freedom to Live, though this is the one way in which Rowlings version of the Hero differs
from the rest. According to Campbell,
A realization of the inevitable guilt of life may so sicken the heart that, like Hamlet or
like Arjuna, one may refuse to go on with it. On the other hand, like most of the rest of
us, one may invent a false, finally unjustified, image of oneself as an exceptional
phenomenon in the world, not guilty as others are, but justified in ones inevitable sinning
because one represents good (Campbell, 221).

Rowling carefully constructs Harry so that, even when he is forced to do battle, he seeks to
defend himself and others, but never to kill his enemies, as is seen in the final battle with
Voldemort. Harry goes on in the seventh novel to not only mourn the loss of his loved ones, but
to honor their memory as well his freedom to live, though tainted by his dark early years, is
truly something he has earned throughout his life.
Despite this small difference, it is clear that Rowling has created her protagonist from the
mold of the accepted hero archetype -- first fulfilling Ranks observations of the Heros young
life and then following along with Campbells description of the Heros Journey. Rowling has
perhaps added a new angle to Campbells monomyth however, choosing to retain Harrys purity
of character even after the innumerous obstacles he faces throughout his young life. Creating
Harry Potter as an enduring symbol of good has obviously worked in Rowlings favor however,
helping to develop and maintain one of the most loyal fan bases a book series has ever seen for
over ten years, people have continued to follow along with the Boy Who Lived, and through the
continued reading of her books will make Harry Potter the boy who lives forever.

Works Cited
Altshuler T.C., Janaro. The Art of Being Human: The Humanities as a Technique for Living. New Jersey:
Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. Text.
Campbell, J. (2004). The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton, New York, New Jersey.
Rogers, Simon. "The Top 100 Bestselling Books of all Time." 9 August 2012. The Guardian. Web.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007. text.
. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. 2003. Ereader.
. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. 2004. Ereader.