The Stag in Mythology

[Jim Flanagan]

No: HPFGUIDX 20314

There is lots of information on the Web about the mythical meanings 
of stags/serpents. I found out the following:

The stag and serpent are often found in association with a horned god 
in several different Indo-European mythologies, including Sumarian, 
Greek, Indic, and Celtic, all of which which *may* draw from a common 
Indo-European source.  See: 
http://www.lugodoc.demon.co.uk/cernunos.htm
http://www.whitestag.org/history/sumerian.html 
and http://realmagick.com/articles/93/1493.html
I didn't get the impression that the stag and the serpent were 
necessarily enemies, however.

You can use Google or another search engine to find much more 
information that's on the Web.

Personally, I think that James' animagus and Harry's patronus take 
the form of a stag because the stag is a big impressive animal with 
lots of sharp horns that could really do a number on a snake or 
anything else that it didn't like :). Perhaps this [the symbolism of 
the stag] is something to ask JKR about.

-Jim Flanagan